My wife teaches kindergarten at a different school. At her open house, she had a parent express some concerns. Because the child was white in a predominantly black school, the mother was worried about whether he was making friends. My wife assured her that the boy was doing fine in class, and that he seemed to be a normal boy with a normal amount of friends. Then the mom mentioned a little girl that her son had mentioned from class. My wife explained that the boy and girl played together a lot on the playground, and although they didn't sit at the same table, she'd see them waving to each other across the room at times. The mom smiled at this and replied, "He said he's going to marry her one day." At this point, my wife started laughing hysterically. The mother, thinking that my wife only thought it was funny because of their age, then asked another question. "My son says that she's nice, but she talks funny. Why is that?" Through another fit of laughter, my wife replied "That's because she doesn't speak any English. She moved here from Mexico less than a year ago."
It's pretty amazing that two kids who can't even talk to each other can find a way to build a strong friendship. If two kids can get past a difference as difficult as the language barrier, you'd think adults could find ways to get along and respect each other's differences as well.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Why I Do This Job
This year has been very frustrating so far. We have a lot of new policies in place, and a lot of new requirements of our time and resources. Every year you want to get started and get into a routine so that the kids, as well as yourself, can get comfortable. So far, there is no routine because all of us teachers are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. If this has been a frustrating year, then yesterday was an even more frustrating day. I was feeling very overwhelmed with all of the new things I'm supposed to be (and have had no time for) doing, and was grouchy all day. During naptime, I noticed one of my kids was not on his mat, but sleeping partly on the floor. When I went to lift him back to his mat I could feel that he had wet himself while he was sleeping. This was a perfect ending to what had already been a bad day. I had to wake him up, and this is one of my younger boys who still needs help getting dressed and undressed, so I had to help him do all of this. While he was trying to step into his shorts, he had his hands on my shoulders for balance, which meant our heads were close together. At the same instant, we turned our heads and ended up bumping heads with each other. It was a pretty solid whack, and he winced pretty good so I could tell it hurt him, but his first reaction was to place his hand on my head where we had bumped and give me a rub so that I could feel better. It's kind of funny how when you're having a bad day of teaching, a lot of times you get a good reminder of why you put up with so much to do what you do.
Monday, August 22, 2011
First Day Back
Here's a quick funny story from my first day back to school:
Today we were doing a name game where the kids say a chant while slapping their legs and clapping their hands. When it's their turn, they get to say their name to the class, and the class tells them "hi". One little hispanic girl had been crying since she'd been dropped off. When it was her turn to say her name, she said it was "Chiyona". The class then said "Hi, Chiyona!". What made this funny was that her name is not Chiyona, and the word chiyona is Spanish slang for "crybaby". My assistant, who's Hispanic, and I were cracking up.
Today we were doing a name game where the kids say a chant while slapping their legs and clapping their hands. When it's their turn, they get to say their name to the class, and the class tells them "hi". One little hispanic girl had been crying since she'd been dropped off. When it was her turn to say her name, she said it was "Chiyona". The class then said "Hi, Chiyona!". What made this funny was that her name is not Chiyona, and the word chiyona is Spanish slang for "crybaby". My assistant, who's Hispanic, and I were cracking up.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Fun With Food!
A few random thoughts about pre-k and food:
In any given school year, at least half of my students will refer to broccoli as "trees" the first time the cafeteria serves it.
In any given year, I'll have at least one student who routinely gets more food into his hair, onto his face, and onto his clothes than he does into his mouth.
A few years back I had a girl who midway through the year decided that she did not like milk anymore. This is a problem, because we get milk with breakfast and lunch, and there's no other option. Finally, I told her that I wasn't giving her milk. She eyed the carton suspiciously, and then said "what is it?" "That's moo-juice," I responded. "It's my favorite!". She looked at me funny, then took a sip, breaking into a smile. "I like moo-juice!" she exclaimed.
If someone spills their milk, somebody else will be quick to tell on them... even if they have to spill their own milk to do so.
We were served chicken one day, and it wasn't very good. I hardly ate any at all, and most of my kids were just picking at it. Except for one boy, who was essentially gnawing on the bone after eating every last ounce of meat. He looked at me and said "This chicken so good make you wanna slap yo momma!"
In my room we have what we call the "home center". The home center contains a table and chairs, and a toy fridge, faucet, phone, stove, cabinet, etc. etc. The kids love this center, and the girls like to pretend to cook meals for the boys. I never put much thought into this until I walked by the home center one day and overheard a little boy say "Make me a motherf------ pancake, b-----. I was shocked, but at the same time I have a juvenilistic sense of humor, so I had to run outside and laugh for a couple of minutes before I could come back in and get onto him.
