Challenges...Part Two

Nearly two weeks ago I wrote about needing to challenge myself. And I’ve written almost nothing since, because apparently all I had to do was ask. Wednesday was “Spring Fling” at my work- it’s kind of like a fun fair, but before all the fun we have kindergarten graduation and a spring sing. We’ve spent the last two months teaching all the children four songs to sing for their parents, and all the hard work (mine and theirs) showed- it was awesome. But it was the kind of awesome that exhausts people. My boss asked me to make a slide show of our kindergarteners over the years they’ve been at our school so that was hours worth of assembling pictures and organizing them so they’d appear random but weren’t clumped and had good shots of every kindergartener. Also I had to help my kids find ways around the inevitable stage fright (yeah, six hours practicing in our sanctuary with anyone and everyone I could find to come “watch” us helped). Then for some reason I decided to teach my kids some basic yoga poses, and that has been a challenge to them and now I’m working out four times a day more than I usually do, so I’m sore just about everywhere. Plus almost every weekend has been something (mostly getting ready for Jamie’s wedding) and there was family drama I can’t talk about. Thank goodness for the long weekend- and for my travel plans. A few friends and I are going up to the house we rented for vacation last year for a long weekend of wine tasting, (hopefully) swimming, boutique shopping, and relaxing.
Apparently it was a matter of “ask and you shall receive”. Dare I ask for a new challenge now that spring fling is over?

Falafel (and Day 16)

Today I went out for lunch. This is something we do ALL the time at my work. Someone decides to go out, and takes orders from everyone, then they go get lunch. It usually takes 12-15 minutes depending on where you're going and who all ordered. Yesterday I got all kids of mad because the girl who went out was gone for 30 minutes getting Wendy's (yes, my diet lost to Wendy's this week-sad!). But then today I went to a new Middle Eastern place. My boss had been, and knew I was going (in fact she ordered a sandwich). She said nothing about how long it might take. I was gone FORTY-FIVE minutes!!! It's a two minutes drive from my work. On the other hand, the food was FANTASTIC and the reason it took so long was the man made everything right there while I watched. Between my co-workers, I ordered a falafel sandwich, 2 kabob sandwiches, 2 falafel appetizers, and 2 drinks. While I waited, the man gave me a piece of falafel to munch on, he "accidentally" made us an extra falafel sandwhich he just threw in for free, and instead of 4 falafel patties on teh appetizers, he gave us 5 (each). That makes a total of 6 free falafel patties, plus all the stuff on the sandwhich (pita, tahini, veggies, etc). Plus, the total was less than $20. So- if you live in my town, you should probably go there. It's called Babylon Kabob and it's in the little shopping center on 58 with the Little Ceasar's across the street from 7-11 and Jewel.
30 Days of Song- Day 16
A song I used to love, but now I hate- I used to love the song "15 Minutes of Shame" by Kristy Lee Cook, but now I'm bored by it. I think the problem is that it's like the first song on my mp3 player, so I hear it everytime I turn the thing on, plus it's the first song on my favorite mix CD so I hear it everytime I put that on, and I've just heard it to much lately. I imagine I'll like it again after I haven't heard it in awhile.

Still Sick :(

Well, I WAS feeling a little better, but I didn't call in sick today, even though I probably should have because I knew one teacher had the day off. It's a good thing I didn't call in, because THREE out of the twelve teachers or aids at my work were out today. I did get to go home early because we were still a little low in kids (thank goodness for spring break!!), but I spent the whole day feeling a little discombobulated. Tomorrow I can't call in sick either, but I think I might ask another teacher if we can spend the day with her, just for the extra eyes on top of my sore ones. Here's hoping I feel better soon!!

102.3

Last week the vast majority of the kids at my school were out sick. By four wee usually had about ten kids total. Everyone had a mid-grade fever and some coughing. I don't get sick usually, but still I joked "Kelly [my boss] is going to be in trouble next week when the kids all come back and the teachers are all out sick!" Today I have a chesty cough, sligh dizziness, a headache, and a fever of 102.3. Guess it wasn't all that funny after all!

