A Couple Things...

Well, I have to admit...my day today was not quite as good as it was yesterday.  First off, I learned that when the kids don't get recess, it's just bad all around.  I had a taste of what the teachers face on rainy days, and let me tell you~from now on I will pray harder for them on rainy days!  I definitely can appreciate what they go through, and I only get the little darlings for 30 minutes.  They get them for 7 hours.  

I knew it was going downhill quick, when I learned that I do not have eyes all around me.  There were only 3 of us in there at a time...me, and 2 teacher's assistants.  Yesterday we had a parent volunteer as well, so she made it easier.  We were running around like crazy, handing out napkins, forks, and opening up (trying to anyway) stubborn bananas and fruit cups.  My thumb nail hurts because I was actually using my nail and not my scissors.  Lesson learned.  Tomorrow I'll pull out my handy dandy scissors.  

The kids probably didn't think I was as nice today, either.  I actually had to get pretty stern a couple times....one of which was during Graham's lunch hour.  He has some real characters in his class.  When the kids have ketchup to use, if they don't get it themselves, I'm discouraged from giving it to them.  They should be remembering on their own by now what to get, and what not to get.  I mean, in the grand scheme of life, it's just ketchup, and I will give it to kindergarten and first grade kids, just because they're still getting used to the routine.  But anyway, this one little angel in Graham's class was ticked off at me because I wouldn't give her any.  She raised her hand a second time, and when I came to her, she put it back down and turned her head.  SHE WOULD NOT TALK TO ME.  I told her to put her hand down and to eat her lunch, otherwise tomorrow she'd be eating alone.  She tried three other times, to no avail....the last time, she wouldn't talk to any of us white ladies, but only to the black assistant working with me.  She thought she would get some favor from one of her "sisters", I was told.  Ha!  The assistant, Kim, told that child, "If you can't talk to them, you're not talking to me either!"  and walked away.  I wanted to shout, go girl!  I mean, come on, it's ketchup, afterall.  

One little boy from the same class spit everywhere, and when I told him to stop, he turned his head and mouthed off to me, thinking I wouldn't see or hear it.  Another little boy lied to my face twice.  So before they left, I told them this: "You may think I was kidding today about your bad behavior, but pull this stunt again tomorrow, and the whole class will have a silent lunch."  We'll see how tomorrow goes.  And yes, this is Graham's class, God love his little heart.  I had to tell his teacher what went on, and she apologized profusely for their behavior, but I felt bad for having to tell her....afterall, I got to leave at that point, and she had to stay and deal with them.  

I still love my job, though.  I think once they see I mean business, it won't be quite as bad.  They're testing me at this point.  Let them test, I'm a tough girl.  I do have 4 boys, afterall.  All the TA'S keep saying, "Just treat them like they're yours.  Your kids are good."  So, I got stern when I needed to, but still tried to love on them anyway.  I want them to know that I do care for them, but there has to be a respect issue...if they respect me, I'll respect them.  So...that being said, I'm about to check my kids out of school.  It's storming here, and when it's like this, they won't release the students.  The last time it was like this, they held them all until 5:00.  And I don't want to wait that long, so I'm off to check them out.  More later.....