The Day I went to Sea!

This is one of the songs that Room 2 began to learn over the summer.

When I was one (hold up one finger)
I sucked my thumb (mock sucking thumb)
Then I went to sea. (hand over eyes)
I climbed aboard a pirate ship (climb a ladder)
And the captain said to me.
This way
That way
Backward
Forward
Over the Irish Sea

other verses
When I was two, I tied my shoe...
When I was three, I scraped my knee...
When I was four, I shut the door...
When I was five, I danced a jive... (or learned to dive)...

This is one of the songs that Room 2 began to learn over the summer.

Too Many Plans

Two and a half weeks. I feel as if I'm barely breathing some of the time. It makes sense. I have several two year olds, several children with separation anxiety (although that's getting better!) and one special needs child. There may be another. I'm starting to watch him.

We've been having conferences with Eric's parents since the summer. I firmly believe the Montessori program is in fact right for him, but I'm concerned that teaching him will be at the cost of the other children. I don't believe that we have the ratio to handle him. It's a difficult situation because the parents so desperately need the child care. I finally came to the conclusion that offering them T/Th mornings only was the right fit for our school. The numbers are much lower, and the class younger. It still makes for a challenging day, but not nearly as difficult. We had an observer from the school district in today as part of his initial assessment. She was informing us that he has no motor planning. I want to understand what that means a bit more, especially since I've offered to teach him. I do wish that training in teaching special education was better grounded into the teaching curriculum. It becomes so prevalent these days.

Mary Katherine is interesting. She can throw an incredible tantrum. Screaming fit for an hour and a half, with nothing calming her down. Hard to get upset with her though when it's because she wants mom. This happened her first day. When I got the rest of the children settled, I took her into my arms and she fell asleep. Then I put her down on a mat. She woke up and continued her fit.

I'm looking at the class structure. We have a lot of boys. The boys want to build. We have a few girls, and they want to do art. I need to think about how I'm going to challenge these children and take their interests and get it into math and language. I'm glad that my thesis is about done, because all my brain is doing is thinking about the gadzillion things that I want to do.

I want to take art- Some of the simple drawings, and abstract pictures that I've found and create art projects with them. I want to work on cutting with symmetry projects. October is coming. I want to cut ghosts, spiders, pumpkins. I found a wonderful pattern for a haunted house that I want to use with numbers- or maybe the bulletin board. We do have so many bulletin boards. I need the pictures.

I'm working on the new language program that I'm bringing into the classroom. That is my current focus. I have to buy more laminate though. That's OK. I'll deal with that. I want the materials to actually last. I need to figure out how to get counters into the classroom. What we have is a gadzillion erasers.

I keep thinking of how to design works that will fascinate the boys. I want a maze with numbers and cars. I want a car track or an airplane track. Maybe I need to actually go by Toys R' Us to look at counter material. Haven't been there in years.