Cool! I was awarded "Best Christian Blog of the Week" this week for The End Time! Thanks goes to The Holy Spirit for inspiring the writing.I started work at school last Thursday and I have been running ever since!! Herding 20 four-year-olds through an 8 hour day at school is a monumental task. They arrive between 7:20 and 7:40 and after the 8:00 bell rings we have breakfast. Last bell is 3:00 but that's just to get on the bus or go tot he gym and wait to be picked up. Some wait in the gym after school to be picked up for up to half an hour, too, or spend an equal or longer time on the bus ride home. It's a long day for them.
I am grateful to be working for an excellent teacher and also to be working in a very well-run school. And no matter how physically demanding the work, I am grateful for it. I read somewhere that over 535 Georgians are losing their jobs every day.
They are sooooo cute, I laugh all day. I was asked by a little girl this week, "Can you come home with me and stay overnight?" And given hugs and asked for the millionth time, "When is lunch?" and "Can you tie my shoe?" and "When are we going home?"
This week we will paint and also use homemade play-doh. I can't wait, I like art with the kids. Any activity that emergent literacy will support is great, especially the describing of the picture later. It all supports early literacy and it is a ball to hear their work being described. One boy, he is a bruiser for a 4 year old, plays football, always responds the same way when asked what his picture is (remember, add a Georgian accent):
"It's a big ole building"
"It's a big ole man"
"It's a big ole apple"
LOL.
One pair were having snack at the table and the little girl said to the boy, "I have a boyfriend."
Boy says, "So? I have a boyfriend AND a girlfriend!" Then they ate animal crackers and drank juice and fell off their chairs and spilled their drinks and asked, "Can you tie my shoe?"
And the ever-popular "I have to pee."
"Not right now, sweetie."
"Oh no, I am going to pee myself!"
They have learned fast that this is the one sure thing that will get them an extra trip to the fun house that is also known as the bathroom. See, there's echoes and stalls that lock and soap dispensers and paper towel knobs to yank, and pants buttons to struggle with and emerge victorious, and a row of friends waiting in line to hold hands with and jump up and down and giggle. We have 5 stalls for 11 girls. It takes a long time to get through it. Two of our gals can't even reach the faucet and I have to turn it on and off for them and they don't even have enough strength to push the soap lever all the way so I do that too. And even though there are 9 boys and plenty of urinals, it takes a long LONG time, because, well, boys are boys and they like to play.
So that is a day in Pre-K. Two more weeks and the long-term sub job is up and I revert to regular subbing like last year. I miss those little buggers already.
