The Preschool Teacher

Where have I been?

2010-10-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Let's see in June I "retired" from the preschool room. I moved into the infant room and fell in love all over again with babies. Even the screaming ones. Now I'm a pool teacher and go wherever I'm needed. It's fun to see the kids I met when I started in the Preschool room now.

I also got into my Radiology program so I've been busy with that. I guess that's it. My PM medicine is starting to work zzzzzzzzzzzz

why?

2009-11-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Qhy is my boss such a micromanager?
Why is one of the women here such a tattle tale? Seriously aren't we adults?
Why is Ruth back? I was hoping she was gone for good.

This week we are learning about friendship. I talked to them about how to treat your friends and not to say things that will hurt them since you can't take it back.

This group of kids plays together so well. It is a complete about face from last year.

On the sensory take I have put the kaliedescope and the stacker blocks. I also put out a few more puzzles since the younger ones are putting things away almost all the time now.

One of my students has been gone for about a month and a half. We took him off the roster after receiving to call backs to our inquiries. We mainly deal with the dad so when mom came in all beaten up with a broken arm I figured she was in a wreck. Turns out dad is a bi polar drunk who lost his shit and is in jail now. Apparently little guy was there when it happened and I can't imagine the shape he will be in when he comes back.

Halloween

2009-11-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

I love planning Halloween crafts. But since we aren't allowed to celebrate holidays for fear of offending another religion we have to make them generic. For example, instead of Merry Christmas it's Happy Holidays. We can't do Santa's or god, but reindeer and snomen are fair game. For Halloween we can't have a party with Witches and skeletons, but it's okay to have a "Harvest Party" with Pumpkins. zzzzz boring. But we make do, you do what you have to I guess.

In October we had Autumn, Safety, Pumpkins, and colors. We generally do a topic a week and it is picked out a year in advance. Some teachers like myself make up our own occasionally. I went all out for Halloween making pumpkins with faces to glue on, counting games, I even made some ghosts lol. I couldn't help myself. We had a "harvest party" were the kids were allowed to bring costumes to "play dress up". I made little goody bags with bubbles, twizzlers, and coloring books. It was a fun time.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here or not, but recently my co teacher accepted a new position elsewhere. That, coupled with the fact that half our class left for Kindergarten my boss decided to keep it at 12 kids. 3 or 4 of them have parents that work seasonally or have Title 20 so they are only allowed to bring the kids if they work. Generally I have about 9 kids or less by myself and they all play really well together. It's been a breeze since my co-teacher left. I miss talking to her, but she didn't really help a whole lot craft/lesson wise so it's not like I had to all of a sudden pick those things up.

I have two boys in my class who are 3. They are both named Julian and I say their names ALL dAY LONG! lol. Julian H! Julian C! STOP!! They are going to drive me to drink soon I think. Then in the afternoon I get another one from the other class. AHHHHHH!!!!! First it was Gabe's and now it's Julians.

I'm doing well in college, I had to take a physics class this year since it turns out that was holding me back from beginning my Radiology program. I was pretty ticked when I found that out this summer, but I'm trying to look at it in a good way I get to be with "my kids" another year so it's not all bad.

My mind is wandering around so I just wanted to post these two sites I found that my daughter enjoys doing on the computer.

1. www.starfall.com
2. They Might be Giants - Seven on youtube.com

Too Chubby Cheek'd?

2009-09-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Rae one 4 year old in my class was talking to our pool teacher today about a new little boy in our class.

Rae: "Jimmy is a really nice boy"
teacher: "yes he is"
Rae: "I wouldn't ever marry him though"
Teacher: *trying not to laugh* "why is that?"
Rae: "He's really cute and nice, but his cheeks are too chubby."
Teacher: *Definitely trying not to laugh* "Oh Rae!" lol

She has been loving on that boy ever since he came into our class, but I guess the romance is over!

Not Busy

2009-09-03T19:06:00.001-07:00

I've just been hanging out lately. I'm feeling a bit unbalanced emotionally. Not crazy, just really anxious and i've been taking my medicine correctly so I can't understand why. Our census level is really low so I've taken two days off this week. There is not much else to talk about :) I hope to have some pictures of our rock crafts that were done this week.

Growing up

2009-08-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned 5 this weekend. We had her party at a gymnastics place. There's no room for that sort of thing At my house. It was a good day and great weekend. Last night we were sitting on the couch and she tells me "I have these things on my legs and when I pull them off they hurt!" my first thought was a tick or something. I look At her and don't see anything so I ask her what she's talking about? "They are thin things with a ball At the end." she then starts pulling At the hair on her leg! Its tiny, fine, white hair but apparently she noticed it and has been pulling it out! LOL Poor kid!

The boys that used to be in my care are giving their moms a hard time about Kindergarten. Here At preschool most of our learning is done through games and there it is more grown up. Not to mention most boys do not like to sit still anyway and they aren't with eachother so its been a big change for them. Both of their mothers love them but coddle and let them get away with things they shouldn't and its coming back to bite them now. I wish I knew what to tell them without sounding condescending. I would like to have a talk with one of the boys about the treatment of his mother even though its not my place. I fully believe that if no one tells them its not okay how are they going to change? I wonder how dad treats her if the kid thinks its okay to talk to her like that? I hope I'm raising my daugter to be a strong woman to not out up with people like that in her life.

im back!

2009-08-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

I was never really gone, but I was feeling darker and darker where I just didn't care. College is a tough balance for normally, but without my zoloft it was horrible, teaching preschool was horrible and if didn't like the person I had become.

Well summer has pased and the big kids are off to kindergarten. All the kids that have been a thorn in my side over the the last year are gone or leaving for cheaper places.

