Zoo Pals

Our kindergarteners recently took a field trip to the zoo.  Let me just say......we were the cutest kids there!  No doubt about it.  Other people kept stopping us to comment on our adorable shirts.

We let each child choose their favorite animal.  Then, we used their handprint and painted that animal onto a yellow shirt for them. They were precious!

 Check out a few of them.....

We had some kindergarten cuties for sure!

Being Real About Teaching

  I'm just gonna lay it out there. 

The truth.

The truth is that most days, I am a pretty stinking good teacher.....not to toot my horn, but I just really enjoy what I do.  I think the Big Guy Upstairs picked my occupation for me as he was creating me. I was born to teach.  I feel that Kindergarten is a wonderland.  A room bursting with eagerness and ideas and energy and excitement and enjoyment and paint and dirt and booboos that need kissed and playfulness and giggles and messy hair and sticky faces and bright eyes and big smiles.  My kindergarten classroom is the perfect combination of laughter and learning and it is filled with 18 unique little individuals who all need me in a different way.

The truth is that I take pride in a job well done.  I take pride in the fact that my class is as prepared as possible for first grade.

But the truth is that today....

I sucked.

I know that I just said the major bad "S" word. 

Sorry. 

But it's true.  I was major suckage today.

Nothing I tried to teach seemed to stick.  I almost had a nervous breakdown trying to teach one of my reading groups today because they just weren't "getting it".  The kids were beyond wild...probably because of the FREAKIN full moon.  I was cranky.  The kids were snippy with each other.  I was snippy with the kids.  I had NO fun ideas today.  We did NO art. We played NO games. I barely danced with them during music time. I completed the required lessons, but totally lacked any sort of pizazz.  Did I even smile today?  Probably not. 

Why? Because today.....
I was a loser. 

I stunk it up. 

I reeked. 

I sucked.

The good news is that I don't think I did any permanent emotional damage to any of my students.   They are a pretty forgiving bunch.  One student even said,

 "Mrs. Heptinstall, you are one of the bestest teachers I have had in my whole life."

I was relieved that she still loved me despite my numerous shortcomings today.

But then, I remembered.....
 I am the only teacher she has ever had in her whole life.

Broom Trick Bonanza

For several days I have been seeing people post photos on facebook of their brooms standing up unassisted.  I didn't really take the time to see what the fuss was all about.  I honestly figured people were playing pranks or something and there was some sort of string holding the brooms up.

But today, at our school, the broom trick caught on.  One of our teacher aides walked down and asked if I had seen the "Broom Trick".  I told her about seeing it on facebook, but didn't know what it was.  She walked over to the corner of the room, opened the closet, got out a broom, and stood it up.  It was as simple as that.

 What?  Hey.... How did you do that?

She replied with, "I don't know.  It is suppose to be something about the alignment of the planets."

That didn't sound exactly right to me, but it was still a pretty impressive trick.  Simple, but quite impressive.

Before long, this is what our hallway looked like.....

Almost every teacher in the school had taken their brooms outside their doorway and stuck them in the hall.  All standing with no strings. Unassissted.

The kids were completely amazed.  Heck, even the adults were amazed!

Our class did a little bit of research to answer the questions of why it worked. We learned that the trick is really nothing more than a balancing act.  We learned that it has nothing to do with the alignment of the planets and everything to do with the broom's center of gravity being directly over it.  We tried to have a little mini lesson on balance and gravity, but I think some of my kindergartners still believe on some level that a bit of magic was involved.

The whole trick was all in good fun.......until the maintenance department arrived. 

The maintenance men marched right past the brooms, without even checking up.  They didn't smile.  They didn't seem to take notice of 30 brooms standing on their own power, balanced in the hall.  They just kept walking.  They made it all the way to my door at the end of the hall passing broom after broom outside each teacher's door.

 

They arrived at my door ready to fix a leak in my classroom, but paused before coming into my room.  One of the men nodded over at the brooms and said.... 

"Did all of the teachers decide to park their rides out in the hall today?"

A Green Egg Disaster

Today we celebrated the brilliant and wacky author, Dr. Seuss.  Tomorrow is his birthday, so we have read his books, watched one of his movies, created art, and made rhymes.  We have written stories, made illustrations and dressed up. Today, we read his book Green Eggs and Ham.  And to properly celebrate Dr. Seuss, you absolutely must eat some green eggs and ham!

The kindergarteners all gathered around me as I cracked open two dozen eggs.

Whisked them up.

Added green food coloring.

And poured them onto the hot griddle.

The kids were mesermerized.

I had them eating out of the palm of my hand.

Until.....

Something went wrong.

Horribly wrong.

Can you see the problem?

Look more closely.

I thought the kids were squealing with delight because the eggs were sizzling on the pan.

But no.  Oh, no.

I didn't realize that they were screaming because all the eggs were pouring straight onto the floor through the hole in the griddle.

I noticed it after half of the green eggs were already on the floor.

Oh, the horror!

Have you ever spilled an egg on the floor?

It's not very easy to clean up.

Try spilling over a dozen eggs that are dyed green on the floor.... while 18 kindergarteners watch.

And then try to regain control of the situation.

You should try it.

Just for kicks.

Unique Kindergarten Kids

  I have the best job in the world. 

The best.

Although teaching kindergarten is sometimes totally exhausting, it comes with the biggest perks.

The kids are so loving, eager to learn, and willing to please the teacher. Plus, we get to sing, dance, and create art every single day. What could be better than that?

The biggest perk is that each child is still so very individual at age 5. They have not yet really learned to conform to what the ideal student is. Their personalities are so out in the open.

These are my silly pumpkins this year.  This is one of my favorite art projects ever because it shows how unique they each are.

    I have 17 students this year.  Some are leaders and some choose to follow. There are the extra loving ones.  The lively ones.  Some are shy.  Some are dramatic. I have kids that are loud and kids that are soft-spoken.  Kids that always know the answer and those who have to work hard to learn.  Some kids bounce off the walls and some kids can stay seated all day.  Some love art while others prefer reading.  There are kids that follow the rules and kids that break them.  Kids that are silly and kids that are serious. 

Each one is so unique.

So individual.

So beautiful.