Class/school updates!

I officially hit my 10 day mark for the first year of Kindergarten this year. It is truly AMAZING how far these kids come in 10 days. I just have to remind myself of that every year when I finish the first day with my head spinning and ready to lose my brain and rip out all my hair (yes, that is how I felt after the first day - I didn't know if I should cry, laugh, scream, or just remain silent)

I have a very sweet class. They love school already (my #1 goal) and I know they trust me and tell me I'm so funny all the time:) You know you're funny if 5 year olds tell you so;)

Our class sizes are huge this year. There is a strong, like super strong, possibility we will hire another teacher (that makes 8 K classes) this week. If that is the case each class will lose 2-4 students. A tough concept but in the long run a necessary and beneficial one. Kind of ironic if you think about it... last year in Feb. we lost 5 teachers. Since Feb. we have added 6 new teachers and possibly 7. Hm.... silly how things work out:)

Last week we made something called 'Friendship salad'. It was so fun! One of the teachers found this online and I was all about it -- cooking and Kindergarten just go hand in hand with me. I bought various types of canned fruit (pineapple, mandarin oranges, peaches, etc), marshmallows, and plain non fat yogurt. We added the fruit and other ingredients as each child named a quality about a friend they liked. Then came the best part. I pulled out the last ingredient - A ROTTEN BANANA. And I mean ROTTEN. Totally brown, gushy, smelly, gross. They all cringed at the sight and when 'bananas' when I told them I had to add it - many times they will encounter a 'rotten banana' in their class. They begged me no DON'T DO IT!! Of course I never intended to but they didn't know this. They all agreed to think twice about their choices they would make before becoming the rotten banana. They then all enjoyed our yummy mid morning snack:) What a hit this was!!

This week we will begin on me of my favorite activities for the year - a gingerbread man hunt. We read a ton of various versions of The Gingerbread Man (who knew there were sooo many) and wrap it up by making a gingerbread cookie man and then walking them to the cafeteria for them to make for us. Sadly, the ladies will be too busy to cook them right away but they will tell us we can come back tomorrow for them. When we come back they tell us they jumped out of the oven and send us on a huge hunt all over the school where we will be met by various important people in the school (ie: nurse, counselor, head custodian, etc). They will lastly end up in a safe place where our cookies will be found - the principal's office. So fun! They love this!!!

I'm looking forward to another amazing school year with a bunch of silly monkeys:)