Notes from work.

Sometimes I forget how much I love teaching. It's easy to get bogged down by everything happening outside your classroom.
And then I have weeks like this past one. I assure you, I can't make up things like this. Some notes from kindergarten:

Noticed a new bulletin board by the gym. "You're not fully educated until you're physically educated." Not a bad sentiment. Get outside! Move around! Let's battle childhood obesity! But you know what? My first thought when I saw it was "Dirty."

I was teaching a lesson about volcanoes on Tuesday. (A huge hit.) N put her hand up and I called on her. "You talk beautiful." I was expecting a question about volcanoes. Or at the very least, some anecdote about N having seen a volcano in a movie and people were scared. Nope. I was way off. I'm not really sure what N meant, though. Do the dulcet tones of my voice agree with her? Or is it the way I construct sentences that she finds so pleasing? Not a very specific compliment. She's 5, guys, give her a break. Way harsh. You shouldn't be so judgemental. I, on the other hand, am duly flattered. I talk beautiful. That's a new one for me.

As the kindergarten students were lining up after lunch, shouting with the usual enthusiasm reserved for those not yet old enough for long division, our principal walked by. He put out his fist for them to bump as we walked by. He showed them how to do it, following up a fist bump with, "Then we're going to do this, and make fireworks." Yeahhh...the principal taught my class to blow it up.

After lunch, we have a little quiet time, sitting at tables. They have small containers of Play-Doh that we pull out some days to play independently. Thursday was just such a day. Some were making animals, some were making cakes, some were making cartoon characters. It was awesome. But one girl, Z, was making something totally different. She'd made two tiny Play-Doh mountains and was holding them up to her chest. I noticed this as I walked by and heard her say, "These are my boobies," giggling madly. Wow. I can't even comment on this, because what is there to say? It was supremely weird. My jaw dropped. Let's move on.

The bathroom is inside the classroom, with two stalls and a sink. The door stays propped open. I looked over on Wednesday to see S crawling out from under the boys' stall. Um...? I walked over. "Hey, S...what did you just do?" He stared at me. "S, did you lock that?" He stared more. I walked over to the door and checked. For some reason, he locked the stall door and left it that way. How helpful.
"We can unlock it," he told me.
"Yeah." I know he didn't do it with any malicious intent, but I could not keep the sarcasm out of my voice. He continued to stare. "Well, I'm not going to do it," I added. "I'm too tall."
"Oh." S crawled back under (On the kindergarten bathroom floor. Gross.) and emerged the proper way. Sometimes...the ideas are not so hot.

We had a guest come in Wednesday afternoon, and she was running a few minutes later. We had just returned from music, so we were discussing our favorite songs from class. J raised his hand and asked if it could be a favorite song from home. "Sure!" I replied enthusiastically, glad to know my class was unaware that I was killing time.
"Ice Ice Baby," J said proudly. He smiled widely at me. I could only laugh.
"Awesome." I replied. What else does one say to that?

It was a great week at work. With my freakshow class. :)