"That's Quite A Babysitter"

The kids have been looking forward to our field trip to the MLK Shoreline since October. Of course, as luck would have it, the day we were supposed to go was the one day of the month where it was absolutely pouring rain. So it was rescheduled for today and Mother Nature was on our side, holding back the rain for another day so we could go.

Minor problem - since we weren't sure of the weather, I wasn't able to lock down any parent volunteers for the trip. I was a bit concerned since we had to walk about 13 blocks on a busy and not-so-pleasant street, then take AC Transit. Try doing that alone with 21 kids. As one man on the bus said repeatedly, "That's quite a babysitter!"

But my students were great (I didn't lose any - one of my greatest fears) and as exhausted as I am, it was totally worth it to hear the kids shouting out over and over "This is fun!"

If you want to check out photos and videos of our trip, click HERE.

Why I Don't Teach Kindergarten - Reason #845

I was walking to the office to drop off some papers during my prep period when I hear SCREAMING coming from the girls' bathroom. I walk in and there are two little girls standing by the sinks giggling. I look at the stalls and I see tiny feet and legs wiggling around the floor with the stall doors ajar. Turns out there were two more girls who were screaming and army-crawling around the bathroom floor.

So I very sternly told them to get out and stop screaming. Then told them they should wash their hands and go outside. They just look at me with big blinking eyes. So I repeated, "Wash your hands and go outside." Nothing. Then, they just try to walk outside so in my best efforts to not touch them (come on - army crawling on the bathroom floor... germ central!), I used my broken Spanish to ask them to wash their hands and go outside.

Don't get me wrong, 5th graders don't always make the best choices when it comes to hygiene either (man, spring time when they haven't discovered deodorant... whew!) but at least I can talk to them and see eye-to-eye!

Bowel Movement Word Study

Today, I managed to utilize the two main bowel movements to teach the /oo/ and the long /u/ sound. We had a list going with words that make the /oo/ sound - hoot, oops, etc. when I finally said, "Come on... we're missing one!" and one very eager kid goes "Poops!" Awesome. Then, for the /u/ list, "urine" came up. A complete day in the land of word study.

Starry Night

I've been teaching my students about Van Gogh's "Starry Night" for years now and this year was no different. It's always fascinating to see how each student interprets the painting and replicates it. They all see different colors and swirls and stars.

Before I let the kids start, I gave them a quick background about Van Gogh... mostly that he wasn't famous until after he died, he was part of the Impressionism movement, and he cut off his own ear and ended up in an asylum, which is where he painted "Starry Night."

Well, as I was walking around the classroom, I overhear one of my girls who's arm was getting tired from making all the hatching marks with the pastels. She proclaimed, "Man! I don't know how Van Gogh did this! His painting is SO big and I'm getting tired with this small piece of paper!" A fellow tablemate responds, "Well, duh! He was in the crazy house and didn't have anything else to do with his time so he had a ton of time to finish!"

Haircut

Kids are so funny. I cut my hair last week over the break, including some bangs, and wondered if the kiddos would mention it. Well, yesterday, I pinned up my bangs and nobody said anything. Well, I showered in the morning today and left my hair down to dry and within the first hour, I had a few kids ask, "Ms. Jung, did you cut your hair?" So I nonchalantly said, "Yeah, I got it cut over the break." As I'm walking away, they turn to each other and say, "So THAT'S why she had her hair like that yesterday!"

It's really funny how the analyze every bit of me, though I don't really think much about what I look like at school.

You should've seen the fervor over me wearing some eyeliner on Picture Day, even from the boys. "Ms. Jung! You painted your eyes!!!"

Thanksgiving

For the past three years, I've done an art project the week before Thanksgiving where kids make their own fall thank-you cards. Most of the time, the kids write out their cards to their parents or friends. Depending on the year, sometimes I'm a recipient of their final products. Here are the comments from this year.

Dear Ms. Jung,
Thank you Ms. Jung for teaching us great things of mankind.

Dear Ms. Jung,
Ms. Jung I am thankful for you because you have taught me a lot of things that I didn't know at my old school and you're always nice with me also when I need help you always help me and that is nice of you.

Dear Ms. Jung,
I'm thankful because you teach us math and you are nice to us so I want to say that I hope you teach us art more.

Dear Ms. Jung,
I think you are a great person and teacher. Thank you for helping with questions. I like the projects we do in art and in science. I also thank you for all the cool stuff we get for prizes and tickets. Thank you for everything. Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Ms. Jung,
You are a good nice teacher for me because you're so nice sometimes. You're always taking us to PE, library, and showing us how to draw. You are a great teacher Ms. Jung.

Dear Ms. Jung,
I very love to being your class. You teach me a lot of interesting stuff and you tell me how exciting stuff. Also you teach us how to do fun art and having lunch with you and I can't wait to do fun stuff with you. Thank you. You will be my best teacher. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Several of my students asked if I was going to make thank-you cards, which I didn't have time for while supervising my students but I would like to let the universe know that I'm very grateful for my students this year. I know that some of them drive me nuts sometimes but there's gotta be some each year. Overall, they are a great group of kids and they make my job fun and interesting. They may not know it but I'm not the only teacher in the class. They are my little teachers and we're all learning together. So thank you kiddos!

Carbon Dating

Every year, I've taught a story called "Circles, Squares, and Daggers: How Native Americans Watched the Skies" and one of the vocabulary words is "carbon dating." Inevitably, I get a comment about dating that's obviously not related to the scientific term. This year, one kid raises his hand and preempts his comment by saying, "Ms. Jung, it's not what you think I'm going to say" and proceeds to make a conjecture about carbon dating that's actually pretty close to the real definition.

Then, there's KK who goes "Ms. Jung, I think carbon dating means when carbon and dioxide get together because they're dating." Well, I guess he has a point.