Kindergarten Tales

Exhaustion weighs heavy.  I apologize for not updating more often.  I do not remember what I have and have not said.  So, a general recap:

The school year started, and I had somewhere around 20 kids.  Before too long I have 24 kids.  I attempted to "teach" all 24 of them, until we were able to split kids.  When we split kids I went down to 19.  One of my babies that I gave away (because I had too, I have so many ESL and Inclusion kids that I couldn’t move) never did adjust to his new teacher, so he got moved back into my room about a week ago.  So, as it stands now, I have 20 kids.  One of them has been identified as being autistic.  Two more show definite signs of autism.  

I also have a child that I am fairly certain was physically and emotionally abused in the past.  This means he shuts down emotionally, and often strikes out at other children without warning.  I love him to death and I know that home is not very stable for him (he’s been going from relative to relative, and now his fourth grade cousin– who I had when I was student teaching in second grade– is basically raising him) but it can get exhausting.  He has improved though, I haven’t had to have him physically removed in some time. 

I have another child that is extremely smart.  He also has a completely topsy turvy home life.  This means he cannot handle change well, at all.  We have a mantra together, "Change is ok"  He actually wrote that in his writer’s workshop today.  "Janje es ok.  I lov you. So much."  I love him to death too… even though he wears me out.

Beyond that I have two children that were at one point prone to throwing temper tantrums.  Screaming, howling, flailing, temper tantrums.  They have mostly improved. 

I have a very interesting class this year.  I love them all.  On the days when we can get it pulled together its amazing, on other days I leave very tired.  It is still something that I will always love to do. 

Some of this years highlights thus far:

-During lunch count (the class was amazingly silent for once) one of my special babies suddenly burst out with, "Yippe ai o mini sirloin burgers!"  I almost peed my pants, I can’t lie.

-The class is supposed to be doing a cut and paste activity.  I am passing out papers.  One of the first kids to sit has been busy.  I look over, and discover that his shirt can no longer properly fit into that category.  He has cut a slit up the center of it, a huge hole in the chest of it, and all the way up one sleeve.

– During calendar- little girl raises her hand with a tragic look on her face.  When called on she points to the little boy who sang the sirloin burger song and says in an outraged voice, "He… he.. he TALKED to me!"  and then paused to regain some composure before continuing with, " He… he … he said we were getting MARRIED!"  I told her not to worry because she wasn’t old enough yet, which led to spontaneous conversations amongst the children about how old you needed to be to get married.  I told them they could start considering marriage when they were 30, and we went on with our day.

– During rest time little boy is making all kinds of bizarre noises.  So I call him over.  I ask him what’s going on and why he is still making the noises when I asked him to stop.  He gets all teary eyed and looks at me and says, "I haven’t learned to control that yet."

I think that is all for now, I shall try to update more regularly.