kids haircuts

kids haircuts

kids haircuts

kids haircuts

kids haircuts

kids haircuts

who decides??

i just had a moment. only for the second or third time in my career that i can remember...
i am sitting here watching my class having free time and listening to their ALL ENGLISH conversations. and i wonder "who decided that I could be in charge of the lives of these young, wonderful children?? when did i become "adult" enough for this to happen each and every day?? i love my job (inside the classroom)!! i'm going to miss these little rugrats next year! and then again, who decided i could teach grade 5?! i'm kinda scared.

i remember my first day of teaching ever. in wawa. in the room i went to kindergarten in. all FOUR of my students had arrived and everyone else was gone. it was just us. and i wondered...who decided i can do this? what is going on here???

arts and crafts

have you ever had one of those moments where you're like, "that is such a great idea!". and then you follow through with the plan and you're like, "what was i thinking?!". i had one of those moments today.

we are studying SPACE in class - my favourite unit - and we are learning about constellations. so i decided it would be a great idea to use white paint to make a splatter painting on white paper and then when it dries, we can connect the stars to make constellations.

so the stars look great, but the room - not so much! the table and floor are covered and so is ms. emily's dress!

but we had fun!! :) i'll let you know how the constellations look when we're done!

rain, rain, go away!

my class really is fantastic. i've been thinking more and more lately, just how lucky i am. and i really have nothing to complain about that's for sure!! people often come into my class and are so impressed with how well they are working and with what they have accomplished this year. other teachers come in and comment on how quietly they work or how independent they are and sometimes i wonder what the heck they see that i don't see. but if i take a moment and look at the big picture, it's true. they are amazing. and i guess it's because of my high expectations of them that i don't see it as often as i should, but my kids rock!

so that brings me to today's story. well actually it happened yesterday. we have swimming on friday at 1:35 so we are ready to go around 1:25. they had their swimsuits on, towels over their shoulders, goggles in hand by about 1:22. at approximately 1:23 it started to POUR! like we are talking full-fledged, rainy season is BACK, pouring cats and dogs, RAIN. this is of course followed by thunder and lightning. so i had to make the "bad guy decision". sorry boys and girls, no swimming today!

but it's been such a long time since it rained here and they were all so interested in the rain so i took them outside under the shelter of the covered sidewalk and we watched the rain. at first it was raining really hard and they were squealing with delight. then there was a huge crack of thunder and few of the timid ones took a step closer to the building. some were building up their courage to step up and stick their hands out into the refreshing rain. and i had an urge. i really, really wanted to take them out to play in the rain. imagine how fun it would have been to take 16 five year olds out into the POURING rain in their bathing suits!! however, my logical side kicked in to remind me that the parents here would NOT love that. they are big on the "change in weather causes colds". i am more on the "germs cause colds" belief but who am i to say?! anyway, i was sad that we couldn't play but there wasn't much i could do.

i was just about to take them inside when they had a moment. a "man i love these kids" moment. they all started singing together, "rain, rain, go away, come again another day!". over and over. and they were so happy and hopeful that their chanting would make the sun come out so that they could go swimming. it just reminded me how cool they are and even though it didn't work, and it kept raining, they gave it a shot!

as we went back inside and i had them change back into their uniforms, one boy asked me, "ms. emily, is it raining because the sky is crying?" "yes, it is!" i replied. how could i say no to that?

complaint free SKB....well kinda....

we're working really hard at being complaint free in skb. they are doing a great job actually. what's funny is that my kids are wearing their bracelets on their ankles, cause they are too big for their wrists. so when they have to change legs, it's a huge process. maybe that's why they have stopped complaining! hahaha

anyway, just wanted to share this picture with you. they are pretty much the cutest!!

Happy Easter from SKB!

p.s. thanks for the Peeps mom!

"kids say the darndest things" 1

K - "Ms. Emily, why does your arm smell so much?"

Me - "Oh, you mean my lotion?"

K - "Ya. Your arm smells."

The DREADED "Seating Plan"!!!

It happens as early as Kindergarten. They don't want to sit with certain people, they want to sit with other certain people. They have made their alliances and there is no going back! Until....dun, dun, dunnnn, the teacher (mean, mean teacher) rearranges the seating plan and it just doesn't quite suit everyone.

In my class I have one little Vietnamese girl, we'll call her V, she doesn't want to sit with the Koreans because they always speak Korean to each other. Then there is N, the "popular" boy who EVERYONE wants to sit with. And don't forget NA who can't get along with S or M. And NA and SO need to sit with the TA. What about K, and L who need to be separated but want to be together. Or SH and KJ my two Japanese students. It's like an intricate puzzle that needs to be solved and there is simply no way of pleasing everyone.

Well, I've taken a stand. I changed things up and I think it's going to work. All you teachers out there, I know you can relate. I'm telling you, this seating thing has changed the life of SKB today!

*wink wink*

it happened again. i was cranky today. again no explanation. maybe it's that time of year? maybe it's that we have no break until may? maybe it's a need for change. maybe it's that i am excited that sean and christa are coming next week. who knows. anyway, i had some guests in my room who saw my morning message that my students are now writing on their own. they were very impressed.


which got me thinking, how can i be cranky with these brilliant kids? then i saw this face...how can you be cranky with this face?


hope you have a good day. and if you start to get cranky, just think of him!