By Any Other Name

I teach my kinders to look around the room to find words on the word wall or other places if they don't know how to spell something. Yesterday a girl needed to look at my name tag to spell my name. Moments later she handed me a lovely picture addressed "to STAFF."

Make a Note of That

One of my favorite things to have my students do is to write me notes.  This serves a couple purposes. First, it gives importance to reading and writing by making it a real world skill.  It is also a convenient memory jog when something comes up mid-lesson that I need to remember later.  And my favorite, it makes me smile when I get back to my desk and find these notes.

After the time change, I realized I had turned my watch alarm on.  By Tuesday, when once again it went off at 9:45, I asked a student to write a note to remind me to fix my watch.  This is what I found propped on my computer.

We were collecting bottle caps as part of a counting lesson.  When I realized I left some on the counter at home, I asked another student to write a note to remind me to bring them.

We sing songs to go with each letter of the alphabet.  We hadn't sung the song about Hattie Horse for quite some time.  One of the students wanted to sing it, but unfortunately we had run out of time.  I told her to write me a note so that we could sing it the next day.  Not only did she write the note, she folded the bottom so that the note popped up and there was no way I would forget to do Hattie Horse the next day.

Today when I was making a note of who was absent several students volunteered to help!

Where Does the Sun Sleep? and Other Important Questions

Since I teach at a NASA school, the science fair is accompanied by a visit from NASA scientists.  After showing a short video to the school's kindergartners and talking briefly about the rover, Curiosity, they opened up for questions from the kinder set.  That is tricky business.  The difference between a question and a story is a fine line in the mind of a 5 year old.  When one of my students told the scientists that her mommy's baby just came out, I was glad they didn't understand her.  Actually her new baby brother is about a month old now but this is still big news.  All the usual questions came up, like what does the sun look like and do people live on the moon?  Of course there were several questions about aliens.  When one of the NASA guys said that an alien could be really small and  have just a few cells, indicating about the size of his fingertip, I overheard a boy say, "Oh, man, that's good, then they can't hurt us." Another questions, "Where does the sun sleep?" brought smiles to the adult faces and nods from other kiddos wondering the same thing.
That was followed by "What is the coldest planet on earth?"  And finally, "How many stars are there?" A teaspoon holds about a thousand grains of sand.  Combine that teaspoon, that 1000 grains, with all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth and that is about how many stars there are. That is a 1 followed by about 30 zeros.  Now that's a lot of stars.

He determines the number of the stars
    and calls them each by name.

Psalm 147:4

Jesus King of Kings and King of 5 Year Olds

One of things we do in kindergarten to learn beginning sounds is sort pictures or toys by the letter they start with.  Today it was things that start with P, L, and K.  One of the toys I showed the kiddos was a king. One girl kept referring to it as Jesus. Always the teacher, I first talked about king starting with a K and Jesus starting with a J.  Then I asked her if she thought the king looked like Jesus. With a huge grin on her face she replied, "I said it because Jesus is our King." Yep, I gave her a high five right there in public school.

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

            Luke 19:38

Snearest Adults and Other Assumptions

At my school, when a student is needed or is late getting to the room after recess, an announcement comes over the intercom: "Johnny Smith please go to the nearest adult." After one such announcement one of my kiddos raised his hand and asked, "What's a snearest adult?"

Upon further discussion I realized, cuteness aside, he didn't understand the term "nearest adult."  As I explained to him what it meant, I noticed other kiddos having light bulb moments.  Oh, so that is what it means. We had been in school 101 days (kindergarten teachers keep track of such things.) and each of those days I had made an assumption. I thought my students would know how to respond if their name was called.   After 20+ years of  hanging out with 5 year olds, I should have known better.

How many times do I assume the nearest adults in my life understand what I mean?  Would fewer assumptions mean fewer misunderstandings? Something to think about.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding

Proverbs 3:5

Apparently Snow is a Christmas Thing

The snow had all but melted when the ground hog saw his shadow and 2 inches of snow blanketed the ground on February 3.  I had recess duty and a 3rd grader kicked the snow as she slowly walked by. She looked up at me and said, "I can't believe it snowed!"  I smiled and reminded her that the ground hog did see it's shadow.  Not even phased, she shrugged and said, "But Christmas is such a long way away."

Apparently snow is a Christmas thing.

Make Over Day

T. was excited yesterday because she was going to K.'s house that afternoon to have a make over.  I asked her what kids do at a make over.  She didn't exactly roll her eyes but she did say, "You know, we do stuff." When I asked her what kind of stuff she said she was going to brush K.'s hair and play Barbies. After recess she showed me a folded paper with K.'s phone number on it.  Apparently the Make Over Day had not yet been approved by the moms. Later when T. lost the paper, things seemed dire until someone saved the day by spotting it under the table.

Sometimes I think I'm in need of a Make Over Day.  Not the dowdy to glam shot--how did I ever exist without these experts telling me everything I am doing wrong--now I have to spend hours a day perfecting my look because everyone knows what I really could/should look like--type of day.  I'm thinking more along the lines of another New Year's Resolution gone awry type. Big plans.  Big ideas.  Just a phone call away to a better me.  Must have gotten lost under the table, during those crazy busy days when it is easier to go back to my default settings.

Time to take a breath and realize whose number I really need.

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is best for you,
    who directs you in the way you should go.
Isaiah 48:17

Personal Space? Hurt Feelings? Pssh! I teach Kindergarten!

Oh the joys of a kindergarten classroom. One of my students said to me last week, "Mrs. Terrell why does your hair look funny?"  I quickly tried to smooth it down and went back to teaching the importance of the letter "P."  Someone asked if that comment hurt my feelings.  Actually my hair was a bit unruly that day.  In fact, I scheduled a haircut as soon as I got home.  Hurt feelings? Nah!  If I had a personal space or easily hurt feelings I wouldn't be hanging out with 5 year-olds.  Those precious, hug-able, lovable, unfiltered beings who make me laugh one minute and sigh the next.

Today I was showing another girl how to make the letter "g."  She, like most other kinders at one time or another, started writing the letter from the bottom, writing upward.  I told her to start from the top and she quickly moved her pencil to the top of the page. Yep, I had to laugh at that one, but not out loud of course.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.  Matthew 19:14