now THAT's random

Yesterday I was walking past the older 3s classroom at work on my lunch break and I heard a little girl singing. I thought I recognized the song, but told myself that couldn't possibly be what she was singing. So I got closer. Sure enough, her little crystal clear voice was singing "catch me ridin' dirty!"

Child's Play

Thirteen things my class loves to do/play with: 1. Duck Duck Goose - and all its variations. We played Pilgrim Pilgrim Indian at Thanksgiving, and all winter long we played Polar Bear Polar Bear Penguin (they have to waddle like penguins around the circle instead of running - it's adorable!) 2. I Spy - I have some very observant little preschoolers. 3. Quiet Mouse - yes, they actually like playing Quiet Mouse. There are days when I am the luckiest teacher in the world, I tell you. 4. Legos - I have some brilliant budding architects and engineers. 5. Math - I have a set of different colored bowls and a set of little figures (houses, cars, people, dogs, trees) that are different colors. The kids love to roll the color dice and sort the pieces into the bowls. Yes, they're my little nerdlings. 6. Cutting and Gluing - they adore cutting things out of magazines. I give them paper to glue their pictures to so they can keep track of them. 7. Dinosaurs - I think there's something about the preschool ages that just naturally attracts these kids to all things dinosaur. 8. Cars - I blame Disney/Pixar. There is always a knock-down drag-out over who gets to play in the car center when we have free play. There's only enough room for 2 kids in that area at a time. 9. Hungry Frogs - it's Hungry Hungry Hippos, but the mouths are frogs instead of hippos. My only regrets? A) it's only 4-player; and B) it's LOUD! 10. Play Dough - don't mess with the classics. 11. Jellyfish Tag - I tried all last year to explain the concept of freeze tag to my first class of 4 and 5 year olds. They never got it. Until we talked about how when a jellyfish stings a fish, it paralyzes the fish. Now I pick a jellyfish and the rest of the class are fishies. Swim, fishies! 12. Jumping Jacks - sometimes they just need to let out some extra energy. They don't realize they are doing jumping jacks though. I call out "tin soldiers!" and "tepees!" 13. the Hokey Pokey - elbows, knees, tongues, noses...they all go in.

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a pocket full of dandelions

There are days working in child care that make you want to scream. Someone calls in sick, leaving the facility short handed. A child comes to school in a foul mood and nothing you can do will help. Another child spills his milk all over him and doesn't have any extra clothes to change into. While you are occupied with that child, 2 others decide that was pretty funny, so they pour their milk out on the floor. Another child displays a severe need for for an attitude adjustment (sadly, the only thing you are legally allowed to do for that is time out). It would be so easy to walk out and never come back.



And then a child comes running across the playground holding a dandelion picked through the chain link fence aloft like an Olympic torch. He stops and hands it to you, saying "you're my best teacher!"



That little bit is just enough to keep you coming back for more.

ancient Ms Amber

Yesterday on the playground, I bent down to tie a little girl's shoe. As I bent down, I groaned and said, "Ms Amber's too old for this." The little girl said "yeah."

I asked, "how old do you think I am?"

The response?

"Fif-teen!"

Good answer, sweetie.

close...so very close

This morning we had an area-wide tornado drill. Right around the time I was wrangling my class through the hallway to go to the water fountain, the city's severe weather alert sirens began to sound. Of course the kids were curious, so once we got back to the classroom I explained that the city was just testing the sirens to make sure they work. Then we talked about what the sirens were for and our class emergency plans. We talked about how, if there really were a tornado, we would line up quietly and calmly and go sit in the hallway. As conversations with 4 and 5 year olds are wont to do, the discussion evolved and we turned to other emergency plans. We talked about fires and about what to do if someone were to get hurt badly or seriously ill. They raised some very interesting questions about our emergency plans - here are my two favorites:

"What do we do if a giant attacks our school?" (I told them I'd have to check with our director on that one)

"What if a dragon attacks?" (I assume the emergency plan in this situation would be similar to that of a fire, since that is the typical mode of dragon attack)

One little genius really had me impressed for a minute.

"If there's a fire we call 9-1-1 and they ask 'where is your emergency?' and we say 'at day care' and they come and they spray the tor-may-doe down until it's little and then they blow it away."

I think he got a little mixed up somewhere in there.

Warning: contains sarcasm (and possibly peanuts)

Sometimes I feel like an old ratty doormat. I seriously have to check in the mirror to make sure I don't have WELCOME stamped on my forehead. And it's all because I'm dependable. And I'm dependable because I have perfectionist tendencies (although you would never know it judging from the current state of my house). I would love to just throw my hands up in the air and say "Screw it! I don't care!" and walk away. The problem is, I do care. And that's why I'm the doormat. Have a project that needs to be done, but you don't want to deal with it? Toss it my way. I'll seethe quietly, resenting doing your job for you, but you know I'll do it anyway because it is something that needs to be done. Feel like playing hookey from work just for the hell of it? Go ahead! Don't worry about your responsibilities - the doormat is always there to take care of everything. Can't afford to play hookey? No problem! Come on in and just sit around staring at the clock! I'll take up the slack!

I think maybe I let my housework go as a rebellion of sorts from being "the dependable one." I don't feel like I can just let things go undone at work. But at home, by George, I can. And I do. And as much as I would like to believe that being able to say no to something feels good, in reality I'm just surrounded by clutter that creates a claustrophobic depression. The issue is that I'm not saying no to the things I should, the things I really want to say no to.

Remember CRAP for a healthy smile

As a preschool teacher in the state of TN, I am required to complete a minimum of 12 inservice hours each year (though our preschool requires an additional 11). So last night after work I went to a 2-hour class on dental health for preschoolers. Got some good materials to use for teaching lessons about teeth and such.

Anyway, we had to watch this video on dental health as part of the class. I'm guessing from the hair and clothing styles that we're talking late 80s-early 90s video. You know how most videos like that have a summary screen or two at the end? Here's what this video's summary screen looked like:

Remember these important steps to maintaining a healthy smile:
* Cleaning
* Regular dental visits
* A healthy diet
* Play it safe

Yes, my friends, the acronym you see before you is CRAP. No, they didn't put it together like that. As a matter of fact I think that a coworker and I may have been the only ones there to notice it. But it definitely made the class memorable, and worth the time-sink.

So, yeah. Remember CRAP for a healthy smile.