WHAT JUST HAPPENED???

Have you ever agreed to do something thinking..."Sure, I can do that. How hard can it be?" 

This was me all excited before my 1st day.

Then you stop for a minute and look around and think, "What have I done?" That was last week for me.

This was me at the end of my first day. ;)

KINDERGARTEN IS NO JOKE!!! If you are unfamiliar with me, this is my 10th year of teaching. I started out student teaching in 5th grade because I wanted to be a middle school math teacher. Once I graduated I got a job teaching 3rd grade and thought, "Wow! I like this SO much better than 5th grade! Forget middle school!" After teaching 3rd grade for 5 years I became a focus teacher that pulled groups of kids who needed extra help in math and reading for grades K, 3, 4, and 5. Following 1 year of this I decided to go back into the classroom. I switched schools so I that I could be 3 minutes from home instead of 1 hour and took a position as a 2nd grade teacher. I loved my new school, I loved my commute, I loved 2nd grade! After 3 years, the second 2 as an inclusion teacher, I had my daughter Jayne and my husband and I decided I should stay home. Well as I mentioned in a previous post, living in Montgomery County is EXPENSIVE! We needed better health insurance, I missed talking to adults and teaching children, and we wanted to make more money so we can send our kids to private school one day...All that said, I was going to go back as an ESOL teacher. I took the ESOL Praxis and passed my test, but because of crazy contract crap policies, I couldn't get an ESOL job However, I was able to find a Kindergarten position back at the school I love 3 minutes from my house! So all is good, right? Kindergarten will be a cinch. After all this will be my 10th year of teaching. I read amazing kindergarten blogs all summer to get an idea of what to do/expect. I HAVE AN ALMOST 4 YEAR OLD FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Well I was not prepared for my first day week of school...

Everyone tells you the first 6 weeks of kindergarten is just establishing routines...however, then I was reading these kindergarten blogs and spending my life saving on all the products they offer on TpT it seemed to me that I should be teaching them academic things. I haven't been able to use practically anything other than decorations (and in some cases not even that which I can complain talk about another time) in these packets because they are assuming my kids can do thinks most of my class can't such as write their name, write letters or numbers, HOLD A PENCIL!!!! I'm not kidding! I have kids who have never held a pencil before, or scissors, or glue!! 

Here is a 10 minute section of time on Thursday that pretty much sums up my week. Picture a teacher who thinks she is finally getting her students to understand the morning routine: get breakfast and take to seat, put backpack into cubbie, order lunch and sit and eat breakfast. Things seemed to be running smoothly until one student spills her chocolate milk, while the teacher is cleaning it up, another one of her students who has bad anxiety throws up on the floor because he misses his mom and then went back to his seat and throws up in his lap. While the teacher abandons the spilled milk for the throw up she realized she doesn't have any plastic gloves to use when cleaning up so she simply throws some paper towels over the throw up and calls the office to see if someone can escort her sick child to the nurse. Well the office informs the teacher that the nurse isn't here, but after some haggling they agree someone will come down and get him since he is 5 and he doesn't even remember where the nurse is since it's the 4th day of school. Meanwhile, one of the special needs students has walked through the throw up and is tracking it all over the floor, the poor little girls sitting next to the sick student is trying not to look at him because he has throw up in his lap, and the lunch ladies are inquiring about why the breakfast tray and lunch order sheet isn't ready yet. At some point in all this the teacher looked around and thought, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?" Sadly this was not the only time during the week this thought went through my head and I'm sure it won't be the last.

As I reread what I have written so far it seems like I hate kindergarten and it is the worst place in the world...it's not. Actually it's crazy, but when I see those glimpses of "one day" it is so much more exciting than it was in 2nd and 3rd grade. I'm in love with Kindergarten and I'm not sure you will ever get me to leave. Let me leave you with some pics of this week to show you what I mean...

My students are starting to be able to work their fingers and their brains to link numbers together IN ORDER. This doesn't seem like a difficult thing to non kindergarten teachers, but first you have to make it through the exploration phase, the I hook the numbers together in any random order phase and then you finally get to the right activity and the right order and it's magical!! (Thank you Martha for this activity)

These are two of my babies that I can not get to stop moving. When I say moving I mean I have no control of any part of my body (arms, legs, mouths, etc.) In this golden Writer's Workshop moment I was able to find a place that they could go and do their best work. The top student is sitting at writing center. It's in the alcove by my front door, but it is nice and quiet and reduced a lot of distractions. My second student is sitting at a little lap desk I found at Michael's. I bought 3 when they had their Create2Educate sale. I'm in love and so are my Kinders! 

Week 3 starts Monday. Hopefully be able to post some other things that are starting to work. In the mean time, let me know what works for you. Are you in the same boat as me? Do you teach in a high, middle or low income school? What are barriers you run into?