first days of school

We have had three first days of school.  A third of my class has come for the past three days.  All of my new kinder friends come to school tomorrow!  The past three days have been great.  Tuesday I received lots of hugs from the moment my kinders walked in the door and even a few surprise kisses on the hand.  Today I walked in my classroom to be greeted by a kinder with a rose for his new teacher.  My heart melted.  These kinders have me ruined already! 

 

Yesterday as I put one of my kinders in the car he told his mom as they pulled away, "Mom, I love my new school."  That is what every Kindergarten teacher wants their students to say after their first day of school. 

One of my favorite things we did the past three days is taking pictures in front of this...

some of my favorite responses were...

a rock star!

a daddy!

a teacher!

and a princess!

Sesame Street meets Glee!

My sister shared this with me today. 

Thank you Sesame Street for clearing up the correct way to make the G sound!

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"the" talk

Well...I had to have "the" talk with my students today! 

Love is in the air in Ms. Brown's class! 

On the playground today a kinder was pouting big time.  He had his little arms crossed and his bottom lip sticking out as far as he could!  So I called him over to me to find out what was so tragic in his life!  He said VERY tragically, "MY GIRLFRIEND BROKE UP WITH ME!"  They had been boyfriend and girlfriend for about a week.  I don't know why they broke up, but apparently it was not pretty, and it was not mutual!  I told him not to worry about having a girlfriend because they are trouble and now is not the time to worry about having a girlfriend.

There has been a lot of hand holding, arms around one another, and boyfriend/girlfriend talk!  This afternoon we were dancing and getting the wiggles out when I noticed 4 different "couples" hold hands!!! 
I started thinking..."WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!?"

This was happening in centers the other day!

While it is pretty comical I thought this needs to be addressed before it gets too out of hand!  So we talked about being friends with everyone and that it was okay for you to think a friend in our class was pretty or cute.  We talked about that while it is okay to sit with beside their friend, holding their hand or putting their arm around one another is not!

I told them that they were way too young to be boyfriend and girlfriend.  I don't know how this gets started every year, but I guess there is something sweet and special about new friends at school!

dead dog

Last school year I spent money on decorations for my classroom and other items I needed that first year.  This year I am thinking of practical things that I wasn't able to initially purchase last year for my classroom.  I am trying not to spend too much money because now I have a car payment! 

For some time now I have been wanting to purchase tennis balls.  The school had little protectors on the bottom of the chairs.  They never would stay on the chairs so there were a lot of chairs sliding, and the noise started to drive me crazy!

I have been looking on ebay and didn't realize how much tennis balls cost!  I think it is a good investment because they will last a long time on my chairs.  I ended up ordering some from Walmart.

Friday when I walked outside to go to lunch with a friend I saw this....

....little chewed up pieces of a box.

I was not happy.

I began to look around for the box and a dog to kill, but couldn't find either!

I found some of the cans of tennis balls around the yard that were chewed up. 

At this time I really thought my dog was going to be dead! 

Luckily my Dad found the box and no tennis balls were damaged.

No dog was injured either!!!

How could I not forgive this sweet girl!

date night

Student: "I had good time last night, Ms. Brown."

Me: "What did you do?"

(I had forgotten that she did tell me the day before!)
Student: "I went on a date with Justin Bieber!!!"

Me: "Oh I forgot about that!  What did you two do?"

Student: "We went out to eat at McDonalds."

Me: "Did he pay for your meal?  The guy is supposed to!"

Student: "Yes...he paid."Me: "Good!  What happened after dinner?"

Student: "He took me shopping and bought me some new clothes."

A little later through the day...

Student: "Justin Bieber is at my house."

Me: "Why is he at your house?"

Student: "He is waiting on me to get home from school."

A little jealous of her night!

important question

It is things like this that make a Kindergarten teacher's day! 

Translation for those of who you don't read Kindergarten...

I have a question. 

Ms. Brown can you be my best friend? 

I love my kinders!!!

red robin

Every Monday I send home a word list folder.  As a part of their homework, they are to read these words and come back Friday and have a "test."  These word lists help the students practice sounding words out and working on blending.  They get so excited on Fridays to be tested. 
This week as one student was being tested he came to the word  "yum."  He started sounding it out and blending. 
He read the word, yum, then says,

"Red Robin, YUMMMMM!"

Glad he is comprehending the words he is reading!!

the fever!

Friday was the premiere of Never Say Never. For those of you who have maybe been under a rock for the past several months, it is Justin Bieber's movie.
So in honor of the premier I thought that it would be perfect to have Justin Bieber day in my classroom.  I have blogged before about my classes' feelings about JB.  So I knew their excitement level would be at an all time high!!!  I told them to wear their JB attire or his favorite color which is purple! 
They came with their shirts, jackets, and necklaces!  I even have one boy who has a shirt (and it is definitely a girl's).   The other weekend a student had a Justin Bieber themed birthday party, and for her birthday she received a cardboard stand up of Justin Bieber.  I had asked her mom if we could borrow him for the day. 
They were freaking out when they saw him!  They couldn't believe it.  They were constantly walking up to him, looking at him, and touching him.

As we continued our day...as normal as we could...I moved Justin because they loved that Justin was watching them work!

While we were taking our phonics test, I had a student tell me that Justin made him smarter. 

My sister came in at lunch and brought her guitar and Justin Bieber stickers for everyone!  They love Miss Amy, and so it was such a great day for them!

I did buy myself a shirt for this special day.  When my students saw it they FREAKED out!  It was sooo funny to see their faces. 
I got to see the movie Saturday afternoon with another Kindergarten teacher.  We really enjoyed the movie.  We both had students from our classes there at the movies too.  That was exciting to see them and enjoy the movie together. 