Some kids you just don't click with and I admit it happened with me. "Brey", "Brennan" and "Niah" are off to "real" preschools despite the fact we teach the same thing here. We had 1 just up and leave, and 7 leave for kindergarten. It hasn't left many fulltimers in our class. Its been nice.
My daughter started Kindergarten this year. She turns 5 on Saturday. I was fine with it until yesterday the fourth day of school. She goes from 8 to 3 and I realize now why Kindergarten started out as only a 3 hour program! Its such a long day to be seperated from your baby!

My girl's friend "T" has been in my care for many years. He called me yesterday because he missed me. Awwwww! I saw him this morning on my way out of the building sobbing and my heart hurt for him. I took him to his new room and had to leave before I teared up. He is definitely having a hard time adjusting.

Now I'm trying to find my place in their lives. I am no longer "miss C" but their old teacher. Suprisingly there are a lot of kids I used to care for that go to that school. Its kinds funny to see the teachers look At me after they say hi trying to figure out who I might be.

I know they need to move on and grow up but its nice to have a few remember and like me.

No news is good news....

2009-02-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

I was reading through some older posts on here and it seems like I HATE teaching preschool! I really don't complain about it that much in real life. On the contrary, I brag about it! I love teaching preschool. I love the kids *mostly*, I love that I get to play, eat, watch movies, and have little rugrats tell me they love me. I hope I show them how much everyday that I enjoy the company I recieve.

Now obviously it's not all fairy's and sunshine, but 95% of the time it's pretty darn good. Something funny my daughter said to me on the way home today was brought about by TONS and I mean TONS of bird poop appearing on my car this afternoon.
"Mom what if we made the birds a little toilet? How about that? Then they wouldn't poop on the car." LOL I love this kid!

Today in class was enjoyable as well. My co teacher and I got our weeks confused and now I have two weeks of lesson plans to choose from. This weeks lesson is about quilts. I tried to explain to make it interesting, but I just couldn't get past today with anything. So, I've decided to use last weeks lesson plan of Nursery Rhyme's and rhyming period. Tommorrow I'm doing Little Miss Muffet. The kids are going to crack up when they see my yarn wig and HUGE black spider I'm going to use at circle.

My Child is perfect

2009-02-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

She is. Of course yours is not. lol

Okay I'm kidding around, but two of my aquaintances had parent/teacher confrences with their preschoolers teacher today. BOTH girls are very spoiled. I don't know if it is their environment or the child itself, but both girls are having issues with preschool. Following through, staying still at storytime, running off, random crying when they don't get their way. ...

Friend 1: Tried for a VERY long time to have a child. This is her ONLY child and will always be. She just started preschool 2x a week about six months ago. She is very bright, but also sassy, fit throwing, backtalking child. She mostly gets her way since she's the only child and it's fine at home, but I can see this being an issue as 1 child in a 24 child classroom. Her teacher is worried that she will not do well in Kindergarten as she is unable to do her activities required. As I said she is bright, but not a good listener. The mom is all freaked about if it is her fault -> insert TONS o drama here looking for "Oh no, the teacher is dumb your a great mom~!" comments. I think what it boils down to is she isn't made to listen. There is no "punishment" if she doesn't, so why NOT do whatever the heck she wants?

Friend 2: Her little girl is the 2nd child. The older daughter is going to a private school where the mom is REALLY pushing to get her caught up in order to skip to the second grade. Mom is a little OCD and obsessive, but she is a nice lady and I do really like her honest. I just have a different parenting strategy and I eye roll her posts a lot. Sorry, but I do. Anyway both girls were watched by a VERY indulgent grandma until preschool/kindergarten and are spoiled. *Hmm I sense a common theme* In this case I do think it is a case of the teacher and child not connecting. But the way mom will deal with it will get it blown out of proportion and in turn really just make her daughters preschool life more difficult. It would be very easy just to transfer her to a different class.

It is funny because I deal with children like these everyday. Not my aquaintances children, but children like them. I don't really know how to respond. It very well could be the teachers fault, but neither want to put the blame on their OWN child. The child's upbringing, the child's personality, etc. It's all the teachers fault. I find it a bit laughable,but also a bit disapointing because I thought these women were better than "THAT" mom.

"That" mom is the mom whose child is perfect. She never cries, always does what she is asked, knows all her letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, and has for a VERY LONG TIME. Said child would never color on the wall or hit another child. Well that child must have done something to provoke her of course!

I have 3 such kids in my class. Child number 1: Boy, 3 years old, third child of ? whose mother LOVES the baby girl and tolerates the older 3 boys. I can understand where his anger comes from. I don't tolerate his nastiness, but I understand it and reward his good behavior. He is coming around.

Child number 2: Girl, 3 years old, ONLY child of religious folks. They are very concerned about appearance and less so on how her behavior portrays her. She came into my class about six months ago with MAJOR attitude. Miss "I don't have to listen to what you say and if you make me I will cry until I snot and drool and throw up all over myself". Um yeah true story. SHE is getting ironed out and is ALMOST joyful to be around 80 percent of the time.

Child number 3: Girl 4 years old, middle child. ATTENTION HOG. This girl is attached to either me (I don't allow it) or my co-teacher 90 percent of the day. If we have to leave the room to get something she "wants to come too!" With this situation with Gabe over she has stepped up her attention whoredness and cries over EVERY. LITTLE. THING. Her peas touching her salad? Cries. Her bread on top of her green beans? Cries. Her shirt has a TINY bit of water on it and I won't let her change. OH MY GOD end of the world! Excessive drama. If someone else gets the least bit of attention she is right there to say what about me?!?!?!?

Now I post this in background of what I'm about to say. Not all children fit in with all classes. Not all personalities mesh. I don't do drama, crying for no good reason, or outright defiance. Nothing makes me see red faster. In my class I DO listen to what the child has to say if they say it without whining. There are very few rules in our class, but important ones.

