Old Lady

This happened to me last Friday.

The kids were talking about how they can do handstands, flips, cartwheels etc. and so I said, "wow all I can do is a cartwheel and a roundoff." Then one of the kids said this, "Wow now that is pretty impressive for an old lady like you... i mean not that I'm saying your old or anything but you are kind of old". "I'm not old!!" I said. A different kid then says, "Well I mean you could seriously be like grandma, Ms. Fullerton!" 

Ok so people usually think I'm still in high school which is annoying and now people think I'm a grandma! Where did my 20's go!!!

This is what I put up with!

Same kid who said I was an old lady talks non stop in my class. I mean running commentary to everything I say. There is no stopping him from talking so I just try to ride it out and then refocus. Friday we were going to go on a field trip and we had about 15 minutes in the class before we were leaving so we were playing addition/subtraction bingo. This is what I was hearing. I'll type what I was saying in all caps. Oh and this is at the speed of about a mile a minute no joke.

"FOUR PLUS SIX" "4 plus 6! Oh my gosh I don't even know 4 plus 6. I don't even know what comes after four. What comes after four!!! I think it's 5. 5,6,7,8,9,10. I think the answer is 10 is the answer ten Ms. Fullerton. oh ya you can't tell us! oh my gosh I don't have any tens!" I interrupt the ongoing commentary with "THREE PLUS FOUR" "3 plus 4!!! oh my gosh 3 plus 4! I don't even know 3 plus 4!!! I don't even know what comes after 3!!I think it's 4. Is it 4? 4,5,6,7! I think the answer is 7. Is the answer 7? I don't even know. Ah dang it I don't even have a 7."

This goes on and on with the same thing after every question and usually I just interrupt with the problem. None of the other kids even act like this is strange and no one looks at him except me. I'm thinking "What the heck! How can he never stop and how do I handle this for 6 more weeks!!!"

Sorry about the many posts with kids stories! I'll try to make my next  post about something more interesting!

Nell No!

I have a funny story for ya'll. There is this little boy at my school who is so cute and hilarious. He pulls his khaki pants way up high and then tightens his belt as tight as it will go with his short tucked in. His pants needless to say are a little on the short side. Side note story: One day he told his teacher, "Sometimes my pants get stuck around my wazoo!" Well ya that would be because you keep pulling them up. We think he likes it but we won't go there today.

Anyways last week some of the first grade boys were talking about how they wanted to go to one of the boys house to play. Well this boy's mom works at the school and they live way out in Decatur. She was telling them that her house is pretty far and so maybe they could meet in the middle somewhere and go to a movie or something. George decides at this point to say, "If I asked my mom that she would say no. Actually she would say NELL No! That means really really no." hahaha yes he actually said nell. We all had a good laugh at that one because he obviously did not know what he was saying right then. 

Another story for your enjoyment. Two of the fourth graders got in a fight one time. One of these boys is really good and never fights so it was kind of shocking. The teacher had them come inside and sit while she went to talk the principal. When she comes back out this boy has his head down on his desk. She says, "Fred (names have been changed :)) Mrs. Edwards wants to see you in her office" He holds up a finger (as if to say hold on a second.... not the other finger). She waits a few seconds and says again, "Fred, Mrs. Edwards would like to see you right now." He holds up the finger again. Now she is getting irritated. So she says it one more time. He waits a second then stands up and very seriously says, "Sorry, I was praying before I had to go in to see Mrs. Edwards." She had to turn around because she was laughing so hard. He was so serious and scared that it was funny. Oh man kids are so hilarious sometimes!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

I have a confession. I have been listening to Christmas music in my car non stop since Thursday. Yes this is true. One of my friends introduced me to what she likes to call Christmas Friday two years ago. Basically that means that every Friday you listen to Christmas music in your car. It is joyous. I suggest it to all. Well I took that to heart but soon that just wasn't enough.  I needed Christmas music whenever and wherever I wanted it. So I did just that. Usually a couple of weeks after Christmas I get burnt out of my 50 favorite Christmas songs ( I have more but I have a playlist of about 50 that I like best). Then in about March/April the fun starts up again. This year was a little late.

Thursday morning as I was driving to work I didn't know what to listen to. Usually I listen to peppy music in the morning so that I will be all ready for the day. Ex. Hairspray was on the list for awhile. Well I couldn't decide and I was feeling a little down about it not being Friday and I was tired so of course I threw on some Christmas tunes and boy was that a good decision. All day I was singing and dancing to Christmas music when alone. I did it again on Friday. Then Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and even Tuesday! I just can't get enough! 

