I can't tell you how many times non-kindergarten teachers have said to me, "Oh, it must be SO nice to have your students take a rest during the day." I can totally see where they're coming from. An outsider may think this is a nice, relaxing period of time provided every afternoon for me to plan my activities, check my email, and play an occasional round of Solitaire while my 17 little darlings dream sweet dreams of lollipops and ponies. Wrong. Let's just address this issue of "naptime", shall we?
First of all, five and six-year-olds don't nap. In the world of a kindergartner, to actually fall asleep during the designated naptime would be social suicide. Most of them aren't tired in the least, and even if they are, there is always the fear that if you do doze off your thumb may accidently find its way to your mouth and then...yep...you're playing alone at recess. It's the kids who have to find ways to fight the sleep who drive me the most nuts. Each and every afternoon for those 20 minutes, I deal with the exact same problems:
1. Kleenex Girl
This is the child whose nose is suddenly so excessively runny that she needs to come up to my desk at least four times to get a tissue and wipe. Plus, she obviously needs hand sanitizer after every single trip. Total minutes laying on mat=2; Total minutes wiping and sanitizing=18.
2. Human Vacuum
This particular child makes it her personal mission to find one million TINY specks or crumbs or pieces of hair on the carpet around her mat. She then undoubtedly brings each treasure up to my desk (one at a time) and whispers, "Mrs. Place, what should I do with this?" And do you think I can just say, "LEAVE IT!" No. That would be in direct violation of the litter patrol code of conduct. Yes, I have to approve all, and I mean all, pollution pick-up.
3. "No talking" doesn't mean stop talking. It means talk QUIETER.
One of my personal favorites. You know how there's no crying in baseball? There's no talking at rest time.
4. Deer in the headlights
This happens many times throughout the day. I catch the same kid doing something he clearly knows he's not supposed to do. At rest time this usually means pulling small pieces of foam out of his mat and flicking them at people. Regardless of the circumstance, he always looks at me as if he had no idea he was breaking any sort of rule.
5. Self-talker
This is the child who spends most of her days floating around somewhere in outer space. (Bless her heart.) It's hard to make the "no talking to the people around you" rule apply when she's just talking to....??? Sometimes she's even humming a little ditty. It's rare that I can ever make out exactly what she's saying, hard as I may strain. I do know that one day she was definitely singing "Baby Got Back." (Second time I've caught a kid on that one.)
Anyway, as you can see, rest time is anything but peaceful and productive around here. Some days I think I should just ditch it all together. Until then..."Okay, boys and girls, our bodies and our voices need to rest."
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Bears, Bears, and More Bears
The past three weeks of kindergarten have been devoted to the theme of Bears. We have learned about real bears and pretend bears and done really cool activities throughout. Tomorrow the culmination of the bears unit will be celebrated by the highly-anticipated Teddy Bear Party. In preparation for this event, I have been pulling the kids one-by-one over to my desk to do a Teddy Bear interview. Basically it's just a sheet I fill out for them based on answers to questions about themselves and the chosen bear. I ask them how old they are and then how old their teddies are, what their favorite food is and then what their teddy's favorite food is...you get the idea. In general, the responses have been pretty basic, but you always have those two or three kids who catch you off guard with something hilarious.
When one girl was asked, "What's your favorite game?" It was an automatic, "Candyland" response. But when asked, "What's your teddy's favorite game?" she had to think for a minute. Finally she said, "Chess."
I asked another girl, "Who's your favorite person?" "My mommy," she said. "Who's your bear's favorite person?" "God."
Now, when asking these questions I tried to use the bear's given name as much as possible in an attempt to add that "personal" touch. This was all well and good until I asked one little guy his bear's name and he made a buzzing noise. I said, "Oh, why did you name your bear that?" He told me his bear is dressed in a bumble bee suit. Yeah. So, for the whole ten questions I had to try to use "Bzzzz" in the third person. The same kid also told me his bear's favorite t.v. show is, "Recording to Jim."
Well, needless to say, tomorrow is bound to be a fun-filled day! I'll keep you posted!
