An Ordinary Day in the STEM Lab!

It's the summer time and I have once again bit off more than I can chew!  I signed up to get my Masters in Early Childhood Education.  For some reason I thought I was superwoman.  I have a new baby and I am a full-time graduate student.  It is difficult because I spend all day trying to complete my assignments and tend to my baby and my 10 year old.  I am so sorry I did this to my children.  I figured this will help the family in the long run but I am drowning.  What will I do when I start work?  I will not have time to sleep.  What have I done?

I got to love my kids. These are my birthday presents. 1. A card from one of my last year student's brother. I don't know her brother, never met him. But..... he felt the need to make me a card to let me know how much he loves me. Too sweet. 2. An Olivia the pig storage box. Before you ask...yes it is used.  She didn't have any $. I LOVE it because she took time out of her day to think about me. If you don't love it then your heart is made of stone. 3. Some aluminum foil gifts. Now, I have to admit when she first brought it to me I was like "WHAT DO YOU HAVE?!?!?!?!"  I just knew she had some food or something dripping from them. But nope, they were completely dry. Then she says "it's for you to put your pennies in". Ohhhhhh, I see. Thank you dear, I love it. 4. One of my kids wrote me a sentence for my birthday. Why? Because I told them the best birthday present they can give me is to do their best, answer some questions, & do their work...

On Monday, one of my students threw up on the table while sitting in her seat. She just sat there in it. When I told her to go to the nurse, she gets up & there is vomit dripping from her forearms. YUCK! Then another day one of the kids farted as loud as a grown ass MAN. I tried to ignore it but of course the other kids made a BIG deal about it. Then the little joker kept farting. YUCK! So during writing, one of my kids wrote:  "jfgeesc has". He came up to me extremely exited. Student: Mrs. Reid I can read my sentence! Mrs. Reid: Okay, sweetie read it to me. Student:  "I can blow your house". Mrs. Reid: Wow! That is awesome. You are doing such a great job working today. I wasn't lying. It's hard for this student to do anything. That was great for him. Last thing: I was listening to the kids talk. So there is a really smart kid who has a slight speech impediment. So he said: "Hey Minny"! She said: "My name is MILLY"! (with an...

I haven't posted in a while. Well we were too busy testing ALL week. Why are we testing in Kindergarten? I don't know but it is depressing. Why? Well, you think you are a good teacher until your kids are tested on what they have been taught.  Some of the answers they chose was so disappointing. A lot of them don't think first about what they are asked to do on the problems. My kids think everything is subtraction since that was our last major math concept we learned. We aren't even on subtraction any more.  When we were actually doing subtraction they were adding everything, lol. Ey yah eyy Well, it is Spring Break for Mrs. Reid's kindergarten class. I will post again in 2 weeks. Until then, enjoy.

What a day! I am out of the room testing my kids ALL day. When I came back in my room I was told that he had another accident. I bet you say who? You have to read my previous post. Anyway, this is how I was told it went: Kid: ewwwwww he stinks! Teacher: Awww he just past gas. Kid:  Then what's that brown stuff on the floor? It stinks! Teacher: Oh My! Run to the nurse. The kid in question: Who me? (looking puzzled) Teacher: Go! Go! Hurry. Run! So another teacher, who used to be a nurse comes & clean the floor, his chair & sprayed the room out. I am glad because I don't do crap or vomit.  I was just about to leave for recess for the rest of the day, lol. Shout out to the best custodian, we didn't even have to call you.

We started the day off with Wreck It Ralph. We had our 9-week attendance movie.  The students that have perfect attendance are entitled to a movie & snacks. Afterwards, we made egg baskets. Then it was the finale.....THE EGG HUNT (In my very excited screaming kid voice). The kids REALLY enjoyed themselves.

It must be a full moon.  In our writing block today myself and my ESOL teacher both had it up to here.  (Just imagine, lol).  Something about the kids that was just not working out.  We would tell them to do one thing and they will do another.  One student was writing a story about a pig.  She was told to draw a picture of her animal.  Why did she draw a butterfly????? Why, why, why????   I asked another student what does a dog look like?  He said a gorilla......  Why, why, Why?!?!?!?  Sometimes I want to have a tantrum, lol. But the end of the day trumped the beginning.  So we are writing a response to literature.  I passed out paper.  No later than 10 minutes later I called the students up to turn in their paper.  One student brought his paper with some brownish green substance on it. Me:  "What is this on your paper?" Student: "Huh?" Me:  "Throw it in the trash" At the same time, I smelled som...

