Brain wrinkles and poop...

"Ms. Eklund...my brain just got a new wrinkle!! I learned something, I LOVE IT when my brain gets wrinkles!!!"

"Ms. Eklund, I was stuck in the bathroom...I mean, I had poopy stuck between my legs. I didn't know what to do, it wouldn't come off at all!! So the nurse came to help me. I think I pooped on the floor too. She said she was glad it wasn't diarrhea!" (said by Princess, as she recounted her bathroom trauma to me.)

December 8th...

Benchmarks, 9 days left until winter break and rain do NOT make for a nice, calm, settled and sweetly studying class of 23 first graders.

I love rain, but my kids FREAK out over it. I have to remind myself it's the desert here...and that no one is used to the rain...and that 6 year olds, especially, are not used to it. Unlike Oregon where kids FREAK out over sunshine.

hahahaha

December 15th...Ms. Eklund..you're the best teacher, EVERRR!

I LOVE this time of year. A little holiday music plays in the background, students quietly working on fun projects and the sound of little voices excitedly saying, "Wow! Ms. Eklund, you're like the best teacher EVERRR!!" Little do they know I've mixed LEARNING within all these fun projects! hee hee

From Dec. 17th

My students think I'm insane...they pretty much told me so as I was looking through a filing cabinet for something I had JUST filed the day before, "I know I put it here, I JUST filed it...where could it be??"

One of my students says, "Um, Ms. Eklund...who are you talking to? Yourself? You know that makes you crazy, right??"

Yes, dear...I KNOW!! =)

I'm going to play catch up...so be ready...

With facebook now being an excellent way to disseminate information, I often times forget to update my blog, so I'm now going to play catch up and fill you in on a few stories from the end of this past quarter.

Another one of my students move within the past couple of weeks. Her dad is in prison, her older brother a total handful in middle school (always in trouble, "cutting" himself, and etc) and the mom has been really struggling with how to deal with everything. She's been absent at every parent / teacher event, including conferences; basically ignores all notes home in "L's" homework packet and clearly has been unable to cope. So, she made the decision to move her family back to the reservation to grandma's house. It was heartbreaking, because we never even got to say goodbye to "L". She'd been absent SO much that all I got was a note from the front office saying it looked like she wasn't coming back, even THEY hadn't gotten an official withdrawl notice from the mom yet. So, that's that...she's gone. My class was devastated that they didn't get to say goodbye. I am hoping to get an address for her so we can write her letters.

I'm not Jewish...

"I'm Hanukkahn!!"

So said one of my Jewish students as I asked him a question about Hanukkah. In the month of December, I always teach about the three main celebrations that take place; Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. The students get a kick out of learning about each one and it normally sparks some pretty serious (for 6 year olds) debate about which celebration is the best. With a class normally always full of Christians of some sort, everyone pretty much thinks Christmas ROCKS. However, I remind my students that it's important to take into account everyone's beliefs and not exclude someone just because they might not believe what you believe. So this year, I have a little Jewish boy and he's talked incessantly about Hanukkah and how excited he was for it. But when I asked him about it, he defiantly said, "Ms. Eklund...I'm NOT Jewish, I'm Hanukkan!!" I tried to maintain my composure, but instead went over and gave him a hug and gently told him that he was in fact Jewish and that Hanukkah was what he celebrates during December.

Later I sent his Dad an email telling him about the funny story and asking if he would like to come in and share with the class about Hanukkah. Later that week my student's grandmother came instead and when she arrived told me that the "Hanukkan" story had been added to "S's" memory book.

Oh so cute!!