When one girl was asked, "What's your favorite game?" It was an automatic, "Candyland" response. But when asked, "What's your teddy's favorite game?" she had to think for a minute. Finally she said, "Chess."
I asked another girl, "Who's your favorite person?" "My mommy," she said. "Who's your bear's favorite person?" "God."
Now, when asking these questions I tried to use the bear's given name as much as possible in an attempt to add that "personal" touch. This was all well and good until I asked one little guy his bear's name and he made a buzzing noise. I said, "Oh, why did you name your bear that?" He told me his bear is dressed in a bumble bee suit. Yeah. So, for the whole ten questions I had to try to use "Bzzzz" in the third person. The same kid also told me his bear's favorite t.v. show is, "Recording to Jim."
Well, needless to say, tomorrow is bound to be a fun-filled day! I'll keep you posted!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Part 2
So, remember when I blogged like two months ago about my preschool days? Well, I made the mistake of saying that I was going to do something like write 10 blogs in a row to share my top ten favorite kid moments. Hopefully you weren't holding your breath. Here's #2 and #3.
#2 December 2, 2006 was one of the best days ever. It was the day that Dameon shocked my socks off and proposed! Now, as you probably know, the aftermath of an engagement is such an exciting frenzy. You get to make like a million phone calls to inform all your loved ones of your newly-changed status. It's so great! Well, we got engaged on a Saturday, so I had a whole day to contemplate how I would share the big news with my 3 and 4-year-old munchkins. I figured it would make the most sense to tell them first thing in the morning while they were all seated for calendar time. That way I wouldn't run the risk of one finding out, then passing it on to a few more, leaving some to be in the dark possibly all the way until nap time or something! Right??
It wasn't until I actually made my big announcement that it occured to me that a child of this age would have NO IDEA what I was talking about, more or less have an emotional reaction to it. I literally had butterflies in my stomach as we drudged through our 17 "Good Mornings" and the weather report. I can't even remember exactly what I said, but the gist of it was something like, "This weekend I had something very exciting happen to me. My boyfriend asked me to marry him. We are going to get married in the summer!" I guess I expected them to like "oooo" and "ahhh" and come up to give me hugs or something. Why I thought that would ever happen, I have no idea. It was like one of those moments where you could actually hear the crickets chirp. Yeah, awkward.
So, anyway, that's not even the #2 moment. That was all just building the foundation. (Sorry.)
Alright, so about two weeks went by same as always, until one day at lunch. I was sitting next to a sweet little three-year-old girl. Out of the blue (which most three-year-old conversation starters usually are) she said, "Miss Myers, my mommy told me you're getting married." "Yes, I am," I said. She thought for a few seconds and then said, "What kind of a prince are you gonna marry?"
Yes, I practically melted into a puddle.
#3
Several of my favorite moments came from the same child. I haven't written about this little guy yet, but I'm sure he will be included in several blogs to come. For confidentiality's sake, I'm going to call him "Bob."
Bob was one of those kids you just hate to love. He's got quite a bit of trouble up his sleep, but his personality and quirkiness is just so darn cute that you can't help but be thankful for everyday you get a chance to spend time with him. I miss this kid quite a bit.
Anyway, one morning while dropping him off for school, Bob's mother informed me that he woke up with a bit of a stomach ache. I was supposed to keep an eye on it and make sure to let her know if it got too much worse. Well, the morning went fine...no problems, at all. That afternoon, as Bob's group was sitting at my reading table, we suddenly jumped out of his chair and darted out the door. At that school, the bathroom was a good distance down the hall. Right away, I knew where he was headed. I took off after him, so that I could be there to clean up whatever mess might be waiting. When I reached the bathroom, I stood at my usual post right outside the bathroom entrance and bent down to look under the stall. I could see his feet dangling and ALL his clothes on the floor. (So weird because I literally ran out right after him. He must have been undressing as he ran or something??) The fact that all his clothes were on the floor didn't really alarm me because this was common practice for this kid everytime he had to do his business. None the less, I needed to check in with him to see what was going on.
"Bob, are you okay?" I say. "Yes." comes his response.
Now the odor is starting to waft (waft?) out into the hallway.
ME: "Do you need clean underwear?"
