My start today was a bit later than yesterday. I picked up my munchkin help around 8 o'clock...a 9, 11, and 14 year old...I wasn't sure what to expect. What are the laws about child labor?...haha! With sleepy eyes and sluggish moves, off we went.
Today I was over the silliness from yesterday and a little more focused or was I? Opening my classroom door was like when you bake something and open the oven door a bit and feel a wave of hot air hit you...whoosh! Yuck!! Another surprise at the entrance of my room was a dead roach with ants feasting on it...ahhhhh!!! Now where in the world would these ants be coming from?!!! No picnic basket in sight, no food, no! no! no! I watched the ants as they marched along as happy as can be and ah ha!...they were coming from a crack in the door frame!!! Now what do I do? My munchkin helpers helped me with the stomp dance until I realized how silly we looked and decided to take action...where's the RAID?!!
This time I decided to bother our custodians...help! It's hot and I have ants! The heat wave was fixed with a flick of a switch and we were cooling off. Sad news is the ants are still partying in the room! The schools are not allowed to have any chemicals or pesticides...so no Raid!! They were going to look for something they might be able to use...hmm...I can only imagine how many more ants there will be tomorrow, especially after we probably angered them. More than likely, those little boogers (the ants not custodians) will be sending in the troops!
My munchkin helpers were in awe for a few minutes looking at me for direction and asking, "so what do you want us to do?" Hmmm....good question...I had no clue what I wanted them to do. So much for thinking I was focused! I'm so conditioned to setting up my classroom by myself for so many years, I didn't know what to tell them.. now I had three helpers!
Three helpers with such different personalities. One is very mother hen, focused, and kept me on track. Another is very sweet but easily distracted and would stop to read a book or two, explore different parts of the room, read another book, help out, read another book...haha! The oldest was my strength...move this, move that, but also a bit distracted and curious of every box. We hit all the boxes filled with books and "stuff," all 12 not 9!!! Ugh!
It was a great experience for them to see how classrooms get set up. They now can walk into their own classrooms this Fall and look at their teacher and realize how much effort is put into everything. One of my munchkins after moving things, dusting, and organizing said, "and you do this by yourself?" Yup, sure do!
It was 12 o'clock now, we were on a roll, and I could have kept going. I wanted to finish as much as I could, then I was reminded... they need to eat! oops! This was a great stopping point...heehee...love to stop for food!
As we washed up, one of my munchkin helpers said, "I can see the top of the desks now." haha I looked around and she was right...what a difference their help made! Yay!! They really helped out a lot and also found some time to goof off too! They may be "big" kids but they're still little munchkins inside who did a great job!
Not sure what day 3 will bring...more ants??? eek!
XOXO!!
This is awesome Xoch! What an exciting way to tackle the "back to work" syndrome. - Angie
ReplyDeletefor the ants -- try cinnamon! works for us. The neighbors have cats and of course we want to limit all exposure to pesticides!
ReplyDeleteAngie...Thanks so much! I hope it doesn't "tackle" me back! haha
ReplyDeleteJanine...wow cinnamon! I would have never known that...Thanks!