1. When the teacher is talking, no one else talks. ( I don't talk to hear myself and our circle time is very short and fun. Talkers are sent to time out mainly because they interupt rudely, fight with another child, or play with the toys behind them. ANY child should be able to at 3-6 years old sit still for 5 minutes and listen. )

2. KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF and be respectful to others. (We have included ALL body parts in this rule. Children were hitting instead of saying "Hey that's mine!" They would just smack him in the head with a truck and that will not do. Also on the playground they would chase, then push and the pushee would get hurt. Constant tattling will wear a person down.)

3. Treat our toys and equiptment respectfully. (Meaning dont't throw stuff across the room, step on doll houses, cut dolls hair etc. Alot of the time I buy alot of things with my meager pay and don't want to see it maliciously damaged. I don't think that's too much to ask.)

4. Naptime is QUIET time. ( They have almost a half hour between lunch and bedtime to use the bathroom, talk quietly with friends, read a book to settle down before they are expected to stay quiet. Anything said after the lights are out, if they are scooting cots around, playing with toys, picking at neighboring cots, asking for water, bathroom, crying over something unecessary. I start with the time outs. They start after nap, after snack for however long the child is doing said issue after being warned. Sounds mean, but it works.) I made this rule after giving the inch and them taking 30 miles route I tried before. Think of bedtime with ONE 3 year old, now multiply that by 24. Yeah doesn't sound so mean now huh? lol

I CANNOT figure out how to say to these women "Maybe your child does not belong there" in a polite manner. Some children do very well in large group environments like ours. I myself prefer a smaller group, but I deal. Many children NEED to be focused on especially if they have been the center of attention all their lives. Smaller classes would do them good. HOME daycare if needed are very nice if you find the right person. Just because a place is accredited doesn't mean it's a right fit for YOUR child. I don't know what to say to my friends to make them feel better. I don't know what to tell them to help them deal with their situation without sounding like a bitch. So I just won't say anything at all. I'll just vent to cyberspace and the zero readers I have right now. lol Thank you cyberspace...

Update

2009-02-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

Wow since my last post Gabe's behavior has done a 180. His mom stopped his sugar intake and the doctor upped his Adderall. The difference is amazingly impressive. The only downfall I see is that he knaws on his fingers now. Knuckles, fingernails, etc. It's extremely disgusting. But it's MUCh better than the behavior. He's ALMOST enjoyable to be around.

Another bad part about it is that since he isn't acting out all the other kids ARE! OH man are 3 or 4 of them trying my patience daily. Luckily it's not behavior like his, but just as annoying. Oh well I'll deal right?

The last two weeks I've just been doing fun crafts. The census has been low and I've been pulling out some artwork to make up for the lack of forethought on my co-teachers part. I don't mind mostly, but it's annoying to have to pick up the slack all the time. Examples?

1. I get the kids ready to clean up and circle
2. I get the story she reads in circle
3. I get the kids started on their activities most days
4. After they are done with her activity I'm usually the one monitoring them. If I don't they start
to act out and it gets crazy in there.
5. I'm the one who gets them cleaning up and at the tables for quiet time before lunch.

I could go on, but I won't. I'm feeling bitchy today lol.

She is a nice woman, she is a fun person to do class with and talk to, and when it really counts she's there. It would just be nice to have someone there ALL the time.

Anyway I found a nice teacher worksheet template site that I thought I'd share.
Here:
http://www.printablepaper.net/category/teachers

Good day. I said Good day!

Valentines Day

2009-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately our preschool/daycare doesn't celebrate holidays of out trying not to offend anyone. <--- Insert eye roll here. But I found a cute craft for older kids to do on Valentines day for their friends. I thought I might do one for each child when I give them a sucker to take HOME. lol

Here it is:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11581

Is it Friday yet?

2009-01-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

So far it's been a shitty week. I get called into the office Monday with some of my fellow co-workers. Our boss tells us that Saturday night at a dinner she finds out indadvertantly we have been given a stay of execution for six months. The powers that be were going to shut down our center without letting anyone know. wtf?!

Apparently some of the money we recieve is from the hospital and since we aren't mandatory for children to get well it's the short end of the stick. The six months was given for her to redo the budget and see if we can at least break even. Starting next week parents are getting a 10 percent increase in their fees. This is on top of the 5 percent that was given over the summer. Alot of misinformation was given at the top, but luckily someone thought to tell Leanna my boss so she could let them know the facts. I th ink they believe that our center is expendable, but 90 percent of the kids there belong to the workers of the hospital. Workers that are not getting raises and may have to pull their kids out of care, workers that may not bother to keep a job they are paying to do. One wouldn't think 20 extra dollars a week would be alot, but 80 a month times however many kids you have and it's enough.

Everyone has been sort of in WTF mode. After finding out that news Monday my dear friend Gabe acts like an asshat ALL. DAY. LONG. I've never hated someone so much in my life and the kid is only freakin FIVE! He pushes everything to it's extreme limit. I've got to exude 199% percent patience so I 1. Don't kill him 2. Don't let him know he's getting to me or he does it even more. Seriously I'm tired of playing mind games with a freakin 5 year old. He's recently decided he doesn't want to nap. Fine, he doesn't have to nap. He does however have to stay quiet which he doesn't do. After 30 minutes of playing around I finally had his nose in the corner and my knees at his back so he couldn't turn around, kick, hit, bite, pinch, etc. He then tells me his mom is going to hit me in the face. I don't answer. Then he says he's going to poop his pants. Do what you need to I tell him. So the little fucker does it! Well the last laugh was on him because I still didn't let him up. Sadly I have to admit him crying gave me a bit of pleasure. Scary isn't it? This is how far to the freaking edge this kid has pushed my sanity. While he was wailing at the top of his lungs he woke all the other kids up about 40 minutes early. I could feel the blood rushing in my head I was so pissed.

