One month in (almost)

What a day. What a week.

This morning there was a cloud burst. There were two, actually. The kids were excited and wanted to jump up and run to the windows - except for one little guy, who held his hands to his ears and was shaking with fear. Terrified. This boy is outgoing and gregarious, always a ball of energy, but this storm had him absolutely gobsmacked with fear. I hurried him into the hall where he couldn't hear the pounding of the hail, and that helped, but later as the storm clouds continued to march - black and ominous - across the valley, he just about lost it. We called his mom, and she came and got him. She explained that last summer they had a pretty scary event where they hydroplaned on the freeway in the midst of a horrible downpour, and I could see where his fear came from. Poor guy.

We put an actual circle on the floor this week in the hopes of regaining some control over line time. With chairs and the bench and rows our line time had become a circus of attempting to keep kids from hiding, wiggling, moving (as in, getting up and moving mid-lesson) and talking. On Monday they were so horrid to the music teacher that she left early, and by the end of the day I was 100% done. I was trying to teach a lesson, and there was chaos and confusion, and they wouldn't just shut the hell up and be still. Finally I threw a little tantrum. I threw my marker onto the floor and stormed off to sit in the peace corner. I grabbed the peace object and tried to calm down. There was immediate quiet - for a few seconds - followed by LOUD, YELLING, ACCUSATORY, "It was YOU!" "No, it was YOU!" "QUIET EVERYONE!" Counterproductive, everyone. Really.

Kati took line and tried to encourage some calm, but it didn't do much good. Meanwhile, one student came over by the peace corner and asked, "Miss Shelly, are you OK?" I was so upset that I couldn't even look at her, but her inquiry kind of broke my dam. I had to pull the curtain around me so no one would see that I was crying.

It took several minutes, but finally I felt like going back to line. When I got there I told them that we would be having a meeting the next day about respect but that I was too upset to even talk to them about it just then. Then I told them that they would be sitting quietly on line until their names were called for pickup. The next morning I asked Kati to lead the discussion. She did a stellar job. She brought over the peace object and the picture of Maria Montessori to, 'preside over our discussion.' It went very well, and our line time has been MUCH better since then.

We are also transitioning to being a 'whispering classroom.' With 24 students in the room, it is just too loud even for inside voices. The volume is killing me, so we're whispering. We've been at it two days, and they're doing OK. Teresa tells me it takes two months of training for students to really get it.

Oh, AND this week we had our Timp Lodge outing. Fun - as always (except for the junior high girls writhing in shaving cream - yuck), but also stressful - as always.

Upcoming:
Parent teacher conferences - tomorrow and Friday
Canyon walk field trip - Next Friday (Another field trip?! Didn't we just do this? Yes, yes we did.)
Fall break is only two and a half weeks away!
AMS conference is only four weeks away!

Tower Tuesday

I like Tower Tuesdays - a lot. Most of the time, most of the students have a pretty productive morning. Today was no exception. There were a couple of students who couldn't get going, but almost everyone completed at least four works in the morning. Many completing five or more.

CB was having a rough morning. His dad has been in India with the highschoolers for two and a half weeks now, and he's showing the stress of not having dad around. He claimed to not have eaten breakfast, and he was being extra hyper and aggressive this morning, so I took him - not in a "you're in trouble" kind of way, but just to have a break - to see his mom. She took him to the kitchen to see what there was to eat, and when she brought him back she said he had eaten TWO pancakes. Yeah, boy was hungry. Hungry boys = hyper boys. His behavior improved dramatically, but he still didn't get much done.

REB, on the other hand, had a stellar day. I have found something she LOVES TO DO! Actual WORK that she loves!! I have gotten the Reading Comprehension folders done and they're out on the shelves. (In the filing cabinet, actually, but whatever.) When I saw her get one out this morning, I didn't say anything - Tower Tuesday notwithstanding. Hey, I'm just glad she's working! She ended up completing FIFTEEN folders. What a day. She loves them, and they're such simple works!

So I need to not make too much of this thing, but I was pretty thrilled.

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Case Study

JS was absent again today.

Starting to bloom

There's this thing I've been noticing of late, and I've been meaning to mention it: I have a little second-grade boy who is quiet and reserved. He pitched a colossal fit on the first day of school and has been kind of orbiting the classroom community - not really joining in, but circling and watching - all year.

He has started talking in class. This is HUGE! He's raised his hand and answered questions during group lessons; he's asked to read definition cards during nomenclature presentations . . . he's TALKING! It's pretty cool.

We went on a field trip today. GAH! I am never doing a full-group field trip again. Two classes is now my maximum. Seriously? SJ decided sometime this week that they were going to go, and she never called the museum to inform them that there would be a bigger group than expected. We showed up there with FORTY more people than they had planned for. It wasn't a big deal, because we were then on Title I funds, but for pete's sake, it makes the school look bad when we behave so damn unprofessionally! I was really irritated.

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Case Study -

Nothing to report today.