What's a comb?

During our art project yesterday, I commented on how nice someone was for letting a fellow student borrow something (trying to reinforce good behavior). My comment was followed by this.....

Student 1: “But you should never share your comb and hat and stuff. That’s what that piece of paper said they sent home the other day. We have lice in our class.”

Teacher: “We don’t have lice in our class, that was just a reminder not to share your combs and hats.”

Student 2 (who happens to be a fellow teacher’s son): “What are combs and hats?”

I then (with as straight a face as possible began to describe a comb. About halfway through this student said “Oh yeah, I know what those are.”

I jokingly told him that I was going to tell his mom that he didn’t know what combs and hats were. We all got a good laugh out of it.

Chewing up the garbage can: Sin?

        After our Bible lesson on the first part of Jesus’ crucifixion, I had a rather interesting, if impromptu, discussion with my class of 8 second graders. It went something like this.....

Student 1: “If a pet dies before it’s owner, is there a special place in heaven for it to go and wait?”
Teacher: “I’ve never read in the Bible where it says there is a place for pets to go. I don’t believe that they go to heaven because they don’t have a soul. We have a soul and we know what is right and wrong, we know what is sin. Animals don’t have a soul like we do so they can’t sin.”
Student 3: “But what if your dog chews up the garbage can? Isn’t that a sin?”
Teacher: “It’s not a sin. The dog doesn’t know it’s wrong, even if you’ve told it several times not to do that. Now if you chewed up the garbage can, it would be a sin because you know it’s wrong.”
(Laughter all around.)
Student 2: “I think if there is a special place for animals in heaven then the donkey that Jesus rode on will be there.”
Teacher: “I think if there is a special place in heaven for animals the donkey Jesus rode on would certainly be there. Now, let’s get ready for math!”

What's goin on

This week started out pretty rough, but had an ok ending. Monday and Tuesday I did not have my assistant! Apparently she ticked off administration by not having a doctors excuse for her son (she had missed one day of work to stay home and take care of him.) In retaliation, the director told her to not bother coming back into work until Wednesday. Yeah.
Although I had help for half the day both days, it just wasn't the same. She's been there longer than I have. I began teaching these kids for six weeks now (one week of that was a winter break) and she has been there since the beginning of the school year. Although I am getting into the groove of things, she helps them run much more smoothly. And, for some reason, some students still listen to her better than they listen to me. I can talk to them all I want, and all she has to do is give them a look and they will stop whatever it is they're doing. Sigh.
On a bright note, for the past three days we havce had a classroom full of good resters. With the exception of one girl today, no one has acted up at all during naptime for teh past three days. It has been heaven! I was actually able to get some work done during naptime because it was not spent hushing and shushing and telling them to lay back down.
One way that i've began getting their attention is by using "I Spy" While we are having a seat for large group activities, I will look for boys and girls who are sitting quietly listening and will say "I Spy with my little eye someone wearing a black shirt who is sitting criss cross with a bubble." After one or two of these everyone will be sitting quietly wanting to be "spyed."

It worked!

I haven't written in a while because I have been EXTREMELY busy. I am finishing up my fouth week as a pre-k teacher and I am finally starting to adjust. Just to start, starting home living cleaning up fifteen minutes earlier really helps. I have also discovered that having them beat the song helps (it was a suggestion from a fellow teacher.) They like racing to clean everything before the song ends. There is a problem with this, though. I thought I had the perfect song; it got them up, motivated, and they would clean. Problem? They would throw things where they did not belong to finish up and dance to the song, or simply start dancing and not clean at all while the other students cleaned. I tried using a different song today, but it didn't have quite the same get up and go, and to be honest they looked confused. I said "OK, here's our cleanup song. let's clean!" And they looked at me like i had lost my mind. So, I need to find a song that is upbeat enough to get them moving, without making them want to just stop and dance. As well as laying down some ground rules about cleaning BEFORE they start dancing.

Much Needed Help

After school today the teacher next door pulled me aside to talk with me about the philosophy of the "curriculum" at our school. I don't think that we've been doing anything TERRIBLY wrong, and she didn't say we had, but there are some things that need to change. For example, we have been closing a certain center when it was not cleaned up properly the day before. Closing centers lessens the opportunities for children to problem solve. Instead of closing homeliving, we need to encourage children to problem solve. "Last time you played in home living it took a long time to clean up, are you sure you want to play there today? " or "You want to push the shopping cart? There are already fifteen people there, do you really think you'll have the chance to push it?" Another suggestion that this teacher gave was to have students clean up home living early. I think that having them clean up at nine, instead of nine-fifteen, will really help. We've also decreased the amount of floor space in home living by moving some book cases around. We'll see tomorrow how this works!
There was also something else that I wanted to write about, but I can't remember now! Oh well, if I remember I'll add it on later.

"Octopus" starts with O

I am a new teacher in a state-funded pre-k program that is within a private daycare setting. I just graduated in December, and I know that I am extremely fortunate to have found a teaching position in the middle of the school year. Though it has had it's challenges and I expect the challenges to continue, I am gradually adjusting to working with four and five year olds, but I need all the help that I can get. I plan on using this blog to post hints, tips, and tricks that I discover or that are shared with me by the wonderful collegues I am fortunate enough to work with. Any comments about teaching practices and/or discipline procedures would be GREATLY appreciated. I hope this blog is as helpful to others as it will be to myself.
My boyfriend shared a recent post with me today entitled Self Esteem and Encourgement . It basically said that children don't need to be praised for everything good or bad, but praised for their achievements and helped work to improve whatever it is they still need to work on. I totally agree. Praising all students all day long regardless of their achievements means that the praise loses something. It is no longer praise because you are proud of them or because you think they really did a great job and deserve recogniztion: it is praise for praise' sake. On the flip side, I do not think that ANYONE should ever discourage a child or put a child down. There are ways to let a child know that they need to work on things without telling them that they totally stink at it. "I like the way you're really trying, but maybe tomorrow we'll work more on following the lines when you cut something out." This is an area on which I would like to improve, one of the many areas I would like to improve. I'll keep you posted as I journey through pre-k land.