~Where to start?~

With a blog neglected as long as this one has been, knowing where to start is proving a bit difficult. So to recap:
*after a year in third grade, I've been moved back to fifth grade.
*after retirements and shuffling, I have a new set of co-workers in 5th grade.
*my partner teacher from 3rd grade was also moved to 5th grade, so we can continue to be partner teachers. Which means that....
*...I still don't have to teach science!!! Yeah!

As for the kids this year...well...they're nice. I don't have some of the crazy behavior I've had in years past. Nobody's having screaming breakdowns, or calling me names, or throwing things at other kids.

But of course, they have their moments...case in point: Veteran's Day.

Our school has an assembly on Veteran's Day to honor family & community members who have served in the military. It's often very moving, and typically a little bit lengthy as well. During the hour and a half we were there I confiscated two mini-skateboards (or TechDecks for those of you who know what those are) that were being mini-skated all over the floor and bodies of anyone sitting nearby, and removed one child from the rest of the class for pushing and grabbing at other kids.

After the assembly, we went to the library to check out books. At which point, three of them were removed to the office for crawling around on the floor chasing each other instead of checking out books.

Then it was back to the classroom, where the story of why there was such a commotion during the assembly came out. H. had taken A's dollar. Then threw it to another kid, who gave it back to A. Then, for some unclear reason, A continued to keep her dollar on her lap instead of in her pocket, which is when H took it again and gave it to K, who gave it to someone else to pass back to A, but somehow H ended up with it again, and it hadn't been seen since. Even though he insisted he didn't have it. Right. In the end, H agreed to pay A a dollar since he was the one who started taking it in the first place.

But, like I said, these are nice kids, and those kinds of days are few and far between. It's a lovely change - not dealing with crazy kids on top of lesson plans, new state regulations, and a mountain of papers to grade. It's one of the things I love about this job; change is always coming.