Day 60

Day 60 of the school year has arrived and a single thought is on my mind: What the actual f*** have I been doing for 60 days?

I have been incredibly busy. So busy that I have no idea what I have done, where I've been, or when/if I've shaved my legs. Just kidding, just kidding...
I know where I've been. I've been at Chiles.

Yesterday at our biweekly seminar, my UF advisor brought her first year teaching portfolio. As it turns out, I should have been documenting my every move, my students' every move, and my every reflection about our respective moves the last 60 days. 65, if you include pre-planning, which I do because she did. Don't get me wrong, I'm a modern girl- I have been taking a lot of pictures with my iPhone (not of the kids, just of their work and the activities they've done and the work they've done). However, I don't exactly know how to make those iPhone pictures become a tangible thing, since my bluetooth is faulty and every time I approach a Kodak kiosk children start screaming around me, I'm usually starving, and things are happening to the point where I have no desire to be in a store anymore. Somehow I have to get my photos into print and into a classy but professional scrapbook. Prinicpals probably won't look at it... and yet... it needs to exist. I'm incredibly overwhelmed by the process of documenting this whole year. So many things to put down on paper.

Today was the Chief Feast, a celebration of thanksgiving with families and music. Our kids put on pilgrim costumes and sang songs that warmed all of our hearts. We tried to incorporate a bubble machine into the production at the last minutes, but the kids were so enamored by the giant bubbles mysteriously floating above them that they lost their minds and started running after the bubbles. 70 of them, lunging for 3 or 4 bubbles. It was the best part of the show. Well, actually, the second best part- the other teacher frantically taking the machine off the stage was the best part. I think parents will always remember the sudden appearance and rapid disappearance of the bubble machine.

I was observed today by my advisor, so after the Chief Feast Fiasco, I had to tame my class in order to get through a math lesson. I figured they'd be too far gone to really pay attention to anything at this point, so I tried to make it really really interesting. We talked about foods we eat at Thanksgiving. I had them draw what they like to eat on a paper plate. I pulled their names out of a bucket and they came up and added their favorite food to a chart (I wrote the word, they filled in a box). The result was a dandy little bar graph that told us what food the most people listed as their "favorite" (mac n' cheese, obvi). It went as well as it could have, I would say.

There were two really touching moments today. They were probably meaningful because they were so unexpected. One of my students- the calmest, smartest, sweetest, cutest little boy EVER- was quietly crying with his head in his lap as the class was lining up to go to the performance. Moms and dads were supposed to check-in at the classroom and his did not. He assumed they weren't coming and was truly crushed. It was especially powerful because he's usually so sweet that even when he's overcome with sadness he does it quietly and calmly. Other kids were sobbing loudly and asking to be held. He was just... sad. I told him that it was going to be okay and that they were probably waiting in the cafeteria. I very much hoped that was true. When we were arranging the kids on the stage, he asked me to hold his jacket. Someone took it out of my hand right away- his dad had appeared beside me (and at 6'4", eclipsed me). I have never seen a child so happy. I was incredibly relieved.

The second was when the entire class gathered after the performance in the room with their parents. They sat in a circle and said what they were thankful for. The parents also took a turn saying what they were thankful for, and two parents who we seemed to be very distant in the past said something very warm and heartfelt about each other. The mom actually teared up a bit. Warm and fuzzies y'all. Warm and fuzzies.


I.... gotta go watch Twilight. TBD

Happy sixth week of Kindergarten :) Today in our reading group small groups I distributed sight word watches. I challenged them to tell as many people as they could what their awesome watch says! They loved it. 

Then, a child snotted on my classy Express shirt and I had a mini internal fit. 


These are the kinds of things you will read in this blog.