day 18: yuck.

Every day there is something that surprises me, but today it was a combination of being surprised, impressed and just plain grossed out.

The littlest girl in my class raised her hand during calendar time and proceeded to tell me her stomach hurt. After the usual assessment questions, I decided she was fine but told her to make a run for the trash or bathroom if she needed to vomit. Well, 20 minutes later she did.

So we're in the middle of exchanging pennies for nickels during a math lesson and THANK GOD we were on that task, as it involved a plastic bag for money storage. So I look over after a question to the class and I see this poor, sweet girl on my front row puking her guts out in the most quiet and delicate way I could ever imagine. She was bright enough and quick enough to think to grab the money bag! Yay for smart little people! Of course I rush over to her, comforted her as she continues to fill the bag with grossness (clearly she had pasta with chicken for lunch) and guide her to the sink to wash out her mouth and face, all the while trying to calm the class down and keep people from looking because her table partner was already gagging from seeing this first-hand. It was an event that ended as quickly as it started and all thanks to her quick thinking! I cannot imagine if she had puked everywhere!...oh wait, that already happened to me last year when subbing, but at least it wasn't my class then. ;)

She turned out to be just fine and bounced back as quickly as she get back from the nurse (precautionary, of course). As for the money bag... well, we will need to get a replacement by Monday.

day 14: magic shoes.

I had every intention of working out tonight. Instead, my plan of push-ups and crunches, turned into a glass of wine. Fair trade, I’d say. Over all, today was a good day, but I'm absolutely exhausted. Turns out that as exhausting as actual teaching is, an hour and a half staff meeting after school, followed by grading and classroom prep pushes you over the edge. Thus, the wine. Thank goodness for great husbands and take-out!

Issue of the day:
One of my students came home on Friday with two different shoes on. I got a call from his mom asking if we took off our shoes and he put someone else’s on. Yes. We all just take off our shoes at the beginning of the day and throw them into a pile where it’s first come, first serve. Wow. Really? No. Not really. So my challenge this week is to solve this mystery because while the simple answer would be to ask the student when he switched, that plan failed with this conversation:

Me: Why do you have two different shoes on?
A: I don’t know. This one is mine and this one isn’t.
Me: I realize that, but how did you switch shoes? When did you take your shoes off and trade with someone?
A: I didn’t.
Me: You didn’t ever switch shoes with someone?
A: No. They just are different.
Me: Yes, I know, but they could not have magically appeared on your feet, so how did this happen?
A: I don’t know. My mom just took them off and they were different.
Me: Okay. (thought: this is nuts because you’re genuinely confused! how do you not know when you traded shoes!? oh yeah, your answer of “5” was “my grandma has a puppy”…)

day 12: yay for teacher stuff!

I was given my first teacher’s gift today!

It's a cute little pumpkin container (later to be used for candy) with a little flowering plant. I've been 'going the extra mile' with a mom and one of my students on a separate behavior program, which takes a lot of my time during the day. I’m really hoping it works because I actually spend much more time redirecting and correcting her, than I even do on the extra, positive reward program. But, I thought it was super nice for her to recognize and appreciate my additional work.