It's Mrs. Sims' Birthday!

Yesterday was October 24.  10/24.  If you don't know, those are my two favorite numbers.  They just happen to also be the two numbers that make up my birthday. No, they are not my favorite numbers because they are my birthday..or maybe they are..but I really like them for many reasons! Even numbers, my softball jersey numbers in HS, my best friend's HS jersey numbers..it just works.

But anyway, October 24 is my birthday and that day was yesterday.  Normally, I am excited about my birthday (like most normal people), but I wasn't really feeling it this year.  I think most of that had to do with the fact that it was Monday--Mondays never feel like birthdays!  But luckily, I teach kindergarten.  And even if I don't feel like having a happy birthday, kindergarteners always do :).

I told the kids a while ago that my birthday was on October 24, and we put it on our classroom calendar. We always put birthdays on our classroom calendar so that we can remember those days, and recognize them when they come.  So when it was time for my birthday yesterday, I asked the students if they remembered what day it was.  One little girl shouted out, "IT's YOUR BIRTHDAY!" And I said "yes! Today is my birthday."  And then my little friends applauded me with shouts of "yaaaay, it's mrs. sims birthday! yaaaay!" Don't ask me why it calls for so much excitement when you turn 25, but apparently it does. ;) So as I continued to talk about the day (today is Monday, October 24, what is the year we are in? that sort of thing), some of my girls couldn't get over my birthday.  Here is a list of a few things they had to tell me yesterday:

"I'm getting you a beautiful red dress for your birthday, Mrs. Sims."
"I'm getting you a crown!"
"I'm so happy it's your birthday today."
"I'm going to make you a card Mrs. Sims. My mom has a lot."
"I'm going to bring you something tomorrow, Mrs. Sims"
"Are you having a birthday party? You can have it at my house, Mrs. Sims!"


....I have to say.  If you are ever having a downer birthday, hop on into a kindergarten classroom--it's bound to turn that mood around! :)

I've got muscles!

As many schools do, we have a dress code policy at my school.  As part of this dress code, students are only allowed to wear red, white, and blue shirts on Monday-Thursday, and they have the option to wear a school spirit shirt on Fridays.  Because my school enforces dress code pretty heavily, we are told that a student who comes to school wearing a shirt that is not red/white/blue will have to put on a white t-shirt (we have several in each classroom) until the end of the day.

Most of my students do a fairly good job of coming to school in dress code, so I rarely have to use the white shirts.  But, every so often one of my little friends does come to school out of dress code, and I have no choice but to pull one of the white shirts down and explain to him/her why he/she will have to wear it today.  This is a story about one of those times.

It was the beginning of the day, and my little friend Preston came into the classroom wearing a button down blue/black plaid shirt.  "Mrs. Sims, do you like my shirt today?!" I let him know that I thought it was a lovely shirt.  But I also had to let him know he was not in dress code, and we were going to have to put a white shirt on over it.  I went to the back to get one of the shirts, and I called him back there to meet me.  As he was walking over, I saw that he had unbuttoned his shirt a little bit and was opening it up a bit, trying to expose his chest.  He held it open and puffed his chest out a little bit as he walked back to where I was.  When he got there I said, "Preston put your shirt back up.  Why are you pulling it down?"

And with a big smile Preston said, "well look Mrs. Sims! I've got muscles!"

My Grandma is an Indian

There is always that certain student--sometimes multiple students--that really tug at your heart.  I don't say that to mean that this student is a favorite, but he/she is one that you can't help but to see his/her unique and special qualities more easily.  In my class, we are going to call this little boy Preston.  Preston can be such a handful, but at the same time I can't help but secretly wish that I could just pick him up and take him home with me.  Preston has trouble sitting still; he struggles to keep his hands to himself and rarely stays on task with anything I give him.  But, every day, he never fails to ask this one simple question: "Mrs. Sims, may I please have a hug?"  And there it is.  Smiling Heart.

