Sure Are A Lot of Mexicans

I received a new student last week from Arkansas. A child who would likely be a clone of the rest of the class at many schools, this caucasian, blond boy sticks out like a sore thumb in the sea of Hispanic boys and girls in Room 19. Not only that, but he's rather short for his age, and has a slight twangy accent.

On his first week of school, he made the following observations/vocal thoughts:

Me: How do you like it here in Phoenix?
Student: I dunno- There sure are a lot of Mexicans here!

Student: It's so hot here I think I'm sweatin' in places I never sweated at before!

Student: You better lock your doors 'cuz I hear this place has lots of thieves and murderers.

Student: I'm walking home, but I'll be careful because my mom told me that a few years ago a girl was raped and killed on her way home.

Student: In Arkansas, if you don't wear your shoes, you're called a hillbilly!

Potentially rich

Today I've discovered that although I bemoan my financial plight quite often, I could potentially be rich. If I were not so magnetic toward used bookstores and book fairs, I think I might have enough money not to worry too much about whether my bank account could support another trip to the gas station. This weekend, I spent near $100 on children's books alone! Before you scoff at my weakness, let me at least brag about what I was able to purchase with the money:
Copies of:
"Say What?"
"Bodies in the Hotel"
"Andy Russell and the Flying Hamsters"
"The Story of Ferdinand"
"Skippyjon Jones"
"Stephanie's Ponytail" and "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch
one copy of every book in the Captain Underpants series (after my students begged me to get more)
"Orwell's Luck"
"Revolutionary War on Wednesday"
"The Giraffe, The Pelly, And Me"
"The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool"
"A True Taste for Scarlet and Miniver"
and possibly more
My colleague's birthday is on Thursday, so many of the above titles were purchased for the occasion as part of a read-aloud pack.

No P.S.

I have to mention this short story:
Last week we were reading "Ruby the Copycat" from our reading series. In it, a girl gives Ruby a note with a P.S. telling her that she doesn't like her copycatting ways. Afterward, Ruby (rightfully) cries.
Me: Why do you think Ruby cries after reading the note?
Student: She called her a P.S.!

Also, I have one ornery little girl who cries and whines all the time. In a fit of frustration, I said, "Chantal, don't cry over that!" and she retorted in the whiniest of voices: "I'm not a crier; I'm a whiner!"

After showing a really cool trick with addition, a student cries out, "Damn! That's hot!" with obvious enthusiasm. "Please watch your language in the classroom," I say, in my most mature teacher voice. Surprised, the student replies with, "What? 'Hot?!'"

Here's another random bit of wisdom given by a third grader: "Life would be so much easier if I had a monkey." Amen. Amen.

Eight-year-old tour guides

Wow! I have to say I'm fairly happy about how Parent Night turned out. I had about half of my class show up with parents in tow. Honestly, I had nothing to worry about. The students who showed up immediately gave their parents the run around the room, pointing to every display, poster, area, and assignment with an explanation (most in Spanish, but I did have one or two English speakers this year!). They had their parents guess which one was their Mini-Me's (props to many parents for getting it right on the first try), then they moved around the room pointing to their word family flower, sight word star, our class spelling and math chart, even stopping to explain the behavior chart. My job was made incredibly easy. I answered about two questions, thanked them for coming, and that was that. I loved that the students felt that the room was THEIRS, such a contrast from Meet the Teacher when they shyly walked in and wouldn't make eye contact. Now they were dragging their parents around by the hand to point to their name in the name quilt or explain our class jobs and pillow people.

The prize goes to my student Cierra who pulled things from random places to describe to her mom how I used the dry erase markers, showed her how to use an atlas, and summarized the read aloud. She must have been in there for thirty minutes, going on and on about every little detail in the class: how I use the yardstick of power, how her job is to shush Arnulfo, why we have special numbers, and the importance of marshmallows to our read aloud. I didn't even realize how much we did until she reported it all in detail.

