My eyes is hot, and my hair done fell out!

First off, the title of this blog post WILL be explained throughout the course of me typing. So hold tight, and prepare yourself for a hilarious dose of entertainment.

It's been forever since I've updated this blog. And to be honest, I created another one that I'm using for my personal use of stories from my elementary school. Mainly because I didn't want people looking in on this one and wondering what the hell I was talking about! However, I did want to update everyone!

August 15th was my LAST FIRST DAY as an undergrad! I spent 3 days at UNCP in workshops and seminars learning what not to do with the students in my classroom! August 20th, I went to my elementary school and started workdays with my clinical teacher! I was fortunate enough to be able to meet and work with her last spring semester so I knew her already which made for an easy transition considering I was a little nervous about everything. We had 5 workdays... over the course of those days we organized the classroom, setup desks and technology equipment, and attended some curriculum workshops where we learned an entirely new reading/language arts curriculum! This year will be interesting because the North Carolina Standard Course of Study is OUT and Common Core/Essential Standards are IN! (Thank GOD in my personal opinion!) Which has been nice, because I've been using Common Core the whole time I've been in school and could probably recite them from over use :)

August 27th was the first day of school with the kids! We started with 25 students, and now have 23. The first day was VERY interesting. I'll spare the details but... there are definitely some behavior issues in this class like I've NEVER seen before.  Aside from that, I have some of the sweetest and most precious kids, ever. I have really only been in 3rd grade for a long period of time. That's when I was able to be with Mrs. Aiello at Wrightsboro in her classes before she passed away... and 3rd graders are MUCH bigger than 2nd graders! There is one student who rivals my height... he's so tall! And a couple of them look like they could totally belong in kindergarten. They're just so dang cute! And they're sweet!

I did survive my first week. With lots of Advil for my legs and feet... but now that I have my "teaching legs" I hope that will help! And of course I have some allergy mess going on, that I woke up with on Friday. But it was okay on Friday because 1, I could finally wear jeans...2, I had a 3 day weekend coming... and 3 IT WAS FRIDAY! 

So, about that blog post title. One afternoon we were playing "heads down, thumbs up" (or for you older ones, like ME... 7up). And one little person in my class had their head UP but their eyes closed and no one would pick him! This little person complained and said "I sure hope someone picks me" every time. My teacher finally said Look, you need to put your head down! They think you'retrying to look to see who's picking you. 

The response from this precious little person was... But Mrs. N, when I put my head down my eyes is hot.

.....My teacher and I looked at each other and both said "WHAT?!" Yes. In fact his eyes is hot. My teacher simply said "don't worry, they won't burn. I promise" and we tried to contain our laughter.

The next day, during reading time, one little person came running up to my desk in a tizzy with something in her hand. I couldn't tell what it was. Oh but I would figure it out shortly... This student came running and then said.. "Ms. G, Ms. G!!! My hair done felled out my head!"

What?

Sure enough. There was a braid in their hand. I had never been faced with this predicament before, and my professors certainly didn't teach me how to handle this in my classes at UNCP. So I thought for a second, and then said... "Okay, well. Either put it in your desk or throw it away." It was put in the trashcan and they returned to reading and all was well in the world. It wasn't the fact that the hair had come out... it was the fact that "my hair done fell out" was how this student told me...

Needless to say, ALL WEEK LONG my teacher and I have used that as an excuse for not wanting to do anything or really any situation that has come about. Example? The teacher next door is the clinical teacher for my friend Rebecca, also in 2nd grade, and she came over wanting to know if we were going to get to school at 7am or 7:30 the next day. She was going to be running a few minutes late, and wanted coverage for her class just in case. So my teacher said "As long as I don't find my eyes hot and my hair felled out I'll be here"

Ensue hilarious laughter.

Perhaps you had to be there. But it was just so damn funny.

Aside from the crazy outbursts, a few problems with behavior, I did have a good week and I know that I'm doing exactly what I should be doing. My heart already loves all 23 of those kids and I can't even begin to understand how hard it will be to leave them at the end of November.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Camp Agape! I'm cooking lunch for the wheat team and staying for the HOOT! This is one of three times in the past 12 years that I haven't been at TEC serving on team. I felt like crying Friday afternoon because I wasn't heading up to Agape to meet the team! On the other hand, I was completely exhausted and didn't feel good at all. So a couple of allergy pills later, I was napping quite nicely and was somewhat thankful that I wasn't going to TEC. 4 hours of sleep each night, and being able to function and TEACH on Tuesday in the classroom just wouldn't have been a great combination.

So, that's been my life in a nutshell lately. I go to bed super early and I wake up SUPER DUPER early. Early- as in, it's still pitch BLACK outside when I get in the shower. It's just not okay. I need some sunlight in the morning... Anyway, I'm off to bed, and to Agape tomorrow!