After I let him get cleaned up he got to sit at a table until nap was over and until his mom picked him up. Which thankfully for him it was about 3 hours earlier than normal. Last night he was put on additional meds to control his outbursts, but my boss still had to sit with him at naptime. For every minute he chooses to do something wrong is a minute of timeout for him after nap. He sat for a good hour and a half. Kept whining to me he wanted to get up. I was able to pretty well ignore him until he said, "But I don't want to sit here anymore!". Oh really!?!?
You know what I don't want to do? I don't want to have to watch you all day hit, kick, pinch, bite, cuss, mouth, start fights, or intentionally do something I've asked you not to do. I also would like you to stay quiet at naptime so the other kids can sleep instead of scooting around your cot, making loud noises with your various body parts, and generally being a pain. When you can do that I said, THEN you won't have time out anymore. He started crying again. The fake wailing crying until he realizes no one was listening or cared. He's even got the other kids desensitized to his ridiculousness.

It ticks me off that I have to spend a majority of my day disciplining this boy when I could be spending that time doing fun things with the kids who aren't like him. I'm tired of feeling like I need to go on a freakin bender by the time his mom picks him up. I know she is doing the best she can do and he can't help it that he has this stuff, but COME ON!! A little cooperation goes a long way you know? I'm scared of the reactions this kid invokes in me and I hate it. I hate feeling this way toward a little kid.

Sick Sick Sick

2009-01-15T11:13:00.001-08:00

I wanted some days off but this is ridiculous! I woke up at 330 am Wednesday morning barfing and having severe gastrointestinal issues. Which pretty much lasted until 330 this morning. All of yesterday was a blur where i went from my bed to the bathroom. I had a bath and shower in there somewhere to try to warm up because I was so cold. Bleh. Now my eyes just hurt. May go back to be awhile.

Preschool news: This coming week we are studying penguins. I have a whole lot of fun things lined up which I will discuss when I don't feel like I have vertigo.

"Gabe"

2009-01-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Today was good this morning, but after refusing to nap and being a little punk about it as well he earned some time out. Seriously if I'm not watching this boy every second he's testing! It drives me crazy!

All in all it was a good day, but my patience are had by the time he leaves.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder

2009-01-09T19:05:00.001-08:00

I currently have a child who is 5 years old in my class. Let's call him "Gabe". Gabe is very smart. He should be in Kindergarten but his birthday falls in the wrong month. So he has come to my class to be bored out of his mind. Try as I might it's hard to keep him going on the same thing a 3 year old might like and visa versa.

I've had a really hard time with him coming into our class. Before him we had 2 boys with HUGE behavioural disorders and a few that just didn't listen. They went to Kindergarten, and some others moved. This led to the influx of newly trainable 3 year olds. Our room is allowed to have 24 children in it. About 10 too many when 16 of them are boys that are there EVERYDAY and we rotate 2-4 girls a day out of the 8 registered. Needless to say it is a busy boisterous in there everyday.

Gabe came to us from a home care situation. He was kicked out for causing too much trouble, hitting, attitude, etc. He came right before the Kindergarteners left and that was crazy since the oldest one beat him down a few times. So we get settled into a routine with the older ones gone. He has been diagnosed with ADHD and is medicated for it. I personally believe he has ODD as well. Today has been the worst day with him.

taken from here: http://www.guidancefacilitators.com/odd2.html

"Oppositional defiant children share many of the following characteristics:
· They possess a strong need for control, and will do just about anything to gain power.
Says NO to most requests or ignors you and does what he wants...
· They typically deny responsibility for their misbehavior and have little insight into how they impact others.
Even if I've seen him have a toy out, hit a child, do anything and call him on it he denies it then tries to blame someone else. A few days ago he tried to tell me voices in his head were making him do these things. No he's not schitzophrenic. I told him to tell the voices HE was the boss and he was responisible for them.
· The ODD child is socially exploitive and very quick to notice how others respond. He then uses these responses to his advantage in family or social environments, or both.
This has popped up on many occasions. He very quickly learned how to work the kids in the room. He picks at a few easily annoyed children, tries to argue with us, and has tried to sever a few friendships to put himself in the middle.

· These children tolerate a great deal of negativity – in fact they seem to thrive on large amounts of conflict, anger and negativity from others, and are frequently the winners in escalating battles of negativity.
He's most definitely already on the bad side of most of the teachers. They regard him warily or not at all. I try to greet him each day and treat him as his behaviour allows, but I admit I don't interact with him as much as I could.

His dad is a drug abuser that could be doing/saying who knows what. He hears his parents arguing when his dad is over. Also most of the kids in class don't like him won't let him play with them because of previous stunts he's pulled.

Many authorities on parenting have indicated that oppositional behavior is more prevalent when structure in the home is out of balance – when there is either too much structure or not enough. In an overly structured environment the parenting is rigid and inflexible. "

As stated above he has a volitale home environment where there isn't much structure from the father and ? with the mother. We are pretty rigid with him and obviously that hasn't been working.

When I got in at 9 am he was already in the office for hitting another child then running and hiding under a table to get away from the teacher. *Sigh* So the morning goes on as normal. We have only about 15 children today so it wasn't so crowded and my co-teacher actually had her craft ready so the kids rotated that and we had a fairly uneventful morning. Gabe's behavior was escalating. At first he was pestering others, then he took a few toys, then he saw one of the other children with a Nintendo DS and that kept all the rowdies quiet for a while.

It was then lunchtime and that went loudly, but pretty well. After lunch I REALLY had to go to the restroom. So after lights were out and all the kids were on their cots I WENT! Our bathroom is just outside our door so it shares a wall with my classroom. I hear my coteacher telling him to lay down and quit messing around. That's normal. Then she TELLS him to do it. Then I hear banging which turned out to be him climbing up on the remaining cots to get away from her. When I got back in there ( I had some issues) our Director was in there and he seemed to almost be asleep. She left, then my coworker left and it was my hour on watch.

