A Day in the Life (of me)

I get a lot of comments (usually from my mom) concerning why I would want to be a teacher.

Then there are the few people that I know that aren't in education that say things like, "I could never do that," or "those kids would drive me crazy," and occasionally, "I love kindergartners. They are so cute!"

Let's just make one thing clear: I could never do kindergarten. Those kids would drive me crazy.

This fourth grade class I am teaching is absolutely phenomenal. I can't express how much I love them and will miss them when the year is over.I have spent more time with these kids than any other class. Luckily, I will go back into the sub pool and will see them some in the fall when they return as cocky, hormonal fifth-graders.

It's not all sunshine and roses, however. We have our bumps along the way.

I have one student that will not get his work finished. I have another that gets picked on daily, but she brings it on herself. I have another that caused (allegedly) a fiasco in the bathroom. Someone stole my stickers and a dollar out of my purse today--she doesn't know that I know.

You know, typical stuff.

But...

I go back. Everyday is a new day. There are no grudges. It's the daily sweetness that gets me through.

They ALL want to help me. They ALL want to sit by me. They ALL want that one-on-one attention I try to make sure they get everyday.

I came up with an idea called "Did you Know?" Every day I would write a random but strange fact on the board. I was going to start it on Monday. Somehow we ended up talking about it during science, and I told them the plan. The next thing I know, I had five pieces of paper with random facts on them. Trying to expand on something potentially great, I went to the dollar store, bought twenty-four mini notebooks and researched more facts to give them. This morning, I wrote the four received and one of my own. They were ecstatic about it. I put a container by the "Did you know..." board and told them they were welcome to add facts to share. This afternoon, I already had ten...

On Monday, I am going to start a daily brain teaser. I have done this in the fourth grade in the past and this age LOVES it. I can't wait.

Today we had planned as part of the language lesson to make Mother's Day cards. The previous teacher left me her original she makes every year. I photocopied one for each child then brought in some stickers, stamps, paper doilies, and scrapbooking scissors. They could not wait to get started. But do you want to know what they got really excited about?

Envelopes.

I had one package of the large envelopes left over from my American Greeting days. I pulled those out and told them I had enough for each to have one; you'd thought I'd handed out $20 bills. It is a day I will remember forever.

I was up until 2:30 this morning grading papers. They had spelling sentences, and I love looking at those.

Two sentences will go down in infamy as flat-out precious. These were from two of my top students. Bold word is the spelling word.

appointment-- "On my leg I had to put on some appointment."

tireless--"In the junk yard, the cars are tireless."

Sure, I am tired. Sure, they are wound up because of the full moon and the fact school is almost out. Sure, they are hot because the air is not working and we don't get air flow from the backdoor. Sure, they have tattled on each other more than most kindergartners this week. (Ahem. That gets you marked in the behavior log.)But, at the end of the day, I can't think of another place I would rather spend my daytime hours.