A Cake Emergency

My word this was quite the day! Today I, along with another teacher at my preschool took my children to the local park. While we were playing, a little girl whom I’ll call S kept letting go of the swing and jumping off. Then she would cry, because she hurt herself (she’s 2). I finally told her she couldn’t go on the swings the rest of the day. A few minutes later, another girl whom I’ll call A almost got knocked in the head trying to force someone off the swings so she could have a turn. I told her she couldn’t go on the swings. Then I went to another part of the playground where some children were throwing sand and sat near them. While I was sitting there I texted another coworker about lunch. A few minutes later I noticed both S and A were on the swings getting a “starter push” from a stranger. After a bit of deliberation, I decided not to say anything because I didn’t want the lady to feel she had done anything wrong by “helping” and we were leaving in about 2 minutes anyway. When I called my children to me, I hollered “Thanks” to the lady. I found out after I left, she yelled at my co-worker (and used the F word!!) and demanded to know my name and where our school was. Then she went to my work and yelled at my boss, saying I had called a child “idiot” and “punk” (I call one of my boys “pun’kin” I think that’s what she heard for that one). She told my boss that if I wasn’t fired, then my boss is a bad director and that if she saw that at her preschool she would immediately remove her children. Also that if my boss didn’t fire me, the lady would have to do something about it. I’m not really sure what the lady was so upset about, other than she didn’t feel I was adequately supervising my children. So my boss and her boss and I all had to have a meeting about it. The result is that we are going to write a “self-improvement” plan (I’ve had other complaints because I’m “loud” so I think that’s what my boss is taking from this). I’m not fired (yet) but I was left with the impression that my boss and her boss wish I would quit.
I ate cake for dinner. Good thing I was suddenly struck with the urge to buy it while I was grocery shopping last night but then not the urge to eat it when I got home yesterday!

Filing, Reviews and Judgement

So one of my small children celebrated her third birthday today. Which means next week we have to do her “ages and stages” to assure her appropriate development. So today, to help make sure I remembered it, I went to pull it out of my file cabinet. Before the previous teacher left she had shown it to me in the cabinet, so I knew it was in there. I cleverly found the file labeled “Ages & Stages” and opened it up, to find…shamrocks. I kept digging, and digging, and… Eventually I found it in a file labeled “Fall: Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Misc”. What kind of filing system is that?? I’d been meaning to clean out my file cabinet, so I started working on that today. Oh the filing people! In FIVE different files I found the same sheet of paper with several hearts on it and a line cutting through the paper and a large hole in the middle. I threw away every file folder in there and replaced it with brand new. I bought 100 file folders, and have less than a quarter left. I may have over organized in response to the complete lack of organization I found.
I also got my very first review today. I’ve never worked anywhere organized enough to be bothered with reviews. When I heard we were doing them, I got a bit nervous, just because of this summer’s parent complaints. Instead my boss mostly laughed at herself because she had completed the reviews in February and forgot to actually give us our reviews. That basically meant my review was even more out of date than anyone else’s because of the job change. Anyway, it went fine. I know a few people were concerned when I first changed jobs (myself included) were a little concerned about how I would take it, if I would be able to handle the huge change. My boss told me that she “liked me as the school age teacher, but she likes me even more as the twos and threes teacher” and honestly? I really like being the twos and threes teacher. It’s a lot of fun having my own class and feeling like a real teacher instead of just a glorified babysitter.

Cuteness!

I talk to my SIL almost every day. The other day she called to talk while she was outside of her apartment. After we had talked for awhile we said goodnight and she went upstairs. A little later, my phone rang again, and it was my SILs number again. I was a little confused because she doesn’t usually call back after we’ve said goodnight. I answered my phone to hear my niece’s voice
“Aunt Tina! I got it right!” she said to me. Still puzzled, because if she wants to talk to me her mom usually calls me and lets me know and then gives her the phone, I spoke to my niece for a few minutes asking her how her day was, etc. Finally, I asked her why she called, and she goes “I love you Aunt Tina.” So of course I liked hearing that. After she hung up her mom called me back again later. Apparently Niece had stolen her mom’s phone, gone into contacts, and picked my number (there’s a picture next to my name) and called me, all without her mother’s knowledge. When her mom asked her why she said that she wanted to talk to Aunt Tina and Mommy was busy.