5 Ways You Can Count on Pre-K Students to Get in Trouble While Eating
1. Students WILL blow bubbles in their milk with their straw
2. Any foil that is used to package food WILL be turned into a foil ball.
3. Milks WILL be knocked over while students turn around in their chairs to see what's going on behind them.
4. Students WILL try to eat food that has fallen on the floor, or eat food with utensils that have fallen on the floor.
5. Students WILL complain about boy milk and girl milk depending on the color of the writing on their carton.
In any given school year, at least half of my students will refer to broccoli as "trees" the first time the cafeteria serves it.
In any given year, I'll have at least one student who routinely gets more food into his hair, onto his face, and onto his clothes than he does into his mouth.
A few years back I had a girl who midway through the year decided that she did not like milk anymore. This is a problem, because we get milk with breakfast and lunch, and there's no other option. Finally, I told her that I wasn't giving her milk. She eyed the carton suspiciously, and then said "what is it?" "That's moo-juice," I responded. "It's my favorite!". She looked at me funny, then took a sip, breaking into a smile. "I like moo-juice!" she exclaimed.
If someone spills their milk, somebody else will be quick to tell on them... even if they have to spill their own milk to do so.
We were served chicken one day, and it wasn't very good. I hardly ate any at all, and most of my kids were just picking at it. Except for one boy, who was essentially gnawing on the bone after eating every last ounce of meat. He looked at me and said "This chicken so good make you wanna slap yo momma!"
In my room we have what we call the "home center". The home center contains a table and chairs, and a toy fridge, faucet, phone, stove, cabinet, etc. etc. The kids love this center, and the girls like to pretend to cook meals for the boys. I never put much thought into this until I walked by the home center one day and overheard a little boy say "Make me a motherf------ pancake, b-----. I was shocked, but at the same time I have a juvenilistic sense of humor, so I had to run outside and laugh for a couple of minutes before I could come back in and get onto him.
5 Ways You Can Count on Pre-K Students to Get in Trouble While Eating
1. Students WILL blow bubbles in their milk with their straw
2. Any foil that is used to package food WILL be turned into a foil ball.
3. Milks WILL be knocked over while students turn around in their chairs to see what's going on behind them.
4. Students WILL try to eat food that has fallen on the floor, or eat food with utensils that have fallen on the floor.
5. Students WILL complain about boy milk and girl milk depending on the color of the writing on their carton.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Funniest Misunderstanding
I've talked before about getting away with things that I probably wouldn't get away with if I was a woman, and one of those things is my appearance. I wear an un-tucked t-shirt, khaki pants, and a 12-year-old pair of Dr. Marten's to school everyday, and nobody looks twice. I also only shave about once every 3 weeks, which is saying something, because I grow facial hair FAST. I have friends who wait 3 weeks to shave and look like they have a little fuzz over their lip, but when I wait 3 weeks to shave I have a full-grown dark black beard. I'll tell you all of this to set up the following story:
About three years ago I had the pleasure of going to San Francisco over spring break to visit my best friend from high school. While I was there I knew we were going to make a trip to Yosemite, and I also knew it was going to be cold, so I didn't shave for a few weeks leading up to spring break. I also did not shave during the week of spring break, or the two weeks after spring break. As you can imagine, by this time I'm looking an awful lot like Zach Gilifianakis. Add to this the fact that it was now April, and I had last gotten a haircut sometime in early October, and I was looking pretty rough (by rough i mean awesome). Anyway, during the time that I was looking so rough, we happened to be teaching about farm animals. One day one of the teachers down the hall had baby chicks hatch in her incubator, and i borrowed them to bring to my room for the children to see. They loved the birds, and were very excited for the rest of the day.
That evening, I decided it was finally time to go get a haircut. My hair was probably 8-9 inches long, and I buzzed it down to almost nothing with a 1-guard on the electric razor. I also shaved off my heinous beard. It felt much cooler outside after I lost probably a pound of hair, but I was still a little dissapointed to see it all go.
When I arrived at school the next day, my children were offput by my new look, to say the least. I looked SO different from what I had the day before that several of them would not speak to me for a couple of hours, and one boy broke into tears because he didn't know who I was. Personally, I thought the kids' reactions were pretty funny, and they were even better behaved for the "new guy" than they had been for me the day before.