-----no response------
ME: "Bob, do you need me to get you some clean underwear?"
Bob: "Yep."
ME: "Okay. Did you poop in your pants?"
The response that was about to come out is one that will forever go down in history, just so you know. It was one of those "I almost have to email this recap to Dameon from work because I might burst if I have to wait a whole three hours to tell him face-to-face" moments.
Bob: "Yep. Wet fart."
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I had to double-over in hallway from laughing so hard. And, if you're wondering, I did decide to wait the three hours in order to recap it in full detail (voices and all) for Dameon. I figured it would be funnier that way.
#2 December 2, 2006 was one of the best days ever. It was the day that Dameon shocked my socks off and proposed! Now, as you probably know, the aftermath of an engagement is such an exciting frenzy. You get to make like a million phone calls to inform all your loved ones of your newly-changed status. It's so great! Well, we got engaged on a Saturday, so I had a whole day to contemplate how I would share the big news with my 3 and 4-year-old munchkins. I figured it would make the most sense to tell them first thing in the morning while they were all seated for calendar time. That way I wouldn't run the risk of one finding out, then passing it on to a few more, leaving some to be in the dark possibly all the way until nap time or something! Right??
It wasn't until I actually made my big announcement that it occured to me that a child of this age would have NO IDEA what I was talking about, more or less have an emotional reaction to it. I literally had butterflies in my stomach as we drudged through our 17 "Good Mornings" and the weather report. I can't even remember exactly what I said, but the gist of it was something like, "This weekend I had something very exciting happen to me. My boyfriend asked me to marry him. We are going to get married in the summer!" I guess I expected them to like "oooo" and "ahhh" and come up to give me hugs or something. Why I thought that would ever happen, I have no idea. It was like one of those moments where you could actually hear the crickets chirp. Yeah, awkward.
So, anyway, that's not even the #2 moment. That was all just building the foundation. (Sorry.)
Alright, so about two weeks went by same as always, until one day at lunch. I was sitting next to a sweet little three-year-old girl. Out of the blue (which most three-year-old conversation starters usually are) she said, "Miss Myers, my mommy told me you're getting married." "Yes, I am," I said. She thought for a few seconds and then said, "What kind of a prince are you gonna marry?"
Yes, I practically melted into a puddle.
#3
Several of my favorite moments came from the same child. I haven't written about this little guy yet, but I'm sure he will be included in several blogs to come. For confidentiality's sake, I'm going to call him "Bob."
Bob was one of those kids you just hate to love. He's got quite a bit of trouble up his sleep, but his personality and quirkiness is just so darn cute that you can't help but be thankful for everyday you get a chance to spend time with him. I miss this kid quite a bit.
Anyway, one morning while dropping him off for school, Bob's mother informed me that he woke up with a bit of a stomach ache. I was supposed to keep an eye on it and make sure to let her know if it got too much worse. Well, the morning went fine...no problems, at all. That afternoon, as Bob's group was sitting at my reading table, we suddenly jumped out of his chair and darted out the door. At that school, the bathroom was a good distance down the hall. Right away, I knew where he was headed. I took off after him, so that I could be there to clean up whatever mess might be waiting. When I reached the bathroom, I stood at my usual post right outside the bathroom entrance and bent down to look under the stall. I could see his feet dangling and ALL his clothes on the floor. (So weird because I literally ran out right after him. He must have been undressing as he ran or something??) The fact that all his clothes were on the floor didn't really alarm me because this was common practice for this kid everytime he had to do his business. None the less, I needed to check in with him to see what was going on.
"Bob, are you okay?" I say. "Yes." comes his response.
Now the odor is starting to waft (waft?) out into the hallway.
ME: "Do you need clean underwear?"
-----no response------
ME: "Bob, do you need me to get you some clean underwear?"
Bob: "Yep."
ME: "Okay. Did you poop in your pants?"
The response that was about to come out is one that will forever go down in history, just so you know. It was one of those "I almost have to email this recap to Dameon from work because I might burst if I have to wait a whole three hours to tell him face-to-face" moments.
Bob: "Yep. Wet fart."