Today when I watched Niece and Nephew, we were going to pick up a movie and pizza (it was a special night) and I heard Niece tell Nephew this story…
“Jesus was crazy. He dieded on the cross. Did you know that people dieded on crosses? Auntie M wears a cross on her neck, but she won’t die on it. Aunt Tina wears a cross on her thumb and it scratches, but it’s not big enough to die on, so it’s okay. Alternatively she could take it off like when she works.”
I’m not sure where she got that Jesus was crazy, but her Aunt M does wear a cross necklace. I have a thumb ring with a cross on it, but I haven’t worn mine in a long time, I’m not even sure how she knew I had it. I taught her the word alternatively, and she says it much better than conservative (it came out convervative), and I think she must even know what it means, because she used it correctly. I tell this story to remind myself, even though she’s only three-she is paying attention. She might not always get the details right, but she is paying attention!

My boss told one of my coworkers that she thinks I’m doing a great job in my new position. Which is good because several of my coworkers had told me that they thought I would hate it, and not know what to do. One gave me a month before I begged for my old job back!
My class is learning colors, numbers, and shapes in English and in Spanish. You should hear their little accents when they say some of the words. “Naranja” (orange) is especially funny with their little lisps imitating my accent!

Judgement

You guys working with the two year olds is so rewarding! I’ve only been there for a week and I already know I’ve TAUGHT them things. On Monday when we did a little getting to know you activity, I had kids who named three out of nine colors when asked. They all knew purple, they all knew “their” color (the one all their stuff is to help them learn their names), and several knew one other color. They couldn’t sing the ABC Song when prompted. They couldn’t count to five. They didn’t know any shapes. Today we did the same activity. They all knew at least five of nine colors, they can sing the ABC Song, most could count to ten (the exception still couldn’t count to five), they all know at least three shapes. Now, I can’t claim all the credit for the improvement. I have to assume that although they all know me, and no one seemed shy on Monday, they were a little shy. That could affect performance. However, I know the other teacher told me that she could hold up a yellow circle, ask them what shape it was and they’d say “Green!” so… Also, today was the first day they played in our newly arranged classroom with real centers, and access to all their toys. They loved it! Also, they totally cleaned up after themselves when prompted. I think part of the problem was that THEY didn’t know where anything went, now that there’s a clear spot for stuff, they are happy to clean up.
On the other hand…I do know that when I haven’t done it for awhile I’ll miss teaching more abstract concepts. I enjoyed my Peace, Love, and Recycling unit at the beginning of the summer. I enjoy discussing more complicated topics as they come in homework, or because someone reads the back of my latest book, or whatever. I like walking them through their homework and listening as they develop not just minds, but opinions.
In short, I don’t know that I can truly judge. The two classes are so different, but there are aspects in each that I truly enjoy and that I truly don’t. I won’t miss the attitude problems and the bickering, but neither am I looking forward to diapering (not an issue yet, this whole class is potty trained), or the fact that they have the attention span of…well two year olds.

New Job Stories

I started my “new” job this week. So here I am looking back over the last few days, trying to decide already how this is going to work. My coworkers have been laughing that I won’t like and the odds are that I’ll ask for my old job back within a month. I’ve been concerned about intellectual stimulation and how to teach such basic concepts that I don’t remember learning them. So, without further ado, here are the few stories I’ve accumulated already in my new class...

1. On Tuesday I had the kids do an art project where they glued down small colored squares to make a “mosaic”. Not only did one of my coworkers tell me that I should have applied the glue (so the pictures would come out better, since “they’re only two”), but one of my kids decided to move a square and when she couldn’t get it up, she dropped the f-bomb. The f-bomb people!!!
2. I’ve been teaching them a song about numbers to the tune of Jingle Bells
   1, 2, 3…4, 5, 6…7, 8, 9, 10! Now I can, count to 10. Now I give a shout, HEY!!
   They pretty much sing “1, 4, 7, shout HEY!” but I like it
3. Today I promised them we’d go on a walk, but we left class a little late. As in at 11:40 when we eat lunch at 11:45. So we only walked around the school once and had to come in to eat. And on the way in, one little boy said to me “Thanks for a great walk Tina!” So, I guess the moral of that story is that my kids are SUPER gullible.
4. Tomorrow I plan on working on rearranging my room. Or should I say arranging my room? I have discovered that the teacher before me had really no organizational system at all. Like I get that they don’t really clean up after themselves, but to just have piles of stuff thrown on a shelf is not going to teach them. Neither is only letting them play with one kind of toy all day going to help prepare them for the center system in the next class. No wonder the next teacher can’t stand the old teacher in my class.
5. On a related note, I spent my break today on my hands and knees scrubbing my 12 square feet of tile. The old teacher apparently put down symbols to help them line up (good idea) without cleaning the tape off the floor when she changed them (bad idea). So there was literally lumps of gluey, black tape surrounding the rainbows she had down. Plus our cleaning company is supposed to mop my floor every night, and it hasn’t been done since at least last Tuesday. I get to write them a reminder in their binder tomorrow!

