The Day No One Slept

The principal had shared with all the kindergarten teachers earlier last week that she was concerned about the size of the classes. We didn't have large enough numbers to justify five teachers. Friday morning, she stopped by my classroom to tell me that Mrs. Lucky, across the hall from me, was being transferred to a school on the other side of the county. This is a good move for her - closer to her home and a nicer school. Mrs. Lucky's students were divided between the other four teachers.

I was assuming that I would get the new students on Monday morning. It was decided that we would make the transition on Friday at noon time. I didn't get the memo. We went to lunch and recess and I had my students down for a nap at precisely 12 PM. Then, I get a knock at my door and I am greeted by four little faces - frightened, sad, confused. They have their backpacks and rest mats. I take their belongings and find a spot for them to rest. None of my original 13 had time to go to sleep yet. Now they were too curious about their new classmates to consider the idea of slumber.

Previously, I had made arrangements with another kindergarten teacher to use her laptop.
(The regular teacher was supposed to give me hers and didn't. Then she went on vacation. So much is done on the computer now and it's been hard to work without one.) The county uses Macs. I don't. I was trying to figure out simple things like how do you cut and paste when my new little charges arrived. I didn't get anything done.

We attempted resting for a reasonable time. Resting wasn't happening. So I decided that we would watch a dvd with another class until time for the fund raiser assembly. The dvd player/TV wouldn't work. The students sat patiently in hopes that the teachers could figure out how to connect the proper cables. No success. We went back to our classroom to line up for the assembly. I think fund raiser assemblies should be illegal. "Put your fund raiser packet in the refrigerator by the milk!" If your child comes home from school and tells you that they were told something outlandish, you should probably believe them.

After the assembly, we went back to pack up. Dismissal was rough. My brain was tired. The other teachers' brains were tired. But we finally got them on the right bus/day care van, etc. Three out of the four new students seem to be sweet and well behaved. Then there's "Wonder". No, that's not her real name. I don't use their real names on my blog. But her given name is just as unusual. She is indeed a wonder and is already on file for a full evaluation. Pretty sad for the first week of kindergarten.

My voice is better, not perfect. I'm about 75% now. Thanks for your prayers!

Telling Time

My computer cannot tell time and it’s frustrating me to no end. OK, maybe computers aren’t supposed to tell time but they should be able to keep it, right? I have always been a little considerably completely obsessive compulsive when it comes to time. I expect all the clocks and watches in the house to have the same time – the correct time. Modern technology makes this increasingly difficult with a clock on every electronic device. In recent months, my obsessive compulsive tendency has left me frustrated. My watch battery died and we kept forgetting to get it replaced. We bought a new to us car and the clock was set on central time. So we tried to change it. Now, instead of being an hour behind, it’s just way off. AND, my computer clock can’t keep time. I set it and a few days later it’s fast or slow by 5 to 10 minutes. This really throws my day off, not to mention my usual easy going attitude. I’m depending on the computer clock, rush to the car with the incorrect time and have no watch because I constantly forget to buy a battery. There is help for my timepieces even if there’s not for my obsessive compulsiveness. John bought my watch battery today. The car manual does have instructions for setting the clock, if I can find time to read it. Now if I could only figure out how to make my computer keep time.