I generally sit on gym mat on the floor. The table are only 36 inches high so not really comfy to sit at for long periods of time. Since he has come I sit next to him by the front door. During this downtime I'm usually working on craft stuff for the afternoon or homework. Gabe generally sleeps from 12-130. Today he was not going to sleep. I assume he decided he just wasn't going to do it and wanted to fight about it. After reminding him of what he was going to lose to day I gave him a chance to straighten out. In succession he lost 1. His sticker *prize box* 2. Rights to play DS in the afternoon 3. various minutes of the movie we were watching then lost altogether and was working on time out.

I have been thinking on this ODD for some time so I just googled how to control child with ODD and found the link above. I have to say the stuff worked! Obviously I can't change his home situation. He has 2 choices: When he runs away or crawls under the table, etc he can come back now or when he chooses to come out he with THEN do his time out.
I repeat what will happen and do NOT argue with him at all. Not even to try to reason or explain like I might with some of the others. He has already made up his mind and will not listen anyway.
If he hits, swears, runs off he starts out in the time out corner, he can then move up to the alone table where he has nothing to do but sit and watch everyone else, if he can do that okay then he can color or read, when he's done that I try to put him in a group of 1 or 2, if he does well with that I let him choose what he would like to do. Today he didn't get past step 3 but I didn't lose my cool again. I should get a freakin medal for that alone.

A sub teacher was in our room for extra help while were "training" him. She saw him choking himself and kinda freaked out. "Um C? What do we do when he does that??!" Me: Nothing, he wants attention and look now he has it so he quit. IGNORE BAD BEHAVIOR.
Now I gotta try and train the other teachers lol.

full moon

2008-11-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Upon arriving work wednesday there were already 8 of my kids next door. Meaning that by 9 am there are already 20 of my kids in the building. Did I mention it was raining? Yike!

I had been a bit behind in my lesson plans so I didn't have a lot ready. What in the world does my coteacher do with them the first hour she is here anyway? Anyway after getting them established in seatwork I set about getting them ready to finish our safari hats and toilet paper tube binnoculars.

This weeks theme is about the jungle. Let me tell you these kids sure as hell acted like wild animals! Fighting biting arguing tattling pinching etc. Good grief!

I laid down the law yesterday for realz! Any of the above "infractions" resulted in an immeadiate time out. No ifs ands buts or aecond chances. Worked mostly well except for one kid. He has adhd combined with possible odd. He was in time out most of the day on and off.

Yesterday my coteacher had them sitting at tables when I came in. Now that is what we need! She set up an obstacle course so we did that and had circle then lunch then nap. The kids did pretty well. We were all exhausted!

The afternoon was horrible! Especially "gabe". The main thing that stands out in my mind was he already had 4 time outs from 230 to 430 when we were able to go outside. Grrr well he fell over this girl while they were running.
He got up and pushed her down and proceeded to punch and kick her! Wtf!? I was two steps away when he spotted me and tried to run off.
I was/am in serious dislike of this kid. He is so sneaky and conniving! He is only 5!

The infinite patience I normally posess has flown the coop via the little blue pills I take to keep me sane so it has been a very frustrating week for me.
Although today has been pretty good and yay! It is friday!

I'm not always complaining....

2008-11-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today was a fairly decent day. My co-worker had a migraine and went home so I only had 12 kids today. They were all the younger set mostly so it was pretty good as far as not listening and hitting goes. The older boy wasn't there and neither were the school age kids. All in all it was an easy day.

Of course someone had to come in to rub me the wrong way. One of my new girls "Aniyah" is Muslim/Black. Her mother spoils her/father is too tough and a general asshole. Well today when I came in the little girl was wearing tights, and a shirt that I thought they were trying to pass off as a dress. I thought it was odd so I mentioned it to my co-teacher, but she said she was like that and didn't have any pants in her cubby so we let it go.

Fast forward to this afternoon when dad comes to pick her up. He's livid she doesn't have pants on so I go digging and apparently they fell under the cubbies beside a pillow. Turns out after I called my coteacher that she didn't have them on when she came in either, but was playing in the dress up area. So she took them off to play and didn't put them back on. Well how the hell were we supposed to know if neither of us were here when she got here?

Mom called my boss and went on and on about it probably because the dad came home all pissed. Seriously it's not that big of deal, it almost looked like a dress. These are the same parents who don't make their daughter listen to the teachers and clean up after herself. I have 22 other kids to watch/keep from killing eachother/entertain so I'm not too fazed by this. But naturally he wants a meeting and so we'll have one next week.

Then last week mom comes up to me because "Aniyah" told her to "zip her lip" BWHAHAHAHAH! I tell her that when she's talking in my circle time. But I guess her mom was telling her stuff she didn't want to hear and she said it all rudelike to her mom. Which I still think is hilarious, but mom wanted to know who it came from, blah, blah, blah.

I almost hope they take her out of there. Seriously, if they want her every move and thought monitored perhaps she will be better off in home care where she can have more individual attention. I'm only one person and cannot give 23 different kids my undivided attention all day long. /rant/drivel. lol

A few of my favorite things

2008-10-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Raindrops on roses.... ahem anyway.

One of the perks about being a teacher at my preschool/daycare is that I KNOW all my daughters friends behaviors before they are invited to my house. That is worth it's weight in gold my friend. But one will always slip through though. "Trevor" has been my daughters "best friend and bf" for almost 1 year. That's pretty good for a couple of 4 year olds. ;) They've recently decided to split amicably. lol Well he has a MAJOR attitude issue when he is angry or doesn't get his way. After being his teacher for over two years I'm still at a loss most of the time where this anger comes from and how to deal with the resulting lash outs. He's the one I make exceptions for the rule of not coming to my house, mainly because I think he needs it and I love the little turd.

My little buddy "Thomas" is getting sweeter by the day. This morning I was sitting on the carpet hanging out while the kids played. I was keeping the peace if any spats broke out. He came up and asked me to build blocks with him so while we were building I asked him about his baby sister etc. He told me ,"I have dese bwue eyes, my dad giveded dem to me". He was TOTALLY sincere and it was so sweet.

