Tales of a 4th Grade Teacher

(S) This past week was actually really good and my students were rock stars. We learned about cells all week so on Tuesday we got to make our own cells. They consisted of jell-o, gummy bears, laffy taffy, raisins, a whopper, and some other candy to make up the cell parts. The students then got to label, draw, and identify important parts of the cell. And of course they got to eat them! It was very, very messy, I fount jell-o on my floor a few times but nothing too bad.

Tim came into my class Friday and was a big hit. Here are some highlights from that:

-Students called him Mr. Tim or Mr. Sommars

-“Mr. Tim, how old are you?.....Mr. Tim, how old will you be when you marry Miss Sommars?” – 4^th grader

-“Mr. Tim, have you ever cheated on Miss Sommars?”- 4^th grader (this was followed by a discussion on inappropriate vs appropriate questions.

- Everyone played soccer that day because Tim was out on the field

- He graded all my papers I had to do AND entered them into the grade book!

- He helped me manage some of the wild ones.

- He now knows who Diamond is! (Even though she wasn’t her unruly self that day.)

Outside of school I had a very exciting thing happen. I was able to maintain some energy after school hours! This entire semester, everyday after school I am exhausted, and I miss out on my personal life. But this week was different! I don’t know if I have finally adjusted, or if it was because my kiddos were so good, but it was great having energy to do things in the evenings. This resulted in seeing friends, walking the dog (not mine, I am dogsitting), and playing mini golf with Tim! I also went hiking at the Tonto Natural Bridge on Saturday and that was amazing.

On the plate for this week? Testing, testing, testing! At the end of every quarter we do benchmark testing to see how our students are doing and it helps us get an understanding of how they will do on the AIMS. So this is my first result to see how I am doing and how they’ve improved this semester. Fingers crossed I get good results!

Close one!

(S) So... the other day I probably should have lost my job. Why you ask? Let me tell you a little story!
This past week we have been studying author's purpose. So we have been various books and articles and designating what category they go in (inform, pursuade, and entertain). So we have been reading a wide arrange of things to understand the author's purpose. Thursday, it was the day to learn about writing with the intent to entertain. So that morning I go to my classroom library and grab two picture books out of it. Most of the books I received from a retired teacher's library she had in her class. I grab "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett, and "Draw Me a Star" by Eric Carle. I had read the first book many times and knew the students would be familar with it, and I grabbed the second because who doesn't love Eric Carle books! He wrote, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and so many more!

Well, class comes around and I start reading the books. The first one goes over well, students have read it before, and it was easy to see that it was meant to entertain! The second books is going well, and I have the book open so that my students can see the pictures and I read. As I flip the page I hear squealing and screaming, so I look and what do I see?? NAKED PEOPLE!!!!! Eric Carle had art with naked people!! Now, if you know his work, all of his art is made with colored tissue paper. So the people were a light brown and the girl had dark circles around her boobs and lower area, and the guy actually had a cut out to show his parts. As soon as it registered I quickly turn the book towards me, and tell the kids "Alright guys, enough freaking out, it's just anatomy." If only they knew, on the inside I was resisting the urge to throw up! I kept thinking, oh my god, I'm going to get fired! I am going to get fired! I finished the book and thank GOD the kids didn't linger on the image they saw. I, on the other hand, wanted to cry/throw up/had a hard time breathing every time I thought about it.

As soon as it was my planning period I went downstairs to confess my sins to the principal. Let me preface with I fortunately have an amazing principal! So I went up to her and started my story like this, "Dr. G, I want you to know, I love my job, I love teaching, and I love my class...." I proceeded to tell her what happened and when I pulled out the book she was like, "What?!??! Eric Carle has nudity?" She was just as shocked as I had been! In the end I ended up lucky, she understood the mistake, gave me great advice, and told me I was ok and that I'd be able to keep my job.

What a life, I can't believe that had happened to me. Noted! Just because you receive a book from a prior teacher AND it is an Eric Carle book, does not mean it is appropriate!

Eric Carle, "Draw Me a Star"