Week 1...hmmm

Week 1 flew by and so did my weekend! Darn! ;)

My bubble was smashed this week! I was soooo excited to loop and poof! That bubble was popped in regards to looping up to 1st with my munchkins!! Whahhh! :( As I've mentioned before, looping is great when you move up with your entire class. Well, I got two more new munchkins this week. 9 new munchkins...ugh!! Almost half of my old babies moved so this left room for me to receive new munchkins. The new babies are very sweet but I'm starting from scratch with them! So much for picking up where we left off last year!! The one thing I'm having a hard time with is 3 of these babies are SOOOOOOO LOW!!! They should not be in 1st Grade! So many things popped in my head when I tested them...~Who the heck was your Kinder teacher? Where in the world did you go to Kinder? Do your parents realize how low you are? Ahhhhhh!!!

Frustration set in and a hint of despair...~what am I going to do now? Well I put my big girl panties on and figured I had to bite the bullet and deal with it. I had to remind myself it's not their fault and I need to figure out the answers to my questions. I looked up where one of them came from and was surprised her school last year was on "that" side of the freeway. Some teachers make comparisons to the different sides of the freeway. Our district has great schools on both sides of the freeway but many times my side of the freeway gets pushed aside or we just have more kids who are economically disadvantaged. I love my hood and barrio! heehee I've been there 13 years and will never teach anywhere else. I know, I know...never say never...but I say never! haha If I leave my lower valley family it will be for another career or ???

Back to my munchkins...when I saw which school she came from I really was puzzled but the great thing was I knew her Kinder teacher! I called the teacher to find out what happened and boy oh boy did I find out A LOT! My second munchkin is actually from our own school but was in another class and I have a lot of background on that little one too. My third munchkin came from a school on my side of the freeway and I left a message for the teacher but never heard back so I will call again Monday to get info. The other 6 new munchkins have to adjust to following a schedule and RULES!! Even some of my old ones have to be reminded about the rules! The old munchkins that were placed back into population are getting close to being put back into isolation row again this year!! On Friday I had to bring out the drill sergeant!! Warnings were flying left and right. They all were given the boot camp speech...~We're in 1st Grade now and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! I'm sure 2 were listening..haha They stared at me with scared blank looks on their faces and when I finished. ~Do you all understand me? Of course they all answered in their little sheepish voices ~yes ma'am. Two seconds later one of my newbies yelled out ~Hey!...and started laughing really loud! In my head I'm thinking ~what the, what the??!! I felt my head spin around so fast I probably gave myself whip lash! haha ~Is there something funny sir? He answered ~Yeah... you. ~Oh NO you didn't just say that to me!! I was ready to blow a gasket!! ~EXCUSE ME??! What did you just say young man? Did I say something funny? I wasn't sure if I should laugh with him or throw a changla! haha JK His response was HILARIOUS!! ~You're funny teacher you talk a lot...you like to talk to us huh? You talk like my other teacher but she hit the roof..you don't, you're pretty you called me a man...I'm not a man...funny teacher. I stood there and had to bite my tongue from laughing. Of course I had to keep a serious face and the drill sergeant out and responded back to him ~Did you understand young man what I was telling the class about behavior and 1st Grade? ~umm...yes, but you're funny teacher, I'm still not a man! Heehee! I'm sure the only words he heard from my entire rant were man and blah, blah, blah! haha

The sad thing about these little munchkins being so low is that if they don't make the grade they will fail! Ugh! I can only do so much to help them so mom and dad need to step up their game. I sent home a long letter and check list of what they should have learned in Kinder so they wouldn't struggle in 1st Grade and the eye opener fact that if they don't put in the extra time to work with their munchkins they could possibly fail. We'll see how many reactions I get on Monday about their munchkins. There may also be other issues as to why these munchkins are not retaining any information. Until we pin point those for sure I have a lot of work ahead of me with those babies.

The week was a good week even with the little surprises. Compared to the first week in Kinder...whew! what a difference. No pee'ers or poopers...yet! haha They're so cute too. I play tons of music in the class from different genres. Right now their favorite is Kidz Bop 18! It's so funny to hear these songs from the radio turned into "clean" kid versions! They're cute because they work and sing along to the songs. I crack up listening to them sing Hey Soul Sister, California Gurls, All the Right Moves, Break Your Heart, etc because they know all the words and groove in their little desks! haha I have to record them this coming week....too cute!

Week 2 begins tomorrow and leads into a nice 3 day weekend! Woohoo!!! Yes, I'm looking forward to my break already! haha Anticipating the long weekend will probably make my week drag! This week we're starting HOMEWORK! Yes the dreaded word all parents love to hate! haha! We'll see how that goes and which parents actually sit and work with their baby! Stay tuned for more adventures to come!...

XOXO's