Short Bus

One of my favorite little students "Lacey" struggles with speech and expressing herself. She was so excited because the 2nd graders had planned a field trip for the end of the month. One thing you should know about "Lacey" is that she LOVES buses. So one day she came up to me and asked if they were going to ride the bus today. I sadly had to tell her no and that it wasn't for another week. They she started to ask all sorts of questions. "Is it a yellow one?" "Will there be a bus driver?" Then the funniest question of all "Will the it be a short bus or the long bus?" I about died when she asked this. I told her it was probably the long bus, because there will be a lot of kids going on the field trip. She jumped up and down with excitement. It's funny that she would even ask a "short bus" question...especially being in special ed.

What to do? What to do?

In starting a new year, there are many new things that await you, but this was totally unexpected. I share a classroom with another teacher for half of the day. We'll call her "Bear". She struggles sometimes although she's been teaching for almost 20 years and that's why I think this story is so funny. She had told me earlier that her ex-husbands father was dying and then over the weekend I get a call from her say that on Monday they were going to have the funeral and she would not be there (this was very thoughtful of her to let me know) I told her that was fine and then she preceeds to ask if she needed to get a substitute. I almost couldn't hold it back. Although we're in the same room we run two complete separate groups. I explained that she would need to get a sub and that I can't just take her kids all morning. Then she trys to exlain how because it was the beginning of the school year, she didn't have her schedule down and wouldn't know what the to have the sub do. it was hard not to chuckle that a teacher with 20 plus years of experience would know when she's supposed to get a sub for her students and how to throw some activities together to keep them busy for a day. :)

"Defiant Child"

I have to give a little background...I have a 3 grade student who I sometimes call my "defiant child" She acts like a three year old sometimes if she doesn't get her way. I've seen much kicking and screaming and climbing under tables from this 9 year old. Well, one day she came in after lunch to math and I noticed her zipper was down. I leaned over and whispered in her ear to zip it up. Then...Just because I was the one who said it...she said in the most sarcastic voice I've ever heard with her nose in the air. "I like it THAT way!"