1) Poor little guy in my class has a really hard time handling a full day of school. (And come to think of it, isn’t a full day in a pre-kindergarten class at age four kind of a lot?) On Monday he turns himself into the sick room during second lunch, lying still as a corpse when I visit him. He confesses that he’s just not ready for full day and wants to go back to half day. After forty minutes of resting up, he grows bored and returns to the classroom for a rousing visit with the Spanish teacher. Today we realize that he has inadvertently been skipping lunch…he doesn’t know that when the bell rings after first recess he has to go inside for lunch. This apparently has attributed to his occasional melt down.
2) I finally crack. The high pitched cadence emitted from this tiny girl broke my last nerve. This is the child who cries over melting beads falling on the floor, who screams at other kids on the playground to ‘get out of her house,’ who loses it when she realizes she wrote the number four backwards. While helping another student she continues to interrupt me with the loudest whining I’ve ever heard in my life. I call her on it. I say I can’t understand anything she’s saying with her whiny voice. She actually shushes up and approaches me differently. The other instructors learn of this during a meeting and I am admonished. It is decided that I need to be more positive.
3) I continue to be a success with my well balanced puppet shows. My puppets rock the house with their upbeat messages about sharing and getting along well with others.
4) I spend a huge chunk of the afternoon in the classroom with the kids by myself. This always terrifies me because I know what these kids are capable of–good and bad. One meltdown and I’m a goner. I begin Free Play with a friendly puppet show on being a good listener. The kids are entranced…the puppets excuse them one by one and they play well and quietly.
5) I have several kids who occasionally get so involved in their activities that they wet their pants. This is really embarrassing for some, and just business as usual for others.
6) Little girl in neighboring class breaks her arm on the playground. She snaps her arm in three places. She misses one day of school and when she returns she’s wearing a terrific cast that goes up past her elbow. I applaud her bravery. She is surrounded by a female entourage that helps support her through this perilous time.
7) I make a little headway with my most challenging student…the loner, the socially-inept, very sweet but very nervous kid who the children have pretty much abandoned. He and I read a few stories, even though I can tell he is really uncomfortable with how close we have to sit next to each other. I beg him to graph out his pattern blocks by gluing paper shapes to the paper with the rest of the kids. He informs me that he does not like glue. He also does not like tape, staples, or any other adhesives. I get him with velcro; he just might consider velcro…
8) I endure my very first parent night. The worst part about it is that I am at work from 7:45am to 8:45pm. I almost lose my mind. The following day I write on the board: “And The Elephant Ant” instead of “The Ant And The Elephant.” I don’t even notice, and actually get defensive when my lead teacher corrects me.
9) I receive my first love note from a four year old boy in another classroom. He covers it with oo’s and xx’s and reads it aloud as ‘hugs’ and ‘kisses.’ I’m deeply flattered. Last week he had proposed marriage to a fellow Resident Teacher. I walk over to her class and smear my love note in her face.
10) Someone has taught these little kids to use the slang term ‘rocks.’ They’re clustered around a table screeching: “This glitter glue totally rocks!”