And…that’s all I have for you today. I'll refain from judging my new job until Friday, when I've worked in this class for a whole week.

Remember to register to vote if you haven’t yet. In Illinois, the deadline is October 5, which is Tuesday.

Prosti-tots?

I’ve noticed that many of the girls at my work wear very adult clothes. I don’t have kids so I wonder sometimes where they get these things. Yesterday, 3 year old niece (who wears a size 4) did some shopping and I ran across some things that really disturbed me. Why is it that so many clothes for young girls, are so inappropriate? Is there any need for a small child to wear sweat pants with the word “CUTE” written across the butt?

This pink pair is from Ambercrombie kids and comes in a children’s small.
I have seen an exact replica of this purple dress (which is a girl’s size 7) in Deb’s prom section for high school juniors and seniors to wear to “grind” on their boyfriends.

The problem isn’t just in girl’s clothes. Hooters apparently sells clothes (I’ve never been there) and their website features this onesie

And just in case your young man is out of onsies but still drools and makes a mess of his meals, we have this “charming” bib

But not to fear! They are more than willing to market on women’s insecurities too. See this “adorable” onsie for proof

But, perhaps I’m being overly dramatic here. After all Hooters makes their money by flaunting the breasts of the female employees. So let’s turn back to more mainstream stores. Here’s a dress from Kohl’s featured in girl’s size 4-6x. I think I wore this the first time I went clubbing. My skirt may have been a little longer though!

This stuff isn’t even the worst of it though. I didn’t see it myself but a friend of mine told me that Abercrombie sells thongs in their girl’s section. I didn’t see it on their website, and I hope she was wrong, but even if she was when girls are wearing skirts like this one

Can children’s thongs be far behind? BTW this is a “denim mini” from Old Navy that according to the website “hits mid-thigh”. It isn't the worst skirt, but many of the stores selling the worst things load the pictures so you can't copy or save them.
An old boss of mine dubbed the tweens who came into our store dressed like this “prosti-tots”. At the time it was really only older girls and I didn’t think it was the best coinage ever. Now this stuff is meant for kids who ARE still tots. I shudder to think what they’ll wear in their tweens, teens, or twenties!

Austen, Eliot, and Poe

Do you know what those three things have in common? They're all famous authors whose work I love. They are also the names of my new fish. I bought them for work, because the class I'm taking has always had fish, but the old teacher is taking them. However, I love them (I bought them two hours ago) and I want to keep them at home. Sadly they don't fit in at home where all the pets are named after characters in sci-fi shows (Buffi the cat, Neelix the dog, and Na'Toth the leopard gecko). Guess I'll have to take them to work when I move on the 27th.

Not Giving Up

Five years ago I had a plan. I was going to transfer to a four year university, study history/secondary ed, graduate, and teach high school history. Two years ago I was half way through my plan with graduation in sight. In the spring of 2009 I graduated, first person in my family to do so. I was pretty proud of myself. Now I’ve been out of school for over a year, working at a job I love but that I was qualified to do before I transferred.
Beyond my basic plan, I wanted to get my master’s degree and eventually my Ph.D. When I couldn’t find a job teaching I researched advanced degree programs, figured out some that I really like, and saved them as favorites so I could find them easily. Today I realized I haven’t looked into that in months. I actively avoid pausing over the “Graduate Schools” spot on my favorites menu. Part of the reason I haven’t looked at them is because I want to be practical and I know it’s harder to get your first teaching job with an advanced degree. Part of it is…I don’t really know.
All that is to say, I feel like I’ve given up on my dreams. I’m no longer on the path I want to be on. There aren’t many teaching opportunities at the moment, so I don’t think that’s something I can pursue any more than I have. Instead I will working diligently at my applications for grad school. The big problem there is that the programs I like are rather hard to get into (3% acceptance rate at one), or very far away (like on the East Coast). I think further research is called for on this one, but I have to work fast since most take applications in the late fall or early winter.