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I had to double-over in hallway from laughing so hard. And, if you're wondering, I did decide to wait the three hours in order to recap it in full detail (voices and all) for Dameon. I figured it would be funnier that way.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Blessed Beyond Measure
I've been thinking lately about what it really means to be thankful. And also what it looks like to live a life that is transparently grateful and humble. Why is it so easy for me to say that God's grace is sufficient for me, but so difficult for me to actually prove that to others by overcoming my "love" for the world? I feel like I rarely lift my heart in true thanks to Christ for what He has done for me and what He has given me here in this life.Not kidding, people. I genuinely married the man of my dreams. Some of you know that for the past couple months I have kinda been on a roll. I'm generally a very healthy person, but lately I've spent a lot of time at the doctor's office or the ER. Most of my ailments have left me pretty useless as far as housework, doggy-duty, and supportive-wife stuff goes. That has left Dameon with a lot of burden on his shoulders. (He would never call it a burden, but I definitely would.) Somehow he has kept up with everything that I've dumped on him, taken care of me every step of the way, and not even rolled his eyes at me! Phew! That's a lot to take on. But besides his recent increase in responsibility, I love him for so many other reasons, too. (Some of which I'll clearly have to save for a Valentine's Day post or something.) I think I take for granted so many things about him. For one thing, he is an extremely hard worker. He is always trying to figure out ways to take care of his family more...I can't wait til he gets to be a dad!! He's also extremely sensitive, which is so rare. He never hesitates to talk about his feelings or ask me to share mine. He knows how to talk about problems and is quick to humble himself and apologize. (I hope I can learn to be more like him someday.) But more than anything, he loves the Lord more everyday. I can look back in just the short time I've known him and see many ways God is working in his life.
Without hesitation, I can say that I deserve NONE of this. Why has God blessed me, the greatest of sinners, with so much? How can I even begin to feel in my heart the gratitude that I owe? The truth is, as wonderful as he is, Dameon is not my joy. I cannot put my hope in him and he certainly can't put his hope in me. I can only delight myself in the Lord and wait on Him. I'm excited for how He will continue to work in our lives as individuals and in our marriage.
(Okay, so I feel like this is just a series of random thoughts, but I'm okay with that.) I think it's important during this "Season of Hope" to take time to consider where our hope really lies.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sometimes I miss preschool...
Having a new job this year is such a huge blessing! Don't get me wrong, I loved my two years at DR-M and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I still have friends teaching there, who I miss seeing and chatting with on a daily basis. But I am so thankful to be working here in town, and in the same district as my husband. Teaching Kindergarten is surprisingly a lot different than teaching preschool! The kids are so much more independent at the wise old age of 5 and 1/2. They can write their names, wipe their noses (kinda), and walk in a line. Phew!
But, I think the biggest thing I miss about teaching preschool (besides my top-notch associate) is all the funny stories I would come home with each day. For some reason kindergartners are just that much more grown-up and logical...or something. So I've decided I'm going to make a countdown of my all-time favorite teaching stories/moments for your reading pleasure. I'm hoping you find them humorous and not just had-to-be-there. While I don't have the time to type them all right now, I still want to share them. So I think I'll do one each day.
So it was my first year of teaching, and it was the beginning of the year. This meant I had to wade through a lot of assessment with the kids to get a baseline for where they were at and where we were headed. On this particular day, I needed to assess each individual child on letter identification. Basically I would hold up a card with a letter on it to see if he/she knew what the letter was. The kids were doing okay with it, and I was generally pleased with the number of letters they already knew. These were 3-year-olds, so it's not like I had huge expectations. As I'm assessing this one little guy, I notice his tone of voice and expression are quite annoyed and "over it". Almost like he thinks this is the most pointless thing he's ever done in his three years of living and he can't believe I'm wasting his time with such petty tasks. Now, this MIGHT make sense if he was whipping through the letters with ease, having already mastered all 26. But this wasn't the case. For every letter I presented, his response was the same: "18". And every time he said "18", he was more annoyed than the time before. It was basically getting to the point where he was hardly taking the time to even look at the letter before rolling his little eyes and saying, "18." To me, this was both hilarious and concerning. So we continue to work our way through the alphabet and it goes like this:
(I show S)
"18"
(I show M)
"18"
(I show E)
"18"
You get the point. The next letter I present is letter 'O'. I'm not expecting the child to even hesitate, and he doesn't. But instead of spitting out his usual "18", he instead says, "head."
