Two pukers today.

At 7:45, one of my students came walking down the hallway to begin the day, hands cupped around her mouth, mid-barf. So, that was a nice beginning to the day. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" I yelled at the door. I grabbed the trash can and put it in front of her and said, "Okay, let go." And she did. All sorts of regurgitated breakfast all over my trashcan, her jacket, her shirt, her face, her hands, the floor. It was fun. Am I painting a picture for ya? Anyway, that was a good start to the day. Then we went on our field trip (after I sent her home, of course) and when we walked down the stairs in the theatre, another child was cupping her hands with vomit. We went to clean up (and I thus had no seat when I got back), and her mom came to get her when we got back. She informed me that she gets carsick. Would have been a nice thing to know before our week of two field trips on the bus, so that I could have put her in the front row of the bus. Anyway, it was loads of fun. Goood thing I'm not one of those people who gets sick seeing other people get sick (e.g. The Office 3 weeks ago). What can I do; I love my job. :-)

New Student...sorry for the delay!

Sorry it's been a while, if anyone is keeping up... :-) It's been pretty crazy. I got a new student, which brings me to 22, and she's crazy. She acts like she's never been given a direction before. I sound like a broken record, trying to tell her what to do each day. On day 3 of her, I decided to teach her what it means to follow directions. I started with, "So, when I say, sit criss cross on the carpet, what should you do?" She actually said, "Go sit in my chair?" So I told her again, and finally she figured it out. Then, we practiced. Many times. And I made a huge deal out of it when she did it correctly. It's helped, but we still have a long way to go. Oh, did I mention she calls me "Ms Lynn?"

One of my other students has started coming only about once a week. So that's nice. She's been enrolled in my school for 40 days, and has been there for 21 of them. Pretty crazy. Also, she's really low, so when she randomly shows up, what I really want to say is, "How can I teach you?" Instead, I smile and give her a big hug and tell her how happy I am to see her. The social worker has tried to call several times, got hung up on once and never got through again, until recently, when she finally did, and the school system is finally bringing them to court, I believe. So we shall see how that all goes...

One of my students decided yesterday to change the spelling of her name. I do feel slightly bad about it, as I have pointed out several times that her name is the same as my dog's, only spelled differently. So yesterday, she said, "This is how I'm spelling my name now," spelled like my dog. Oops. Well, I showed her parents, who were not too happy, and convinced them that it is a phase and she will be over it in a few days (hopefully). So, we're just ignoring it for now... haha

We've had a fun couple of weeks, recently. We had apple week two weeks ago. Centers were so fun, and we ate lots of apples and apple baked goods! Then we made homemade applesauce on the final day of it. So yummy and fun! Then last week was fall break. When explaining that to the students, I got asked (as I did last year), who would be their substitute since I was going away. I had to explain again that they would, too, be gone. Oh I love five-year-olds. This week has been fun too. A field trip to the Farmers' Market to use our five senses and shop for pumpkins, then pumpkin day today, at which several parents volunteered, and we weighed and measured our pumpkins and had taste tests. Then, we played with the guts of the pumpkin and voted to make a scary face on the jack-o-lantern. So fun! Tomorrow we go to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar at TPAC (Tennessee Performing Arts Center). They're excited. Then Friday is a 1/2 day where they'll get to decorate their pumpkins with their book buddies and then I have parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon.

I'm a little nervous about those... talking to parents turns my face red. Maybe I should go tanning and get burned the day before so that my face is already red and doesn't turn red throughout each conference. Also, I know I am going to have to let some parents know that their kids are not doing so hot... Ahh.

So, that's a brief synopsis of my last few weeks! :-) More to come sooner next time!