New Job Concerns

There’s still no set date for me to change jobs at my work. But it’s this month. We’ve started tentatively telling parents if it comes up naturally in conversation. Which means the only parents who know, are “my” parents. I work very hard to exchange at least a few words with every parent, every day. After all I’m the one who helps them with their homework (not the kindergarteners as they’re forbidden from doing their homework at school, but the bigger kids), I talk them through their romantic troubles (!!!!), teach them how to deal with bullies, and countless other things they might not bring up to mom and dad, but that they probably should. So a few parents know, although nothing has been said officially, there is now an “unconfirmed rumor” that Ms. Tina will be moving to the 2 year old room soon and a new school age teacher will take her place. I’m not really sure it’s what I want. I love my kids, I love my class. The only thing I don’t love about my job is the hours. I have to work full time if I want to move out of my mom’s house, which I desperately NEED to do, but… Do you know how big the difference between my youngest kid (5) and the oldest kid I will have soon is? From 2 to 5 is when kids learn all those things that are so basic, I’m not even really sure how to teach them. I’m used to being able to sit a kid throwing a tantrum in a chair and ignoring it, to teaching tactics to avoid bullies, to talking politics and religion with my kids. Now I’ll be teaching potty training and colors, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet. Even my boss is a bit unsure about this transition. She called me into her office to remind me that I can’t be sarcastic with them (duh), and what a big transition this will be. She assured me that I will be on 90 probation in the new position and that within that time, either of us can decide to move me back to my old position (which is reassuring). The old 2 year old teacher has been prepping me for the transition, but not in any truly useful way. I would prefer concrete things like an invitation to visit her class one morning so that I can see what she does. Her class just moved into her room (first day of school is our transition day), and it would be better if we could have some consistency. Instead, I’ve gotten a lot of jokes about how different it will be. Thanks, I’ve got that. Let’s try to make it easier on the kids shall we?
Anyway, the point of this post is to ask. Anyone have any advice for how to handle circle time with two year olds? How do I teach those basic concepts? How do I avoid having to wipe anyone’s poopy bottom? Anything!!

Sleeping In

On Wednesday my kids went back to school and I started half-time hours. I didn’t have to go into work until 2pm. Tuesday night I made my bed (which I only do on special occasions) so that my bed would be super comfy since I could sleep in. I thought. I stayed up until almost 2am, well past when I wanted to go to bed (to make sure I could sleep in, since sometimes it’s hard to change when I wake up). Finally, I curled into my bed and dozed off. Eight o’clock Wednesday morning, my cell phone made my designated “you have a text” noise…

Kelly (my boss): Are u still able to come in at 9 today?
Me: …umm…didn’t realize I was supposed to
Kelly: Oh I had left a note and u wrote yes and put it on my desk…
its for [another teacher]… the rest of the week?

It turns out that I thought the note said “Can you work 9-6 on 8/27 [and other dates]?” and she thought it said “Can you work 9-6 through 8/27 [and other dates]?” We'll never know who's right, since the note is long gone. Anyway after anticipating and preparing for at least nine hours in bed, I had to get up after six. Plus, I had nothing for lunch because I was planning on making mac and cheese. Wednesday at work ROCKED.
Tomorrow I head out to another game night, this time in far enough away that we’re staying the night. Sunday we’re off to the zoo. I was supposed to help my SIL move, but she choose the one weekend I can’t. But just wait. After a long weekend, I’m preparing for ten hours in bed Sunday night/Monday morning. And it is gonna be GOOD!

I Really Like Me As The School-Age Teacher!

Today I told my boss that I was planning on spending tomorrow morning (now that my kids are back to school, I’m back to reduced hours) looking for a second job. I wanted to know, only in the vaguest terms, if I should bother. Her response…
“If you want to work with two year olds, the hours will be yours. But… I really like you for the school-agers.”
Hello! I really like me for the school-agers too. I love my job for all the perks that I get that no one else gets. I want her to divide the hours so that I’m with the two year olds until 2:30 (when kindergarten gets out and I usually start working) then have the school-agers. Either way she has to hire a new person to work my hours, so why not make that person take the two year olds in the afternoon? Then in the summer (and days off) I take my kids and the new person takes the two year olds and I get the best of both worlds….Umm did anyone else just hear Hannah Montana when I said that? No? Just me? Okay then. Perhaps I should take those two year olds so I don’t have to watch her anymore.
Anyway. I guess she would have to find someone qualified to take the two year olds (which is harder than finding someone qualified to take my kids because the rules are more stringent), but who only wants part time hours and doesn’t mind not having her own class. I guess I can see the problem…but…I love my kids! And I loved the summer we just had. And so few of the school-age teachers my work has had, does stuff with them. I wish I could pick their new teacher, I guarantee I’d find someone awesome.

