"Marvel"ing at the Positive

One of the new classrooms that we acquired for the 2012-2013 school year is a 1st grade 6:1+1 Special Class. It's all boys and they are becoming my new precious snowflakes. I have such a soft spot for behaviorally challenged young men and have been visiting their classroom often. Here's one reason why:

One of the boys, G, is very sensitive to noise over-stimulation. Another of his classmates was having a minor meltdown and G became very overwhelmed and started crying. G's teacher took him for a walk to calm down and have some quiet, so they came to visit me. As soon as G walked in, his adorable little face crumpled and he started crying again, so I took him in my lap and hugged him for a bit while I talked to his teacher. When he had calmed down, I dug into my prize box to see if there was something he might like.

One of my awesome Target $1 bin finds this year were Batman and Avengers erasers and tattoos. I was pathetically giddy to find these, and had to restrain myself from giving myself a sleeve with temporary Hulk tattoos. I asked G if he liked Batman and his eyes lit up. We picked out a tattoo of Batman punching the Joker and I helped him put it on.

It was spectacular. I love days where a quick moment with a kid at 2:00pm makes up for anything that happened earlier that was less than spectacular.

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Welcome Back, Mrs. Sh*t!

Well hello friends, it's been a while! My apologies for the long hiatus in exciting blog posts--I pretty much turned my brain off once summer hit, and I'm still in the slow process of rebooting (I feel like I'm stuck on the Blue Screen of Death). Too much sun and wedding planning!

However, I can share some stories from today, the first day back to school!

1. I got to play "QUIP" with the 6th grade 6:1+1 classroom. QUIP is a math game where you are given 3 numbers and can use only those numbers to equal values 1 to 10. For example, when given the numbers 4, 5, and 8, you do "8+5-4-4" to equal 5.

2. I'm starting the school year using my married name, so that the kiddos have extra time to adjust (wedding isn't until October). Now, my maiden name was no peach to say (one of those names that doesn't look like it's pronounced) and my married name will also be a little mouth-fumbly, and sounds like a curse word. I went into the 8th grade 15:1 class and introduced myself to a new student in the class as "Mrs. NewLastName," and the boys who helped with my Veteran's Day fundraising project giggled and replied, "Mrs. Sh*t?" Yes, you're hilarious.

3. When visiting our new 1st grade 6:1+1, one of the kiddos yelled, "Hey miss, I got a cigarette burn on my belly, look!" and lifted his shirt up. Enter conversation about how to appropriately wear our clothing in school.

4. Totally geeking out with a 4th grade boy over The Avengers. I casually mentioned to his teacher that I had some Batman and Avengers tattoos, erasers, and pencils if she wanted to send someone down for good behavior, and the young man's eyes bugged out--"WHAT? Why didn't I know about this earlier? I have an Avengers BACKPACK!" I think I have a new friend.

Day one down... days 180+ to go.

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