Bawling, Blood, Boogers, and Barf...Oh My!!!

Yes, we hit all last week in Munchkinville~Bawling, Blood, Boogers, and Barf!!

I told myself I would blog on Sunday...hmmm...well, today is Monday and I'm off for Columbus Day. Yay! A day off! Which also means a short week when we get back! Double Yay!!! Do teachers enjoy their time off??? Oh yes we do! Any little time off helps! In the classroom with little munchkins for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, deserves every hour of free time we can get!

Our week started out very nice and calm. The munchkins are doing great and moving along quite well. We started our "testing" window and boy did I forget how long it takes to administer the Kinder assessment. Drag!! The assessment checks their knowledge of rhyming words, letter names, letter sounds, initial and final sounds, story comprehension, blah, blah, blah, blah! I'm still not finished assessing because I have until the 16th and so in my mind that means ~Take your time, you have plenty of days left. Haha!! In reality I'll probably be scrambling to finish.

Our blood episode was our first for the year. You would think the way some of the kids reacted we had a scene from CSI happening in the classroom. These are the cute and funny moments for me because I forget they're itty bitty and to them it is a CSI episode!! The munchkins were sitting on the rug during their morning routine and then I hear a loud gasp and a child yells ~Ahhhh, she's bleeding! I looked and sure enough it was a little bloody nose...heehee I wish I had my camera ready to take the little girl's picture! She froze! Just her little eyeballs moved around but her body just froze still...haha! Poor thing! I didn't want to tell her to lean her head back because I remember when I was little you taste the blood in the back of your throat! Yuck!! One of the other munchkins raced to get her a tissue as I wrote her a nurses pass. She was on her way to the nurse and the dialogue was hilarious between the other munchkins. ~Wow, that was a lot of blood! ~She was picking her nose, huh? ~Did she lick it? ~My brother punched me once and my nose was bloody! I let them rant for a few minutes because I got a kick out of their conversation with one another then it started getting out of hand. ~Ok, enough already, it was just a bloody nose. I'm sure after I said that some were probably thinking ~what do you mean JUST a bloody nose!

From blood to boogers...my little "blue shoed" boy (the fisherman from previous posts...fishing for boogers that is) was at it again. He's been suffering from bad allergies and sneezing a lot. Well, how do I say this without grossing anyone out...hmmm...sorry don't know how to sugar coat it...just stop eating now if you're eating anything and if you're easily grossed out! haha EVERY TIME he sneezes...he sneezes out a full load of boogers that hang down to his chin!!! To top it off, he gets up and walks across the room to get a tissue and we're all watching like deer in head lights! YUCK!!! Why don't we turn away...I don't know!! I'm not easily grossed out but after the first couple of times it gets gross!!! Each and every time I tell him to cover up but he doesn't cover up! The boy who likes to fish for boogers at other times doesn't want to touch his own SNOT!!! Come on now! Well this time I was bad...I said ~YUCK! Cover your face! No one wants to see boogers hanging down your face and bouncing around as you walk! After I heard myself I had to laugh out loud and the other munchkins looked at me and started to laugh. Haha!! Even my little "blue shoe fisherman" laughed. Yucky!!!