While I was foraying into the infant world/room, I taught a boy named "Matthew" how to say blue. He says "boo" however. :) Which is fitting for this Halloween season. This week has been full of Halloween treats, cookies, and birthday cupcakes. No wonder I weigh a ton.

This week we have made Harvest corn finger painting, Pumpkin Puzzles, and worked on the letters I, and J. Lots of games in between, free play, and we have made it outside quite alot too. It has been a pretty good week so far. I even got to leave an hour early today! :)

Here was one of our circle time songs about washing your hands since all the kids are full of grossness...
"If your happy and you know it"

If you need to cough or sneeze cover yourself! Achoo! (place elbow up to mouth)
If you need to cough or sneeze cover yourself! Achoo!
When you need to cough or sneeze, think of others PLEASE!!!! (crazy face)
If you need to cough or sneeze cover yourself!

Terrible Week

2008-10-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've had a terrible week. Nothing to do with teaching though I did have a few breakdowns this week. Not the kid variety, but me. My uncle died last Sunday. My aunt was so admirable in that she made sure to tell each person how special they were to him. She was doling out the comfort instead of recieving it.

I can't think of much else so I've been reading a bunch of blogs and livejournal to take my mind off of it. I love having my Blackberry.

i get paid to do this!!!

2008-10-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

This week our lessons are about reviewing ABC and 123s.

But big review was in progress when I arrived. One of the kids caught a praying mantis at home and the parent so thoughtfully brought it in to us to dispose of or um .... Well learn from it.

That bug was huge! We set it loose in the tiny grassy area by the fence hoping it would catch one of the spiders back there.

I proceeded to tease the poor thing by throwing mulch by it so that it would think it was a bug and attack it. After a few tries he did it a few times. An exciting time was had by all.

Aren't you all jealous? I get paid to do this.;)

Toilet Humor

2008-10-12T18:39:00.001-07:00

This last week was especially interesting. 3 of my boys who are 3 years old are becoming interested in "toilet humor". They like to fart, belch, and try to watch eachother pee. Yeah fun times. lol.

When one of the boys goes to the bathroom the other two follow him in to see how he pees, he gets the giggles which gives the other two giggles and then it's a regular party! Until Ms. C, the bathroom Nazi tells them to get out! I don't remember doing that or being yelled at for it when I was a kid. Am I the only one who sees these things?

Met up with the inlaws and heard that my nephew was PEED ON. This other boy just walked into the the bathroom and peed in his lap! Um ew. What kinda daycare they running there anyway?

This coming week our theme is about ABC"S and 123's , and I think I'm doing a flannel board of goldilocks and the three bears. I found this book today for my daughter "A" that has all the old fashioned stories like Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, etc but they use Spongebob in them lol. Goldisponge if you will...

Well I don't have much to report on the school front this week. SOSDD...

We are on Earth

2008-10-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

My friend "T" whom I have mentioned before, told me today...
T: We wive on erf! Erf is a panet! *We live on Earth, Earth is a planet*

So give "T' is only just 3 and we have not spent any time at all talking about planets I praised/confirmed his newfound knowledge and sent him on his merry way. Mom told me when I told her about it that he was watching a movie about planets the night before. Wow these kids never cease to amaze me with what they can pick up from watching movies and tv. Just out of the blue on the playground came up to me and said that. lol cute.

The senses are coming along swimingly. I didn't have much for the eyes portion of the week, but the taste class today was a hit. I mixed up some bitter Alum, Lemon juice, sugar water, and salt water for them to try out. Using a dropper for each I gave them a drop on the backs of their hands to lick off. The expressesions were HILARIOUS!

After waiting all summer for my older kids to leave I found out in August I was getting two more plus I would have the schoolage kids after school too. UGH. They are not bad kids, but the toys we have are mainly for 3-5 year olds. Not almost six and up year olds. So the older kids get bored and pester the younger kids which makes them cry and annoy me. I think I'd be better at teaching preschool only. ANYONE can muster up crazy enthusiasm for 2 1/2 hours at a time. 9 hours a day is a little harder with such a vast age difference.

I am really starting to get to know these kids personalities alot better and love them. I miss a few kids from my old school, but for the most part I don't really think about them which makes me sad too. I try to remember my Kindergarten teacher and I can't. I wonder if I do anything she taught me as a 5 year old? I try to keep in mind that even though they probably won't remember me that something I may teach them or tell them MIGHT stick with them through they're lifetime. That inspires me to be creative and kind even when I may not feel like it.

It's TOOKY!

2008-09-26T18:08:00.001-07:00

There's a new 3 year old "Dylan" in my class who is such a sweet boy. He's also a leader among the quiet younger boys/girls. They crack me up when they are playing fireman or monster. He's constantly riding the pole from the jungle gym being a fireman heading to a fire. Yep he's a pistol. Well his new thing lately is to say everything is "Tookey" *two key*. Tooky can mean anything from poop to good food. Yeah it's a laugh riot not. lol
Another fun thing he does is let the other two boys watch him poop they all think it's hilarious. Toilet humor at such a young age isn't it? lol

This past weekend and into the week I've been avoiding my computer because my eyes were drying out. Turns out that my contacts and my constant touching them were giving me an eye infection. I go to work Wednesday and my eyes are bloodshot! So I made and appoint and 450 bucks later I'm on my way to recovery!

This week was my co-teachers turn to do the scheduling. She is a bit lax in planning things to do for our age group, but the new system of one or two kids at a time seems to be working. I overplan because you never know if it's going to rain or you won't be able to cook that day hampering your time line. But we get along very well and I'm glad I got her as a co-teacher and not some of the other ones. Our both though anal, makes very good personality matches.

