Bathroom Ridiculousness

I have a student who often has this blank look like he is off on some other planet while interacting with me or the other students. He is also a new student so nobody really knows him or know how to read him. He is just about the slowest eater I have ever encountered and even after having a half hour to eat a small school lunch, he is always trying to "finish" eating. By this time, he has finished his food and is trying to eat other people's leftovers. He is the one I always have to ask to throw away whatever he is still eating while we leave.

Today, however, he snuck something past me. He put an opened, but unfinished juice bar in his pocket. Not only did he put this bright red, popsicle-style snack in his pocket, but he kept it in there for about 40 minutes before trying to eat it in the boys bathroom during a bathroom break.

When the other students told me a boy from my class was eating ice cream in the bathroom, I thought they were kidding because lunch was 40 minutes ago and no one could have hidden an ice cream treat that long. Well I was wrong and this kid walked out of the bathroom with red Popsicle all over his face, on his head, on his pants, and on his shirt. His pants were also covered in water because he was clearly trying to wash the popsicle off. To top it all off, the zipper on his pants was down. He came back to class looking a MESS! I decided the embarrassment of it all was punishment enough. I also decided he could explain to his mom what in the world happened to his clothes at school. He hasn't tried to sneak anything in his pockets since, so I guess it was a minor success.

Best Project Ever

In order to get to know each other, I assigned a project called a personal culture bag where students had to find 3-5 small objects that would tell the class something interesting about them and some students have brought in some hilarious things. Maybe some things were even border-line illegal.

Some of the best items so far:

A large screw driver because this kid likes to fix things, “like my sisters Rock Band drums”

A photograph of the student’s mother at her senior prom holding my student as a baby (Even some of my students were like, “So your mom had you while she was in high school?”)

A photograph of my student’s father in a college dorm room drinking

Attention Seeker #3:

This is actually the kind of attention seeker that bothers me the most. This child is good for no entertainment value at all, she just bugs me. She is constantly blurting out my name and asking questions without raising her hand. Nobody else is having this problem. It is only her. I will correct her, ask her to get my attention the right way, make her wait, and then take her question. Almost every time her question is pointless, like “Do you like this?” Or “what are we going to do next?” when we just started an activity and the daily agenda is on the board. She simply cannot go without asking a question or talking to me for more than one minute. If I hear, "Ms. Oyster, Ms. Oyster" followed by silence as she tries to think of something to ask me one more time, I will go nuts!

Attention Seeker #2:

I knew this girl would be trouble when her mother came with her to school, not only the first day, but the second, third, and fourth day as well. She is the kind of student who thinks everything is happening to her and cannot see how her own actions impact the things that happen to her and especially the things that other people say to her. She also relies on her mother for everything and will hug and kiss and cuddle her mother in front of her classmates, which is nearly un-heard-of in the fourth grade. Clearly this student wants me to treat her like her mother treats her and she wants me to fix all of her social problems for her, but I simply can’t. I gave her this book to take home and it is only the fourth day.

Attention Seeker #1

I knew this kid was trouble during new student orientation when he busted in between me and his mother to ask me if the chair outside my room was the time out chair. He was already looking for where he'd be spending most of his time. Today, I watched him purposely put pencil shavings in his eye so that he could come up to me and get some attention and be allowed to go to the bathroom. Who does that?

I have new students...ready or not

The first days have passed and I am trying to stay as calm as possible to keep my classroom as calm as possible.

One thing is wonderfully different, when I call out a student's name, a look of fear wipes across his or her face. Maybe not fear in all of them, but at least a look of nervousness. I have done NOTHING to make them fear me either. It is bizarre. Many of them know me from being third graders at my school and I haven't even raised my voice once. I have literally no idea why they are afraid. In fact, I even smile and laugh with them. I'm sure its just the honeymoon period, but this NEVER happened in my old classroom, not even during the honeymoon period. Or maybe I have perfected my Teacher Look. After all, I do have the wrinkles as proof.

Some students are already asserting themselves as the attention seekers.