Pilates

So I went to a new Pilates class today and it's one of those classes where everyone is like super fit and there are only like 5 people in the class. I definitely stood out in my tight black pants surrounded my mirrors showing off all my ASSets. And the instructor stares at me the entire time. And she kept saying, "we've never done this move before, but let's try it..." and every move was for your hips and thighs. So she stared at my hips in the mirror during every move and then "ok, guys, keep going.....now another move we've never done before...." And sure enough, all we do are moves that work your hips and thighs. Nothing else. I know what she was doing. I'm very aware of the size of my hips, but thank you for noticing and making me work it out.

Inschool suspension = my room (Room 124)

So now I'm the official in school suspension room. Gotta love it. Today I had Booker T. in my room all day. We'll call him Booker T. And we can pretend that's not his name. But it is. I really like this kid. He's in my 4th grade tutorial group. I might be the only teacher in the school who actually likes him. Because he's bad. And lazy. And has a bad attitude. So naturally, I like him. He got caught stealing something from the principal. I'm not sure what he stole but it was on camera. I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to do with the inschool suspension kids, as I have not been trained on this. But I made him do some work and I made him cry. Mission accomlished. I think...?

I wonder who I'll have tomorrow......

By the way, the funniest kid alive, Marquis, sneaks out of his classroom(which is upstairs) every day around 11:30 to come ask me if I'll give him some Crystal Light......?? Everyday. Except, yesterday, he asked me to go get him Chickfila. ??? Everyday, I say the same thing. NO! Get out of here!

When his class walks by my room in the afternoon, I always hear his teacher say "no! marquis, ms. mcgoldrick does NOT want to talk to you. I promise. get back in line!"

I love my job.

Raised By Wolves

Raised By Wolves is a first grader who was sent to my room on Monday. When you first meet this child, you think she is very cute and sweet. That will last about 35 seconds and then she'll do some bizarre thing. She was in my room about 2 minutes sitting on the carpet with my class as we are sharing our journal writing. I explain to her that I expect her to be a big girl and sit on the floor and just watch everyone else and do what they are doing. After about 15 minutes, for no apparent reason, she gets up , walks over to the gerbil's cage, opens it, and proceeds to stick her arm in to grab the gerbil. Whaaaaat?? No! Stop! What are u thinking?? As we do work, I give her a coloring book so she can do her work. Randomly, she would scream or throw her hands on the desk to make a loud noise. My kids just stare and mutter 'freeeak.' under their breath. After about an hour of her, I was certain that she must be possessed. But then when we watched a video about context clues, she cuddles up in my lap showing signs of being human. Doesn't last long. At one point, she ran out of the room and down to the first grade hallway to get her lunch card. (not lunch time at all) I bring her back into my room and she starts stamping her arm with my stamps before I could grab her. I'm really glad I wore jeans and tshirt that day because all I did was chase this animal. All day I just kept thinking, "did that just happen?" My kids were really great about it. I had the girls show her how to stand in line, how to wash her hands, how to tuck in her shirt, how to tie her shoes, etc. I have always seen Raised By Wolves in the hallway, but to have her in the classroom was much more exciting. It was like a Choose your own Adventure for her. All day.

"Refocus"

So our school has this policy about "Refocus". It's basically a glorified 'timeout'. But it sounds more professional to say "you need to rethink your behavior in the refocus area" instead of "get in time-out". But if a kid is really bad then they get sent out of the room and placed in my room....don't ask. So our assistant principal comes in my room and puts a kid in my Refocus desk and says, "watch him until 2:15 and he can go back to class." Nice. So this kid throws all my papers everywhere and pouts. So I look at his paper and it has "jale" written on it. So of course, I'm like, "you're name is Jale?? Really ? like Jail? Like where bad people go."
"No that's not my name. "
"Ok, so Jale, what was your behavior?" (this is question #1 on the paper)
"stole someone's money"
"What??? really???"
GASP!!! (from my students)
"Well, what did you want?" (question #2)
"money"
"good answer. write that down."
#3 What will you do next time?
"I'll listen to my teacher."
"How would that help? I mean, really. You're a thief. You have a problem with stealing, not listening."
"oh.....can I go back to class."
"i haven't decided."
question #4 Are you ready to go back to class? check yes or no.
Jale was really excited about this question. "I'm ready. See, I put a check."
"No, that's an X, but you can't steal anymore. Got it? And we'll go talk to your teacher to see what she says. She might say no. I would say no if you were in my class."
"Ok, i'll be good. I won't steal no more. I promise."

So....does refocus work? Absolutely not. However, it makes my day so much more interesting when they send them to me. I'll write more about the girl I had yesterday that we refer to as "Raised By Wolves."

Google saves lives

Whenever I don't know an answer to something, I google it. My kids have started to answers questions with "why don't we just google it?" I love it!

For example, last week the kids asked what A.M and P.M meant in Latin. I knew it was latin but didn't know what. Now I know.

Today I couldn't figure out what building was on the back of the nickel. Now I know, but I'm not telling you'll have to google it yourself.

Happy President's Day

coworker: "Well, we work in HISD so we'll Cinco de Mayo off work before we get President's Day...."

What a great idea! It's a much better holiday anyways.

Quote of the week

me: "Do you ever get in trouble at home?"

one of my favorite students: "Sometimes I bad."

Me: "When could you possibly ever be bad?"

perfect student (after thinking for several minutes): "Sometime I forget to pick up toys."

If you are Japanese and you are reading this, I beg you to reproduce as much as possible. You make the most perfect kids in the world! And if you have extras that you don't need, I'll take one. :)

Thanks, mom

Did Valentine's Day come early?

Why did I just get an email from an old love interest who writes that he's getting married in 2 weeks? Why?! Haven't seen or heard from him in 3 years and he picks now to tell me. Thank you for reminding me of how single I am.

Espanol

Yo necisito habar espanol para Spring Break. Help, por favor. Mi espanol es no beuno.

Skittles is going to die. Again. I'm just going to put this prediction out there. Yesterday I put her in her little ball and as I was doing closing it and locking it shut I smashed her tail in it. So part of her tail is now missing. I wanted to vom. So disgusting. I really don't think that I was not meant to have my own pets. Or my own children.

what a girl wants

me: I just want a guy who isn't going to always argue with me. And he will love me unconditionally regardless of what I say or do. And he will let me say whatever I want. And not tell me to stop complaining.

Reba: No, what you need is a guy who is going to put you in your place. Everyday.

So Skittles (the class gerbil) went home with a certain someone this past weekend and she came back not looking quite like herself. More like a different gerbil. Different size, color, etc. When I send her home with a student, she has all of her toys, food and also a journal. The kids are supposed to write from her perspective to tell about her weekend. Suspiciously, I check out her journal which reads:

"I'm having a great time this weekend with _____. He even took me to the park. He keeps opening my cage. His mom really doesn't like me. But I'm having a very very very good time."



the park??!