Sunday, June 7, 2009

* Stolen My Heart

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: * Stealing Summer with U
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A sent these cute grandparent thoughts:

Grandparents and Grandchildren

She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter as she'd done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Gramma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!"

My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, "62." He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?" "You're both old," he replied.

I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!"

When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use, Grandpa. The mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting," she said, "how do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'."

Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. One of the small boys wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the young boy confidently. "It means carrying a child."

A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties. "They use him to keep crowds back," said one child."No," said another, "he's just for good luck."A third child brought the argument to a close. "They use the dogs,"she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants...

* Archuleta Mini Concert!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: * ReAL SLC & Archuleta!
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* ReAL SLC Soccer

Yeah! School is out for the Summer!
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: * ReAL Soccer SLC
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Friday, June 5, 2009

* School Pinch Me Moments

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: * My Wish For You
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I absolutely love my kinder-bug kids this year! I came home each and every day exhausted, but loved! They were the hardest group of kids I have ever had. Emotional with a capital "E." There were so many growing moments, I don't know if I can remember them all. I will share just a few of the "Pinch me Moments..."
I'll never forget "Tallest in the Class Rocky", who needed to go to the bathroom. It was at the very moment that we were preparing to go home for the day. I asked, "Can you hold it til you get home?" Rocky just lived a couple of houses away from the school. He said, "Ok." The next thing I know, Rocky is missing. I buzzed for the office to help. Just as they answered my call, another teacher called the office saying they saw a kindergarten boy climb the fence and run toward housing. Within a couple of minutes we were on the phone with the security police to report a "run away kindergarten boy, when another phone line rang in the office. It was Rocky's mom calling to ask why "Rocky had walked home before school was out? " Rocky was brought back to school by his dad. It seems Rocky misunderstood, thinking I'd told him he could "go home at that moment and use the bathroom." Rocky, our Super Hero!
And, then there was Simone. Tiny Simone. She cried almost daily for months. I couldn't get her to talk, with tears or without tears. I was beginning to wonder if she could talk, her family assured me that she talks at home. So, I had patience. One day at the end of January the children came running in from recess. "Mrs. Probert," they chorusedc "Simone can talk!" Surprised, I looked for Simone. She came right up to me and stood as big as her tiny body could stand, looked up into my eyes and said, "I talk now!" The children picked her up and carried her around the room with joyful cheers of congratulations! And, she talked everyday after that. The tears didn't stop, because she had a difficult time verbalizing her needs, but she 'talks now." She holds a special place in my heart.
Ethan, oh Ethan! He came to school not knowing what a letter was. It wasn't long however, before Ethan was reading! We call him "Sponge Ethan," because every lesson went inside his head and came out in an amazing aura of knowledge. It wasn't long before Ethan got board, and he decided he was going to do "what he wanted" to do each day. Listening to his teacher the first time was not one of those things he wanted to do. We tried lots of behavior plans, but Ethan was tough to crack. As the end of school came, Ethan was working on his very own behavior chart. Ethan was sitting on the floor along with all of his peers. I reached up to the chart, and I said, "Ethan, I don't think you need to behavior chart anymore." "I think you are done with this!" I took the chart, tore it in half and put it in the trash. He looked so surprised, and so very pleased with himself. The cutest thing happened next. It was one of those "pinch me moments." As I dropped the torn behavior chart into the trash, Ethan's classmates clapped, and gave their best kindergarten whistle as they congradulated their little friend. Ethan smiled almost every minute of the day from that moment on.
There are just so many moments like this. Moments of "the light bulb turned on..." and moments of "we are a community of friends." I teach for these moments. I teach for "pinch me moments," the little everyday ones, and those that will remain in my head forever!
Thanks for letting me share, thanks for reading!!! I'm sure I will record more of these moments in the days ahead.... so that when my head doesn't work anymore I can read and remember!
The photos in the smilebox below were taken during the last week of school, and the last part of the slide show includes pictures from our Kindergarten Advancement Program.

*Samantha's Garden

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Mr. Clark, you are amazing! Thank you for your gift, the flowers are beautiful. Thank you for talking with the children about car safety. And, thank you for teaching them about sod, soil, annuals, perenials, plant names, turning the soil, and turkey manure! Thank you for teaching them about friendship. Thank you for your example, and for taking time to plan and purchase this garden. Have an amazing summer Mr. Clark, and we will see you in the fall.