Boogers and Bathrooms...Oh MY!!!

Wednesday is usually called hump day...gosh, I'm glad we're over the hump.

Knowing we have a 3 day weekend ahead made the week seem to go very slow. Munchkinville so far has had its good moments and some bad moments. I'm ready for a long weekend and adult interactions! haha!

My munchkins had their orientation in our school library this morning. Our librarian is great and brave to shoo me away while she did her orientation with the munchkins. She wanted to work with them alone and would bring them back to me in about 30 minutes or so. Wow!!! Free time!! Woohoo!! Well, not exactly free time... 30 minutes is a lot of time to a teacher and believe me I had so many things I needed to do...where to start?? Later in the year she increases the time to 45 minutes...~ahhh! :) I chatted with my student teacher and a few things were completed, not many...but it was a nice little break.

As teachers, we have to have eyes in the back of our heads, sonar radar, and super powers! Heehee! I could sense my munchkins coming so I walked out of my room and to the end of the hallway... sure enough my little ones were coming down a back hallway with the librarian. She gave them a great compliment...they were much better than the Kinder class that went to her yesterday! See! ~I whispered to them...you are the best Kinder class...so far... don't ruin it! :)
Don't get me wrong...I do have some little boogers that are pushing my patience level and giving me more gray hair but they're nowhere near some other munchkins in Kinder...eek! Knock on wood!!

Speaking about little boogers...Boy do they LOVE to dig in their noses!!! There is always one or two when we're gathered on the rug digging for gold! The first week I was real good and would nicely say ~we use a tissue for our nose not our fingers. Well...today I just got tired of watching the same child, who I've told over and over to use a tissue, digging and digging then looking at what he found and just as he was about to smear it...that's when I wasn't so sweet or nice anymore. Yes, I did it...I admit...I drew attention to my archeologist digging for gold...I didn't call on him by name, but I did gasp quite loudly (works better than yelling and it really gets their attention...Ahhhh!! Oh my goodness...YUCK! We don't pick, dig, or fish for boogers! Get up and get a tissue right now! (still in a low but shocked tone) Well, as I finished saying that... 3 little boogers stood up to get a tissue?! I had noticed only 1 digging and was directing my comment to him...obviously there were others who thought I was talking to them! Ay dios mio!! I almost started to laugh! It helped me remember some of these boogers are still babies!!! I have one who just turned 5 on Monday, so she was only 4!!! Oh my goodness!!!

Yesterday was the first day someone took home a Yellow Card for behavior...yikes! Well, that same little boy received a Yellow again today!!! Yesterday he was caught playing in the bathroom. He climbed like a little monkey on top of the stall and jumped!! Today was even better! As part of my class was in line, quietly waiting their turn to use the restroom, that's when I heard boys squealing and yelling. ~Oh those BETTER not be my boys! There was another class taking a restroom break so I was crossing my fingers they weren't mine...remember...I have the best Kinder class. Well, the bathroom main door is always kept open so teachers can see part of the restroom if they need to stop kids from playing with the soap and water, paper towels, or just yell in to hurry up. The stalls have doors and there is a partial wall covering the urinals so no worries about exposing themselves. Well...my monkey from yesterday had just turned into a penguin!!! I had heard the noise and stood in the hallway at the entrance to look in and see who was playing...well, my little monkey had his little pants down to his ankles waddling, laughing, and screaming from the stall to the urinal across the room!!!! OH NO YOU DIDN'T!! His uniform shirt was so long it almost came down to his knees, lucky for him! So much for the best Kinder class!!! ~Ahhh! (yes there's the gasp again) What do you think you're doing???!!! Get out here right now! I forgot they take you word for word and he started waddling toward me, pants down and all toward the hallway...yikes!! ~Xoch what are you saying?...~Go finish your business, wash your hands, and get out! When we get to the class change your card! His little voice said ~yes, m'am At least I taught him to say yes m'am and he used it at the appropriate time. Back in the classroom I had the speech after he changed his card to yellow...in my sad low tone I said~I'm very disappointed in the behavior of some of you and thank you to those who were behaving. Behavior like that does not make us the best Kinder class. Heads went down and silence came across the room. I heard crying, not from my penguin who should have been crying, but from a new little boy I got last week who is very sensitive. He's a special little one who we're monitoring for other needs or behaviors we (the counselor and myself) noticed that are "different." By all means, there are no "normal" children/people...we all have our quirks, differences, and what I call God's special gifts! As a teacher we can detect little things that stand out and need to be addressed for the betterment of the munchkins. He's probably my favorite right now...I know we're not supposed to have favorites but I'm drawn to him probably because he reminds me of one of my nephews who has Autism and... he cracks me up!! He has the sweetest eyes when he looks at me and a noise or giggle he makes when he doesn't want to talk and then when he does talk... he loves to talk in the 3rd person! It's like a little cute munchkin Seinfeld episode...remember the Jimmy episode? :) Jimmy wants to drink water. Jimmy is tired. Jimmy is going to go home....cute!!! (his name is not Jimmy by the way) Back to him crying...it broke my heart! I went over to him and asked him why he was crying but he didn't want to talk or look at me, he just had his head down on his table hiding in his crossed arms. I whispered in his ear as I held back tears...~Are you crying because you thought you were in trouble? No answer...~I'm not mad at you, you didn't misbehave it was ....not you. I'm sorry I made you feel sad. Instantly he sat up, wiped his eyes, and in the 3rd person said ~Jimmy (I'm not using his real name) doesn't walk with his pants down. Jimmy loves you. My heart sank!! ~I love you too! Why am I doing Kinder again?? I guess for those exact moments!!

On a happier note...our school is participating in a school wide contest called Chains of Hope for our September 11th Remembrance. Remember the paper chains made from strips of construction paper we've all done sometime in our lives? Well, we sell each red, white, or blue strip for 10 cents and the class who collects the most money and the longest chain wins. The money collected goes to the districts scholarship fund. I bug parents and teach the munchkins about giving to others. My classes have always done very well but I wasn't too sure about this new class of munchkins. To my surprise, not only are they bringing in dimes for their strips I've had one bring $3 and another today bring in $5...wow! That's a lot for these little ones to walk in with and for the area I work in. I'm not saying they're poverty level but they aren't rolling in the dough either. We're off to a great start and we have until September 10 to collect so we'll see how it turns out. They're so excited it's cute! I also had to explain it's ok not to win too! Yikes, I forget they're so little and I had to let them know we can TRY to win but it's ok if we don't win. I hope they understand that...eek!

Thanks for listening...stay tuned for adventures in munchkinville....
XOXO's