In Like a Lion

Yesterday was a wild day in kindergarten. Tiny snowflakes were drifting down when I pulled into the parking lot and that certainly did not escape the notice of the children. But unlike our neighboring communities to the north, nothing accumulated and in fact by recess it was raining and so the kids could not go outside to play and then it was still raining at lunch time so that was another recess inside. Our afternoon math was planned and ready to roll or so we thought but it took way longer than anticipated. We had put together booklets to celebrate 100 and for each page they went to a station to stamp 10 stamps, stick 10 stickers, or glue 10 shapes and by page ten they would have 100 items in their booklet. We all kept very busy; 50 students and 4 teachers (aside from the one child with Asbergers Syndrome who crawled around the edges of the action making puppy noises) and there was very little wait time for anyone. This math activity took roughly an hour and a half and when the bell rang the kids were shocked, they couldn't believe they had worked right through their 'Activity Center Time' (the 45 minutes of work disguised as play that we usually have at the end of each day). And I was left with tables gobbed with glue left to clean and a meeting with an educational researcher. Oh yes, and the stinky land snails' habitats had to be cleaned and stocked with food before we left. Have I mentioned that I gave up alcohol and chocolate for Lent? Well, on Friday I felt like I was going to 'cave', but I didn't! Two kid quotes from this week:
"Mrs. Goethe is that white stuff snail poop?", total amazement on the child's face when I answer "yes" . And from a chubby little clown in my room, as he hikes his pants up to his armpits and runs willy nilly around the room: "I'm a nerd! I'm a nerd!"