Lying

Caught my first lie of the year.  Scotty is one of only 2 white kids I have in class.  He was sitting in the back, trying to tell me that his mom said he should use a pencil top eraser rather then the eraser that is on the end of the pencil.  Yea, sure she did.  He looked me right in the eye and lied.  I said, “Really?”

He said, “Yep.”  Does he think I’m stupid?  He must.

So I called his bluff.  I told him, “So if I call your mom right now, she’ll tell me that she told you to use that kind of eraser?”

The smile faded from his face…for a second.  “Oh, no, she didn’t really tell me to use it.”  But he said it with a smile.

What a fool.  If you are going to lie, at least make it believable.

And better yet, if you’re going to lie, lie about something somewhat important.  Not something stupid like an eraser you want to use.

Or better still, just don’t lie!

Back to School!

Summer is over!  School has started.

Day 1 was a bit hectic, with no official prep days.  Good thing Julie and I came to school for 3 days to get my room ready.  I had a list of things I wanted to get finished, and I knew I probably wouldn’t finish all of them.  Besides the stuff the school wants me to do, I did fluff, partly to get the class to get to know each other, and partly to give them a chance to practice the classroom procedures.

Did I mention the 31 students I have in class?  And I’m lucky, there are 32 students on my list.  Two didn’t show up, but a girl who was not on my list was assigned to me.  Kelly, next door, has 33 kids!  I think the other 4th grade class has 31.

Ninety-five students in 3 classrooms.  That’s a lot of kids.  I think all the classrooms are at at least 30.  The lower grades are freakin’, because they’re used to 20.

Teachers and Social Networks

Should teacher “friend” students on Facebook?

It seems like that is letting students, even former students, into your life just a little too much.

But that might just be my opinion.  It might just be a non-issue.

And if a teacher wants to “friend” a kid in their class, I’m not going to say they shouldn’t, or that it’s wrong.  Just as long as it doesn’t prevent me from keep my private life from that student.

It just seems weird, and maybe, because I’m a “friend” of another teacher, if that teacher “friends” a student, that student can see my posts?  I’m not sure.  But that does seem wrong.

I’ll have to figure this out.

Starting Back Up

I went in for the first time about a week and a half ago, on a Monday, with Julie.  We got my desks moved into how I wanted them, and got up most of my bulletin boards.

Went in yesterday and today, as well (the two of us).  Julie finished the bulletin boards, and got up my Mountain Math and Mountain Language Arts bulletin boards.  I am very excited about doing both of those this year!  Thanks Miss Dinh for the questions for both of them.

My room is just about ready for the school year.  We’re going in again tomorrow (Friday) to finish up.  Julie really wants to finish my Mountain L.A. board.  I need to get something of a plan for at least the first day, although I know it will be a day I need to be very flexible during.  Hopefully I can talk with my fellow 4th grade teachers to find out some ideas for the following few days.  I’m hoping we start our curriculum soon.  The days just drag on when we don’t.

Waiting

Wondering if anyone is going back to school before it starts.  I know my classroom is a mess, and I’m sure most others’ are as well.  Would like to find a day when others are coming back.  I need to get my class set up a little, and to find some things to do during the first day.

Now that I think about it, I thought the 4th Grade team had thought of some things to do on day 1.

Chatted with Amy on Facebook about going in sometime next week.  Get Kelly on board, and maybe we can get some things planned.