Ready....Set....Go!!!!

Back to Blogging...

I was hesitant to blog another year but as you can see I'm doing it again! For those following our Munchkinville antics for the last 3 years...get ready for some more adventures. With the loopy looping I do, I'm back down in Kindergarten this year!! ~Yay!! Those new to our world in Munchkinville you'll be exposed to some adventures that occur in our classroom! Names are changed to protect the innocent ~as well as the teacher! heehee! It's a very informal blog where you'll follow us through our adventures...we'll laugh a lot and cry a lot! Enjoy the journey of another school year with us!

First Day with Munchkins!

Today was the first day in the classroom with all the new little munchkins! I was extremely nervous on the way to work. Once getting to the classroom it hit me! ~Holy Guacamole, what the heck am I doing with these little ones?!! Where are their name tags? Where is my updated class list? Where are my parent packets???...I panicked! It was 7:00am so I still had some time before reporting outside at 7:30 to pick up the babies. I raced around making name tags, found my list, started parent packets, then time flew by and it was time to pick them up. ~Breathe!!! Walking out my door I encountered another surprise...our breakfast coolers!! ~Oh poop!..I have to teach them how to eat breakfast!!! I forgot that part of our day! I wasn't in 1st Grade anymore and had to remember some of these babies come in knowing NOTHING!!! The sweat beads started as we went out to pick up the new babies.

The parents were instructed they were not going to be allowed to walk the babies inside. ~Eek!! I was afraid a riot would start, but it didn't. They're new parents and I think they were all in shock seeing their babies in line on their first day of school. I felt bad for a few minutes for those parents but it worked out extremely well. I had just been talking about this specific topic the night before with a friend. It was like pulling a band aid off...fast and quick and it stings for a few seconds. The parents were asked to step back and kids were asked to turn around, say goodbye and wave...then they followed us in like little ducklings in a row!

I have the cutest kids!!!! 16 total and I hope the size stays low. These babies were carrying backpacks that looked bigger then them, stuffed with boxes of tissue and their school supplies. They were so excited to show me what they had inside their backpack. I didn't have any criers this year!!! ...just wait until tomorrow or Wednesday and that's when it usually starts. ~Crossing my fingers and toes it doesn't.

Breakfast was the hardest thing to teach today! ~haha! Why would the cafeteria pick cereal and milk to start with??? Disaster waiting to happen! A simple French toast or burrito would have been easier to show them how to open them and not make a mess. It took me almost 45 to get through breakfast. ~Sheesh! I went step by step how to open a small personalized thingy of cereal. When I was little, individual cereal was in small cardboard boxes, easy to open!!! Now I swear they make individual cereal bowls child proof! If the munchkins pull the top off too fast cereal will be flung at torpedo speed across the room! In order not to have torpedo's flying across the room or at each other I literally had to show them how to hold it "with two hands" and pull the paper covering off SLOWLY. ~Whew! It worked! We had only a few torpedo's but none at full force, a few duds that fell to the floor. Then it was time for the milk. ~Wait! A large handful didn't know how to open their little cartons of milk! Have you ever opened milk on the wrong side of the little arrow?...not easy! Here we go again....~Hold it with two hands and blah, blah, blah. I was already tired and the day barely started! ~Pour only A LITTLE bit of milk so your bowl doesn't overflow. I waited... walked around and watched, waiting for cereal bowls to overflow...~Whew! None! Yay!! Then I hear...~Teacher, she has milk on her table! I didn't want my head to spin and had to remind myself they're new munchkins. ~What happened munchkin? ~Milk keeps coming out when I try to eat. ~Hmmm.... Picking up the little bowl to clean up under it my hand was soaked with milk running down my arm. ~What the, what the?!! There was a hole in the bucket dear Liza, dear Liza! Yes, a hole on the bottom of her cereal bowl. Thank goodness there was one extra. They did really well mastering Cereal Bowl 101!! ;)

I was sent a joke this morning...~Do you know why dogs run in circles?......~Because squares are too hard! Haha I'm easily humored and love to laugh! So I barked at that one! If you know me, you know my "bark!" I think I was the one running in circles today but the day flew by! They're really, really, cute kiddos and very well behaved! ~Well...two need boot camp drills soon, but they'll be fine! heehee Poor babies were tired from the get go. One asked after breakfast ~Is it time to go home? Haha! The first few weeks are always the hardest, showing them how to stand in line, sit in their chair, sit criss cross on the rug, hold a crayon, draw a circle for their faces, raise their hand, walk in a straight line quietly, use the restroom without playing in the stalls, how to carry their tray at lunch, how to dump their tray at lunch, where to play at lunch....blah, blah, blah...the list goes on!

I was pleasantly surprised that a good handful were able to draw themselves with all appendages in their correct locations! I had a few that were Picasso drawings! haha


All in all, it was a great day! No criers, no boogers, no peers, no poopers...but I just might have jinxed myself! ;)

Tomorrow and the next few weeks will be full of more adventures...stay tuned!
XOXO's

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