Work!
I spend most of my time in the pre-K. My class is pretty good most of the time. We have one wild man but I like him (the other assistant doesn't like him) and one kid who never wants to try anything. He has to be prodded and walked through every activity, even drawing, until he cries because he "doesn't know how"... As you're walking him through it... and he's a REALLLY picky eater, and the only kid who will cry after he wakes up from nap. He was in my group for the writing activity, in which they had to find all the R's in a sentence on one page, and on the next page write the letter R under the animals whose mames begin with R. He had just got up from nap so he had just been crying. He didn't want to find the R's. I drew him some Rs so he could find them, and walked him through the activity. Then because the rest of the group was bored and going on without knowing the directions, I led them through the next activity. Of course my little buddy was the last one, crying because he wanted to go play and "didn't know how" to make the letters. I ended up getting a plain sheet of paper and letting him hold the bottom of the marker while I held the top and make the letter, so he could feel how it was. He was better for the couple minutes it took him to draw 4 R's. Then he went to play and I helped the other table. The wild man and one of his sidekicks were there, and the cutest little guy on the planet who we all wanted to take home, Geraldo. The wild boys finished up really quick when I told them they could go play when they finished. Geraldo needed help, so the lead teacher came over with me and made the letters in highlighter so he could trace them. It worked really well with him, so we'll have to try it with Mr. Whiner.
Afternoons are really nuts for me, since my background check hasn't come back yet, so I can't be left alone in the classroom yet. Neither can our lead teacher. Ugh. So I usually go for an hour to the 3-year-old room, then back to my regular room, then get bounced around for the last couple hours of my shift. Yesterday I was in the penguin room, which I believe is the younger 3 year olds, but today I spent some time in the older infants' room. First I just had 4 of the kids in the big stroller and walked them around the halls until they got antsy, then I brought them back into their room. I was there for like an hour I think, and it was nice until all the kids started crying at the same time and there were only 2 of us and 8 of them. That was not so fun. Then I went back in my room for like 15 minutes or so and then back with the penguins. So it was a hectic afternoon, but once my background check comes back it will hopefully settle down.
Tomorrow is National Teddy Bear day so I have to bring in a bear. I think I'm going to bring one of Dana's that used to be Paul's because it's a bear and a book at the same time. Now I have to try to get Paul to run me to Pathmark to try to find my Nesquick Mocha. Or as Paul says, my Mocha Chocolatta Ya-ya. They don't stock it at 7-11. I have been dissatisfied with my coffee-milk for the past 2 days having to settle for non-Nestle.
Afternoons are really nuts for me, since my background check hasn't come back yet, so I can't be left alone in the classroom yet. Neither can our lead teacher. Ugh. So I usually go for an hour to the 3-year-old room, then back to my regular room, then get bounced around for the last couple hours of my shift. Yesterday I was in the penguin room, which I believe is the younger 3 year olds, but today I spent some time in the older infants' room. First I just had 4 of the kids in the big stroller and walked them around the halls until they got antsy, then I brought them back into their room. I was there for like an hour I think, and it was nice until all the kids started crying at the same time and there were only 2 of us and 8 of them. That was not so fun. Then I went back in my room for like 15 minutes or so and then back with the penguins. So it was a hectic afternoon, but once my background check comes back it will hopefully settle down.
Tomorrow is National Teddy Bear day so I have to bring in a bear. I think I'm going to bring one of Dana's that used to be Paul's because it's a bear and a book at the same time. Now I have to try to get Paul to run me to Pathmark to try to find my Nesquick Mocha. Or as Paul says, my Mocha Chocolatta Ya-ya. They don't stock it at 7-11. I have been dissatisfied with my coffee-milk for the past 2 days having to settle for non-Nestle.