The Clean Diaper Poop

So, in working in a a 1 year old room you change a lot of diapers. Some days it seems like the only thing I do is change diapers. Something I had not experienced as many times as I have with this particular group of children is such a large amount of Clean Diaper Poopers. These are the children who will have a diaper change and in less than 20 minutes they have pooped and you have to change them again.

I have a class of 10 children at least 5 of them are CDP's. This drives me crazy, it wouldn't be so bad if I don't always finish a string of changes and think "Oh I'm done for a while" when it happens!

Otherwise I'm really happy with the new job! My kids are so funny and a lot of fun to be around! The 1 year old team of teachers is awesome and I'm just overall happy to go to work everyday!

New Job

Attention Attention Loyal blog readers:

I have found a new job so the following blog entries will be related to 1 year olds as oppose to 2 year olds.

I'll be starting my new position on August 25!!!

A wayward stream of PEE nearly misses Foot...

I teach two year olds, my main job is potty training. That is important for the next entry into my life.

I have noticed in the past month or so that I have a significant number of boys who feel the need to sit on the potty to pee. Now, I have no problem with this when they will on their own free will push their penis to point down into the potty. I do have an issue when sitting on the potty turns into a shooting range where I have to move my feet very quickly out of the way of the streaming pee. Parents if you have boy children, please teach them to pee standing up.

Now, parents of girls in childcare this part is for you.
In my classroom we have two potties in one room and both boys and girls go in together to use the bathroom. The girls are seeing the boys stand (the ones who actually do) and are trying to stand as well. This also gets pee on the floor the only difference is I don't have to jump out of the way of a stream.

So this is my public service announcement tonight: Gender roles in the bathroom are OK by me. Teach your children the proper way to use the bathroom!

The link below is a funny little video for a real product, it goes along with my blog today! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T47kt6DuT-4

Purple Mud=BIG MESS

I started out yesterday afternoon to make some play dough with my children.

Here is my recipe that i use:
-2 Cups Flour
-1/2 Cup Salt
-1 Tablespoon Cream of Tarter
-Water
-Food Coloring

*Mix dry ingredients well with spoon.
*Add food coloring dots to the dry mix (You get a better color this way)
*Slowly add a little water, stir, add a little more until it binds

*Take out of the bowl and kneed on a floured surface until proper consistency.
*Store in something airtight and it will last longer!

So, I'm making play dough, I keep all of the ingredients in the room all the time however, I was running low on salt so I cut the recipe in half. However, I added WAY TOO MUCH water and didn't have enough flour to thicken it up. I ended up with a mixture that was sticky and wet and gross so I took it to the table right by the sink, put aprons on the kids and dumped it on the table in front of them.

OMG they had a ball! I had parents that came in and just watched the mess they were making and wanted to join.

Here is my service message of the day: Parents do not send children to school in their "best" clothes. If they are in clothes they think you will get mad at them for getting dirty they can't fully participate. Even though the kids had on aprons they still got dirty.

This also pertains to real mud, if it has rained and you know the playground is prone to having mud and your child likes to play in the mud bring in extra clothes it will ward off headaches for both you and the teacher.

First day back after Vacation....

So I've just spent 9 days Child Free, this is a very big thing for me as spending two days child free very rarely happens. With all this said, I wasn't the only one on vacation, so were the children. Let's review: We transitioned to new classrooms (for the kids) and new kids (for the teachers) on June 11th. Come July 3rd we were out for 9 days. Teaching in a 2 year old room usually leads to lots of new children in the center who have never been in childcare before. With all that said, I was prepared for a day of serious crying and bad drop offs and overall mayhem. Add to the top of it, not much sleep for me and a head cold that has me sneezing/blowing my nose all the time.

Now with all that said; I had all 14 of my children and hands down today was the best day we have had with our kids yet. With the exception of nap time when our nap time problem child struck.

I've got a blog brewing about my classroom's nap time antics. I'm trying to calm myself into not putting all of my true feelings into the blog as it could come across really mean. Be on the look out!

Sickness

So, as an early childhood teacher we deal with sickness A LOT...I spend time taking temperatures and dealing with all the other side effects of sickness on a regular basis. When there is a child with a high fever we have to call the parent. Where I work there is a policy that requires you to pick your child up if they have a fever higher than 100.0. Now I also realize that this is inconvenient. I HATE sending children home sick. I would much rather have them healthy and happily playing. Now, with that said, please do not treat me like I have done the most inconsiderate thing ever by calling you and making you leave work. I understand you may not have enough paid leave to cover you, however, it isn't fair to the other children and me to have your sick child there to infect us. For the record, this doesn't reflect something that happened today but it has happened in the past and for the most part most of my parents are AWESOME!

Spirit Week

As I mentioned before, it is the end of the year and our children have lost their minds. My co-teacher and I decided to, for lack of a better word, bribe our children with a spirit week. They had to make good choices as a classroom such as, everyone sitting in circle and not getting sent away, cleaning quickly and other ideas such as that. We formulated the "Spirit Fever" thermometer for 10 "good things". We then started it on a Wednesday and the kids were given 2 weeks and 3 days to earn 10 red strips. By the last two days of the challenge I was looking for anything to praise. However, we did it! So bring on; PJ & Movie day, Crazy Hair day, Favorite Team day, and Luau day!

End of the year

So I have been going over and over in my head the last few weeks of crazyness in my classroom. I have decided nothing has changed except the children's behavior. I'm still new at this school even though I've been teaching for a few years now. Is it the same with teachers who have been teaching for years and years? The last few weeks before summer or as it is with me before a transition to a new classroom have just somehow turned my children into zoo animals, so I guess that makes me a zoo keeper....I am not sure I like that description but it works. If you are reading this and have some insight for me please feel free to share!

Beginning

So I have taken to coming home from work some days and creating a file on my computer of Rants or just random things that happen through the day so, I've decied to share some of those thoughts with anyone who cares.