This coming week I will be teaching the kids about the 5 senses. Granted they already do all this stuff everyday, but it's still cool to find new things for them to explore. I wonder if I will be bored teaching them this stuff next year? I feel like I've already been through every prek book in existence so what else could I possibly do? I'm sure I will figure it out. I still have a whole box of papers I haven't explored yet!

We were low on children today so I took the extra child with me to make playdoh for next month. "Madison" is an angel. She told me today, "Ms. C I love you... in my heart". Omg how precious is that!??! She calls one of her grandma's by her last name and the other one is named "little grandma" lol.

I was also able to spend time in the "baby" room for the children 6 weeks to 18 mos. Some of the oldest ones are starting to walk and talk. They are so freakin adorable. I asked for hugs and got a bunch. One boy was hamming it up and kept giving me hugs since I kept saying AWWWW! So adorable.

Today was a fun day being a teacher.

Phew! What a day!

2008-09-16T17:17:00.001-07:00

On Sunday the power went out in about 90% of the area I reside. Luckily we kept our power, but a majority of the students I have didn't have any. EVERYONE was at school Monday and today. Monday was pretty good, but we didn't have too many kids. Today was get on Ms C's nerves day!

"Br" is our resident whiner, followed closely by "Co" who tattles over EVERY. LITTLE. THING. ALL. DAY. LONG. They both are socially inept despite being in care for over a year which usually would acclimate children to that sort of thing. They try so hard to play with the other kids, but they aren't well recieved for some reason. So when they fall down, or the kids tell them to go away they whine and cry to me about it.

We also have my little buddies "D" and "B" who are sweet boys, but TOTALLY rambunctious. And last but not least "G" who is currently on ADHD medication. He is so smart, but has a horrible attitude with following instructions/rules. THen when I finally get a breather in the afternoon I get all the schoolage kids who are bursting at the seams to be wild. Ugh. I am so ready for school to be open and the power back on already!

So I doubt anyone will see this, but I have a dilema one might help me with. The aforemented "G" just started at our center last month. He has ADHD medication he takes once in the morning and again at 12 noon. The kid randomly gets attitude, refuses to eat, and hits kids. ALot of hitting kids actually. He's a "stealth hitter". He hits while he thinks we aren't looking at him then runs off to the other side of the room so when said hitee cries he can proclaim innocence. He will bold face lie about something I watched him do with my own eyes and he's a bit of a kleptomaniac. The last two days he's recieved a frowny face for the day which means he doesn't get to play with his fun stuff at home so he's been ticked. Mom today acted like she was irritated with me, but it could have been him. I really want to give him smiley faces, but I know if I overlook one smack he will drag it for a mile and it will regress us back. Just frustrated with him I guess.

Some funnies:

"T" upon hearing he has the most beautiful blue eyes, "I got them from my dad" he says in all seriousness pointing them out to us. Awww *heart*

My daughter this morning in the car when I was telling her about a trip my aunt will be going on, "I KNOW MOM you already told me 15 times!!!" Um no I didn't lol

My daughter this evening when i asked her to take her plate to the kitchen, "Yes SIR! Mr. Crabs!" lol

Well I must go off and put my kid to bed then work on lesson plans coming up. Later people!

This teachers Wishlist

2008-09-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

1. Take your kids work home! They work hard on it and are proud of it. To leave it in their box or worse not acknowledge it at all means they won't try at all next time I don't make up this work to make a mess at your house. They are learning skills by cutting, pasting, gluing, and being creative. Even if you have a trunkful of it make a fuss out of it and then go hide it somewhere. They will forget pretty soon about the artwork anyway then you can throw out the random bits.

2. Books! At both centers I've worked at I would have LOVED to seen current books! Most of them were older than me and way to advanced for my class. Instead of cupcakes and goody bags at holidays how about some new toys or books. Same price, but they will have a longer life and bring more joy to your child. Not tommention less of a sugar high.

3. Your old food containers, water bottles, toilet paper rolls, dial up telephones, and other random useless crap you have around your house. We love to make art projects out that stuff. And the old rotary phone you where going to chuck in the trash will bring hours of amusement to your kid at school.

4. Quit saying "GOOD JOB!". Good job on what? Tell them what you think is good about the project they did, ask them questions about it, and most importantly tell someone ELSE about it in front of your child. When your kid knows your proud of them they will make it a point to keep making you proud. 5. We love supplies! I think these websites are my favorite places to look it's like my crack. Seeing a bag of googly eyes just fills my brain with ENDLESS possibilties. Science equiptment, BALLS, bug catchers, stamps, hop a long bouncer balls, and a bag full of feathers just make me giddy. I know the kids love playing with that stuff. If I could buy it all I totally would, but alas childcare providers aren't paid very well despite the soaring costs of childcare.

5. Know that we love your kids too. You can tell by how your kid acts around the teacher and how the teacher smiles at your child. I'm not sayingEvery preschool teacher is in it for the love, but a majority are. We research on the internet, in the library, advocate for supplies, toys, and your child on a daily basis. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't interested in making sure your child had a good time in my class. I wouldn't dance around doing the chicken dance, the macarena, and the hokey pokey if I didn't want your baby to laugh. Granted I'm not mom and I don't try to act like it, but I do love your kid in a teacherly way and I'm on your side.

Edited to add: The fronts of Old Christmas/ Birthday/ Anniversary cards. THey are fun to cut out the pictures and glue.

More spouting...

2008-09-12T19:27:00.001-07:00

When I wrote my rant earlier I was still smarting from the hurt feelings I had. In the dark, at naptime, tapping away on my blackberry.... I have so much to talk about that I can't talk about on my journal. Most of the people I know are local and there is something so freeing about talking where no one you know can "hear".

Now I'm over it though, well mostly. It is challenging being a preschool teacher. One would think the kids would be the hardest part, but it's the parents usually! I would say my biggest challenge is motivation. What motivates a 3 year old compared to a 5 1/2 year old is a vast difference. Add in a few school age kids in the afternoon and you have LOADS of fun. NOT.

