Happy New Year!
This week the class had to put up with a change of classroom. As you know the school is being redecorated. The students were very well behaved even if they had to deal with a week in a smaller classroom. I tried my best to get them out of the room as often as possible so they can get a chance to move around and play while they learn.

We started counting by twos and I made it more exciting by going outside and jumping on numbers as we say them out loud.

Next week a new student will join the class. I hope the Badgers can be accepting and make this new girl feel at home.

In phonics class we reviewed letters W R and C. Some of them got W And R confused because they sound a little bit alike.

Jason remembered that the word wagon starts with W. I am not sure if he made the connection with the beginning sound, or if he just memorized it.

August missed most of the week. All the badgers wish him a quick recovery.

Ryan really likes playing with the girls in the small class. He knows I don't like the way he puts his arms around them, especially when they complain about him grabbing them. Sometimes, when he is grabbing them, he knows I am watching and he looks over at me and stops right away. I am not sure if he is stopping because he knows I don't want him doing that, or if it is because he understands that what he is doing in inappropriate. I know he is a boy that cares a lot about his friends but other students don't understand that he just wants to give hugs.

The class misses Christine and hops that she can get well soon. I hate tummy aches :(

Leetrue has been saying that he will "tell on" his friends even when they did nothing wrong. I think Leetrue miss understand the intention of some of his friends and thinks that they are always saying mean things or doing mean things when in fact they just want to tell him something.

Merry Christmas!
This week we talked about the true meaning of Christmas. The children should know now that Christmas is really about sharing, family and giving. It was funny when I asked the first time all the children said Christmas was about presents.

Jae had a some trouble this week. She hit her friend on Wednesday and said mean things to her other friend on Friday. Jae has power with her popularity but she needs to learn how to use that power in a good way, not in a selfish way.

Theresa has been complaining abut who she wants to sit beside when there is already someone sitting in that spot, she still whines about wanting to sit there.

Christine is getting better at raising her hand when she wants to speak, she is half way there. She raises her hand and speaks at the same time. She needs to be reminded that she needs to wait when she raises it.

I feel Jason does most of his learning outside the classroom. He is great with me and other teachers during playtime and after school. But he has extreme difficulty paying attention during a lesson in class and this is the reason he can't remember his phonics. Also when he is asked a question during class, he is very rarely able to answer it on his own unless someone says the answer first. He will repeat what the students' answers are whether they are right or wrong. The difference in his behavior from outside the class to inside is like night and day.

Leetrue is becoming a well rounded student. He has come a long way this semester.

I know Ryan is very young, and I try not to be too hard on him. I still need to work on his posture in class, and I need to work harder to get him to understand how to play with his friends in an appropriate way.

August has been getting away for too long using body language and incomplete sentences to tell his teachers things. I'm going to tell all the teachers that when August wants something that they need to make him use his vocabulary to express his thoughts.

What a show eh? The children really had fun at the Christmas show after working so hard, almost too much fun ;) But now the class has to get back into the rhythm of our regular schedule so we can get crackin' again.

Christine getting really creative when she creates funny stories that she tells all of us. One story was about when she was shopping with her mom and a shark attacked them!

Theresa was a great help in the Christmas show. She could always remember wen she was suppose to sing her part and she helped lead the students in the song.

Jae is a good dancer. She has good rhythm. She would always dance to the beat even when she was learning.

Ryan had fun at the show too. He was obviously very happy and a bit in awe when he was on stage. I had a chat with him about what he should do if he is angry with others, and he knows that he should talk to people instead of hurting people.

August loves telling his friends about his new airplane and helicopter. His is very happy with his Christmas present.

Jason had so much fun. He was talking about all the people in his family that came to see the show and he was very proud that they were all there. He loves his family very much.

Leetrue is so funny when I tease him about how his dinosaur is a chicken. He gave me a tisk and rolled his eyes and asked why I always say they are chickens. It is a much better reaction than the first time I made a joke. He cried that time. Now he has learned how to laugh and not take everything personally.

Even Watercolor Markers Are Difficult to Remove

Publish Post
A rough week for the Badgers is over. This week the students seemed to be retesting my boundaries. The class has been unresponsive lately. For example, if I ask the children to get a chair and drink water, they all mull around slowly and I have to tell each of them individually what is expected of them. I would expect this behavior from children their age some of the time, because they tend to forget the rules, but this has been happening time and time again, hour after hour, day after day.

I would not be surprised if you notice your children are not in as good a mood as they are usually. I hopefully can help them understand that if they are better behaved in class, that they can have more fun at school.

August had some trouble remembering words that start with "w". August was not as poorly behaved as the other students this week. He had one bad day and he learned from his mistake.

Jae has been in the habit of saying it was not her that did something when it clearly was. On nap time Teacher Beryl and I walked into the classroom during nap time and she and her friends were laughing and talking. When we told them to stand up, she said it wasn't her, even after we clearly caught her red-handed.

Christine has been in the habit of doing things one last time just after I tell the class not to. For example, when I had a chat to the class about how to line up straight and quietly so we can do our chant properly and leave, right after I finished talking she made a silly noise just to spite me.

Leetrue has been in the habit of continuing to talk during lessons. I notice that some people are still talking and I ask the class to please quiet down. Leetrue doesn't quiet down until he is finished what he is saying.

Ryan felt really bad for what he did this week. And I am glad he learned an important lesson about being honest.

I have had to move Theresa away from Jae a couple times this week because they were chatting when I was talking about important things they should have been listening to. Lately I think that she thinks the problems lately in the class have nothing to do with her and therefore she doesn't need to pay attention.

Jason's had trouble especially during nap time this week.

P.S.

I must admit that on Friday afternoon the class was much better.

Practice, practice, practice! The kids love rehearsing for the Christmas show. They are getting very good at their song and dance but they need to work on their focus and composure.

Christine had a good week. She seemed to be in a good mood all the time. Having someone always happy in the class make everyone else happy, including me.

I was disappointed in Jae's Behavior at the end of school on Friday. She took someone's take home reader and it made them upset. I know she usually tries to do things that help out, but she needs to understand that it is not her place to act like an authority unless she has been given a responsibility. I didn't have much of a talk with her, but I could tell she knew I was disappointed and I know she regrets what she did, which is a good thing.

I can see that August has been practicing his lines for the Christmas play. It is getting much better and smoother. I will do some more pronunciation drills with the class and with August to help with fluency.

Leetrue has come a long way in his maturity level lately. He is begining to know when it is appropriate to joke around and when it is time to be serious.

Theresa didn't cry after waking up this week. It was much different from previous weeks. She was in a much better mood.

Ryan was very funny this week. Each day after nap time he would pretend to be a monster and go to the baby class and make the children there laugh. They loved watching him be silly. It even made me laugh. His sense of humor is maturing.

Jason practiced very hard for our dance and puts alot of energy into it. It is exciting to see how hard he tries when he is doing something he likes to do. I hope I can become better and letting Jason know that he can do more of the things he likes to do if he tries hard at the things he might not like as much.