The end of Week Two

Somebody said once that teaching primary school is like putting on a day long kids birthday party.. five days a week.

Yup.. they left off the last bit: .. the weeks turn into.. 182 days a year!  And just as with parents, we have limited resources, which are becoming more and more limited as the government here keeps cutting the funding. And of course, everything has to be mapped back a government mandated curriculum.  Everything we do is fed into a huge bureaucratic monster who spits it back at us.. with revisions.  And of course, we are always accountable to parents, to the kids and to ourselves.  

I don’t like kids birthday parties. 

But I do like teaching. 

And I have finally almost made peace with the curriculum.  Almost.. there is so much damn paperwork into which I have hardly made a dent.. but I at least know some of the stuff I don’t know. 

Last year seemed to be all about crowd control, moving stuff from one shelf to another under the guise of ‘getting organized’ but basically just trying to clean up.  It was about trying to figure out how to teach kids to read.. thinking back on my experiences as a mother, a student, a teacher of all sorts.  As well, I had to figure out how to help kids develop an understanding of our abstract number system.  And then of course, there was the social aspect: don’t hit each another, don’t hide, take turns once in a while.. line up: in some semblance of a straight line. share, pick up your stuff.. don’t eat everything… quit picking your nose! 

But this year, I am so much further ahead.  In some ways.  I mean, under all that chaos last year I knew the most important thing was having fun.  This year, they are better behaved, better motivated, and we are actually doing some academics!  Of course there is a new cryer in the mix.. and a nose picker..  but they are basically so good I feel it may be easy to get carried away teaching academics..I do need to remind myself: kids just need to have fun. 

Lighten up!

So we do. 

Monday was our 4^th day of school.  We put up a new number everyday.. Special helper helps us count them. 

Tuesday was about the letter ‘P’.. we made some pictures, colored some color-ins.. of the capital P.. the small one is a little odd.. but the kids put it in their Morning Message book.  They like Morning Message.. it is doable.  And now they know the motions to the letters S,A,T,P,I,N.  “SSSSSSSSSSSnail”  “AH, AH, AH, ants”.. “Tuh Tuh Tuh”.. they can do ‘em all. 

Wednesday was our swim day, we walked to the Manor pool: shoes off, shoes on, hats, sunscreen, towels.. one little guy couldn’t get his pants up.. one couldn’t even find his.

The girls seem organized: what’s with that?

Then it was parent night.  I bought some cheese and crackers.. tried to explain what I was doing with their kids.  But..I  kept forgetting what I was talking about, as I always forget where I am.. what I am doing.. what I am planning to do these day.  Nothing new I guess. But I managed to keep the workshop going for a couple of hours.  Already I see the changes in how the parents relate to me.  They understand what is going on.. no surprises.. no secrets.  Really good.. plus they got to read the blog their kids have created.. and the electronic book Kristie made with them last year.. as well A Happy Song.. of course. 

Thursday… well, I forget Thursday.. all a blur, and now it is Friday: Morning Message, Calendar, Attendance, (all done by the Helper) Recess duty.. the new letter and number, we read about five books, listened to music, danced.  Then lunch duty.. watched a couple Dr. Suess movies and ate popcorn.  We made some letters and numbers, did some Math Centers, made some houses out of cardboard, and played on the IPads. 

A last minute assembly to say good-bye to the CO I hired almost a year ago now: readers and newsletters and.. the kids are gone.  A new weekend is here..

Yup.. am back in the thick of it. 

I have done assessments on most of the kids, but have now discovered that there is a five page document that I should be following.  I have the kids all measured and weighed.. reading levels figured out.. photos documented and filed. 

But there is one more thing getting in my way: kids are short. 

The chiropractor, that was Thursday after school.. said the one position I find myself in for most of the day.. leaning forward over a child.. is the worst possible thing I can do for my back. 

Another year long birthday party..

Not sure I am up to all this fun people!