08/24/2009

I know that I have been away from this site for far too long.  I have been neglecting my own diary and those of my friends.  For this I apologize.  I return now to relate to you a tale of new beginnings.  It is a tale which includes some humor, some stress, and some desire for a fermeted beverage of great size.  The setting is in a school.  A kindergarten classroom, to be more exact.  It stars 20 children who range in age from just barely five to almost seven.  The cast shall be increased, upon the morrow, to a rather overwhelming 21 children.  There were tears, from parents and children alike.  There was coloring.  There was the gluing of cheerios upon names, and the sly eating of said cheerios (which had been sitting atop my fridge since I moved in).  In a rather dramatic fashion I indicated that the consuming of said cheerios was probably not a good idea, as they were rather old; and that I had brought them from my house because of that very reason.  The reception of this statement was rather charming.  There were some ewws, and some yucks, and one child was heard to exclaim, "Did you hear that? The teacher has a home!"  Yes, darling, contrary to popular belief we do not Actually Live at school.  I must say that, while I managed 21 and 22 first graders, and thought that a number much too great, it is an entirely different matter to START with 20 kindergarteners.   Add to this the fact that I have three children who are labeled as special needs, and two who… demonstrate a great capacity of similiarity in needs to the three (is that politically correct enough?), and you have a very diverse and demanding class dynamic.

The fortunate side of this coin is that, while last year I had unidentified children with special needs, this year they have been identified as special needs.  This means that I have the benefit of an aide, for at least a couple of hours a day.  A much needed aide, I might add.  I was unsure as to whether that was to be provided or a possibility, I am greatly relieved to know that it will be.  Last year, since none of my kids were identified, I did not have the benefit of an aide. 

I am rather tired, so I shall give you some highlights from the day:

A child urinated all over themselves and the playground.

Child became very agitated and insisted that he needed to talk to his brothers, because they were calling him.  He did talk to them, only they weren’t there and he wasn’t using a phone.  He was however, carrying on a conversation with them via his wrist.

One child has already had to call his father.  Something that will not be repeated.  Next time a call is placed to his father I will do all the talking.  He had a little too much fun carrying on a conversation with him.  Oh, it started out great, "Yes sir, I’m sorry sir.." but soon it turned into, "But why do I have to go to school?"  "But why do the teachers get to tell me what to do? But why is that there job? But, Dad, I just want ot know.. how are you today?  Dad, how is work going?  I just want to be sure you’re having a good day."  At which point I told him he was past done and took the phone back.

I was also reminded though, of how governable (in general) kindergarten students are in comparison to first graders, even.  They want so badly to please you (for the most part) and are delighted in finding goodness in others.  After my last year, it was rather nice to hear a child apologize voluntarily when they hurt another child’s feelings, and attempt to explain that they the other child had misunderstood the comment.  It was also nice to hear conversations about how good they were, because they were all sharing, and to hear them complimenting each other on their work.  A huge relief after the cattiness and fighting of last year. 

So, a new year has begun.  Hope (for the sake of all my team) that we have about four more kindergarten students enroll.  I think that is all we are lacking before we get another teacher.  If not, we are stuck with this insane number of kids in each room.  I am at 21, another teacher is at 22, a third at 19 (lucky duck), and the fourth at 20 or 21.  Which means, actually, that we are lacking 6 students.