Well, at the same time that he asks that precious question, Preston also has some very random things at times that he so desperately wants to share with me.  This day was just one of those days I guess.  We were in the middle of a story, when out of nowhere Preston shouted out that he had a question.  "May I ask you a question please?" ...."Wait until we are finished with the story, Preston."  Well we finish the story, discuss, and go back to our chairs for an activity.  Preston has forgotten about the question, as have I, so we go about the lesson.  Well when it's time to get lined about for specials, Preston all of a sudden remembers that questions again.  But because I am trying to get the class lined up, I tell him to go sit down and wait.  He follows me around the room and continues with the same line, "Mrs. Sims can I ask a question please? Mrs. Sims can I say something please?" Until I finally stop and look at him.  He looks like he's about to cry, so I think maybe something bad has happened to him.  I get down on his level and say, "Ok Preston, what is it sweetie?"  And with those big, serious adorable eyes staring at mine, Preston says.........

"My grandma is an Indian."

And then returns to his seat.

Welcome to the mind of a 5 year old!

Down there, Where the Devil Is

The other day, just like every day, my class and I started our morning routine on the carpet.  We had our "brain smart" song time, our morning message time, and our calendar time.  We were beginning to transition into a shared reading activity, when something happened between two of my students (a daily occurrence of course).  One was telling me that the other had hit him, so I asked the other student about it.  Of course he told me he didn't do it, but everyone around him (another "of course" moment in kindergarten) began shouting out that they saw him do it "yah huh Mrs. Sims, he did do it!"  I then said something like "Now, I hope we aren't lying about hitting.  Because when we lie, we often get into more trouble than we would if we just tell the truth.  We always want to tell the truth."  And here we go...

At that moment, one of the girls chimed in, "Yeah Mrs. Sims, if you tell a lie you's gonna go down there (points to the ground) where the devil is."
...I nod and smile, gathering the class back to what we originally planned on doing.
"OH but Mrs. Sims, if you tell a lie and ask God to forgive you, you not gonna go down there with the devil"
...I nod and smile again, still getting the class back on task.
And then another student looked at the little girl and said, with the most serious look on his face, "If you's keep pointin down there...you's gonna go down there!"

You can't help but smile sometimes. :)

Children Make My Heart Smile

In September 2009, I received my first "real world" job.  I would be a kindergarten teacher; I would begin teaching in week 3 of the school year to a group of precious kiddos who had not had an official teacher for the first 2 weeks of school.  Needless to say, I had my work cutout for me that year!  For those of you who don't know anything about teaching, the first 2 weeks of school are the most crucial weeks of the year.  In those two weeks you establish everything: rules, routines, relationships. I'm not saying those things don't happen when you start the year later, but it is definitely more difficult to start the year without structure in those first two weeks--especially in kindergarten! But I have to say--when it was all said and done--that was one of the best years of my life.  I learned so much that year, so much about myself as a person and a teacher, so much about children and the joy and laughter they can so easily bring to one's life.

Well, it's now been 2 years since I received that job, and I have started a third year as a kindergarten teacher.  Teaching Kindergarten is one of the most incredible and one of the most undesirable jobs, all at the same time.  There are days when I can't imagine doing anything else, and then there are days when I want to pull every hair out of my head one by one.  There are days when I can look at a child and think, "you are the most beautiful person in the world," and other days when I want to scream out "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" If you have every spent a day with children..you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Which brings me to the point of this blog.  In my first year of teaching, every day was a new adventure.  I heard and saw new things that brought me so much joy, sadness, anger, frustration, etc.  I started thinking about all the ridiculous things that can so often come out of a kindergartener's mouth, and how lucky I am to get to experience so many of those moments.  I wanted to share that joy with others, and the best way I knew how was to start a blog.

Except, I failed to actually write any blog posts in those first two years.  I created the blog, and thought about blogging many times, but never actually did.  Until now! Third time's a charm, so they say.  This is my third year, and I'm here to share the many reasons why i have a Smiling Heart.

...Children Make my heart Smile.