Whew!

Is it Friday yet?  Please?  Pretty please with a cherry on top? 

This has been the most impossible week.  And I'm only slightly more than halfway through it!  (Actually, I suppose I can relax a bit since my work week ends tomorrow.  I have to take a sick day on Friday for my RE appointment.)  Yesterday was one of the most challenging days I've had in a long time.  It started with a phone call from a parent concerned over a boy (one of my good kids) teasing her daughter.  I asked her if she had any idea when it was happening because he NEVER talks in class.  She said she didn't think to ask.  I told her I would investigate the situation and do what I could to put a stop to it.

I asked the girl a few questions--when did he do it, where (in the lunchroom, in the hallway at break, at special class, etc.), and who else was around.  Then, I sent a note to the principal (our email was down, of course) to let him take care of it since I hadn't actually witnessed it.

Next up, I cannot keep my li'l darlins from communicating all Day LONG!  It doesn't help any that our current room arrangement is conducive to this type of behavior.  We are in the middle of the Civil War--literally.  I divide the class into the "Union" and the "Confederacy," and they compete for points with each thing we do throughout the entire unit.  It's just the easiest way to create a visible division in the room.  I even have hats that I hang up to represent each side.  The kids get excited about it.  But, I digress...what else is new, right?  Where was I?  Oh, yeah...communication.  So I look up and there's this boy standing in the middle of my classroom holding a yellow piece of paper and looking confused.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I don't know.  This note just came flying toward me."  I took it from him, stuck it in my pocket, and asked who threw it.  Nobody knew, but a little girl piped up with, "It's a note ___ wrote me about her cat."  I shrugged it off and went about my business.  We finished class and I took the students down for P.E. 

On my way back, I stuck my hand in my pocket and found the note.  I had forgotten it was even there.  I pulled it out and was SHOCKED to find that it was indeed about a cat--it said that her dad "does" kitty porn (actually, it was misspelled so what it really said was her dad does kitty pron; it's sad really--I KNOW I had never even heard that word until high school).  Complete with a description and a hand-drawn picture.  Yep.  Had to take that one to the office, too.  So, by the end of the day, I think the principal had seen about half of my class at some point, for some reason--maybe just as a witness, but they were in the office nonetheless.

I told him this morning maybe we'd have a less eventful day.  We did, but just barely.  I think I need a nap.

Hugs and love,