A Very Long Post About the Library. And Torture! And Work.

Why is my AWARD –WINNING library useless when it comes to books on the Black Plague? I use the term in to mean a very specific event in Medieval Europe, the common usage of the term, an event that some estimate killed as many as World Wars One and Two combined (not including the Holocaust). Doesn’t that seem like an something that should be covered? Instead my library (which is fairly large and amazing) has three books on the topic in the adult section. Combined they are about 200 pages, all with the amount of information you might find in an Eyewitness book (you know these books right? They are mostly pictures with some lengthy captions that only cover what you probably learned up through middle school). If you have some ideas about where I should look, let me know. Especially if you know of any scholarly books that would include information about Jews and how Jews were treated during this period (Semitic history is my particular interest in history, and this is a time I would like to know more about).
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Every morning my class starts with the Pledge of Allegiance. This has been going on since the first day of summer, and yet this morning was different. This morning, my class stood for the Pledge and several of my kids began acting up, speaking in silly voices, playing around, etc. My plan for this, one of the last days of summer vacation, was to say the Pledge, take attendance and let them go. Instead, we began a discussion on what the Pledge means. I got as far as explaining the words “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America” mean (essentially) “I promise to respect my country” when “it” began. “It” is my understanding of my children’s political backgrounds. One of them said, “Why should we respect this government? The government sucks.” Another added, “Our president is terrible.” Then it really began. “People only voted for him because he’s black and they wanted the first black president.” “He’s not black stupid. He’s Hawaiian.”
Whooooa. Hold on kids. Let Miss Tina talk. And so talk I did. I talked about why our government is good. I talked about how we have privileges, and with those privileges come responsibilities. I think they understood that, coming as it did mere weeks after our discussion about heroes (thank you Peter Parker!). I explained that one of the privileges is that we don’t EVER after have to share who we voted for, but that I wanted to share with them. I told them that I voted for President Obama and I could guarantee I didn’t vote for him because of his skin color. That I didn’t know anyone who voted for him for that reason, but that perhaps some people did. However, there are some people who refused to for him because of the color of his skin. That outraged my class. We’ve talked about segregation and people like MLK, so they understood what I was saying. They wanted to know why I voted for him, so I explained that one of those responsibilities is to be an educated voter, and that I agreed with him about more stuff than McCain. They wanted to know what that stuff was. I asked them what they knew, and you guys these were their answers…“He thinks we should kills babies who are six months old.” (Please note I asked for this one to be repeated, assuming I heard it incorrectly.) “He let the people who knocked down the Twin Towers go free.”
So I felt I had three choices. End the discussion, and let my kids (age 6-9) go about with misinformation. Talk about abortion to my small children. Talk about torture and 9/11 with my kids. You guys, I have always felt that if I CAN answer a question I should. I couldn’t just end the discussion and perhaps their curiosity about politics. I talked to my kids about torture. We talked about the war in Iraq (we probably should have been more sure about their participation in 9/11). We talked about what torture is (hurting people, or threatening them, to make them tell us stuff) and why we shouldn’t do it (not nice, doesn’t work, agreed we wouldn’t). We talked about the consequences (other countries might do it to our guys, makes people not like us). I told them that President Obama did NOT want to just let the people who “knocked down the Twin Towers” go free. They asked intelligent questions, they listened to what I had to say, better than they had all summer. I tried to give them facts. I tried to keep my opinions out of it because I don’t want to make them think any specific thing (Inception!), I want them to form their own opinions as they get older. But, I talked about torture to my class!!
This afternoon, I got to mention to every parent what we talked about. There were two main responses. One, was “oh, okay” the other was “Good for you Miss Tina”. So I don’t think I’ll get in trouble. Even my boss didn’t seem too worked up about it when I told her. However, I think I need to find myself a high school to teach at fairly soon, because if I’m going to talk politics, I think I should be doing so with older kids. Six years old is too young for me to have to make the call I made this morning!

