First Week Favorite

So I've completed my first week as a fifth grade teacher. It has been an eye-opening experience to say the least! As someone from the Wizard of Oz said, " You're not in Kindergarten..I mean Kansas anymore". Ain't it the truth. All these kids I teach now can say my name correctly; no more "Mrs. Bald" or "Mrs. Balls" or "teacher". Now it's Mrs. Ball, the correct way.

Fifth graders have more capabilities than Kindergarteners; not that Kindergartners aren't capable, it's just that 10 year olds can finish assignments WAY MORE QUICKLY than 5 year olds can. Overpreparing for each day is a good thing! Keeping 10 year old hands and minds busy is a very good thing!

This week we each took a turn introducing ourselves by including 5 things in a paper bag which described us. I included trail mix (favorite thing to eat), a measuring cup (like to try new things to cook), a flower magnet (like to plant and grow flowers), a Robie Creek magnet (like to torture myself with that race each year), and a picture of my family (I'm a Mom, hello!). Well, through the course of the week each student had his or her turn. On Friday, as we were finishing up our introductions, I had a student who was very concerned that her mother put in the wrong picture - instead of a family picture, an individual picture was included. I told the student to tell us about her family if we couldn't see the picture of them. She started out by saying that her family included her dad, and that he was really old. 40. "Ahem," I protested, "I'm 40." She hurriedly said, "But, Mrs. Ball, you don't look 40. You look like you're 20. My dad looks a lot older than you do."

OK, I know who my new favorite student is!!!

Only until someone else chimed in (breaking a class rule of not raising her hand) by saying, "I think you look like you're 15!" Boy, oh boy, do 5th graders know how to work a teacher! Let's just hope that by the end of the year I still look like I'm 20 to them and not like some frowny lined old bat of a woman who can't wait for her class to get on out the door to 6th grade...stay tuned!