Reasons to Like Four Year Olds (9)

This week has been crazy! I was out of work on Monday to visit the doctor's for my allergies.  When I got back on Tuesday I had to explain to the kids what was wrong.  I said that my head feels like a balloon from all the snot that was inside of it.  The next day the kids asked me how I was feeling: "Do you still feel like a balloon?" I had to explain that I was not quite feeling like a balloon like I did the day before but I still had snot inside my face.  A few minutes later while they were playing in their learning centers, I was blowing my nose.  One of the kids came up and asked me, "Ms. Brenda, when is your snot going to go away?"

Sorry to Disappoint

This time it will be different
This time I promise
This time I mean it
This time it's true

Sorry

This time I got interrupted
This time I wanted to
This time I tried
This time it wasn't meant to be

Sorry

Next time I will follow through
Next time
I promise

Diversity in My Classroom

No, I'm not talking about racial diversity.  I'm talking about diversity of the learners in my classroom.  I have a couple that are high and a couple that are low but most are in the middle. Today I witnessed something wonderful that happened when one of my higher lever learners began to help one of my lower level learners.

He was reluctant to put the blocks away because he said he didn't know how.  "I can't do it all myself," he said.  A couple of other children heard this and decided to help him out. While he was putting the blocks away on the shelf just anywhere they would go; the others were putting them away neatly on the labels. One of them saw what he was doing and said, "No, that's not how you do it.  This is how you do it." She continued to show him how to put them away "the right way." He started getting excited saying, "I can do it!" She then said, "Yes.  You're getting to be a big boy. You're learning!"

Okay, so this isn't necessarily an academic learning going on, but it is learning.  But those of us who teach four year old know how important learning how to clean up is.  And for those of you that teach elementary school, this kind of learning is the beginning of organizational skills.  This episode reminded me of the power of kids teaching kids, not only the teacher teaching the kids.  Kids learn as much from each other as they do the teacher if they are given the right opportunity.

Reasons to Like Four Year Olds (8)

I had an awesome day! I wanted to share why:

1. I brought envelopes and made a mail box for Santa. My kids were all over it, "writing" letters to Santa and drawing him pictures.  It was funny watching them figure out how to make a piece of paper fit into an envelope.

2. I have a bunch of old lids for the kids to sort.  But instead of sorting, one kid pretended he was Santa and he needed medicine.  (He noticed that some of the lids from prescription bottles were for medicine.) Later in the afternoon, the lids became coffee because I store them in a coffee container.  When it was hot I pretended to spill it on myself and cried.  So he made me warm coffee and cold coffee to make me happy instead of sad. And whenever I "cried" the other children would come over and give me a hug.

3.  We drew with sidewalk chalk outside today.  One of the kids kept asking for me to draw him some hearts.  He was very possessive of the hearts and wouldn't let anyone step on them.  He danced around them singing "Heartsy, heartsy, heartsy..."  Then he bent down and gave the hearts "loves" by rubbing his face on them.  He ended up with chalk on his face without noticing. It was quite adorable.

4.  A potential parent for the SAC program came in and thought I was a child.  She, my boss, and I had a good laugh about it.

Reasons to Like Four Year Olds (7)

While a couple of my boys were playing in the kitchen center, I asked, "Can I have some food?"  He answered, "This is not for you, madam."

I Cried

I cried for you today.
You broke my heart in pieces.
I used to trust you as a friend.
I used to trust you as a sister.
Now I can't.

I cried for you today.
I still love you.
But do you love me?
Everything you told me now
Seems to have been a lie.

I cried for you today.
You were there when
no one else would dare.
But now we just exist
in two separate worlds.

I cried for you today.

Reasons to Like Four Year Olds (6)

On Thursday, tape recorded a book I read to the kids.  I played the tape back to entertain them while I was cleaning up after lunch. This is the dialogue that happened as a result:
Child 1: Ms. Brenda are you talking?
Me: Yes, I'm talking. The tape recorded me talking.
Child 1: See! I was right, she is talking.
Child 2: No, she's not talking right now.
Child 1: Yes she is!
When the recording stopped I heard this:
Child 3: She's not talking in there anymore.  She's dead!
Child 2: (with a very serious face) She's not dead! She's right there.
Child 3: No, she's dead in there. She's dead in the radio.
Child 2: No, she's not.  She's not dead.