New Year, New Students, New Experiences

Today is the day the students return (yay!) and as always, the time after the holidays is when we lose several students. More importantly, it is when we gain some more students. Although, we usually lose and gain about the same number, it never works out as an even swap.

For instance, we lost Max. I could cry! He was the 3rd grader who could read on a college level. I've been putting all my chips on him to raise the test scores.

And we gained Annaliese (not her real name). She is a cute and boingy 1st grader. Who doesn't know how to spell her name.

No big deal, you say. Well. When asked, her mother couldn't spell her name either.

Why in the love of all things chocolate would you name your very own offspring a name you couldn't freaking spell?! I realize that she *may* have some learning problems (mom, that it - but then again, there is that theory about apples and trees...), but she seemed with-it enough to have some coping skills (suggestions for mom: write the name on a piece of paper in your purse, tattoo it on your body, etc).

We also got Hayley (again, not her real name) - also in 1st grade. According to Mom, she likes Barbie stickers. And that is important to know because she likes to run away. And bite. And the biggest thing that sets her off is not having strawberry milk, you do have strawberry milk, she really likes that strawberry milk, and what will we do if she doesn't have strawberry milk....

Now back to the Barbie stickers (I kept getting lost in this conversation), well, the Barbie stickers are what she needs for a reward for simply GETTING OUT OF THE CAR. I think my mornings are about to get interesting.

Can you hear me now? "Whhoo Hoo! I like the way you stepped out of the car! Nice move. And the way you held on to your backpack AND closed the door at the same time. Why that was awesome! Here. Have a Barbie sticker."

On a serious note, I truly am excited about the kids coming back to school. They are adorable and entertaining (sometimes, I wish they were a little less entertaining - especially when I a become a chew toy). We seem to have a lot of kids being raised by parents who want to be their child's buddy. There seems to be a fear of guidance and consequences. Everything in life can't be positive - in fact, people learn from mistakes (sometimes).

Speaking of learning from past mistakes, I've got to go. Need to go find some Barbie stickers and strawberry milk.