The sunny side

I had recess duty yesterday and recess duty when it is sunny and warm is divine.  I have a bucket of sidewalk chalk I brought outside and two of my girls were drawing on the sidewalk.  They said, "Teacher, we're doing math!"  I felt so proud that my students loved math that much.

One of them came to get me later to admire their work.

She said, "See!  I did 10 X a million."

She had written 10 x 1000 = 1100.

I crouched down and showed her the actual answer and reminded her of how to multiply times ten.

The first rule of teaching is don't get too cocky.  They may not actually have retained anything....

It was such a beautiful day, I didn't let it get me down though.  The snowy mountain practically glowed in the bright light and there wasn't a cloud in the blue sky.

The second graders go in from recess 5 minutes before the third graders do.  I help wrangle the 2nd graders and they had already gone in and there was a little guy sitting on the slide.  I knew he wasn't a third grader, but I wasn't sure he was a second grader either.

I said, "Hi I'm Mrs. Davis, what's your name?"  I thought he said Jack.

I said, "Hi, Jack, what grade are you in?"

He looked at me derisively, "My name isn't Jack."

I bent over so I could hear him better.  His name was Shep.

I said, "OK Shep, what grade are you in?."

He looked at me angrily and said, "I'm not in a grade!"

I said, "How old are you?"

He said, "Six!"

Was he homeschooled?  He seemed too young to be there on his own.  I said, "Where's your mom?"

He said, "She picks me up later!"  He was annoyed with my line of questioning.

I said, "Who is your teacher?"

He said, "Mrs. Astorga."  She is a kindergarten teacher and he said it like I was the biggest idiot around for not already knowing that information.

I said, "Let's go inside and back to class."

He was not having that.  I started talking to him about his favorite colors, all the while nudging him along toward the building.  He was happy to chat about colors and order them by preference.  He forgot about being mad and we went into the office and the vice principal said, "Shep!  What are you doing out of class?"

I left him in her capable hands.  (And when an administrator knows a kid right off the bat like that, they are office frequent fliers!)

The whole exchange kind of delighted me because it reminded me of something Ramona would do.  I told my class and it delighted them too.  It's fun to be a grown up 3rd grader and look fondly at those kindergartners, so young and naive!

This week we've read stories about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.  As a capstone I showed them the clip of Sister Suffragette from Mary Poppins.  Of course I did.

Then I had the lyrics in my head all day:  though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group, they're rather stupid.

Those lyrics are a very low-key revenge for centuries of oppression, but I'm here for it.

Tragedy struck during lunch recess in the form of a lost toy dragon.  One of my girls was sobbing and had looked everywhere and asked everyone.  All the girls in my class were worked up into a frenzy of sympathy, huddled around her, hugging her and offering suggestions.  One of them, who has been the distraught owner of something lost a few times, said, "Don't worry.  I found my squishy and my earring.  Teacher helped me."

So, no pressure....

To try to stem the tide of disaster in the air, I sat down right then I sent an email to all the teachers.  I got a careful description and read it back for approval.  They had a few clarifications to improve my description.

After that, they seemed satisfied that it would be found.

I was not so sure.  There are some sticky fingers around there.  I told them that Finders Keepers wasn't so great when you lost something so if you find something you shouldn't just keep it, but try to find the owner.

After school, I got an email from the head lunch lady.  She had the dragon!  It had been left in the cafeteria!

My reputation as the finder of lost things remains intact!

Yesterday I just had a really good day at school.  I realized towards the end of the day that it could be related to the fact that I had six kids absent.  Even when you love everyone, it is just easier when you aren't so vastly outnumbered.

And I do love everyone.  I told Adam, "I feel so sad to have this school year end.  I love my class!"

He said, "Well that's good."

Except that I feel sad to have my class move on.  There are no guarantees for next year; some classes are just hard.

I'll enjoy these sunny days while I have them!