It took me a second to realize what he meant, and then I got it. I had to look away so I could giggle a little. Isn't that SO cute?!? Classic.
But, I think the biggest thing I miss about teaching preschool (besides my top-notch associate) is all the funny stories I would come home with each day. For some reason kindergartners are just that much more grown-up and logical...or something. So I've decided I'm going to make a countdown of my all-time favorite teaching stories/moments for your reading pleasure. I'm hoping you find them humorous and not just had-to-be-there. While I don't have the time to type them all right now, I still want to share them. So I think I'll do one each day.
So it was my first year of teaching, and it was the beginning of the year. This meant I had to wade through a lot of assessment with the kids to get a baseline for where they were at and where we were headed. On this particular day, I needed to assess each individual child on letter identification. Basically I would hold up a card with a letter on it to see if he/she knew what the letter was. The kids were doing okay with it, and I was generally pleased with the number of letters they already knew. These were 3-year-olds, so it's not like I had huge expectations. As I'm assessing this one little guy, I notice his tone of voice and expression are quite annoyed and "over it". Almost like he thinks this is the most pointless thing he's ever done in his three years of living and he can't believe I'm wasting his time with such petty tasks. Now, this MIGHT make sense if he was whipping through the letters with ease, having already mastered all 26. But this wasn't the case. For every letter I presented, his response was the same: "18". And every time he said "18", he was more annoyed than the time before. It was basically getting to the point where he was hardly taking the time to even look at the letter before rolling his little eyes and saying, "18." To me, this was both hilarious and concerning. So we continue to work our way through the alphabet and it goes like this:
(I show S)
"18"
(I show M)
"18"
(I show E)
"18"
You get the point. The next letter I present is letter 'O'. I'm not expecting the child to even hesitate, and he doesn't. But instead of spitting out his usual "18", he instead says, "head."
It took me a second to realize what he meant, and then I got it. I had to look away so I could giggle a little. Isn't that SO cute?!? Classic.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My brother the rockstar!
Yes, it's true. My little brother, Brad, is on his way to stardom...and has already achieved it if you ask me. Not only is he amazing on the guitar, the kid can sing! And that's not all. He is also a genuinely great songwriter. Matt Wertz, watch out!
Most recently Brad wrote and performed a song at my aunt's funeral. I was blown away by the way he kept his composure and sang a song that had such a perfectly appropriate message for that day. Wowza!
He is in the process of recording a mini-album of his original work, which will soon be released by yours truly right on this very blog. :) Stay tuned...
Most recently Brad wrote and performed a song at my aunt's funeral. I was blown away by the way he kept his composure and sang a song that had such a perfectly appropriate message for that day. Wowza!
He is in the process of recording a mini-album of his original work, which will soon be released by yours truly right on this very blog. :) Stay tuned...
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The wedding was beautiful!
The dust has settled and the newlyweds are (I'm sure) enjoying their Hawaiian honeymoon. The wedding went off without a hitch! They had a beautiful day and tons of friends and family there to celebrate. I'll admit I was a little under the weather, but still managed to have a great time! Annie was, as predicted, the most radiant bride and Ryley didn't look too bad either.
As you can see, the sudden onset of illness prevented me from making it to my spray-tan appointment so...sorry if you're a little blinded by my whiteness. I did end up liking my hair, though. My Iowa City stylist suggested that I go with a "retro" style. When I first suggested this to wedding hair stylist she said, "Oh yeah, like Amy Winehouse." uh....the only thing that brings to mind is eyeliner and crazy frizz rat's nest. But she reassured me that it would be more like smooth in the front and then big volume in the back. I told the lady I'd already had my day of being a bride, so I wasn't too picky. It turned out pretty cool. All in all, it was a great day. I had so much fun spending time with good friends and being there to witness such a monument in Annie's life. I look forward to hearing Annie's tales of newlywed-ism and maybe offering some words of advice here and there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)