Barf time!...If you grossed out at the booger story you may want to skip this part! haha
Well, Thursday was our first day having breakfast in the classroom. Our school was probably one of the last schools to implement it. I was a bit hesitant when I heard we were feeding all the kids in our classroom every day. I worried about the ants or the mice coming to visit and pull up for a snack! So far so good! ~Knock on wood! The cafeteria staff leaves two little nifty ice chests in front of our class and we wheel them in ready to go when the bell rings. We pick up the munchkins at the normal time 7:40 and once they settle I call them by their groups to come get their breakfast. They're pretty good and finish at 8:00. On that first day they had what looked liked a sealed Egg McMuffin. It was actually nice and warm and not too bad. ~Yes...I had one too. heehee! I'm not a breakfast person but it was ok. They throw one in for the teacher's and student teachers too. Most of the kids seemed to like it plus their milk and juice. I say most because that's when I hear ~My tummy hurts... It was a little girl who went home the day before from what I thought were bad allergies. As she entered the class I asked if she felt better and said mom gave her allergy medicine. Well...it all happened in slow motion. Things like this always seem to happen in s-l-ooooowwww motion! Somewhat like the scenes from the Matrix. Normally, I would brush it off and say ~You'll be fine or Go to the restroom. This time as I heard and looked over to her when she said ~My tummy hurts... I saw her mouth go closed, her lips turned white, the tummy starts to heave, the checks start to balloon out, then I knew she was ready to BLOW! ~Holy Moly guacamole! Where's the DARN trash can!!! I remember saying...~ooooo wait, wait, wait! as I scurried for that darn trash can! Just at the right moment (the slow motion moment of course) I grabbed the trashcan and turned around and saw the mass come up and out. I must have been Inspector Gadget or Stretch Armstrong because it seemed my arms reached from one end of the room to the other just in time to catch most of it. Yes, most of it...some of it landed on her backpack. It missed the little girl behind her by a few inches. The good thing about it was (not that there is anything good about barf but..) it was oatmeal consistency. Again, we all stare like deer in headlights and I remember hearing ~ewwww! The last thing I need is the domino effect and others begin to hurl! ~Look away! She's fine! I asked my student teacher to stay with the class as I walked her to the nurse, trash can and all. So much for breakfast! To make things worse...as I was walking her to the nurse...coming my way were about 6 people from Central Office who were there to oversee that our first day with breakfast went smoothly. ~Oh great!! I can't run and hide! Crap!! Just smile! Smile I did as they passed us and said ~Good morning! Our first casualty! ~smile, smile~ They just smiled and laughed. Whew!! All in all, breakfast has been running smoothly.


Bawling...this time it was me who wanted to bawl! I got the flu shot at school and man-o-man did it hurt. I never was and can now see that I'm not a leader but a follower. Well for being a follower that's what I get. I happened to be in the hallway when our counselor rushed by and said ~Come on! Get your flu shot! ~No way! I don't like needles and I don't want to get sick! Next thing I knew I was in line signing my life away! The entire moment was a blur! I stressed my self out! OUCH!! Before I got it I told my kids to listen if they heard me scream...heehee! After my shot my little ones were so concerned if I was ok. I didn't lie to them and said it hurt but I was fine. I wanted to cry! haha My arm was sore for 3 days and I couldn't sleep on it the first night. I know my doctor friends out there are probably saying ~You Wimp! Yes I am! haha!

I wasn't the only one who wanted to bawl, well actually, earlier in the week I had a little girl who started bawling first thing in the morning. She walked in right as the tardy bell went off and you could tell she was rushing to make it in. She stood there, took a breath like saying ~phew, I made it in! Then she looked at me and started bawling as she said ~My mommy got mad at me. Awww....she's my baby baby. She's probably my smallest girl and still sounds like she talks baby talk. She came with her little arms out at me and hugged her as she cried and cried. I asked her what happened and what I could understand was that mom told her to run and she didn't want too! Awww...bless her little heart. This moment and listening to her opened my eyes again... this is for many of them a safe haven to come to. I've always told my munchkins that they can feel safe here and come to me for anything. I haven't given this new set of munchkins that speech yet but I'm glad she came and felt safe enough to let it out.

Do I have a safe haven to run to...To cry when things go bad or when I feel I may not be reaching every child the way I need to? Maybe it's this blog that's turned into my haven or the bottle of wine! haha J/K I have to remember to give myself that ME time and to separate myself. It's my job and I love my munchkins and the growth they make with my guidance but it's not my life. Is that bad to say, feel or think? I can only do so much...but I wish I could save each munchkin that crosses my path, but I can't.
Stay tuned for more in munchkinville...it'll be a three day week this week..Woohoo!!
XOXO's

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