School

Today

/ khays41 / 2 Comments

Today I observed my class wearing…..

Fake Ugg boots with a summer dress.

Orange shirt. Orange shorts. Orange socks. All different shades of orange, of course.

Athletic shorts with a plaid shirt.

T-shirt that was longer than the skirt she paired it with.

Tall black socks with long black shorts.

Pink shirt. Pink pants. Pink jacket.

Winter coat with flip flops.

Today I heard my class saying….

Could you please talk quietly? I am trying to finish this book.

We work first, then play.

You have only used your teacher voice about 10 times today, Ms. Hays! And it’s been all for the same person!! (not the best thing I wanted to hear)

I knew you had a treat for us today!

If the word begins with the same letter, you have to look at the second letter. ( and she showed him how to line up the word so he could compare)

I found a dime under your desk.

You cannot do that.  You know that’s not how we roll. (and she stopped to help her friend who was having a rough time)

4 kids having a conversation about how a baby gets food when it’s inside its moms tummy.

Kids singing along to TSwift.

Today I felt….incredibly lucky to be their teacher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Joys and Concerns

/ khays41 / 2 Comments

I think I have mentioned that in my classroom we have a family meeting each morning where we share announcements, joys and concerns.

Yesterday we began our day with a bazillion ‘for Easter, I got…’ announcements. As we began to share joys and concerns, I had a little boy who was dyyyyyyyyyying to share.

‘We need to have concerns for our church.’

‘Can you give a little more information?’

‘Oh yes. Yesterday for church we could NOT go inside the building. We had to stay outside. It was dark and cold. I do not know why we couldn’t go in. But it’s bad. So we need concerns.’

‘Do you think it might have been Sunrise Service since it was Easter? Church was held outside to celebrate?’

‘NO! We couldn’t go in for any reason. It’s bad. We need concerns.’

At this point, I concede and offer up good thoughts for our friends church. Another friend who attends the same church, looks at him and says:

‘It was fine when I went.’

I have absolutely no idea what he was talking about.  Still don’t.  But in the spirit of joys and concerns I offered it up. Just sayin’.

 

What’s In My Bag?

/ khays41 / 3 Comments

I saw this post over at Write Another One and decided that it would be great for me tonight!

In my school book bag you will find:

an umbrella

pens

smelly markers

glow in the dark rosary

note from a student

a birthday card

zip bag of pens

personal planner

school planner

module 4 topic b/c math notebook

question of the day cards

computer sleeve

laptop

spiral notebook

notes of encouragement

pencils

assorted buffalo clips

So there’s some stuff in my bag that would make MacGyver jealous.  All that’s missing is duct tape and a stapler.  Oh wait.  I have those things in my purse!

 

 

 

 

The Den’s

/ khays41 / 3 Comments

This year I am blessed to have three friends whose names all end in ‘Den’.  Holy confusion, Batman! Much like a mother who must say all of her children’s names before she gets the child she is wanting–some days I have to say all three before I get the ‘Den’ I am wanting.

One sunny Wednesday, I was working with a small group of kids at the rainbow table.  I called for my next group.  All of a sudden I have a little boy at the table that I hadn’t called for.

‘What’s up?’

Dead pans me.

‘Why are you here?’

‘OH! I didn’t hear who you called, I just heard one of the Dens and so I just came on up!’

‘Well you aren’t the Den I need so you can go on back to work, Friend.’

Off he went.  Correct Den comes to the table and we continued on.

**I also have 3 friends whose names end in Ana.  It’s crazy.

Oh, the Things I Get to Say!

/ khays41 / 7 Comments

After lunch each day we have a time where we do math intervention activities.  We had completed our math journal and were playing a dice game with partners.  Today I needed to play because we were short a person.  This is kind of a loose time in our room–kids take care of things like the bathroom as needed.  They don’t have to ask me or report to me to leave the room.  They just go.

I am playing the game with a friend when I notice a Third Grade Friend enter the room.  She makes a beeline for me.

‘Ms. Hays, I need to tell you something.’ Her eyes are ginormous.

‘OK.Shoot!’

She glances around and out of the side of her mouth says, ‘One of your friends ate peanut butter off of the bathroom floor!’

‘What? What did you say?’

‘Yeah. One of YOUR friends ate peanut butter off of the bathroom floor!’

‘Oh my.  Thank you for letting me know.’

Friend and I enter into a staring contest.  I head her way and whisper, ‘I’m going to need to visit with you a little later.’  She smiles.  She thinks I will forget.  No such luck, Friend. This I will remember.

When I met with the friend, I started the conversation by asking if there was anything she felt like I should know.  Nope.  Nothing.  She didn’t have anything.  Are you sure?  Yep.

