winter by a child's hand

how does your garden grow?

When I got to work this morning, the kids were playing on the playground. I noticed a couple of the boys from my class sitting off to the side and digging in the woodchips, so I headed over to see what they were up to.

Me: Whatcha doin'?

Hank: Planting a garden.

Me: What kind of garden?

Ryan: A veg-e-table garden.

Me: What kind of vegetables are you planting?

Hank: Carrots.

Ryan: And peas...and macaroni.

Maybe I'm the worst teacher in the world, but I didn't correct him. If he wants to plant macaroni in his garden, who am I to dash his dreams?

workin' girl

Yep. I survived my first full week in the workforce here in Arizona. I still don't know for sure yet, but I think I'm going to like the job. It's definitely better than being bored at home all day everyday.

I know it seems odd that I've worked a full week and still can't say whether I really like it or not. It's just that I really haven't been doing my job yet. And I won't until Wednesday. See, La Petite Academy doesn't just throw teachers into a classroom and wish them luck. They want to make sure the teachers know what they are doing first. So I won't completely take over my class until after a full day training session on Tuesday. I was supposed to go to the training this past Tuesday, but it was cancelled because I was the only one going. So this week my class has been combined with the early preschool class and I've been kind of standing back and watching how the other teachers do things.

While I appreciate not being thrown into a class and forced to figure it all out for myself, this whole wallflower bit just really isn't me. At least, not in a preschool. I like being in control. I like being able to run things my way. I'm a bit more of a..."structured" teacher than others. And I'm ready to have my class to myself and away from the early preschoolers. So I'm very much looking forward to Wednesday.

The good thing about this wallflower role I've been playing is that I've had a chance to watch my kids and get a feel for who they are. I've got some really neat kids. And I'm really looking forward to working with them.

Brought To You By The Letter B

On Animals

The younger four-year-olds class is currently studying an animal theme. This week's focus was animals of the rain forest. Ms Melissa was reviewing the animals they had gone over the day before by showing a picture of the animal and telling something about the animal (while showing the anteater, for example, she said "it eats ants").

The kids were really having a hard time remembering "toucan." It was obvious that the answer was dancing on the edges of their memories, just out of reach. Finally Kiera piped up as sincere as can be with "IT'S A CAN-OPENER!!!"

On Naming Children

This morning when I got to work, Mia was eating her breakfast at the table. When I walked in she told me that her husband Troy was hiding in our classroom under my desk. Yes, Mia is one of my students. She's four. After sending the imaginary Troy out to McDonald's to pick me up a sausage biscuit, I sat down at the table with Mia and we started talking. She said that when she gets old like her mommy and daddy (who are at the oldest in their early 30s) she's going to have this many kids (at which point she held up all 10 fingers). And then she started naming them all.

Star and Jade and Cinderella and Rainbow. And some boys, too - among the more memorable were Clock, Paint, Pencil, Computer, Spiderman, and Batman. And a boy named Star that will marry the girl Star, but not right away because they'll have to grow up first. Yeah.

The child kept naming children, and eventually realized she had long ago passed that limit of 10 that she had set for herself. So then she said, "I think I'll have zero-zero-one kids." That's 100 in child-speak.

"And they'll come to school here too, and when they get big like me they'll be in your class."

I love my job.

On Watermelon

"I don't like the green part...it tastes like grass."