Boogers

In non-cold/allergy/asthma related news I've been going to work. My class this year is soooo much better behaved than classes I've had in awhile. Which is amazing. I need this. It makes teaching so much more fun. We completed state testing so I have an idea of where students are in their reading abilities. Which some has me pretty scared.  I suspect one has a form of dyslexia.  The student does not connect sounds to words in ways that show any phonemic awareness. I will have to do more assessing. I just think how could this student get this far into our school system and no-one has done more for her. I don't know... sometimes parents resist it as well.

I have a couple little challenges this year. One challenge is a pouter, full on, lower lip out, arms over our chest, crocodile tears pouter. It is unusual at this age. I spoke with the parents once and I was told yes they do this at home and if I have any ideas that would help they'd appreciate it. Keep it simple Mom and Dad CONSEQUENCES. Take away the thing they like. UGGH ! Okay anyway so this one has this mastered. I tell the student the action I expect, what will happen if it doesn't stop or start, and walk away.  Then I get the pout, the crossed arms, the tears, etc. I finally pulled the student aside for a conversation about how 2nd graders behave and this is NOT it!  Welllll it slowed down a little, but hasn't gone away. I guess we all need practice in being corrected. It isn't fun, but life will be much, much, harder if we cannot accept a little correction.  This student also appeared to have a pea-sized bladder. I contacted the parents about this as well making sure there wasn't a medical issue (HA!). They were quite apologetic.  I did a little recognizance  to see if the bathroom was the final destination. The student wandered the hall did a little bounce into lost and found, went into the bathroom, came out 20 seconds later. SO now we are doing bathroom tickets. The student gets two a day. They can also go during lunch or recess without using a ticket.  We'll see how this goes.

My other little challenge I am not sure what to think. I got this very weird vibe from the family at back-to-school night. The whole family was all over my classroom...with 6 people it is uncomfortable. I suspect a couple things might have fallen into pockets. Anyhow, this one in my room hasn't really been taught basic behavior. I am not sure how much is naughty and how much is just poor parenting.  The other day this student's table-mate comes to me and says "____ wiped __ boogers all over my desk and pencil" I look and gagging inside um yep ____ sure did. I call ___ over to me and ask why ___ did that. " Well it was gross and I didn't want it on MY desk."  "It was so GROSS  YOU didn't want it on YOUR desk, but you thought it was okay to put on YOUR FRIENDS desk??" " Uhhhh wellll...."  "First you are going to clean her desk and yours, and WHAT do WE have in our classroom to put our boogers in?"  "Kleenex?"  "YES, KLEENEX and  you WILL USE IT!"
So disgusting... SOOO Disgusting. I let the other person throw their pencil away and get a new one. Because who wants that really. UGGH. Conversations you can't imagine ever having. I also moved the table-mate away from this student. This student has been annoying enough to classmates I have a limited pool of friends willing to tolerate it. We have a lot of conversations about how we treat people. Siggh.... Parent's if you could do this at home... I could spend more time teaching reading.

Then I had to consider carefully how to log parent contact in our software we use to track student information.  I asked my colleagues for advice and finally settled on one. "Poor choices with bodily fluids."


Since testing is completing I have to do AMP plans for all the students that fall below the measure we use required by our state. This is always a chore. I also have to complete progress reports by Friday. It is halfway through the first quarter and I feel like I haven't been teaching, just assessing.  It is hard to keep up with my "To-Do" list. Especially when I haven't been feeling very good.

I had a special guest come to our classroom this week! This week in our reading was all about pets and why they are important. I had a local bring in a trained therapy dog to meet the students. It was a HUGE ten year old mastiff named Solomon. Sweetest  gentle giant you'd ever meet. He was  perfect for the kids. Also as a bonus his owner is a juvenile probation officer. When we asked her where she took him she mentioned she worked at "Kid Jail" and she would take him there to meet the kids who were not making good choices.  That was the first time most of my students had heard of "Kid Jail" and their eyes got huge. I might have good behavior for awhile.