New Jeans, Fun at Work, and Empty Wine Bottles

Last fall I spent ELEVEN shopping trips over SEVEN weekends to buy TWO pairs of pants for ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY dollars. It was terrible, and I was in tears by the time I bought them. It was December, and I’d been wearing one pair of jeans since it got to cold for shorts or dresses everyday. I could find jeans that fit at the waist, but they were two sizes to big in the hips, and three sizes to big in the thighs. This year I wised up and started early since I don’t enjoy wearing $60 jeans to teach preschool. Things get ruined all too easily there. Last night I cashed my first (and only) full time paycheck and got myself down to Burlington Coat Factory. No jeans, but two new sundresses I’d been wanting that had been $50 each were now marked down to $12. So, now that I was feeling pretty good, I walked to the Fashion Bug in the same shopping center. You guys, I LOVE Fashion Bug. Everything they sell, they have in both misses and plus, and they sell them together, so I don’t feel all segregated. Plus they have these buttons in the dressing rooms, one outside the door to page someone to let you in, and one inside the room. The inside one is so that you can buzz for someone to come get a different size or whatever. It’s nice. You know what else is nice? I got two pairs of jeans for $51. And there were several other pairs I liked, but I didn’t need more than two pairs for the moment. Hooray!!!
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Friday I’m taking my class to Lincoln Park Zoo. Today I wanted to watch The Lightning Thief movie. We just read the book, but my kids don’t sit well, not to read books, not to watch movies. I may have accidentally given them the impression that going to the zoo depended on sitting quietly through the WHOLE movie. Turns out that movie has very little in common with the book, but when I really like a book (and I REALLY like that whole series) I want the movie to be different enough that it’s hard to compare the two. It was a good movie, and it was nice to get to watch the whole thing at work.
My class goes back to school next Wednesday. Which means I go back to half time hours. Which is nice on the one hand because I would like to sleep in again, but on the other hand, it’s a huge drawback in pay. Fortunately, there’s a rumor at work (confirmed by the co-worker but not the boss) that one of my coworkers will be leaving for greener pastures by the end of next month and I will be offered her hours. It would mean getting up even earlier because the coworker starts a half hour earlier than I do, but the benefits are huge (I could move out by early next year!!)
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I ran out of my favorite wine. I bought several bottles, but only one from each winery we stopped at. My favorite is a spicy, sweet red from Contessa Winery called Dolce Vita. I’ve been drinking a glass almost every night for the last week. Today I poured the last few drops into my glass. I tell you this information less for your benefit than for mine. This way, when I have time to go back up there and buy a new bottle I won’t forget exactly what I want. Although, I really like everything I bought, so it’s possible when I open the next bottle that will be my new favorite. In which case when I run out of that, I’ll have to tell you about that bottle.

I. Am. A. Moron!

How big a moron? Tomorrow I am taking my students on a field trip to the local police station. We will hear what police do, tour the station, hopefully see the jail (only if there’s no one in it at the time), etc. Then we will return to our school just in time for lunch. After which, I agreed to have water day. The next day we have an even bigger field trip to the local hospital. It just recently opened and is super green so we will reinforce our lessons about living a green lifestyle from a few weeks ago, and learn about medical heroes all at the same time. Sometime in all that excitement, I *get* to tell my kids what I’ve planned for our big end of summer celebration. They’ve been guessing since before summer even began because I let them look through my lesson plan book and it’s marked out with “End of Summer Field Trip” but no details. I have enjoyed lording over them that I know and I’m not telling. But now I have to tell, and I lose all the fun I have at work :( Also, I’m a moron for planning on taking them where I’m taking them (Lincoln Park Zoo). But hey, at least on Friday we get to watch Ghostbusters. And on Saturday I leave on vacation.

Burny Crispy Owie Pain

Today my class had our bi-annual (is that the right word for every two years?) 50/50 carwash. It was technically free, but we accepted donations, which nearly everyone made. The money is split 50/50 with half going to our end of summer celebration and half going to charity (UPDATE: The kids decided to donate to two differant charities since we raised so much money. We will be adopting a tiger from WWF and donating $25 to Little Angels, a home for severely disabled children and young adults. they picked both charities themselves!). We raised $100 (including Miss Tina’s generous donation of $30 for a car wash that left both dirt and water spots on my car) in a car wash that was supposed to go from 1-3. We washed our first car at 12:30. We finished our last car at 4:00.

In other news my skin is normally this color.



Now it is this color.



