Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday Leftovers

I'm off today but here's a gem from last year.

This happened during one of the very last weeks of the school year. I was talking to 'Z' who got to know me very well in the lunchroom. He's created a lot of material for me here so you may hear about 'Z' again in the future.

This particular day, we had indoor recess in the classroom. He was showing me something in a journal of his (I think it was about volcanoes) and I commented on how my kids liked anything to do with natural disasters.

He looked at me as wide-eyed as he could and exclaimed 'YOU HAVE KIDS?!?!?!'

Mind you -- one of my boys had shared a classroom with him for the previous 9 months! LOL

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Rainy Days and Dominoes

Today was raining so that meant indoor recess in our classrooms instead of out on the playground.

Two 2nd graders were excited to show me that they were setting up a domino design on the table to knock over. I noticed that ONE domino was a little out of place and as I leaned over to nudge it in a bit, my lanyard hit the middle of the design and half of the display knocked itself down right in sequence. OMG - I apologized profusely to the boys. I SO didn't intend on doing that. One of the boys -- 'Billy' suffers from some anxiety so I was concerned he might have a meltdown over this. But no! He was comforting ME instead -- saying it was okay -- it was just an accident, etc. I quickly helped them rebuild the section I had knocked over. Just as we were placing the last few, 'Billy' accidently tipped one over on the opposite end and they ALL went down in order - EVERY last one of them! 'Billy' eyed me to see how I'd respond first and when we caught each other in mid glance, we BOTH burst out laughing -- then high-fived each other!

Way to turn an 'almost bad moment' into something fun 'Billy'!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

If You Teach a Man to Fish...

I felt like I was trying to teach a whole boat full of fisherman today, except they are all only 5 years old LOL.

It's amazing to me the ginormous amount of data that is fed to kindergarten children. Yes, there are all sorts of academics, they are writing their names, reading by the end of the school year, counting, writing numbers, doing math, etc. But here are some other things they also learn that we take for granted with our older, more seasoned students:
  • walking in a straight line with their mouths quiet (most of the time)
  • raising their hands when they need help
  • how to take turns in line, on the playground, for the bathroom, for a snack, to enter the gym, etc.
  • fair play (this is one even the big kids need to learn over and over sometimes)
  • how to open their own milk carton, juice pouch, chip bag, fruit cup, straw and even their lunch boxes (I implement the 'let me see you try it' approach first and you'd be surprised how many can get it on their own)
  • compassion - helping a playmate by pushing them on the swings, sharing something from their lunch, getting help if someone is injured, etc.

Moms, I know it's rough sending your 'baby' off to school for the first time for a full day. I know you want to do everything for them and that's okay because you have only them to cater to and it's your job to nurture them. But by the end of this very school year, your baby is going to have mastered everyone of these bulleted points, and many many more. They are growing into independent little people with minds of their own. The more we teach them to do, the more independent they become and the stronger the hunger becomes to learn even more.

Rest assured, your child is in good hands. We love our charges in the lunchroom like they're our own -- after all we are all mommies too.

'You can't take the mommy out of the lunch lady' (my motto)

Monday, August 25, 2008

I 'Heart' this boy

A boy waved me over today just to say, 'I just wanted to tell you I like you'. Awe - I like you too sweetie.

How many of you have jobs where your 'employees' stop you just to say they like you?

Friday, August 22, 2008

First Week In Review

We survived:

  • Explaining procedures to all the new students and returning students. I think they're catching on.
  • Worked out some kinks in the scheduling that will serve everyone a little better.
  • One student who's mom got confused about when lunch was and 'forgot' to bring it for him.
  • One student who had a pretty serious injury (on day ONE) but should be okay (THAT was scary)
  • Two 'misplaced' kindergarten kids who decided (on their own) that they could head out to recess when they finished eating (not allowed)

All-In-All a really successful week LOL. At least it was better than last year when the school was on lockdown the 2nd day of school because of a TORNADO!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Leftovers

I'm off duty today b/c my son has a doctor's appointment. So on the days off when I have no new material, I'm posting something I still remember (an amazing feat in itself) from last year!

I'm calling it 'Leftovers'

This is one I recall from the beginning week of last school year. A first grade girl I'll call Amy called me over and had a complaint about a boy I'll call Don. The conversation went something like this:

AMY: Mrs. R, Don is bothering me.

ME: Well, what is he doing?

AMY: (with an obvious look of disgust) He keeps following me around and telling me he loves me!

ME: (stifling a giggle) And what would you like me to do about that?

AMY: You need to have a talk with him.

ME: Sure! What should I tell him?

AMY: (pausing to think) Well........I think you should tell him that first graders really shouldn't be thinking about love and stuff.

I couldn't agree more. Enough said!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

First Love

Today was our first day back to school and I'm in love with a first grader.

He called me over and said 'TWO things. I'm new to the area and I need some silverware' LOL, gotta love a kid that gets right to the point.

I quickly introduced myself and our handy-dandy combo utensil we like to refer to as a 'spork'. He explained that his family just moved here a few weeks ago, but had previously lived in Texas and Georgia. I welcomed him and told him he was a REAL southern gentleman complete with the nicest manners I've seen in a 6 year old boy.

I think he was quite taken by me.

When he walked past me to go outside to recess he handed me his apple from his lunch and said, 'here this is for you'. My heart melted into a puddle.

My first day of school AND my first apple!