Today we had a great time at school. Once a month all of the students in our school are Engineers For A Day. Today we built a pasta bridge. The object was to build a bridge using uncooked pasta & clay. The bridge has to be strong enough to hold weight over a distance span. At first, the kids didn't get the concept. They thought that they were building a big fancy cutesy bridge. After a trial & huge error some eventually got it.

Today has been rough! We started the day with a kid that threw up on his work & another child's work. Then my kids WOULDN'T do any work. They spent the 1st hour of the day testing my classroom management skills. Our writing block was a tad bit better. We have written "About Me", "The Park" for our Narrative revisit. We then moved onto learning antonyms. Then Math Problem Solving. I had 6 kids on sad face for not following directions.  3 of them cried. My lil boy B is having a VERY active day today. Unable to follow directions or stay focused. But this made me smile:  On the way to lunch 1 student says - "Mrs. Reid are you going to ALWAYS going to wear that shirt and THAT hair?" It' the same kid from the other day. I still can't tell if he likes the hair or if it bothers him, lol. He will marry a woman with "THAT" hair, lol. Oh & what's with the shirt question? Lol

Ok, so I have a new hair style called Tree Braids, it requires weave.  The hairstyle is a week old (read the previous blog) One of the kids (out of the blue) says: "Mrs. Reid are you gonna always have that hair?" It must have been on his mind the whole weekend & all day because he didn't say anything until 12:00 pm. The day is about over, lol. I don't know if he likes it or if he is bothered by it.... Funny stuff.

I came in with a new hair style. I have Tree Braids. Here is our conversation: Kid 1 (boy) - Mrs. Reid what happened to your hair???? Kid 2 (boy) - It's a big hair now! Kid 3 (girl) - It's a big hair but it's pretty.

About my boy A:  So I had a conference with the mom & my Principal. The mom admitted that she knew something was going on with him but she doesn't know what to do about it. She agreed to get him tested. I am so happy. They must catch him while he is young.

Monday, March 11, 2013 Whewwww!  Monday!  It's all I can say.  Today I introduced Maps and Globes.  We are still working on measurement. I also introduced Animals and animal babies. I have 2 students that gives me the hardest time.  Because, they are just 6 six years old they are still as cute as they want to be but...... on the other hand????  I think they are the reason why my hair is falling out.  It's not a behavior problem they are just OUT OF THE BOX students.  They are really really busy and all over the place.  I really think they have not been diagnosed yet.  By diagnosed, I mean they are VERY hyperactive, unable to focus, and all over the place (can't sit still).   They are both boys. Boy A:  very, very intelligent when he pays attention long enough.  His answers far beyond his 6 years of life.  I think there is an old man locked up in there somewhere.  His favorite line is "I used my brain". Boy B:...

The highlight of our day was Measurement.  The kids had a blast. Measurement Lesson Common Core Standard: MD1 Materials:  Balance scale, linking cubes, white board erasers, crayons, color pencils, erasers, scissors, and pencils. First, the students had to estimate how many linking cubes it would take to EQUAL a given item.  Then they had to actually do the measurement.  The students had to place an item in one side of the scale and place linking cubes in the other side until both sides are equal.  My students LOVE hands on activities.  They were in  4 groups with 1 scale per group.  I had to assign group captains because my students FIGHT over anything.  So I assign captains so there would only be 1 person touching the materials at a time. I wish I had taken pics but I forgot.  Sorry.  In the future, I will try and post a visual.

Wednesday, 3/6/13 was silly sock day. I live for stuff like this. Kindergarten should be FUN while learning.

Thursday, 3/7/13 we had Hat Day to raise money for Special Olympics. All the kids heard was "BRING MONEY" but they didn't understand why. So they brought money but they didn't bring a hat. So we made hats.

http://pinterest.com/catrinamreid/

First, let me give you the dynamics of my class.  I have 24 students.  They are between the ages of 5 and 6.   My class is 88% Hispanic = 21 students, 4% African American = 1 student, 8% Other (Asian & Indian) = 2 students. At the beginning of the year, the majority of my students do not speak english and I do NOT speak spanish.   I bet you are wondering "How do we communicate?"  Well children that young can easily adapt.  The best time for a child to learn a second language is when they are very young.  By the end of the year, 100% of my children are bilingual.  The children that do not speak English, speaks and understand it.  The children that do not speak Spanish, are not fluent but they understand and speak a little of Spanish.  It is truly amazing.  Me as the teacher also pick up on some words. I sit and listen to the children speak in their native tongue.  Even though I don't speak spanish I can understand t...