A few years ago, clean up time was starting to bug me.  It was getting harder to get the kids to finish cleaning their stuff to come sit down.  I thought about using some clean up song on a kids’ music cd, but decided that would be too irritating to listen to a few times every day. So I chose my favorite song by Count Basie, “On the Road to ...

Today was better.  The weather was perfect — cool in the morning, sunny and not too hot later — and I had a prep period while the children were at gym, so that helped a lot.  I only have preps Monday and Wednesday this quarter, so last week with no school on Labor Day I only had one prep in four days.  That was tough. This morning I came in ...

I did wake up with another migraine, but it went away and hasn’t come back.  My morning crier came back, and true to his word, wasn’t scared, and didn’t cry at all.  He even rode the bus to school with no troubles.  My end-of-the-morning crier, on the other hand, started crying as soon as his sister left him in our room, and he cried on and off ...

In Sunday’s New York Times magazine there was a letter to the editor that gave me pause: Despite her admirable developmental perspective, Pamela Paul fails to consider the effect of a sociocultural context that utterly ignores the developmental needs of 3- to 5-year-olds. When small children are expected to sit still, follow a schedule, even learn ...

I have been selected in a meme by Organized Chaos, on the things teachers can do that don’t exactly go on a resume.  Here is my list of hidden teacher talents: can instantly tell when a child returning from the bathroom didn’t wash his/her hands can tell when a child needs to go to the bathroom, even if he/she doesn’t even realize it yet can ...

In the comments for my last post, jwg said: I’m curious. Are there art materials available for the kids who don’t want to color in the lines? Are there other math materials in the math center or do they have to do the project? Is there sand or water play? Can they chose to write about something other than Under the Sea? Is there a Dramatic Play ...

It’s here.  The room is ready (except for my desk, which resembles a demolition site), but I’m not.  I’ve been having weird dreams (I was dying of cancer in one dream, running away with a New York City firefighter in another, and hanging out with Martha Stewart and a rock star in another) and not sleeping well. I told my ...

Every day, at the end of our morning together, my class stands up and holds hands in a circle, and sings the “School Family Song,” to the tune of “You are my Sunshine.” You are my family, my school family, I feel happy when you are here, I hope you know, friends, How much I love you, When we’re ...

On the first day of school — my least favorite of the year, but that’s a different story — my centers are all closed.  The house corner gets roped off with a sign that says “Closed” even before the open house, so the children already know when they arrive on the first day that they can’t just [...]