What happens when no one understands

I've been in this industry for twelve years and I have seen frustration. I have seen this in the eyes of the teacher, parent and the child. It is really hard to explain to a child to take a breath when all they want to do is lash out. It is hard to calm a child down when they become so angry, all they want to do is cry. I have been there. I think everyone has been there. Being picked last for a team or not at all. Wanting to belong to a certain group and feeling like the odd man out. I think as adults we need more compassion then discipline. We need more hugs then punishments.

I Love this

Things you can tell by children's art

This is a painting done by one of my young friends in my class. She is 8 years old and beautiful. Her clothes usually contain glitter and her hair is usually wind blown or filled with colorful feathers. You can tell by the colors that she used she is loud and vibrant, you can tell by the way she writes her name that she is very outspoken. I can also tell by the many hand prints she often gets herself in trouble.

The Trip

We went on a field trip today. It was the first time that the five year old children took the bus. I drove of course and everyone was so confused about the seat belts and where exactly to sit. The nervousness turned into silliness. They offered me hot dogs and sang about chicken. We arrived to a Middle School to see a play that the eighth grade children had performed. The children wrote thank you in crayon on white paper before to give to the performers. The children sat on stage to watch the show and out came these older children to perform for the younger. The theater teacher at the end of the show told us the importance of the younger children being there. The older children had lost the "quirkiness" of singing silly songs and asking odd questions. They were reminded at the end of the show that this was sometimes important to other people.

Ode to Dough

I love to make playdough. There I said it. It is one of my favorite things to do. My special recipe is 2 cups of water, 2 cups of flour, lil oil, pinch of cream of tarter, 2 cups of salt. I love it cause I add flavors, Lemon kool aide for Lemonade, Cinnamon for Halloween, Peppermint for Christmas or powdered chocolate for whatever. I have perfected my recipe from hours of blending, mixing and cooking it at the right temperature (till it is at the consistency of mash potatoes). I have children ask me if they can eat it because it smells so good but then get a mouth full of salt when I'm not looking. I have even tried to expand to cloud dough and salt dough. Playdough is my favorite.

I made this game from comic strips.

Today we played with water beads

Keeping a child interested is a pretty tough job. So when I find something simple that keeps their attention I am pretty jazzed. I stole this idea from another website (because I am told good teachers steal all the time). They are called water beads and you can find them on Amazon. They are used for decorative purposes in flower arrangements by the children really enjoyed using these as a manipulative in Science. They take about 4 hours to soak up all the water and after that the children cannot get enough of them.

My room

This is my classroom

I wanted to start by saying being a teacher is a messy job. We have parents that we love and try to make happy, boo boos to put band aids on and lots of spills to clean up. One of the greatest things about this though is when a child comes up to me and says Ms. Jen I wanna be like you when I grow up.