What are you doing in the loo?

Today, when I got back to the classroom after lunch, my coworker was standing near one of the bathrooms- she started madly motioning for me to come to her. I wasn't really sure what this could be about, because let's face it, the kids do all kinds of things in the bathrooms, but usually, it's not something we want to show each other. We're all quite used to having the kids use the toilets with the door open, anyone pees or poops while others wash their hands- it's normal. As a teacher, you never hesitate to actually open the door a bit to see what is going on in there, who is in there, etc, because groups of girls huddle in the bathroom to hide from the boys, or to share a lipstick they have sneakily brought to school- boys tend to lock themselves in and go on to have water fights, etc. So, the bathrooms have a pretty open door policy in our classroom... and we've seen plenty...

But today, seeing what I saw, tops anything I have seen in one of our bathrooms...

I wish I had a picture.

But I don't.

Because, he was pooping. Except he wasn't. Because he was asleep. Sitting on the john. Head laid gently on his knees, arms dangling at his sides. There he slept.

We wanted to take a picture so badly, but of course, we did not. Then, my coworker decided that she should really wake him, and so she gently shook his shoulder, and asked, "Are you done?"






P.S. How do you like this new look? I love the flowers on the right side... I wish there were more instead of polka dots. But I like it. And I like how I added lots of different colors for all the headers and stuff, so it's like someone threw up a rainbow on my blog. :)

An unexpected and truly wonderful surprise

The following email just popped up in my inbox a second ago... unexpected, and truly wonderful... (details have been changed to preserve anonymity)

Dear Mara,
Mitch is in Advanced Language Arts this year. As an assignment they needed to write a letter to a person who has influenced them. Naturally, YOU were selected!!! ...I have to admit, I am a tad bit JEALOUS!!! (hee hee).

I will type you what Mitchell wrote...

"Dear Mrs. Putelis, (yes, MRS....)

You will be a teacher that I will remember for a long time. You are important to me because you were my first teacher. I was nervous on the first day of school but when you said my name, I felt better. After that day I wasn't nervous at all.

I'll never forget when we danced in the class to the Numa Numa song. You would play the song from the internet and we would dance all around the classroom. I told the other class and they danced, too. It was a fun time.

I especially liked when you let us have inside recess. The room that we got to play in was fun because it had a ball pit. We also played in the tubes that you can climb in. I had a fun time and I'm glad you took us there.

I'm in the fourth grade in Small Town, Ohio. I still remember my kindergarten class in China.

I just want to thank you for being a great kindergarten teacher.

Sincerely,
Mitchell"


...They had to write this letter in cursive. I must admit he has great penmanship!! He wanted to mail it to you, but then thought that this would be the best way for you to get it!

I KNOW he would LOVE to hear from you, if you have time to drop him an email!!! We think of you every time we see your name on MSN pop up. Mitch is too scared to type to you on it... Hope you are well and will enjoy the letter and upcoming Holidays!!!

Fondly,
Mitch's Mom and Mitch


One of the kids in the following picture may be Mitchell as I remember him- but I won't tell you which one. ;)


Some school years are tougher than others. I have to admit, I've had a run of pretty trying ones since I left Shanghai. The two classes I had there were really spectacular, and while I loved every single one of my students as individuals, as far as classes go, the ones I had in Latvia really made me work for my money. This year is tough for all sorts of reasons- but of course, there are still plenty of kids I'd like to stuff in my pocket and take home with me.

It's nice to know, sometimes even long after the fact, that you've touched a life; that you're remembered. My time in Shanghai was all kinds of things- but generally speaking, at school it was good. I'll remember Mitch and his classmates for a long time too. :)

Oh, and if you're wondering what the Numa Numa song is... have a listen and a watch here.

Explanation necessary?

I pondered leaving this picture without any explanation.... but, you know I can't not write something! :) So, for those of you who may not know, that is Australia's flag on my arm.

Why do I have a tattooed Australian flag on my arm? Fear not, it's not real!

Yesterday (oh man, am I allowed to talk about this?) was International Day at our school. It's a big, big event ALL ORGANIZED BY PARENTS (that's the kind of events we like!). It started with a parade of nations- kids, parents, and guests all dressed in patriotic clothing, whether national costumes, football jerseys, or gaudy t-shirts and sunglasses, walked a loop for the rest of us to ooh and aah over. I love it when my kids (that is my students) see me out of our normal situation- their eyes get big, they get really shy and hide behind their mom's/dad's legs, and just smile really big.