So the fever is taking over! 

Do you have the fever????

Cats, Cats, Cats

Last week in Phonics we talked about the letter C.  I get excited when there are lots of different activities that start with the letter of the week we are studying.  I have a bulletin board in my room with the letter of the week and pictures that start with that letter.  Each day we discuss the pictures and it helps the students to hear the beginning sound that we are learning.
Our Principal at my school is great!  She is very supportive and used to be a Kindergarten teacher herself!  She loves cats.  I don't really feel the same way as she does!  Sorry to all you cat lovers!!!  The only pets I had growing up were fish and we always killed them!  My family got a dog when I was finishing college and that was a huge thing for us!!!  My feelings have changed a little bit now that I have a dog, but it has not really changed my feelings about cats!  Sorry!!!  
The Kindergarten teachers decided we would write a little book about cats for our principal and give it to her to treasure forever!!!  We read several books about cats, and then I shared with the class we were going to make a book for our principal because she loves cats!  They were sooo excited!  They could not wait to give it to her!  They came up with such funny things about cats.  (I also think they were still thinking about our marriage discussion the other day.)  They kept on talking about their cats being in love and having babies and kissing!  I promise I am not teaching them these things!!!!! 
We put our book together and called our principal down to our room so we could present her with our special book.  She LOVED it!!!  The students were so excited to give her their work.  They told her that she could leave it in her office for other students, teachers, and principals from other schools to read.
I wanted to share some of my favorite sample pages from the book.  If you want to read the whole book, make a trip down to our wonderful school!!!  We would love for you to read it!

(Kissing cats!)

(The cat is getting married.)

(The cat is sleepy.)

(The cat has a boy friend.)

(The cat is having kittens.)

When I went in the office this afternoon, it was out for everyone to see!  It made me one happy and proud Kindergarten teacher!

taking care of business

I got a new student the other week.  I am sure you have all felt the same way about new students.  The first few days your mind is mean to you and you begin to think the worst!  I have said it before and I will probably say it about 50 more times before the year is over just because it is the truth....I have the best class!  They love to learn, they love anything we do, and they love me! 
My new kinder fits right in!  He is a great student and has the best manners!  He is kind to everyone and is so smart!  I am so lucky to have 23 great kinder friends in my class now! 
The other day there were some boys in the bathroom being loud and so another assistant went to check things out because they know the rules about the bathrooms!  When she went in she found two boys in the same stall!  One of the boys was my new student, "A," and the other student was from another class.  So of course she began questioning their business.  The boys explained to her that they went to preschool together and that they had reconnected!  They were excited to be friends again.  That didn't really answer her question though!  So she asked why they had been in the same bathroom stall!  "A" told her that he was going in the stall to use the bathroom that his preschool friend had just come out of and noticed there was some pee on the seat!  "A" was not going to use the bathroom with that all over it so he had his friend come back to clean up his mess!  "A" apparently didn't think his friend would do it or meet his cleaning standards so he felt the need to stand in there and watch to make sure it was done properly! 
I love the fact that he was just trying to make sure things were neat and clean.  He knew he didn't do any thing wrong!

arranged marriage

After 10 days at home the kinders finally came back to school!  I was so happy to see them!  Most of them seemed happy to see me too!  Had a few frowns and tears, but they didn't last long!  As my kinders came in the classroom they told me what they had gotten for Christmas.  I just listened and laughed to myself because they were thinking we hadn't seen each other since Christmas break.  I felt the same way after not having school for a whole week because of the snow and ice!

Today as I was demonstrating how to correctly draw a person on the board, my students complimented me on how good I drew and then continued to suggest things I should add to my picture.  I took their suggestions and drew a necklace, and a watch, colored my dress my favorite color, and then it was suggested I draw a ring.  As I was drawing a simple plain ring, a conversation that I was not expecting started...
Student A: Ms. Brown, I want you to get married.
Me:  Well, I do too, but I have to have a boy to marry first.  I also have some requirements!  (I quickly decided to add this in because I didn't want my students to tell me they wanted to marry me.  Some parents have told me that their little boys have crushes on me.  Cute...but don't want to be encouraging this!)  The boy has to be 25 or older!!!
Student A: Can I be your flower girl?
Me: Of course you can!  I will let everyone come to my wedding but it is not going to be happening any time soon!
So I finish my drawing and give instructions for their assignment.  I thought the conversation was over....apparently their minds were still processing this little side conversation we had just gotten distracted on. 
Student B: Ms. Brown, what about my dad.  He is 30!
Me: (thinking...oh crap...what are they going to go home saying tonight....) I can't marry your dad because he is already married to your mom! 

As the students worked, they are talking to one another about the girls/boys of their dreams!!!!

...so I will dream too!

lunch money

As I greeted my students at the door this morning with hugs and remembered how I had missed each child, the children were busy unpacking and getting settled into our semi decorated classroom and discussing each little change and seasonal decor!  During this time I try to talk to each student, give lots of hugs, and listen to their cute stories.  It is routine that they come in, get unpacked, put lunch money on Mrs. Green's desk, and start on their morning work.  Sometimes they don't remember to put their lunch money on Mrs. Green's desk or they don't have a bag with the money.  They hand it to me and then I frantically find a bag because I don't want to forget who it belongs to or lose it! 
As students were coming in a student came up and told me she had some lunch money.  I told her just to give it to me and I will take care of it.  So she handed me her lunch money....it was 3 pennies!  Not what I was expecting!  I couldn't wait to give Mrs. Green her "lunch money!"  We got a kick out of it all day!  She told us she found her lunch money in her coat pocket! 
We never broke the news to her that she didn't have enough!  At least she was trying!!!