a rant...and then an update

thanks to cesar chavez, i have the day off. and it could not come soon enough.

(begin of rant)

life in room b-07 has been rough.

my kiddos have been struggling lately.

i'm not sure what happened. is it spring fever? or the sudden presence of sunshine? are they getting tired of eachother? what can i do?

in the simplest of terms -- they are being mean to eachother.

and, at the risk of being a big whiner, some are starting to be a little mean to me.

daily there have been physical fights (some minor, some requiring visits to the nurse), unkind words spoken and tattling galore amongst the kiddos. daily there are kiddos who tell me they don't want to read/do math/write/participate. i don't mean to be bossy...but what the crap? some of my little ones seem to forget that i'm the teacher and that it is my job to help them read/do math/write/participate. it makes me sad because they are only six/seven and they already think that there is no problem with defying adults and people in 'authority'.

how can i undo that kind of thinking?

(end of rant)

okay...now i can move on to other things. it's been awhile since my ode to chocolate milk, so here are some things going on lately (in bullet form, so i stay organized):

--my brother-in-law james has been in and out of the hospital due to the doctor's inability to control his seizures. something is amiss with his meds and they just aren't working like they need to. luckily, my in-laws have been able to get more attention from the doctor's at kaiser and they are working to determine what needs to happen to help james. keep him in your thoughts/prayers. and also, i just wanted to give kudos to matt's parents. i have no idea how they can deal with it all, but they're doing it. so keep them (brian and mary) in your thoughts/prayers, as well. :)

--not everything related to my kiddos is negative, so i wanted to highlight some recent fun we've had. :) on wednesday, my kiddos and five chaperones (including my brave husband) ventured to the monterey bay aquarium for a day of aquatic exploration and fun times. i was able to divide the kiddos among the chaperones, leaving me to wander around the aquarium and hang out with all my kiddos as they poked and prodded various sea creatures. they had a wonderful day...and i'll try to put some pictures in a future post.

--we've stocked our netflix queue with loads of tv shows - so we have been a bit reclusive as we catch up on an entire season worth of tv in a weekend. i don't think i could every pay for cable and watch tv the regular way ever again - i'm getting too used to the instant gratification of an entire show at my fingertips.

--spring break is only one week away. this break will include a muse concert in san fran and then a road trip to boise to check it out. pit stops to visit my parents in rocklin will bookend our trip...and cut down on our time in the car. :)

--a little bit of sad news - charles ezra rockway died last week. :(

for those not 'in the know', charles ezra (a.k.a charlie, chuck, and tubs) was one of my family's dogs and he was such a lovable curmudgeon. he had a stroke two weekends ago and gradually lost the ability to move, so my parents decided to put him down. we think he was 15 years old, so he lived a good long doggie life. :)

(charlie is on the left, heidi is on the right)

i'm off now to get caught up on all the things i never have time for when i'm working. i love the free time...but kind of wish i could just be a lump on the couch. i guess i have a whole summer to practice and perect being 'lumpy'.

happy friday/weekend all! :)