OMG where do I begin???? The kids came in and were happy and chipper and seemed ready to rock and roll. We got started on spelling and little Mo, one of my three Mohammeds, actually got up and spoke. Now, to prepare you for how big that was, Mo spent the first three hours of last Thursday pretending he couldn't speak English, and all the kids went right along with it! Well after we broke through the ruse, he refused to talk anyway. I have been giving instructions and then having one of the kids say it in his language, not that he needs that, but I do! I want to make sure he understands all he has to do. So I have been telling him he has to participate in order for me to give him grades, but until today he absolutely refused. Well today in Spelling I had the students stand and say a word from the list and use it in a sentence. These kids are so bright. Anyway, Mo stands up after much prodding and says, in a tiny little voice " The plants had red flowers!" It came out so soft and clear, forgive me, I yelled " Yaaaaaaay!" The kids started clapping and he looked so shy and at the same time pleased....course now I can't shut him up! Not really! He is being wonderful with the new kid K; they are great friends and help each other do the work. It is adorable to see. But I have two student H and A. A is so smart, but I fear some thing is missing. He just some days is a little terror. But he is funny at the same time. So, he just wouldn't act right so I ended up having him sit next to me, but facing the wall. The wall has two or three poster and a couple of announcements on it. He sat facing that wall for about 2 hours. Finally I relented and had him go back to his seat. Guess what he did? Stared at the wall. Now please understand, the whole time he sat facing the wall he kept turning sideways, taking books out of the crates, bothering the other children, you get the picture. So, he is now back in his seat staring at the wall that he was once facing. I said " Uhhhhh....what cha doin?! To which he replied, and I kid you not " I'm trying to see what the posters on the wall say!" I looked at him, and said " Let me get this straight.....the same wall you sat looking at for two hours, you now want to stare at again to read the posters?" He looked at  me, and with a silly, but serious grin on his face said " Yes!" All the kids looked st him, and then at me. I calmly picked up a book, put it in front of my face, and laughed myself sick!
H I fear has a problem with hygiene. The whole classroom smelled like someone had pooped his or her pants. Couldn't figure out who so I decided they needed to have Health today. Found the chapter on hair, skin and nails. Alot of the kids said, get this one, " I shower three or four times per day!" Considering that yesterday the classroom smelled like urine, I found that hard to believe. At any rate his teacher from last year said she had a problem with him not cleaning himself properly after number 2. Wow, some how I cannot remember this from my time as a fourth grader; of course that was way back when everybody was just getting indoor plumbing so that might be the reason why!
It was so hot I took them outside and we played red light green light. This is their fourth grade strategy: when you hear green light run as fast as you can! I said "you guys have the wrong strategy". I proceeded to show them how it's done, moving bit by bit. they all yelled" No Ms Fern. When you hear green light, you pose to run as fast as you can!" To which I replied" Ok, I'm driving down the street and I see a stop light. It is red, so I stop. When it turns green, I should take off as fast as I can!?" They all yelled " Yes!" I said " Right! And get a ticket and go to jail!" They are sooo funny! Then they spent the afternoon acting like terrors. It was so crazy! But I think I am making progress! They kind of like the meditation thing, though I do not call it meditation. I call it relaxing. So far they can relax for about 2 and 1/2 minutes, which is then immediatley followed by hours of torture and torment...then torturing and tormenting me...but really I think I am making progress.