A Crazy Week at the Ville

It was one ridiculously long school week!  I knew the kids would be crazy since it was the last week before break.  The special assemblies and excitement of Christmas was more than enough to throw off our routine.  Sure enough, my homeroom was so hyper on Monday that I changed their seats from group formation to rows on Tuesday. 

Wednesday night was the holiday program, Elfis Comes to Town.  The kids dressed as reindeer and elves and sang blues and rock-n-roll songs.  We don't have a lot of parental involvement, but what parent doesn't want to see their child dressed up and singing?  It was a packed house!

Some of my refugee students

Part of the audience

Thursday was another long day for many reasons.  Our principal scheduled a completely impromptu encore presentation of the holiday program.  She made an announcement at 8:30 a.m. for students to make their way towards the gym.  All the teachers on my hallway poked their head out the door trying to figure out what the hell was going on.  So, the 500+ staff and students crowded into the gym for another presentation.  This is just another example of poor communication at school.

That same afternoon I discovered someone stole 16 candy bars from behind my desk, along with some lead pencils and smaller pieces of candy.  (I had purchased these items to make treat bags for my students.)  After demanding my students to write anything they knew on notebook paper, a suspect was identified.  My teammates and I interrogated the child and she stared us in the eye and denied everything.  We eventually got the principal and behavior specialist involved.  We made her empty out her bookbag, pockets, and shoes.  This was what was found: 

Of course there were more items stolen but she had already eaten and given away several items.  The child happens to be Muslim and all the females in her family wear the traditional hijab.  Her parents came to the school to have a conference regarding the matter.  Her mother made it frighteningly clear that the next time the child was caught stealing they would take her to the mosque and have her hand cut off.  She kept saying, "You bring shame to our family.  You know what our religion teaches us.  I don't care if I am in America now.  I don't care if I go to jail.  I will follow our law."  Even though this child has a history of stealing, the principal and I agreed we would not involve her parents again!

I tried to keep things as low key and predictable as possible on Friday.  I did allow my students to bring in food while we watched Happy Feet at the end of the day.  They already knew I wasn't bringing in anything because I was so angry over the stealing incident.  They brought the following:

Notice the Latino and Asian foods

My happy little class enjoyed their snacks during the movie!



Friday was also pajama day.  The fourth grade teacher across from the hall and I were two of the five teachers (out of 100 staff members) who dressed up.  I would never pass up an excuse to wear pajamas!  I included this picture because I love this teacher and am relieved that she is across the hall.  She taught at my previous school with me last year.  We received the same bonus to work at our current school and daily regret the 3 year commitment we've made.

Now the only thing that stands in my way of Christmas Break is two workdays.  Bring it on!