Day wow what happened?!?!

Classroom nearly fell apart today. Attitude from about half a dozen different children. One I had never seen attitude from all year. I had to spend some time just just writing notes home about behavior. I've got to nip it, or I will struggle the rest of the year. I blame two people, the one student that was removed from my room, and myself. My reactions have not always been the best or the most effective at diffusing any situations.

I also had some bad moments with the teacher I got students from. This morning there was an interesting exchange in which she cut me off to say, "No, you can't give any back." Only to smile a few seconds later and say that she was just playing. I was trying to ask her for books and materials so I could attempt to teach the students of hers. She insisted that I write down what I need so she can keep track of the things that had been checked out to her. Didn't quite know why she would need it all written down, since we are at the same school, and when the students go back to her room in two weeks they will just take the material back. When I sent one of her students to get them when we needed them in the morning she sent her TA over to say, "You need to write down the list, like Mrs. R- said for you to do this morning. She has got Mrs. D- in her monitoring her room this morning and you can't keep sending students over." I sent one student twice, only twice because he forgot the initial reason I sent him over there, book retrieval. So I acquiesced and wrote a rather professional looking index card (I was proud of it myself). I told my Grade Level Chair and she said that it was strange because she got all of her books earlier in the week, and didn't need to write anything down.

Flash forward later in the day, the end of it to be exact. One of her students asked if he could get his homework folder from her room. I said, "yes, we've got homework, you need your folder." So I said that he could go over there and get it. He returned with a bright pink post-it note. On it were written the words, (as close a reproduction as this blog text will allow) "I BOUGHT THOSE FOLDERS WITH MY OWN MONEY FOR USE IN MY CLASSROOM." Written in all caps, honest to god. In a matter of moments I was next door showing my GLC and she told me to take it to the principal. So after I got my kids all squared away I went to my principal about the incidents of the day. I told her about the interaction first thing this morning, and then about the post-it note at the end. I told her I would be able to cover the folders, that is not a problem (they are inexpensive). When I showed her the post-it her eyes seemed to open up a bit more. Almost a haughty "hmpf" sound emanated from her lips. She decided to keep the note, so we will see what happens tomorrow.

I'm sure there were gems of the day.

1. Monty is not as bad as I thought. After a mini-lesson on stretching words out to spell them (phonetic spelling) he was able to write out three sentences that he could read. I think he likes monster trucks.
2. A friend from the high school came in to observe today and he saw my kids during writing. A little bit earlier than he had told me he would come it, but it was one of the better moments of the day to actually come in to the room.
3. I sent Xander to my friend while I was working with Monty. We were back to the spongebob strike script. Carter could not understand what he was saying, but seemed to listen to him.

I want to say that my camera is ready for the black history month program tomorrow morning. Some first graders will be doing hand motions to the song "Worlds Greatest." This week has to end on a good note. Plus, I find out if I'll be working in Houston this summer. Fingers crossed for nervous sleep.