After the parade there were performances on a stage set up in the middle of the outdoor basketball court. It was great until it got REALLY sunny, and hot. But, well, I actually still wasn't complaining. :) Mostly the performances were either fashion shows or dancing. It was pretty cool to see performances from countries that have never been represented in schools where I have worked previously. The Angolans did a tribal dance (amazing how similar it was to what I remember from high school dances- it's obvious where African Americans get their inspiration!), the Nigerians did a very impressive fashion show, the South Africans did a very cool gum-boot-footed miner's dance. The Colombians and Brazilians also danced- hmmm, who else? I don't remember, but, they were all great. :)

After the shows, the stalls opened. All the countries that were there (not all our school's countries were represented) had elaborate stalls including information about their countries, pictures, knick-knacks and FOOD. Oh yum, the food. :) I am trying to keep to a pre-wedding detox/weight loss diet (and doing REALLY well, if I don't say so myself!), but I had my first splurge in two weeks. I had a custard tart from Portugal, a deep fried milk ball from Bangladesh, one bite of a New Zealand cookie and some falafel and hummus from Israel. YUM! I had to down a bunch of water after that though, because, since my recent diet has been sugar and carb free, those four bits of food sent my blood sugar soaring- I had an amazing buzz on!

At the same time as the stalls were open there was a silent auction on. Each country put together baskets of goodies from their country- food, toys, wine, booze, books, sporting equipment and lots more. The bids on the baskets started at $50 or $100. They looked good, but, um, yeah, we passed. :)

All the proceeds from the international day go to charity- I think to an orphanage (and those baskets went for as much as $500 each!). So, I think the money raised is going to be a nice contribution to the kids who will get it. :)

So, the tattoo then- obviously gotten at the Australian stall- Joel applied them (I have a matching one on the other arm) himself. Apparently I expended all the patriotism I have on election day- because I showed up yesterday in jeans and a black top- and then ended up with Australian tattoos on my arms. :) Joel just kept saying, "You're marrying one, you'll practically be one!" I went with the flow. :)

So, yeah, this is me today, with the tattoos still on my arms, which I think Joel thought looked funny with my "wife-beater" tank top. And if you're wondering, well, you're right- I haven't showered today- I've spent the whole day on the couch, reading, surfing the net, watching tv and getting up only to do laundry. :) Good day. :)

Overheard in the classroom

My teaching partner and I keep meaning to write down all the crack-up lines our kids keep spitting out, but of course, haven't gotten to it. I'm just going to jot them down here for your pleasure. Enjoy! (And remember, these are 4 year olds!)

Child asks a question and teacher replies with, "What do you think?"

Child: "Don't you know, I don't think. My mom tells me what to think."

***

Child is seen digging through the dress-up clothes hamper and upon finding a doll that obviously doesn't belong there exclaims, "What the hell is this doing here?" (Not only that, but she did it really expressively, like "Whaaaaat.... the.... Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeell is this doing here?")

***

A child is seen walking from child to child on the playground and whispering into their ears. The teacher seeing this, calls her over:
Teacher: Have you got a secret? Will you tell me?
Child: Yes, but, you cannot tell my daddy. I can tell you, and you can tell the other teachers, but you cannot tell my daddy! Anyone else can know, but my daddy can't because he'll be mad if he finds out!
Teacher: Ok, so what's the secret?
Child: (with a sly look in her eye, leans close and whispers) My daddy wears gold lipstick at home!

***

It rained today, and some of the kids were being a little silly about not getting out of the rain. So, teacher was trying to get em to stay under the awning:
Teacher: Boys, please come out of the rain. You're going to be all wet!
Boy: (after looking around) Yeah, this ain't no jacuzzi!

***

During a discussion about dreams:
Child 1: Dreams come in your head through your ears, and when you're done with them, they go out your nose.
Child 2: God puts all the dreams in you before he even makes your body.
Child 3: If you want to tell if it's a dream or real, you just have to shake your head. If you shake your head and it doesn't stop, then it's real. If it stops, then it's a dream.

***

There was another really good one today, but I can't remember what it was. They are just full of em though! Oh, and for the record, we did find out later in the day that the daddy who wears the gold lipstick actually just lets his daughter put her lipstick on him, it's not like she caught him dressing up. :)

Highlights of my day today

It has been one of those days...

