ahora vamos a contar

rather than heading to school early to plan, i'm puttering around the house writing bills, contemplating breakfast tacos, and blogging. i've decide to mix things up a bit on here with a few non-school-related anecdotes (i have a personal blog to separate my teaching life from everything else... i'm pretty sure y'all don't wanna hear about my man problems and painting, but if you do, leave me your email and i'll getcha linked up). a few things that have been sloshing around my head:

a fellow maestra and i hit up a local club's latin night yesterday. we've heard about it for months on the latin pop radio station (which we listen to religiously, no shame!), but since the club is pretty sketchy and frequented by a lot of minors, we haven't been too interested. moreover, latin night falls on a thursday, and we only go out in the middle of the week for special events. however, you give us a friday off and we're willing to do relatively stupid things to entertain ourselves. that said, after realizing a couple of my dance partners/propositioners were at least FOUR YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME, i decided that dos xx is a good dance partner too and should not be ignored. the guy to girl ratio at this place was like 8 to 1, it was utter insanity. you couldn't walk to the bar without being hit on at least three times... i liked it for its novelty but if i was around it too much i'm sure the desperation would start to worry me.

high heels are a bitch

if any of these situations applies to you, you are NOT attractive and i do NOT want to talk/dance with you:
1) you are dressed like a pirate
2) you seriously get down to "mesa que más aplauda"
3) you have anything, no matter how big or small, in a zebra print
4) after unsuccessfully hitting on me for ten minutes, you tell me you're going to talk to another girl.. but if she doesn't want to dance with you either, i had better change my mind when you come back

strangely, some of the guys last night addressed me as usted. what the hell is that about? half of my kids don't even address me as usted. is that normal?

i'm trying to brainstorm some really enriching ways to get my higher-level kids to write more and better. i want to have at least three writing boxes ready by april: dinosaurs, pandas (we did a thematic unit on them in january), and then something for my girly girls. i plan on having a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts (though lord help me find such things in spanish), die cuts, markers, photos, and even puzzles, toys, and other theme-related activities to help spark their imagination. if you've got any suggestions, please comment!

in response to a recent comment, i have to admit that my kids crack me up all the time. i have no problem laughing at their jokes or comments in front of the entire class, and rather enjoy getting into those endless "¡Ay que no! ¡Ay que sí! ¡Ay que no! ¡Ay que sí!" traps. more than anything though, i can't help but snicker to myself in two circumstances:
1) two kids get in a stupid fight that temporarily ends their friendship. one child comes up to me sobbing, and when i ask what happened they say: "M-M-M-Maaa-SOB-esss-HICCUP-tra, Car-SOB HICCUP-men SOB no SOB SOB quie-HICCUP-re SOB ser SOB mi HICCUP HICCUP SOB HICCUP a-SOB-miiiiiii-SOB-gaaaaaaa...". translation: "teacher, carmen doesn't want to be my friend" interrupted at each syllable with the painful, wracking sobs that come when a six-year-old's world collapses before their eyes. i tend to start hugging from the get-go, but the sobbing and hiccuping i just can't take seriously, and while i'm patting their back or whatever i'm often stifling a giggle and smiling over their poor damp head.
2) my kids forget how to walk in line, are playing in line, or are talking in line. i will not tolerate them making me look like a shitty first-year teacher (because really, this is all about me), so when their line behavior is less than stellar, we have to walk all the way around campus and exhibit excellent line behavior before returning to class and going to recess. i become very serious and dramatic when i "realize" that we have to "practice", often sighing loudly or muttering things like "no lo creo", "qué vergüenza" or "¿qué pasó? ¿por qué de repente tengo una clase de bebitos?". then i select a few students to tell me what good line behavior looks like, then send them on their way. a friend of mine saw pictures of a "good line" and told me they looked like they were in jail. since that comment, watching them get super serious with arms stiffly behind them and eyes suspiciously monitoring the 1-3 kids that always ruin it for everyone else makes me crack up every time. i usually have to cover my mouth or get it out while i'm locking the door. we also read this book about animal mothers that taught us baby hedgehogs walk in a perfectly straight little line while wild boars walk in a big clump. when my kids get crazy in line, i often declare that they look like a bunch of wild boars. that's pretty funny, too. although i think that sounds kinda harsh in english so i've since looked up the word in spanish and use that instead. fyi, a hedgehog is an erizo and a wild boar is a jabalí.

wow, that was way longer than i intended it to be. taco time!

*UPDATE: the team leader is doing okay, but no one really knows what happened. i did a little shopping and now have several fun things for the dinosaur and insect writing boxes... stickers, puzzles, woodcuts and even those cool little pill-looking foam things you drop in water and watch grow right before your very eyes.