"It's a Book!"

My first class tonight with the Violent One was interesting. The school has decided to keep the "big kid" chairs in all the classrooms instead of moving them into the hallways or in unused classrooms during small star classes. The goal is to keep parents out of the corridors of the school and it prevents the aiyes and TA's from moving the chairs around during every break. However, it leaves the rooms much more cramped for all the running around we do with our small stars.... Plus, they are a bit distracting and dangerous for the little ones. So, that has thrown everything off a bit.

Plus, we have gotten about six new students into the class and they all have their own precious, unique personalities although sometimes they are all a bit overwhelming at times. They are rather a special small stars class. One of the new boys is super mature and thinks all the other kids are rather special. Tom is like an old man in a five-year-olds body. Then... there is Victor.

The kid's English name is Victor, but like many Chinese ELL students, the "v" sound is really, really tough, so he says his name is "Richard" but got really mad at me last week when I wrote "Richard" on the board! Today, we were learning to sight read a few classroom words. Little Victor answered everything with the response, "It's a book!" It got pretty hysterical over time. My TA was cracking up.

The rest of my day was nice, too. I finished grading and sorting out a huge stack of student work. I wrote a parent update for one of my higher level classes, and I finally cleaned out my work cupboard. I recycled a lot of papers that I have been meaning to file, but it's just not happening. It was time to start a new. I was very excited to find my Doctor McCoy button I thought I had lost a few months ago off of my coat, but it was just chilling in my cupboard. I went out for fruit tea and some snacks with Cindy and the local teacher Claire after work which was a nice way to end the work week.

I'm way excited for this weekend. I didn't get a full weekend off last weekend due to a conference, so this one will be much more appreciated!