Wheeee!

Or Wii. Somehow I wrote a grant that was convincing enough to get me a Wii for my classroom. Today we bowled. If this was an education blog, I would go into greater detail about how and why this is a valid instructional strategy. However, I'm finding it difficult to write realistically about life as a teacher, while maintaining the confidentiality of my students.

This week in the lunch room somebody said "It's only Thursday? This is the longest week ever!" and I thought "It's Thursday already? Where did the week go?". The weeks never seem slow to me now. The days march by with an even, but quick tempo and I look about as good keeping up with them as I do keeping up in Zumba, which is to say, it looks awkward and I never make the right move at the right time, but I mostly manage to have fun with it.

In some of my previous teaching jobs I can remember being desperate for the weekend...constantly counting down days until the next break. I never do that now.

Maybe because a day "off" isn't as much of a break as it once was. I have about 12 minutes to decompress after I leave school, minutes that are quiet and belong to me. When I get to daycare, all the kids shout "it's a mommy!" -presumably any time the door opens, but who knows? Once they see who it is, they shout "Laurel! It's your mommy!" and Laurel runs around the classroom pointing at various things and babbling.

She never wants to leave, or rather, she never wants to leave quickly. She wants to show me the play kitchen and the desk and the penguin art projects that are hanging on the wall. Eventually I wrestle her into her coat and mittens and carry her out the door while the kids are all shouting "Bye Laurel Bye Laurel Bye!" Every dang day they do this. Everything is exciting when you are 2 or 3, I guess.

During the last two weeks, I've tried to get together with mamas and babies after school. This has been a very good thing for my soul. Lessons learned include 1. Make sure there are ample snacks, 2. 45 minutes is a perfect amount of time and 3. Plan ahead and have something in mind for dinner.

So, who's coming over next week?