2 hour delay

This is what was happening when I went to bed last night. It might not look weird to everyone, but as an Oregonian in March this is strange! We have had LOTS of wet snow mix in the past month or so, but it has mainly been a tease that only stuck south of us. No snow days or delays, just enough excitement to get the kids distracted.

Well, today is the 3rd day of spring...so naturally, this is when the snow was ready to stick! I was a skeptic, but still didn't sleep well because I was constantly checking my phone. I was VERY excited to see at 4:56 this morning that the school district issued a 2 hour delay which means NO AM KINDER!! Perfect scenario for me, no snow make up day, but no kids either! I still have to go in for a couple of hours but I will get to spend that time prepping. Next week is spring break so this is the perfect timing for me to get planning done and then head out for break right when the kids get out tomorrow.

Can I get a heck yes?? Finally we've got some good coming from this cold weather!! But, now I am ready for the gorgeous Oregon summer :) C'mon warmth! **Disclaimer- I am an Oregonian through and through. We are so used to rain that we are a little bit bi-polar when it comes to weather changes :)

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Huh?

I'm sure we've all had those moments where we wonder if we heard a kid correctly. Those "out of the mouths of babes" type comments that there are even linky parties about. Well, today I had two of them! Hope you get a good laugh :)

1. A little guy showed me a cut on his hand and explained that he got it in his new house that is REALLY old. I was thinking he meant like a 1950's or so house. He said it was built in the 90's...REALLY??? that's OLD?? hahaha

2. We are focusing on the letter u this week. While brainstorming u words with the class I pointed to my stomach and said, "what about your tummy...?" before I could finish saying how it feels when you don't feel good one boy shouted excitedly "BIG!" (ouch!) Well if that's not a reminder to count my WW points, i'm not sure what is! haha. 

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Going for a run

One of my super sweet coworkers just had twins and with her already big family of 5 decided to make some room and get rid of her treadmill. How did I get so lucky??

Today i am going to run inside! I feel really guilty doing this to my dog, mac, but am just not feeling up to freezing outside! Maybe it is because sundays run was almost entirely a hailstorm...no fun!!

Maybe I will give in and go for a walk with him after i warm up on my inside run. Ohh that puppy sad and confused look is getting me already!!

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Teddy Bears

Every year the kinders at my school get a chance to sew their very own bear. It starts as two brown pieces of felt. They get to sew on buttons for eyes and a felt heart. Then they sew the sides together (a slow process), stuff the inside, and finally add a nose and mouth. The last thing they do is name their bear and give it a birth certificate. This is a project that we spend quite a bit of time on, with parent volunteers coming in as much as they can to spend time helping the kids sew. It is a super fun project that the kids love! At the very end we go on a parade around the school to show off our new bears to the older kids. The best part is that the kids who went to kinder at our school bring the bear they made and the kinders get to see how special their bears are! Today was our teddy bear parade :) Aren't they cute???

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random gifts

Don't you just love the look a kid has in their eyes when they have something to give you? I don't live in a community where teachers get elaborate gifts or presents all the time(I've heard of vacation homes, baby showers, etc!). In my classroom, and at this age, a lot of the time it is a random note they wrote or a sticker. they are so proud. and I love it. In the past few weeks I've had quite a chuckle from the gifts i've received... *One little girl gave me a pretty heart foam thing after valentines day. a couple of days later she asked me if I remembered it. I told her it was being treasured on my desk. She said she was just letting me borrow it, and she wanted it back the next day. Oh yes, the next day she took it back. haha. I thought this was odd, but didn't talk to her about how when you give a gift you can't take it back. or else you have to tell the person you would like to share it with them (right?). Well, a couple of weeks later she gave me a silly band and a button. she said she wants it back. hahaha *An adorable little boy in my class gave me a "sticker" today. he pulled it out of his pocket and BEAMED at me. It was a 3cent stamp. bahahaha. I asked him if his daddy gave it to him. he said no, he found them. there was a whole pad in his pocket. I smiled and kindly told him that they were used for sending letters in the mail, and his daddy would be really happy if he gave them to him instead of me. I couldn't help but smile, it reminded me of when I was in kindergarten and got ahold of my mom and dads checkbook....yes, I passed out blank checks to the whole neighborhood...my parents got a shock out of that! The neighbor told them they found ripped up checks lining the street. Good thing we lived in an uncorrupted city at the time!(That wouldn't fly in Eugene anymore! haha) What random gifts have you received?