Adorable, yet Exhausting

Well, it's technically only the seventh day of school, but, of course, I'm exhausted. These kids are absolutely ADORABLE... I have one child, who's not even in my class, but has adopted me as his recess buddy, who calls me his "mummy" because I do this little mummy bit where I chase him around the field. Today he accidentally called me "mama." That may not sound adorable to you, but believe me - it is!

Anyway, our Parent's Night (technically a Back-to-School) is this Thursday and I'm worried my classroom does not look good enough to receive parents. It doesn't look BAD, but it doesn't necessarily reflect all of the work we've done so far. After a Kagan workshop I took this summer, I've been incorporating a lot more cooperative learning, so a lot of what we do doesn't have hard "proof". We go into some amazing projects later in the year, but right now all I have up are our Mini-Mes, Wanted posters and a writing project for "Miss Nelson is Missing", fake newspaper reports about our first week of school, and their sight word charts. Will that be enough?

I think I may be getting good reports at home. I've had several teachers from lower grades tell me that their old students who are now in my class have reported that I am "sooo funny". It's true: I am. This group seems to appreciate my humor even more than last year. They love my reading selections (right now it's Shel Silverstein's "Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back"), Twinkie, and of course my undoubtable wit and charm!

Leave It Outside

Sometimes I think that a teacher is asked to be unhuman. She must be happy and excited 98% of the time, multi-tasking, concerned about everyone but herself, and, possibly hardest of all, she must learn to leave all personal (or sometimes professional) issues outside the door. Whether it's the death of a family member, the fact that she broke up with her boyfriend the night before, a rumor spreading denying her professional credability, nothing must effect her teaching.

Remembering when I was the age of my own students, I always thought that the teachers lived at school. I imagined Mr. Dickens putting the desks together to form a sort of bed, Mrs. Sulis tucking herself away into the cabinet for the night, etc. In a way, that's really who we are. I am Miss Sells, here for the twenty-five learners who grace my classroom with their presence five days a week. Since my personal struggles and dilemmas are not allowed to even enter my mind between 8:00 and 4:00, I might as well become the teacher who sleeps on her desk. It's often shocking when I realize there are people and situations outside of school. I spend so much energy on the school part, I forget that life is supposed to be more than that.

First Day

Today was the first day of school! It started as crazily as always: students in the wrong classrooms, non-English speaking parents coming into the room to make sure their child- I don't know - knows they are at school? My students are pretty adorable: 25 eight to nine-year-olds eager to be at school and start a new chapter. They are at many different academic levels. Most seem to be pretty low, but I also have one girl who is reading "Chronicles of Narnia."

The day passed very quickly, but I was still completely exhausted afterwards. Being cheery for so long takes something out of you.

It was also the first day of our conversion from a K-6 to a K-8. I am not the biggest lover of the junior-high crew: they are pompous, egotistical, wanna-be-adults. It's strange having to walk my kids past a bunch of gossiping 13-year-olds. I've had to tell students taller than me to tuck in their shirts... I also hurt my feet by playing tag in fancy professional shoes. I think the blisters are worth the connections I made with my third graders!

What day is it?

So, twenty five third graders will be showing up at my door in less than two days, and I am sitting in my classroom on a Saturday (or, more honestly, making frequent trips from the classroom to the teacher's lounge). For those of you numb to the pains of the teacher, this is not a rare occurence. I am not the only teacher here this Saturday: there are two sixth grade teachers, three second grade teachers, two first grade teachers, two fourth grade teachers, and possibly more locked inside their classrooms, plus our principal and vice principal. Also, if I were to compare the Saturdays I spent at school last year to the Saturdays I didn't spend at school, the former would greatly outweigh the latter. The sad thing is that if you were to ask me how I spent these Saturdays, the answer would be unsatisfactory: preparing. How can you spend THAT much time doing prep work? I would tell you it's because of my rather limited experience, but veteran teachers do the same.

Here's to your Saturday. May it be void of all work. Live it up so teachers can have something to experience vicariously.