Laryngitis: A Teacher's Worst Enemy.

When it looked like things couldn't get worse, they did. The past 3 days have been the most frustrating days of my teaching life. I have a new appreciation and sympathy for those unable to communicate at all with others. I can't imagine being like that all the time... the first day I cried because no one could understand me. To not be able to speak when you're supposed to maintain some sort of order with 17 children right before Christmas Break is like finding out you are being unjustly admitted to a place with a strait jacket and padded walls.

How did it happen? Well, because I was getting over a sickness, it apparently wanted to make things worse. At recess on Tuesday, K decided it was a smart choice to continually hit another student on the playground for no good reason at all. I tried to use my gut to project my voice, but when you're across a playground and there is hitting going on, you just do what you have to do. I was screaming for K to get over to me, and of course, all week he drove me up the wall with his senseless crying, so I was already at my wits' end with him.

An hour after this happened, my voice was gone and a goose took residence in my throat. Body=good. Voice=bad.

We had a field trip on Wednesday, and thank goodness, I had a parent volunteer. She at least helped corral the kids. Thank all that is good that we had Christmas movies the last two days. I would have called in sick otherwise.

My kids were as sweet as they could be right before a vacation. I made out in student gifts, too. (Funny enough, I received gifts from the already-great students... not my troubling ones. EXCEPT DS. He gave me a nice Yankee Candle Christmas set.) Gift cards to Olive Garden and B&N... are divine. AND I received my very first "Best Teacher" paraphernalia from G. It's a keychain with an apple that says "Best Teacher" and a pencil. Of course, it's on my keychain now, especially because it is my very first student-given teacher knickknack. :)

NOTE TO PARENTS:
As unbiased/objective/equal as teachers try really hard to be, if you show your appreciation for them (i.e., with a note, card, gift, etc), we unknowingly create a little soft spot for your child, and when they have difficulty learning a new skill, we ARE ever so slightly more patient with them because we know their parents support and respect our positions. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE! ... we will never outwardly admit it because we do want to be equally fair to ALL kids. But heck, it's the truth. Show the love to your kids' teachers. I guarantee when something rough happens, they will be a lot more willing to work with you. :)
[This ends our service announcement.]

So, the final counts are in for the first half of the year...
... the times I've been called Mom : 19
... the times I've been called Grandma : 1
... the times T has said he wants to live with me : 4
... the times K has cried over something ridiculous : 25
... the times I had to tell TA to sit down : ~100
... the times I was called beautiful by my kids (ultimate heart-toucher) : ~10
... the times I had to say 4+0=4 : 5
... the times DS stood next to me to lean his head on my side : 6
... the times I had to hear questions about eating astronaut ice cream : 15
... and finally, the times I received student drawings of random things : 27

As I conclude this, I give up many cheers and hoots that I am now on Winter Break. It's delicious bliss, and I will bask in it for the next two weeks... even though I've already started thinking about fun things to do when we go back.... DOH!

I will be away in California until New Year's Eve, so I hope that all goes well. I get to see Boston friends, meet M, spend Christmas with LK and M&M, eat at Souplantation (only the best place ever)... and see my pandas! It just has to go well.

- Miss Chelsea :)

Worst Week.

Sorry to say, but this was the worst week. The one highlight happened on Monday.

Q, a student whom I rarely see from Mrs. A's class, walked up to me in the morning and held out a purple piece of folded paper. "Oh, what's this, Q?" I asked. He replied, "It's a birthday card." Not even thinking anything involving me, I asked, "For who?" He didn't say anything and so I just opened it. And this is what it said:

Dear Mrs. F. Happy belated birthday Mrs. F. I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner, so here it is rite now. Happy belated birthday Mrs. F.
Love, Q

There are many funny parts to this story. 1) My birthday was a month ago. 2) I was thought about by a student not even in my class over the weekend. 3) The card's words have all the correct meanings (i.e., belated), so he must have gotten some adult advice somewhere in the card-making process. 4) Still doesn't realize I'm not a Mrs.

I told him thanks and gave him a hug, and he looked all pleased with himself. It definitely made my day/week. Most hilarious thing ever.

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Aside from being a teacher, life has been pretty down lately. A new development is that I've also been getting daily migraines (dull, but annoying). After talking to a few other teachers, apparently headaches/migraines are part of the educator territory. Greeeeeaaat. Something to really look forward to! ...

I'm really hoping next school year will be a lot more organized... I haven't had time to write out Christmas cards (which probably won't happen now), wrap presents, send off out-of-state gifts, or anything. Everything will arrive late. :( I feel stressed just thinking about it. I literally can't cut anything out of my current teaching schedule to get this holiday stuff done.

AND I also have to start buying garden stuff for the grant I earned. I'm freaking out ever so slightly. I told them I would do it over winter break.

Progress reports are due on Wednesday, and knowing the current school administration, they will want to see them tomorrow... so guess what I'm doing today? Yeah.

Can't wait for Christmas. I need the break desperately.

- Miss Chelsea :S

You know it's been a long week when...

... you hesitate for even a MILLI-SECOND over whether or not pizza is magnetic. Yeah. It was pretty sad, but it gave the other teachers and me a good laugh.

1. On Thursday, I was having my kids clean out their desks, get packed up, and clean the floors. Mrs. W. comes down the hallway and starts talking about something. (She likes to call me by my last name, so from here on out, "F" is me.) Then she blurts out, "Look at F! She's like the Lady in the Shoe with tons of kids! Oh, F, when you find yourself a husband, you're going to have 4 to 5 kids, I just know it. Mrs. G! Come look at F! She's gonna have her some 4-5 kids. She got them doing this and that. Woooo, multi-tasking." Mrs. W. pretty much cracks me up with her energy. She has a TON of it. I don't know where it comes from. This story was told to about 3 more people the rest of the workday by Mrs. W. Woe is me that I'm the sole white girl in Pod C and turn red very easily. Every time.

2. Trying to teach regrouping is the PITS. I hate it. I don't know how my teacher taught me it... more than half of the class gets it. There are just 4 students who need more help... but AH! Monday was terrible. I think I'm going to pull those students aside and reteach it on Monday... I hope that will work... they need to learn that you cannot just ALWAYS put a 1 above the tens place; sometimes you don't need to regroup!

A thing that did help with the rest was that "Mr. Ones doesn't like to have more than 9 people in his house... he's cranky and selfish. So if you have more than 9 visitors, you have to send 10 of them over to Mr. Tens' house where there is more room." Mrs. A. told me that one. :)

3. On a personal note-- Miss EB and I found a place to live for the end of January!! It's a BEAUTIFUL condo with a gorgeous room; it's pretty much everything I wanted in a home. The best part--- I'll be so proud to have visitors over now! There's plenty of room for people to stay over, plenty of room for my bookcase (yes, it did factor in!), etc. It floors me how much space we'll be getting and it's a cheaper rent than what I paid in Boston. The landlady even wants to get rid of her full-sized guest bed for free! It's COMFY and new. Okay, so I'm a strange one who gets excited about a comfy bed... but that saves me about $600. Now that I have a job, I refuse to sacrifice my sleep anymore for old-bent-up mattresses.

Anyway, great location, great amenities. We'd be really dumb not to take up the offer.

4. My goldfish is going to have to wait until after the move. I still never got the filter to work, so I'm taking the whole thing back to the store. Annoying to have to take it all down, but it's needed at the moment.

5. And finally, it's Miss EB's birthday today... so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Caliente!

- Miss Chelsea :)