October

Fall is here. Really. With a vengeance. The rain today was intense, but the class was beautiful. It was so quiet and calm in the morning - so much work going on. We have changed up tracking just a bit. Instead of a daily tracking page, they've got four pages in their notebooks marked off for the week - one page for each area: language, math, science and practical life. Throughout the week, whenever they do a language work, they mark it on the language page. No need to mark time or day - just the work. Really makes it easy to see, "Oh, you haven't done any math yet this week. You should focus on that today . . . "

What do I do about the kids who constantly leave the room? The ones who 'have to go to the bathroom,' and 'need a drink real bad' pretty much all day long? I had one boy come into class an HOUR late this morning b/c he was in the bathroom. Really? You can't spend an hour in the bathroom, bud. You just can't. And then there's REB's drama, "You have NO IDEA the pain I went through yesterday!" Yep, and right now I don't care. Oh, that's harsh - tell me what happened so we can move on. Oh, you got smacked in the face with a swing? And you got a bloody nose? And it left a bruise? That's horrible. Now let's go one.

Sometimes I need to work on my compassion.

I think tracking a little differently is going to be a good thing.

I taught the 4th GL today, and the exclamation mark key experience. Both went pretty well. Tomorrow I'm going to finish out the 4th GL, and we're doing the 5th on Thursday. We're only a week behind schedule. I'm not super happy with how the Great Lessons were covered this year, but they're all going to be done, so there's that. I'm supposed to do Weather tomorrow (right? - yep), and I'm going to do the Suffix KE. I'm just plugging ahead.

Oh, and CB - what a firecracker. He's still working the anxiety attacks pretty hardcore - not to imply that he's putting on a show, or anything; they're definitely the real deal. Today with the storm, well, you can guess how he did. At recess he went outside even though the storm clouds were still present. What did he do though? Yoinked the ball from a little 1st grader from another class and ran across the field with her screaming and trailing behind him, only to THROW IT OVER THE FENCE on the other side. Seriously, buddy? WTF?

He got to hang out with me for the rest of recess. Maria Montessori would not have approved, I'm sure.