Ready or not here they came!

To say this past week was hectic would be an understatement! The first week came and went and I still feel like I haven't even started. I had 25 kids this week! That is a lot of 6 year olds! 16 of the 18 on my roster showed up BUT 8 EXTRA kids showed up the first day! It started to balance out today. It turns out 2 of them were misplaced in my class and they were supposed to be in 2nd and 4th grade. And, no, I had no idea I had a nine year old in my class. He was not much taller than the other ones and the same academically. They just came from another country and their mom misunderstood something on the enrollment card. On Monday I'm tranferring two more to the other bilingual class and I'll have 21.

What's up with the paperwork!!! Parent info, updated enrollment cards, code of conduct, lunch forms,etc. Plus all the new teacher info crap and signing up for email and to access the online curriculum. Plus, my district is one of those who still does paper attendance! I'm surprised for it being such a huge, urban district that they still handle that on paper. In my limited experience (all of 2 other districts) you submitted attendance through a comp. system. Ok, enough with the complaints because everyone goes through that so y'all know what I'm talking about...Ok, one more...the copier is always broken. :) Ok, now I'm done.

My class is a pretty good mix - academically, culturally and personality-wise. I have some TAG (talented and gifted) kids who are writing full paragraphs and some who are still working on putting syllables together. They're from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, here, etc. I have some sweethearts who are no trouble at all, the shy ones, the clowns and of course "THE bad one." And by that I mean THE ONE that everyone knows from last year and got in trouble everywhere. Why do I always get the "oh, you have him?" kid? I smell conspiracy :) Anyways. I like the fact that there's tons of manipulatives and dry-erase boards, paper, pencils, crayons, etc. At least I don't have to spend my own money on that. Plus all the kids brought their materials. Of course I had to clean up the mess to find it all, but it's not so bad.

Something cute that happened: I had my TAG kids on the carpet b/c they had missed something while they were gone, and suddenly one of them starts fanning his butt and slowly scooted away from the others. Then I caught the "scent." I didn't say anything, but I just wanted to laugh b/c HE moved away from the smell and left us there :) He's going to be a handful, but he's very bright.

Something scary that happened: My kindergarten cousin (diff. school district) left his school and walked home on the first day. He's 5 and walked down a major street to get to his huge apartment complex. He left when they were on the playground at 10 am and showed up at his doorstep at noon. He didn't go to pre-k so this is his first time in a school and his parents told him that they would pick him up. He told him he left b/c they hadn't shown up yet. His teacher had already called to police to find him. His mom went to raise hell at the school. I feel bad for both sides. I can't imagine as a parent thinking of what could've happened. And I feel for the teacher b/c I know how easy it is to NOT miss a kid when you have 20+ and they wear uniforms. They all blend in.

Anyways...gotta go.