You probably all know about my love for the holidays! I love winter time. The cold weather, snow, fires, family, skiing, Christmas music, lights. It's all so fun! I don't know why others don't celebrate for a little longer. Christmas music and lights do not just have to be celebrated during the weeks after Thanksgiving and before New Years. No I say! They should be extended to all cold months! Summer celebrating does not end on July 4th. People go swimming and have back yard get togethers and all things summer even after school starts. It is celebrated till the last hot day. Why can winter not be this way? Christmas music and lights just feel right even in November and February. And even this morning when it was so cold it felt right. Call me crazy. I will continue to celebrate this way until it catches on. Yes I will probably be that weirdo old lady that keeps up her lights into February but who cares at least it will be fun! So put on your favorite Christmas tunes and give a little dance. I'm sure it will make your Wednesday just that much better. I'll be listening to my tunes tomorrow morning. If you need any suggestions just let me know. 

Happy Winter!!

Melanie

School

I forgot I started this post on Wednesday. Just now getting around to finishing it. 

Well I just finished my second week of school! It has been so fun so far and way better than my old job! I don't remember what all I said about it in my last post but I teach Classroom 3, ages 9-11. Basically what that means is that at the beginning of the year we test the kids and then group them into ability level groups and place them in a classroom. The kids call it 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc, but since for example the first grade class has two 7 year olds, a 9 year old, and a 10 year old they just call it classroom 1.

Anyways I have 6 kids. Four of them have Aspergers and two are dyslexic. They are all pretty high functioning except for one but he is smart, you just have to really work one on one with him. They are so hilarious though! I have one kids who is the most enthusiastic kid you have ever met. It is his only emotion. Everything I say he shouts out, "GOOD IDEA MS. FULLERTON!" or "GOOD POINT MS. FULLERTON!" or "GREAT JOB ------- (insert anyone's name here)" It is so funny! Sometimes he will suggest that he puts his paper on my desk and when I say  that is fine e tells me that I had a good idea for him to do that. He is also VERY smart. He makes A's on everything and is super excited to get papers back. He wants to know if everything is going to be graded. On the first day he made all 100s and one 96 and he was disappointed so I told him that an A is still really good. So the next day he happened to make a 76 on something. He looked at the paper then looked at me and screamed, "ALRIGHT PASSING!!!!!" I almost died laughing!

The class also likes to sing A LOT! I tell them that as long as they continue working then they can sing so we play a lot of music in my classroom. The funny thing is though that sometimes when we are working one fo them will all of a sudden stand up and say, "a 1 a 2 a 1,2,3,4" and then somehow they will all break out into the same song. Usually they sing, "bow chica wow wow" from Chipmunks or "the continent song" or "I like to move it move it" from Madagascar. Then they start saying, "What's cracka lackin Ms. Fullerton?" This is like my dream classroom if you can't tell.

So now you know what my classroom is like every day. We usually never get all the work done that I planned but that's just how it is. You just have to see how the kids are doing that day and let them work at their pace. 

Update on Jovi: I have spent the entire day sitting on the couch and getting up every 30 minutes to take the dog out. She is having a nasty case of the runs. I woke up this morning to see that she had gone diarrhea 5 times in her cage last night. Cleaning up diarrhea is not my idea of a fun saturday morning activity. I'm hoping it is just because of the change from her old food. She wouldn't eat since yesterday morning though so I went to find what she used to eat and couldn't find it at PetSmart. They had the brand (Pedigree) and the wet food but not the same one. I still bought it and she ate it but so far the runs are still going strong. I'll keep you posted. I know you were just dying to read something like this on a saturday. yummy. 

New Puppy!!!

I got a new puppy this weekend! No I was not planning on it but she was just so cute! I've actually been thinking about getting one for a couple of months but the plan was that when I move I would get one. However, this weekend my sisters, mom, and I all went to Canton and well I came home with this little thing! 

Isn't she cute! Her name is Jovi. You know off Elf? As you all know I am a Christmas fanatic. Casey Lewis had the great idea that we should name all the pets we ever get after Christmas things. She actually came up with the name Jovi for me and I thought it was so cute. 

She is so tiny! She weighs about a pound and shouldn't get bigger than 3-4 pounds full grown. I went to PetCo yesterday when I got home with her so I could get all the essentials and I found this tiny little shirt. The shirt said "Let it Snow" on it and well since she has a Christmas name I thought she needed the shirt. Plus it was on sale for $3 and I got it in the smallest size and then I realized that it just drowns her out. Maybe one day it will fit her. I will post a picture of that later. 

Everyone is welcome to come see her. Ok she just woke up and is trying to jump around so we're going to go play!!