Two random items from my day.  I thought about writing two posts, but decided to give you a two-fer. For Christmas, Santa brought me this cool little bracelet called an UP.  You wear it twenty-four hours a day and it tracks how much you move and sleep.  While I do exercise, today wasn’t a day [...]

Each morning, my entire school eats breakfast together.  Each classroom sits together and dines.  It’s something my principal spearheaded last year (before my arrival) to curb absenteeism.  After just one year of offering free breakfast to every child, it worked.  Not only were absences significantly down, but visits to the nurse were too. Kids ...

One of the things I love most about teaching kindergarten is the spontaneous nature of five-year-olds… and, well, me.  My brain works at a speed so fast, sometimes thoughts pass me by without ever truly garnering the attention they deserve.  Every once in awhile, one pops out of my mouth – and is a good [...]

As I prepare to start my new job so many emotions are swirling.  While I’m so excited about my new school (really the folks there have been so amazingly welcoming), it’s bittersweet because I’ll be leaving some very dear friends. One of my closest, dearest, friends, Ms. R., gave me a bag of goodies for [...]

This is our last week before Spring Break… it’s never easy when vacation looms, but this week is extra hard for me… two of my favorite ladies are going to be heading out for maternity leave. I know, I know, bringing babies into the world is serious business, but I don’t mind saying I’m being [...]

Today, after reading No More Yawning, a story about a little girl who refuses to goto bed, we all shared some of our bedtime rituals for falling asleep.  Here’s some of what was shared: “I just close my eyes and fall asleep!” “My body just goes to sleep.” “I get a drink and then I [...]

Today at recess, there were no kids on the swings.  A substitute teacher noticed this and commented, “It’s to bad they’re not enjoying the swings.” “Watch this,” I said as I walked over to the swings. I sat down and began swinging with gusto.  Within seconds a swarm of kids came over to watch and [...]

David is a rotund little fellow who simply adores food.  I’ve never met a kindergartner who loves food as much as David.  He talks about being hungry and eating all the time.  He even writes about food.  To be clear, he isn’t malnourished in any way… quite the opposite.  The boy just loves to eat. Here [...]

Unless you teach in Hawaii (and maybe some of you are lucky enough that you do!), chances are, some sort of inclement weather prevents your sprouts from going outside for recess from time to time… some of us have it all – rain, wind, snow, freezing temperatures, and falling frogs from the sky. When kindergartners [...]

Yesterday, as happens most days, there was a missed pickup of a student who needed to go for special services.  We were out at Reading Buddies and missed  his pickup by minutes… so I walked him down while Mrs. D. read a story to the rest of the group.  I also informed her I needed [...]