New Chitlins (aka The Scarecrows)

After the glitz and glamor of graduation (and the Wizard of Oz, which went well with hardly any snaffus (with the exception of a boy smacking a girl in the face with his shoe in the backstage room where I had to single-handedly babysit 25 children simultaneously)) the great winds of change came to Kid's College. There was a complete, Russian roulette style switchup with our early classes. My kindergarteners: Inwang, Lucy and Anna went to Ferrin Teacher while Helen's old class became mine. Although I already miss my three, having new, littler and livelier kids is somewhat refreshing. The class is very wild, but obedient. I have five boys and one girl.

Nick: Up until a week ago, Nick was "the baby" at Kid's College. He's the smallest one in my class and definitely one of the cutest. He DOES seem to have a penchant for the more feminine things. I've seen him with a ponytail and a strawberry clip in his hair, as well as painted fingernails. Although he is small and not much of a talker, he's one of the fastest, most efficient students of the class.

Richard: A man of few words. Richard came into Kid's College saying absolutely nothing. He has a case of extreme shyness, although over the past month or so he's really come out of his shell. He'll even speak in complete sentences now. He is an absolutely phenomenal colorer (for example, he drew the little yellow head streak on a penguin he was coloring). I'm trying to get his mother to enroll him in art school. One of my favorite things about Richard is that he simply calls me "Ryan" instead of "Mrs. Ryan" or "Teacher." He also gives the best hugs and tells me he loves me every day.

Jeney: The one female of the class. She's intensely protective of all the other boys, and even gets jealous of me on occasion. For example, today I had my foot on the door to prevent Toby and Peter from leaving the room. She came up and gave me the death glare/moved as if she was going to punch me! Of course I had to exert my female dominance on that one. ;) It's really precious when she tells you she loves you, but the sentiment can turn within seconds.

Peter: Like any normal boy, Peter is quite rambunctious. Together he and Toby really enjoy disrupting class-- but when he puts his mind to it, Peter is a really great worker. He has a stutter, which he's really improved on lately, but his volume level is pretty intense when it's cranked up. He alone carried the class's performance of "Old MacDonald" for the graduation ceremony!

Toby: Oh Toby, Toby. The mischievous charmer. Toby is perhaps my favorite child in the entire school. His cuteness knows no bounds. He's got a bit of a rebellious streak in him. Whenever I take away a sticker when he misbehaves he says, "It's okay, I don't need stickers anyway!" But outside of his rebelliousness, he's a sweet kid. He is also quite the chatterbox. He talks so much during class that sometimes he forgets to do his work. In so many ways he reminds me of my youngest brother Adam when he was little.

So that's all of the munchkins. We held a brainstorming session today and they decided that our class name should be the Scarecrows (after their favorite character in the Wizard of Oz). The only objection was Nick, who moved that we be called the flowers!

This is a typical 20 seconds in my life:



Toby and our new class mascot "Snowy"


The four boys: Richard (in the back), Toby (left), Nick (middle) and Peter (right)


Me with the boys.


Peter and Toby painting their trains.


Nick.


Richard and Jeney loading on the paint.

Blog post on family's visit to come very soon!