The New Kid

So, I haven't been totally honest. I've actually had 21 students this whole time, not 22. Until today. Little Philip has been on our roster, but his family was stuck in Korea, where they'd been all summer, because of some Visa complications. I wasn't exactly looking forward to his arrival - the thought of adding another wiggly little boy to my class was less than appealing. Lucky for me, Philip seems to be a tiny, quiet little angel. The poor kid just arrived from Korea late last night and was immediately bombarded by all of my kids asking him a million questions and telling him a million things. They were just trying to be helpful, I know, but I asked them to back off and give the guy some space. I'm not really sure about his English skills or how much he understands, but so far he's better at following rules and directions than most of my kids who have been practicing that for 15 days longer.

My sweet Kendal was really fragile today. Apparently she had a rough morning because she wanted to change her outfit and her mom wouldn't let her, and that just sent her whole day into a tailspin. She must have cried at least six separate times throughout the day. Sometimes because she wasn't able to finish her work right then, once because she dropped some cards on the floor, and a few that just had to do with her place in line. At the end of the day I was explaining to them that I'll be doing testing with them all day tomorrow, so we'll have a substitute teacher in our classroom, and I looked over to see Kendal's eyes filled with tears. She cried that it was because she doesn't want me to not be their teacher tomorrow... life is sometimes very hard when you're five years old.

Okay, and here is the best thing that happened today, maybe all year: Johnny had to leave a little early for a doctor's appointment, and so he came into my classroom during my planning time to get his backpack. I was sitting at my desk, and as he was leaving, I gave him a side hug goodbye from my chair. And Johnny totally puckered his lips and leaned in towards my cheek! I pulled back and said, "You can't kiss me buddy." And he got really awkward and was apologized. I said, "Are you just used to hugging and kissing mom and dad goodbye?" And he mumbled "yeah" and then quickly left the room.