At the end of the day, one of my little girls looked up at me, and she asked, "Mr. Lucas, where yo bird at?" I looked at her and said, "Well, baby, I had to take it back down the hall to Mrs. Williamson's room." Again, the little girl looked at me and says "No! Where's yo bird at?!?!", and I said "I had to take the baby bird back to the other room. It's not our bird, but maybe we can go visit it sometime." Finally, she rolled her eyes at me and says "NO! WHERE'S YO BIRD AT?" and the whole time she takes her hands and rubs them on her face.
Silly me. I thought she was talking about the baby chickens I'd brought in the day before. In all actuality, my "bird" was my beard. I'd shaved it off, and she wanted to know where it had gone, and she wasn't going to quit until I knew exactly what she was talking about.
About three years ago I had the pleasure of going to San Francisco over spring break to visit my best friend from high school. While I was there I knew we were going to make a trip to Yosemite, and I also knew it was going to be cold, so I didn't shave for a few weeks leading up to spring break. I also did not shave during the week of spring break, or the two weeks after spring break. As you can imagine, by this time I'm looking an awful lot like Zach Gilifianakis. Add to this the fact that it was now April, and I had last gotten a haircut sometime in early October, and I was looking pretty rough (by rough i mean awesome). Anyway, during the time that I was looking so rough, we happened to be teaching about farm animals. One day one of the teachers down the hall had baby chicks hatch in her incubator, and i borrowed them to bring to my room for the children to see. They loved the birds, and were very excited for the rest of the day.
That evening, I decided it was finally time to go get a haircut. My hair was probably 8-9 inches long, and I buzzed it down to almost nothing with a 1-guard on the electric razor. I also shaved off my heinous beard. It felt much cooler outside after I lost probably a pound of hair, but I was still a little dissapointed to see it all go.
When I arrived at school the next day, my children were offput by my new look, to say the least. I looked SO different from what I had the day before that several of them would not speak to me for a couple of hours, and one boy broke into tears because he didn't know who I was. Personally, I thought the kids' reactions were pretty funny, and they were even better behaved for the "new guy" than they had been for me the day before.
At the end of the day, one of my little girls looked up at me, and she asked, "Mr. Lucas, where yo bird at?" I looked at her and said, "Well, baby, I had to take it back down the hall to Mrs. Williamson's room." Again, the little girl looked at me and says "No! Where's yo bird at?!?!", and I said "I had to take the baby bird back to the other room. It's not our bird, but maybe we can go visit it sometime." Finally, she rolled her eyes at me and says "NO! WHERE'S YO BIRD AT?" and the whole time she takes her hands and rubs them on her face.
Silly me. I thought she was talking about the baby chickens I'd brought in the day before. In all actuality, my "bird" was my beard. I'd shaved it off, and she wanted to know where it had gone, and she wasn't going to quit until I knew exactly what she was talking about.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Most Embarrassed I've Ever Been At School
At school we have a group of older ladies known as "foster grandmothers". Basically, they each spend a 6-week period with a room before moving on to another room, meaning each teacher usually gets a grandmother for one 6-week period a school year. These grandmothers are essentially volunteers, so it's nice having them around because most of them really care about the kids. That being said, these ladies are also quite old, mostly in their 70's and 80's, so they're often limited on what they can do with the children. Anyway, I bring up the grandmothers to bring up the time that I was most embarrassed while at school. I needed to use the restroom pretty bad, so I went into the teacher's lounge. Our single bathroom in the lounge has a sign on it that flips. One side says "occupied", the other says "unoccupied". When I arrived to the door, the sign read "unoccupied". I could also tell the light was off in the restroom because it wasn't shining under the crack at the floor. Even so, as is my habit, I knocked loudly, which got no response. Finally, I opened the door to go pee, and there sitting on the pot, WIPING HERSELF as I walked in was the oldest of our foster grandmothers. It would've been embarrassing enough just to walk in on her on the pot, but to catch her at full wipe... that was terrible. So, let me lay this out for you: the sign said the bathroom was empty, the light was off, nobody answered the knock, the door was unlocked, and all of this added up to me walking in on a little old lady taking a crap. Not one of my favorite school memories, to say the least.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Spring Break
Sorry for the long layoff, but our Spring Break was last week. I needed the break, but now I'm back and ready to share some more stories. I don't have much time today, but I will share this little nugget: my wife had a little boy in her class last year who at lunch said the following: "this chicken so good make you wanna slap yo momma!"
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