I sat silently hoping she would confess.

A few moments later, she blurts out, ‘I waited too long to go to the bathroom and I didn’t make it!’

‘Oh ok.  I am sorry that happened to you.  We can get that taken care of–no problem. Do you have anything else I need to know?’

Looking me straight in the eye, she deadpans me and declares, ‘Nope.’

Decision time.  Cut to the chase and call her out? Or continue to play this cat and mouse game?

‘Hmmm.  Did you eat peanut butter off of the bathroom floor?’

Smirking, she says, ‘Oh yeah.  I did.  I did do that.’

‘Why?’

She had no idea.  No one dared her.  She just did it.  Oh my.  Never, ever in my teaching lifetime have I had to say these words:

‘We do not eat peanut off of the bathroom floor.  That’s gross.  It’s really very disgusting. Um. Yeah.  We do not eat peanut butter off the bathroom floor.’

Oh my.

 

Laughter

/ khays41 / 3 Comments

So far all of my posts seem to be about school.  I might need to think about other things than school.

Monday was the best day we have had all year.  I mean THE. BEST. DAY. EVER.  I had high hopes for Tuesday.  My hopes were quickly dashed.  And by dashed what I really mean is those high hopes were yanked from my grasp, thrown to the ground and stomped upon as hard as a person could stomp.

Each time I thought we were recovering, things only got worse.

Finally, late in the afternoon, I turned to a friend and said, “I think we could all use a Snickers!”  She totally got my reference.

She quipped back, “Yeah!  Like when that really ugly guy eats a Snickers and turns into a beautiful lady in a really pretty dress!” Another friend yelled out, “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!  That guys is real ugly and then he turns into a girl! We need Snickers!” Other kids chimed in and we had a great time laughing.

They have no clue what the references are in those commercials.  All they know is that it makes them laugh.  Hearing them laugh made me laugh.

And laughter, is indeed, the best medicine.

 

***update from yesterday’s post….My friend came to school today and puked half way through the day.  Friend was a trooper and made it to the bathroom before she spilled her guts!

Not a Fan

/ khays41 / 7 Comments

Shortly after the bell rang, and the Pledge of Allegiance ended, a friend came to me with ‘the look’.  Her stomach felt weird.  Weird like???  Weird like puke.

Grrrrrreeeeeeaaaaatttttttt.

Yeah.  Not a fan of body fluids.  Especially puke.  My children will tell you that I am the worst nurse in the world.  They know to call their dad if body fluids are involved.  (Incidentally, he made a rule that if you can drive a car, you can clean up puke soooo no calls these days.)

I asked my usual questions: Have you been to the bathroom? (hint #2) Did you have breakfast? Are you hungry? Have you had some water? Would you like a snack?

She’d been to the bathroom.  She’d had breakfast. Not hungry. Not interested in water or a snack.  OK.  Let’s just see how the day goes.

Later, she tells me, “Sooner or later I am gonna puke.”

And then later, “It’s coming.  It’s just a matter of time.”

And still later, “It’s close now.”

She wasn’t herself–she was grouchy and short with other friends.  She was defiant with me.  She was pale.  I knew she just didn’t feel good.

Finally, “It’s real, real close now.” By this time, it’s 2:25.  We have an hour of school left. She thought seeing the nurse would be for the best at this point.  So I sent her.  She rested for 15 minutes, returned to the room with a message from the nurse:
“Welp. Nurse Jessie says it looks like I am going to live.  I don’t how she knew, but she did.  So I am back!”

Good golly.  I would have saved myself TONS of drama if I had sent her at 8:45 this morning for this diagnosis.

Lesson learned.

Tomorrow will be better.

 

When You Make Bad Choices

/ khays41

As I picked my kids up from the gym, I heard a number of ‘HOLY SMOKES! IT’S COLD OUT HERE!’ And you know what?  They were right.  It was cold out there.

And I had not worn any socks.  And I had a friend who had worn her flip flops.  Another had on her exercise pants which did not cover her ankles.  My good friend T pointed out that I had made a bad choice and I was going to have to live with it.

His words sounded suspiciously like my words.  OH MY.

I begged the friends not to tell my mom!  They giggled…and said, ‘MS. HAYS YOU DON’T LIVE WITH YOUR MOM!!’ More giggling.

You know what?  It was just socks.  And I am a grown-up who can make her own choices.  Forgetting my socks only affected me–for the most part. It meant that I wasn’t going to be too hip to have any extra outside recess so that affected the kids.

But what about when bad choices affect others?  Do I think about how my choices affect others?  Sometimes.  But really. Probably not.  As humans we can be very selfish.

I am human.