A Week in the Cottages

(For those of you wondering, our classroom is called a "Cottage".  It sounds so much classier than "portable" or "trailer"...)

Monday: Honestly, who can remember what happened Monday?  Our volunteer didn't show up for small groups, so Kelsey and I had to split our time.  Oh, and parent-teacher conferences started this week.

Tuesday: Nope, can't remember Tuesday either.  I think it was a pretty good day.

Wednesday: Oh, what a day.  It was the kind of day that makes you reconsider teaching 4 year olds.  First of all, it rained.  (Cue frantic scurrying to find "indoor games" to occupy 22 children for an hour of "outside time".)  After finally convincing every child to go to newly designated seats while waiting for the music teacher to show up, we spend 15 minutes wondering when Ms. Sunny will come and trying to entertain the kids without them moving.  Cue "Quiet Game".  Decide that Ms. Sunny is indeed not coming, so we skip music and go to snack. (Yum!) Introduce a new game to pass 30 minutes of recess. (Which, surprisingly, went really well).  On to Work Time (a fancy term for "Centers").  Everything's going really well, and we decide to extend Work Time to take up some of our 2nd outside time (as the rain continues...).  Halfway through Work Time, a student throws up on half of our main carpet.  21 other children freak out and are simultaneously repulsed and engrossed with the puddle on the carpet.  It takes 20+ minutes to track down a custodian to help us clean up the mess.  During that time, I form a blockade of chairs around the mess and try to steer the other 21 children back to their centers.  Finally, we get the mess cleaned up and go to lunch. I spend lunch putting mats out, and we go directly from lunch to nap instead of having math (the carpet was still wet from cleaning).  Because the day's schedule was completely messed up, nap time was a wreck too. FINALLY it's time to go home!

Thursday: Brr...the rain brought very cold weather with it.  We find out that if the temperature is under 40 degrees, we can't be outside.  Morning outside time is spent eating snack and playing a new game inside. The day passes fairly uneventfully (thank goodness for small miracles!)  After school, Kelsey and I are chatting with the mom of a student as we wait for his dad to show up for the conference.  The mom tells us stories about her son.  One of the stories is about how I (Mrs. May) like to bite children while they're at school (NOTE: I do NOT bite the children). His mom told him that I (Mrs. May) probably like biting children, and how she can't wait to tell Ms. Smith (Kelsey) about it.  At this point, he laughs and screams that it's a joke, please, please, please don't tell them! Kelsey and I were nearly rolling on the floor laughing.  We also found out that our dog puppet - Disco - comes to lunch and eats scraps under the table. Who knew?!?

Friday: One girl hands me a card as soon as I walk in the door from car rider duty.  Inside it says "I love my teachers, Love, M****". What a way to start the day! Too bad it didn't stay as delightful the rest of the day.  Nearly 1/3 of our class didn't line up from outside when the bell rang (just being contrary, I suppose).  5 boys had a marker war at the art table.  I caught them and made them find every marker and lid that they could. After 10 minutes of searching, there were still 10 markers without lids, so I told them that I figured they owed me 10 minutes of sitting on the carpet watching everyone else have fun (I'm so mean!). Kelsey kept 4 girls in from recess for a bit so they could finish cleaning their mess up in dramatic play (took them 20 minutes total). Lunch. Science (or, as we say, Let's Find Out About It). Nap Time - during which one student took up all the pieces of tape marking the waiting line for the bathroom. Story (well, half a story because it took forever to pack up everything they had to take home today). Dismissal.

Now, I'm writing this as I wait for my husband to get home on his day off.  The only reason he went in today is because it's looking like he can sell 2 cars today (fingers crossed)!