sisters

My little sister and I, while we've had our differences over, oh the past 25 years, have one new thing in common. Rachel got a job at my school teaching kindergarten. I love seeing her walk her 20 little "can't walk in a straight line, can't always make it to the bathroom in time" class down the hall. I love peeking into her classroom and seeing her with her little brood of out-of-control crazies, and I love seeing her everyday at work. We've bonded :)

(Our first photo together as teachers..."pajama day")

adultry in 5th grade...

I meet with small groups for reading instruction everyday. One of the groups I meet with is a group of 6 boys. They are all reading slightly below their grade level which also means they are slightly below in their understanding of some things...This week we have been reading about Giant Pandas and studying their life cycle. (Note to self: Consider whether teaching reproduction to 6 10-year olds is something you want to do) Today I gave them a "pop quiz" and asked them to draw and label the life-cycle of the Panda. One by one we went around the table and told the stages: Birth, Growth, and what should have been the adult stage was shared-adultree! I laughed, and then corrected him, and apologized for laughing. I told him to ask his parents what adultree is...I'll probably be getting a phone call tonight!

meetings

I have spent the last two days in meetings. Learning how to teach, how to not just lecture but actively engage my students in learning, from some of the most highly qualified teachers in Portland Public Schools. And how did they teach us? Lectures. Six hours of sitting and listening. Someone should tell them to practice what they preach!

I did find myself in the back of the class, highly distracted, talking to my neighbor and pretty much being the kid that drives me crazy all year long...maybe I should also practice what I preach. =) It was a good reminder to me of how boring it is to just listen to the teacher talk, and how easy it is to get distracted. If it's hard for me, it must be extremely difficult for a 10 year old.

Lesson Learned: Don't be a boring teacher...don't talk too much, and don't get mad at my students when they don't listen. After all it's probably my fault.

back to reality

today is a very sad day. i looked at my calendar and saw that i only have 2 WEEKS left of summer vacation. i know, those of you who work "real"jobs have no sympathy for me. I'm sad because there will be no more lunch dates. no more hanging out with my stay-at-home-mommy friends. no more sun tanning. and here's the killer...no more sleeping in. I'm not excited...yet, but I will be once I am no longer in mourning. =(

summer time

I have had nothing to write about considering that it is summer. In fact, just in typing that first sentence, I had like 6 spelling errors...I need to go back to school. Anyhoo, for anyone who is reconsidering their career choice, I highly recommend being a teacher. I am enjoying my time catching of with friends and worshiping the sun, which is what brings me to my blog today.

I have been frequenting the local parks and rec pool (granted, I don't actually get in the water, uck!) this summer. I just enjoy the change of scenery. I park myself on a lounge chair with a good book (just finished Moloka'i...it was decent), my water bottle and my Ipod and just chill.

Today, however, I forgot all those things, not sure how that happened, so I was forced to listen to the screams of the children and the funny parent next to me telling her daughter she wasn't going to argue with her anymore, even though she spent the entire time arguing with her about not arguing...does that makes sense?

Well, some very adventurous boys next to me, were in their own words "plotting our strategy" for escaping some girl. Moments later the cutest young lady, maybe 7 years old, came up behind them and scared the spit out of them. Some strategy boys. The girl and her 3 boy "friends" continued to visit. Here's what I saw...little miss cutie, gently poking at the boy next to her feet with her own painted toe nails, "aren't your feet hot?" oh, she is going to be trouble. As the boys continued plotting, she sneaked up on them AGAIN (these boys have a thing or two to learn) and asked, "would you mind telling me what's going on here?" I felt like I was observing the pool scene from the Sandlot, and if I have a girl someday, she is NOT aloud to go gallivanting around the city pool flirting with any young beau that she meets...no way!

And to think I would have missed this if I'd had my headphones in.

Ode to a Mother

"My mom is the best of the best because she borned me. She helps me with my homework. She teached me how to do everything I need. My mom loves me with all her heart and so do I. I aprishiate her because she takes me shopping wich I love to do. she takes me to the park, lets me go and hang out with my BFF! And she still is the best mom on EARTH!"

(From the heart of a 5th grader)

just one of those days...

...where so many things go wrong, that you can't help but laugh. I was greeted this morning by a lovely parent letter informing me that I had unjustly punished a student by taking away a field trip privilege, which was followed up by a phone call where said parent went ballistic. (One of the downers of being a teacher) Of course, their child had done NOTHING wrong, oh if I only had video surveillance in my classroom so I had some solid evidence. I shall look into this.

The afternoon went smoothly. Our field trip involved a little walking (1 mile in each direction) which one student was not so found of. Picture this, only on the corner of a very busy street, with 50 other students, and 4 parent chaperones standing by. And imagine hearing,

"I just can't go another step, my heart is going to explode (I think she was experiencing her first increased heart rate), my feet are just burning. Mrs. Matsuoka, if you don't call my mother I am going to die."

Tears streaming, people staring...and having no experience with raising any children of my own, I have no patience for this and am thinking, "you have got to be kidding me". But, not wanting the death of any students on my conscience, I called her mom and waited in silence on the street corner for her to come and pick up her child. And we are only half a mile into our trip, but somehow, everyone else managed to get there, exploding hearts and burning feet and all.

