Elbow, knees, dreams

gruesome bug action

2008-10-08T21:20:27Z

This weekend I had my sons look for spiders. They caught two, which I brought to school Monday morning in a plastic cup. On my way in the building I found a small beetle, which I added to the cup. I transferred my new friends to the terrarium, and at Read More......(read more)

moving on

2008-10-08T12:19:13Z

Yesterday was David’s last day with us. He was hardly in the room at all; Nan kept taking him out to “take a break,” and she told me she wasn’t going to push it, as she could tell he wouldn’t be able to handle being in the Read More......(read more)

i’ve lost my posse

2008-10-04T00:16:53Z

Nan got a new job. She is now going to use the master’s degree in social work which made her wayyyy over-qualified to be working in my room as a special ed assistant. I am happy for her, because it’s a great opportunity for her and she’ll Read More......(read more)

the scariest children’s book ever

2008-10-01T17:50:15Z

Yes, Harold and the Purple Crayon. It may be beloved to some, but it has freaked me out since I was very young. To this day when I read it I am filled with existential dread. Harold is the only “real” person in a world of nothingness. Everything Read More......(read more)

little failures

2008-09-30T23:58:38Z

There were five adults in my room today. the school psychologist had his hands full with Max Nan had her hands full with David my college volunteer had her hands full with the Spanish-speaking kids my new assistant had her hands full just trying to get Read More......(read more)

little mysteries

2008-09-29T21:02:08Z

Lola went to art today, on Black Day, to draw pictures with white crayon on black paper. I had stencils for city buildings with window cutouts, so she made a lovely picture with lots of buildings. Then she cut it into lots of small pieces. Was this frustration? Read More......(read more)

being nice

2008-09-29T20:52:27Z

Our school psychologist, one of the many people who helped make the decision on David’s placement, stopped by today after the children left to see how things were going. It was a rough morning, of course, with Nan having to give David and Max all Read More......(read more)

light at the end of the tunnel

2008-09-28T22:08:54Z

The worst is behind me. I’m pretty sure about that. This week is a short week, to fit in parent conferences. That always helps. I will finally have an assistant teacher — hooray! She starts Tuesday, and I can’t wait. She was so awesome Read More......(read more)

the result of the meeting this morning

2008-09-26T20:09:22Z

David will go to another school, to a classroom better suited to his needs. I learned some things about his personal life, and felt like crying. I feel like crying anyway, since I was unable to help him, and it will hurt him to have to leave us. But I Read More......(read more)

life on the rollercoaster

2008-09-24T20:09:21Z

Anyone reading this who is already a teacher (I know I have some fledgling teachers reading this blog, as well as some non-teachers) knows what teaching is like. Teachers are well-acquainted with the experiences of being bombarded by stimuli all day, Read More......(read more)

Today’s development

2008-09-23T21:23:44Z

David kicked Max in the face as hard as he could, twice. Nan managed to grab him as he was trying for a third attempt. He has been suspended and won’t be back until Thursday. We are having a meeting to discuss the situation on Friday morning, and Read More......(read more)

Wahhhh!

2008-09-22T20:14:22Z

Alas, it was another difficult morning. Most of the hour I had before school started I was at a tech meeting in the computer lab, where we learned how to do a behavior screener on each child. I got all mine done — which was good — but only Read More......(read more)

knuffle bunny saves the day

2008-09-19T12:37:42Z

Hooray for Mo Willems. I decided that September would be Mo Willems month in my classroom. Usually I have this “welcome to school” theme and I read all these books about school, but this summer I admitted to myself that I think all those books Read More......(read more)

no walk to the park

2008-09-18T20:16:27Z

It’s no walk IN the park, either. David got on top of Leo in the blocks and started punching him over and over before Miss Nelson could pull him off. The occupational therapist came to work with Max and he started screaming at the top of his lungs. Read More......(read more)

when things don’t go well, i blame myself

2008-09-15T20:45:11Z

Actually, things went okay today, on this, our eighth day of school. On Friday I passed out the Friday folders to the children as I was lining them up to go out in the hall to get their jackets for recess. They started opening their folders, dropping Read More......(read more)