[Don't] Tell Me Box.

Somebody please tell me why my kids cannot spell "school" but have no problem spelling "dick lips". Please.

Today I introduced the "Tell Me" box, so that my lovely little angels would simply exert their tattletale tendencies on paper rather than in the middle of my lessons. This morning, the box was empty, and when I picked it up after school I actually dropped it because of the weight of the little slips of paper stuffed into it (granted, I wasn't expecting it to be heavy at all and therefore did not really try to get a good grip on it).

Among my favorites?

"ronald was cousen. Love, Dorian"

"ronald sed the b word."

And a nice little series from Sae'Quan:

"Alexis be making up stuff about people. From Sa'Quan" (this was the most spelling accurate -- sigh -- note I received. The only word he mispelled was his own name).

"Davan [Davon] hit Jawel [Jewel]. From Sae'Quan."

"Micaiah said I like Jewel. From Sae'Quan".

Oh boy, how happy I am to return to 3rd grade...

For the most part, the kiddies were ANGELS today and I am in love with them. I'm definitely not a good teacher yet. If I had to say what these kids learned today I would be hardpressed to find ONE thing. But, I am surviving and the kids are warming up to the thought of learning. I need to find a way to get through the afternoon unscathed (the mornings are great). I'm thinking of making them run laps after resource...

I called a parent last night, and this morning she sat in my class for the first twenty minutes and proceeded to yell at her son every two minutes. "WHERE IS YOUR NOTEBOOK??" "PAY ATTENTION TO THE TEACHER!!" "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU??"

It was distracting to say the least and as soon as she left, her son completely shut down and would not respond to a single thing I said for the next hour and a half.

Please make tomorrow a better day for him.