If all the raindrops were snowflakes,

We wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow. Isn't that how the song goes? No?? Oh.

I want snow really bad because I think it's fun and fresh. It's December 20th for crying out loud. Christmas is 5, count em' FIVE (5) days away! If I didn't want snow in December, I would live somewhere else!

There's a funny thing about Kindergarteners and Christmas. They KNOW about Christmas. They are super excited about Christmas. They LOVE presents, trees, candy canes, cookies, and everything else associated with the holiday. BUT, they don't yet understand the concept of time. They don't understand that the anticipation should actually be for a 2 week break off of school. I try to tell them that they are about to get to stay at home for 14 days and they cheer because I say it excitedly but not because they really understand what that means. They don't appreciate getting to sleep in and not having to go to bed early or do homework. They look at the calendar with Christmas so clearly labeled with a nice little tree and still see the 5 white days before we get there so they don't get really excited. I mean they get excited about a Christmas game we might play or talking about Santa but really only when it's happening RIGHT NOW. Tomorrow, I will be asked 30 times before 10 when the party is going to be and what's going to happen and if they'll get to eat extra candy but they'll probably forget to ask about Christmas. 4 more days is practically an eternity. Why even waste the time when there are cupcakes to be eaten TODAY.

Keeping up with the Joneses

We didn't like taping things to walls in the hallway so our principal ordered us bulletin boards. They finally got them all put up in October and since then it's been "keeping up with Joneses" bulletin board style. See for yourself. They show kids artwork, teacher artwork, teacher hard work, pre-bought kits, and a variety of other combinations.










Mine is the first one with the reindeer. "Rein in the excitement." That's right. Hold it in. Don't get too excited. BUT, it is supposed to snow enough to stick tonight so I'm no longer holding it in. BRING ON THE SNOW!!!

FINALLY something funny

Ms. Lock-I have a frog in my throat.
Student-Really? (He's totally serious.)
Ms. Lock-Yep. It's making my voice so scratchy.
Student-How did it get there?
Ms. Lock-I swallowed it.
Student-EHHHHHHH!

Much later

Ms. Lock-Do you want to look down my throat and see the frog?
Entire class-YES!! I WANT TO SEE! GET OUT OF THE WAY, I DIDN"T SEE!

I can still project if I need to and it doesn't hurt but my regular talking voice isn't sounding very good. In fact, one of my students just said it was different. I have a "new voice." The old one has taken a vacation I guess. It was pretty funny to see how long I could have had them going with the whole frog thing. They really bought in to it. I could almost see his imagination picturing me swallowing a frog and what it was doing down there and how was it going to get out and so on.

We came back from Thanksgiving break with GREAT attitudes and apparently our minds needed a break too because the interventionist who has been working really hard and intensively with my lowest kids saw three of them make HUGE gains. They have to name a random list of letters to see how many they can get in a minute and one girl DOUBLED her total from two weeks ago. She went from saying 19 with 5 errors to 41 and no errors. It's pretty amazing and why year round school is very beneficial. They need a break sometimes to help them refocus and come back strong. We won't be to year round by next year but hopefully the year after that. I think it would rock.

Also a funny story is that today the fire alarm puller klepto got INTO the trashcan. Yeah, the big one. He climbed inside. Probably just to see if he could. I have no idea what we will do with him. Too bad he didn't get stuck. Just kidding! Right?