• Having toys thrown at me by the four year old who later told his mom, "I don't like that teacher!" He also threw scissors at one child, kicked another one and basically spent his day tormenting anyone who came near him.
  
• Cleaning black, clay-like, slightly dried on poop from the entire lower half of one of my students without gloves, wipes or well, anything. Apparently she doesn't normally do this, but according to her mom is acting out. She better quit.
  
• Spotting the mouse that lives in our classroom skitter about the corner.
  

Yeah, it's been a good day.

OH MY GOD! or Christmas in August or A teacher has died and gone to heaven

Since we arrived to our school we've heard a phrase drop many a time. The phrase is, "It's been ordered. It's in a container."

Remember those container ships that I mentioned in one of my last posts, the ones that sit in port for 6 months before being able to unload? Well, you know, they are full of these containers of stuff (uh, hopefully not perishable!). Sometimes, these containers are full of stuff that our school has ordered. Had I mentioned that the container that contained the orders made in the 2006/2007 school year had never arrived? Well, it's here now. In fact, it arrived late last week, and starting on Monday they began to unpack it. Monday at lunch the cafeteria had several very large piles of boxes. Tuesday at lunch there were giant piles around the entire cafeteria and the stage at one end was covered.

Today was the day. Today, deliveries of sorted stuff came pouring into our classrooms. Men came with trollies piled high- at first there were three trollies and what seemed like loads of stuff. But then the guys said, "no, there's more." They came again, and again, and again, and yet once more, until our the inner courtyard of our class building was piled just as the cafeteria had been the day before.

I watched the boxes pouring in, and was well aware that we had just received more boxes into our classroom than my previous school received for the entire school in a year.

At 3:00 on the dot, we started the unpacking party. We did have to go through a fairly tedious process of doing a thorough check that every single thing on our order lists was indeed in the boxes. In the end we came up with a short list of stuff that was missing, and 4 boxes of pretty high tech science type stuff that wasn't on our lists and obviously belonged to the high school science dept.

Going through those boxes though... whoah... if DB gets excited over filling 13 pencil cases, she would have peed herself over these boxes. Just to name a few things (basically all in amounts big enough to make you pinch yourself): markers, crayons, colored pencils, blocks (OH MY GOD, the blocks- boxes upon boxes of several different types including the natural log ones), paper, paper, paper, paper, paper, more paper, colored paper, see through paper, stained glass paper, tissue paper, textured paper. newsprint, muslin, paint, fabric paint, water colors, paint brushes, pens, pebbles, beads, mosaic tiles, buttons, puppets, train sets, puzzles, bins (storage), bins, bins, and more bins, bean bags (as in to sit in), a new book display shelf, painting easels, clay, clay, more clay, chicken wire, dowels, art portfolios, glue, glue sticks, tape, clipboards, scissors, mirrors large and small, carpets...

Um yeah, and that ain't all of it.

Now, materials do not a good preschool make- HOWEVER, when you're running a good program (Reggio? check!), you've got experienced, passionate teachers (my team teacher, me, our assistants? check!) and you add in all these materials-- well, short of having the purpose-built EYC building that is in the plans, we've got the preschool to kick all preschools butt! And the best part is, that all those materials? We are NOT going to hand them out sort of standard issue- "pink piece of paper, a green piece of paper and a blue piece of paper, now make a flower in front of a blue sky!" No, these materials are so going to be up to the kids to be used! (Yeah, ok, of course we will guide them at times....but the projects, they are child driven!)

So, there you go... I'm kind of excited because it seems I may have "listened and observed" my first project. Four children asked me to help them build their tower taller than they could reach the other day. It worked, but eventually, the very skinny tower of Lego type blocks just kept collapsing on itself. So, I asked them, "Well, how could we build a tower that could be very tall, and would not fall down?" They sort of looked at me with inquisitive faces, and kept on taking turns holding the tower up. So- with a little guidance, we might restart this conversation, this inquiry- and then, we might start to draw ideas, construct ideas, etc, until we get to the point of building something- or, we might have to go on a field trip around school (or elsewhere) to find tall things that stand and see what is special about them, or look in books to see if we can find anything. It should be good. :) And can you honestly say, that through a project like that, children aren't learning? Yeah, I didn't think so. :)