I watch that show on TLC Discovery called Jon and Kate Plus Eight. http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/jon-and-kate/jon-and-kate.html
Kate said something along the lines of "Everyday is completely different, but exactly the same" Unless you had a gaggle of kids you cared for day in and day out you probably wouldn't understand that. But it rang very true for me and made me laugh.

Things you should be prepared for if you want to teach preschool:

1. Having Infinite Patience - Many of the kids in my class are angels. Unfortunately they go home early and I'm stuck with the hellions. Some kids spend more time at our center than I do! That will take a toll on their behavior for sure. I hadn't anticipated how hard it would be to be patient with all these kids all day and still have enough patience and energy for my child at night. That would have to be the hardest part for me I think.

2. Dealing with Parents - There are always one or two in every class that sway from the norm. Either they don't seem to care at all or they care TOO much. Some kids spend 60 hours a week at our center with parents either not working at all or just part time. Sad. But the too much crowd wants you to do it their way and in a large group setting that is just not going to happen.

3. The Staff - Having only worked in two centers I have to say the one I am currently at is as different from the old one as night and day. Watch what you say and who you say it to if you don't want it repeated. Better yet keep your opinion to yourself.

4. Discipline - These are NOT your kids! You may not whip them, shame them, or demean them in any way. Some "teachers" don't quite understand those rules. A lot of parents don't seem to understand that either. My best advice is short and sweet. Be consistent, pay attention and be fair, mean what you say and say what you mean. If you tell Johhny one more strike and he's in time out then don't yell at him next time. March his little behind over to the time out chair and sit him down. It has taken me 6 months to retrain my class because they had an abusive teacher before. Lots of yelling, little follow through, and eventually she hit a student which is why she was fired. Again NOT YOUR KIDS. Even if you do spend more time with them than their parents are able.

5. A Happy Medium - As a teacher you must follow your director, the parents, and your own knowlege during classtime. First, almost all directors come from one of two schools. 1. learn through play 2. learn through work *i.e paperwork*. I have worked for both of those directors. Let me tell ya it's hard to make the switch. 99% of the time if you work in one center there are parents there who want you to do it the other way. Currently I teach them through play and try to sneak in a few worksheets under my directors nose now and then. I think both of them are pretty important. Kids that age in my opinion should NOT be made to sit and do seatwork, but if they are playing all day everyday without learning some of what they are expected in Kindergarten how will they cope when they get there? I feel it's my responsibility to make them feel smart and proud when they enter Kindy, not feeling bad about themselves because they can't write they're name or don't know their shapes.

Well it's getting late and i tend to ramble when I'm tired. Kinda like now. Tommorrow I'll write the teachers wish list.

Today's funny's

2008-09-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

We are eating a salad at lunch with ranch dressing. "O" says to me, "Ms. can i have some more icing for my salad?"
Me: "huh?"
"O": "Some Salad icing!"
Me: "okay sure. " lol

Salad icing. Maybe if they sold it that way then it might go faster.

Just so you know kids love to do the chicken dance and shake their groove thangs to Madagascar's "MOVE IT!" I love to watch those kids dance. It's like I'm at a rave lol.

special teachers

2008-09-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

Most moms really like their childs first teacher in preschool. I know I did. The second ones or those as they get older maybe not so much. There ar more kids and less time to chat eachother up. You have higher expectations and a lower tolerance.

A boy in my clas named "t" is newly 3. In his old class the teacher cleaned up all six kids mess since she is a neat freak. Now obviously with 24 kids in my class my co teacher and I don't have the luxury of additional cleanup time. If you make the mess you clean it up. "t" does not like that rule apparently and told his mom he doesn't like our class. Yeah kid it sucks to get bigger and have to follow rules huh? :)

Mom told his old teacher this morning that he missed his old class and didn't like his new techers and I overheard. I'm a little irritated since I've done nothing but make the new little kids as comfortable as I can. Althought, I can see it from the moms point of view. She wants her son to be happy, but she should also be happy we are setting limits for him so he doesn't grow up to be a deliquent. When you walk into your children's daycare class you will see kids in all corners of the room- toys everywhere- and exhausted teachers. Probably think wow what if anything did they do today? Take your worst day and multiply it by 5. Time out is my only weapon. Now imagine.trying to get kids from all different age groups sitting still then teach them shapes colors sounds alphabet numbers weathe days of the week and then months. That is just at circle. What about crafts? Add in all the hitting whining crying that may break out at any given moment and by 6 PM you would look like me too.
Don't understand me wrong!
In between all the learning I get to hear jokes - get hugs - hear stories about your family lol-i am told I love you- teach kids to love their friends - see creativity at work- watch them learn emphathy- and best of all get to help shape the fine people I hope they turn out to become one day. That takes a lot of energy. So please pardon me if I cannot cater to your sons whims. He will have to learn one day the earth does not revolve around him alone mom. By the way ask "t" who he gave a hug and a kiss at naptime then I rubbed his back at nap today while he was missing you. He likes me fine, just not picking up toys.

A little about me

2008-09-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm an average mom/wife. We have a daughter named "A" who is 4 years old. I live in a Northeastern state. I've had a lot of jobs, but I've always loved kids and last year I had the opportunity to become a preschool teacher/daycare provider. The kids in my class are ages 3-5 years old so there are alot of stories floating around in my head about them.

I'm purposefully vague because I don't want to be recognized because this is a place for me to vent, let people know about childcare from the providers experience, and just let whomever stumbles upon this blog to have a chuckle with me as I write these stories for myself. Being annonymous protects those I tell the stories about and myself as well. Well I hope.

Funny story of the day:

My daughter told me today that I was "scaring her jeebies". I tell my husband that when he scares me. "You scared the jeebies out of me!" Funny to hear it come from her mouth.