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Holiday

In my district we are given one personal day a year where we can take it for whatever we want, as long as it does not extend a holiday or vacation. They call it our "floating holiday". I decided to take my holiday on friday (don't worry, I lined up my amazing sub ahead of time!) so that I could attend a friend's funeral. I figured this was something I could not get the time off for normally, but would be a perfect (albeit sad) way to use my floating holiday. I wanted to honor my friend and be able to celebrate his life, so I lined up my sub and filled out the necessary paperwork before I left thursday. Unfortunately, thursday I also had a minor (cosmetic? mole) removal done and between that (I swear, they could NOT numb me up!!) and the tickle in my throat I woke up friday SICK! Not only did I feel like crud and have stitches next to my nose, I had the most terrible migraine i've had in a long time. I could hardly get out of bed to move to the couch, let alone get ready for the funeral. I had to miss it, and was really sad to not be able to share the memories of my friend. I know that it is not the end of the world, but I would have liked to have been there. :( So not only did I take my holiday for a not-fun event, I ended up missing said event on being sick. If only I could have changed it from a holiday to a sick day.... don't worry, I asked. The answer was "no" (color me shocked...) At least I had the long weekend to sleep (think-all day, all night!) I returned to school today feeling almost back to myself, and the kiddos were super sweet. they barely even asked what I had on my face :) (Stitches come out tomorrow, hopefully!) I didn't even begin to explain where I was friday....they just think I was at the doctor. Well, that's close enough!

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Awkward moment

A couple of weeks ago I had to get a last minute sub because I was sick. Sounds normal, right? well, due to the fact that I could hardly even focus enough to think let alone make a phone call to my favorite subs asking them to come in, I had to leave it up to the "sub-finder gods" and hope that one of my top choices could come in. Well...they couldn't. Darn it. You would think that because we live in a place where there are LOTS of amazing, highly qualified and awesome teachers without jobs (How awful is that????? but really, there are!) whoever the sub list got for my room would be awesome and I would come back to glowing reports. unfortunately, that was not the case. I just don't understand how sub lists can be closed and it is so hard to get on them, but then more than once I have had an inadequate sub. Is this because kindergarten is such a different world?? I'm not sure, but I wanted to give this sub the benefit of the doubt. I emailed her my plans, sent them to my teammates, and had them check in with her to make sure she was all set. They said when they talked to her she acted like everything was ok, but later reports from parents in the room and my aide were that she was anything but in control. First off, some of my kids were NOT helping her out by any means and running amok. believe me, they did NOT get away with that when I got back! I can't blame it all on the sub, but the more I heard the more upset I was. She was talking on her cell phone, letting kids run around the room (ooh boy, did they hear it from me!) and overall had a "oh well" attitude towards the class. (as reported by my aide) I know that the world does not end when one day doesn't go well, but I did have concern about her coming back. I talked to our head secretary who asked me to fill out a report on the sub and that she would be taken off of our school's call list. I felt awful doing this, and even questioned if I should just let it go, but decided that if the reports given to me were true then I did not want to risk having her in my room again. (and, lesson learned, no matter how sick I am I will make sure I know who my sub is even if I have to have Mr. Bee make the calls). The secretary and our sub coordinator let me know that she would not be coming back. Well, imagine my surprise when just a few days later I get our daily in school sub list and she is on it!! I almost dropped to the floor thinking about all of the different scenarios that could play out. Would she come and talk to me? does she know I wrote her up yet? Is she mad? I went and talked to the secretary again and she was also surprised the sub was back, and said that she would call the sub coordinator and make sure it didn't happen again. Well, during my prep period the sub came into my room and introduced herself. I was sooo nervous, but I don't think she had any idea. I quickly greeted her and then pointed her on her way to where she was going (not rudely, she asked) Then I wiped the sweat off my brow and hightailed it to Mrs. Sneaker's room to tell her about my close call! This got me thinking....Maybe I should have taken the time to give her feedback on what had happened in my room? Was I a coward for pretending like I had not written her a bad report? What would you do in this situation?? All I know is I am so glad given the fact she came back, that this was the only awkward thing that happened. I pictured tears and screaming...overdramatic me, I know. I hate confrontation!! (hopefully, this glitch is fixed! When I commented to the secretary about how maybe she was good in other areas the response was "NO!" from her own interactions with the sub. hmm...) Needless to say, it was an AWKWARD moment in an otherwise "Typical" day. What do you do when you have a bad sub? Is there a way for you to make sure they don't come back to your room? Or your building?

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