But it's not over yet, upon returning to school, I received a message from a parent, with an hour left in the day, informing me that it was her daughters birthday and could I please announce this over the intercom...once again, having no children of my own, I'm not sure if this is a reasonable request or not. However, having never gone to or worked in a school that had an intercom, I couldn't help but laugh until I cried. Maybe I was laughing at this ridiculous request, maybe I was letting out a "little" stress, or maybe I they were tears of joy that this day was finally over. Either way, it was just one of those days.

disgusting...

Friday we went on a field trip, so all the kids had their little necklace name tags on ready to go. Hurrying to get ready, I noticed this wet name tag on my desk. I picked it up and asked the student what happened and his reply was this guilty smile and these words..."it fell". I immediately realized that it had fallen...in the TOILET and threw it, screaming "ewwwww". He just smirked and laughed. And then spent some time bleaching my desk at my request! I spent some time bleaching my hands. So gross!!

"Flying Chicken"

Yesterday we began our studies of Native Americans. The students were given the task of coming up with an "Indian" name for themselves. The name needed to have a verb and a Noun, preferably something from nature. I was cracking up most of the afternoon at some of their ideas...my sly little trouble maker=Sneaking Fox, my non-stop chatty Cathy=Speaking Rain, but the one that had me rolling was...Flying Chicken. I can just picture some Indian Chief calling to his daughter, Flying Chicken.

different is good

I don't remember having very many friends that were "different" than me when I was in elementary school. I didn't really think much of it until just recently. I was looking around my classroom and saw how lucky my students are and how lucky I am. I have students from all over the world. They are exposed to cultures, languages and religions of all kinds.

Students whose families came from Mexico seeking a better life for their families. Who are here illegally and are risking so much for their children. There is the girl from Ukraine, whose grandparents shared, through her translating on Grandparent's Day, stories of running through the streets of Ukraine with their first born hidden under their arms as they dodged bullets flying around them. How when they finally reached safety and unwrapped their child from the blankets, realized that their baby had been shot and killed, right there in their arms. A Muslim girl from Ethiopia, who draws pictures of her and her brothers running and playing in the muddy streets, barefoot outside of her grandmothers home made from mud and straw...with HUGE smiles on their faces. The family with 3 children who arrived at our school 2 weeks ago from a refugee camp in Africa. They discovered the drinking fountain and were seen washing their hands and faces in it. There is a Russian girl, the Phillippino boy, a boy from Loas, a girl from Somalia.

These children speak multiple languages, left familiar places with their families and not much else, to start their lives over. My American students have no idea what their classmates have left behind or how grateful they are to be in America...but I hope to instill in them that we are a classroom rich in culture, and that it is a good place to be!

babies

Today we had a baby shower for a teacher at our school. Some kids wrote letters giving their advice to the parents-to-be, and because the shower was in my classroom after school, my students were busy cleaning. Here are a few things that had me cracking up...

"So, what table will you put the baby on? It should be scrubbed extra clean!"

Looking around the room, "so where's she gonna have it?" (He really thought she was going to give birth right there in our classroom!)

"You should buy 17 dipers."

"When babis are cryin you need to tigle (tickle) them and do fony
things."

"Use a little spoon to feed it, not those big ones."

"Don't lose it!

Ode to Cold and Flu Season

I forgot my homework."

"cough!"

"Can I call my mom?"

"ah...ah...ah...choo"

"What time is PE?"

"sniff, sniff"

"What's for lunch?"

"Mrs. Matsuoka, I don't feel so well."

"I can't find my folder!"

"Barf!"

And I wonder why I have the flu?

eggs

When I was in 4th and 5th grade, I knew that eggs were for baking, dying and egg salad sandwiches...yuck. The thought of using them as a weapon or a form of revenge never entered my mind. But on Wednesday of last week, two 5th grade girls from my class decided that they didn't like their math teacher (please note that I am not their math teacher). It all started Monday afternoon when they told a group of students they were so mad at their math teacher that afterschool on Tuesday they were going to egg his classroom. Tuesday came around and one of these girls had an appointment after school so she said the "egging" would have to wait until tomorrow. So Wednesday afternoon, not 10 minutes after the kids were let out of school, said girls ran home, picked up their eggs and returned to their meeting spot, the school playground. Might I remind you that it's only been 10 minutes since schools been out and parents are still straggling in and out of the building picking up their students and teachers are still in their classrooms. The victim in this tragedy, the math teacher, was interrupted from his paper grading, by the sound of an egg hitting his classroom window. And looking up, he watched as 2 of his math students ran down the sidewalk and into their homes (directly accross the street from the school). The following day I had a conversation with these sweet girls who tearfully admitted their crime and spent the following day cleaning egg off the window. I predict a lesson on common sense in our near future.

On Being a Teacher...

If you have ever wondered why anyone would want to be a teacher, besides the obvious summer vaction, holiday breaks and SNOW DAYS!, it's a piece of writing like this from faces like these that makes it so worth while. Now I realize there are some grammatical and spelling errors, but how does anyone expect a girl to teach writing and keep up her Four Square game, honestly?