In case your color is off, in the summer I tend to avoid the sun and am a nice truly healthy shade of mid beige. While my arms are currently a brown with pink undertones, at the moment by chest and back are pink-red. I don’t QUITE resemble a lobster yet, but another day of sun and I will. There’s a reason you’re supposed to reapply sunscreen every two hours, even if the bottle says “Sport” “Waterproof” and “All day protection”. Tina is burny-crispy :(

Work! Family! Personal! We've Got It All!!

Sometimes I don’t write anything because nothing has happened, but in this case I haven’t written because too much has happened. I did want to write before I leave on vacation (Taste of Chicago Saturday, Rockford fireworks Sunday, leave for St. Joseph’s Monday!!!). First, work…
I have told you about the situation at work. First a few weeks ago, a parent complained because her daughter got wet and (GASP!!) dirty. Last week the same parent complained (to me, not my boss for once) that her daughter was never in our class newspaper. I explained calmly to the parent that her daughter goes to summer school in the morning, and the morning is when the kids write their articles, and when we do the things that show up in the paper. Friday the daughter threw a FIT about having to play kickball. The class rule is that you play the first half hour at any one place (ball field, park, etc) and then you can sit out. She threw a fit in the middle of the ball field and told me her mom said she didn’t have to play if she didn’t want. After warning her that her behavior would lead to “serious consequences” I made her apologize to her classmates “I’m sorry I ruined your fun.” She had to say. Then I let her off. I told her sister who picked her up, because she was still upset. Monday her mom complained about the way I talked to the sister. Tuesday she slapped another girl in the leg while I was sitting about six inches away. I made her apologize. I should clarify that I make them apologize by looking whoever they’re apologizing to in the face and saying “I’m sorry for…” which you hear in my class about every 2.3 minutes. The girl refused to sit up, refused to apologize for several minutes, finally did it mere seconds before mom showed up. I’m no longer allowed to speak to the family, so I said nothing. Thirty minutes later my boss came downstairs with the mom and her daughter who had been telling them that I made her apologize to another child because the other child kicked her. Twenty minutes after that the kid admitted that she had slapped the person she apologized to, and her mom didn’t care. She was too caught up in what I had done (made her kid apologize). She eventually threatened my boss with a phone call to DCFS (our supervising agency), my boss told her to go ahead. She also said that we favor staff kids (I personally am probably harder on staff kids). Her daughter came outside where I was watching ten other kids to yell “What is wrong with you?!?” at us. She is now hanging out in another teacher’s class until I get back from vacation. Her mom was told she had until then to either adjust to my class (getting dirty, participating, respecting everyone…) or to find a different school for her kid. Works rocks (no, I’m serious, I’m so glad how supportive my boss has been throughout this situation).
Now Family…
We took Niece and Nephew to the zoo again. Nephew can now say rilla (gorilla), pant (elephant), ger (tiger), sheal (seal), fin (dolphin), pig (guinea pig), cat (self-explanatory), and I don’t even know what else. Kid knows his animals is what I’m saying. He’s just over a year old now, so I’m pretty proud of him. We took in a dolphin show, touched the stingrays (actually Niece only tapped the top of the water because she was afraid and Nephew’s arms weren’t long enough, but I touched the rays), played at the play zoo, pet a guinea pig at the play zoo, saw the gorillas and the alligators and rode the carousel. It was an excellent day, but at this point I think they just expect to go to the zoo when they see Aunt Tina and Grandma. I hope they don’t get upset when I’m gone the next three weekends!
Personally…
I got to hang out with a friend from high school. This is the last of my Christian friends, the rest of them having fallen to the wayside as they became more conservative and I became more liberal. Also as I objected to being used as a scapegoat for everything wrong in people’s lives (more on that another day maybe). She is one of the sweetest people I know. She is also the friend whom I told you was adopting.  I hadn’t really hung out with her the last month or so due to the drama in her life and my new work schedule. Later, I ran into a friend I usually only see a few times a month at the library tonight. Next thing I knew almost an hour had passed and I had seen his famous movie list (he’s listed every movie he’s ever seen apparently), and records every movie in some crazy system I think only he understands. It was pretty cool. He also showed me this. Mel Gibson is clearly a troubled man.
As of six pm tomorrow I’m on vacation, so this will have to hold you over until I get home. Then I’ll tell you all about vacation, and also what happened to my Christian friends.