TGIF

E came to see me this morning. We emptied his cubby together and I walked him to his new class. He hugged me; "I'm sorry Ms. Lowe."
Wow. At least there was that.
Later I saw him run past my classroom about three times, the counselor walking behind asking if I'd seen him. I guess things are going just great. His para told me at the end of the day that he'd found a knife at the sink and was terrorizing kids with it. The teacher who left the knife later told me she can't believe she left it there. But who would think a kid would pick it up and be an asshole?

A wasn't in school today. I'm not sure if he was suspended after making that teacher bleed, or if his parents decided it might be a good idea to keep him home. In any case, class minus E and minus A was pretty smooth. It actually felt like a vacation, in a way.

MD was defiant about everything I asked, but still we managed to keep her in the classroom without flipping out. The new sped ell boy, MC... sheesh. My para is literally on him CONSTANTLY, which means that I'm basically alone with the other 23. It's Just Hard.

But I managed to give a lesson to first graders on odd and even numbers, and to another group on parts of a circle - I. was impressed. "Dang! I didn't know there were so many!" -- diameter, radius, circumference, arc, center, chord, segment, etc.... they made their own booklets.

And B turned 9 yesterday. B is a golden child. I had her last year too and she is always, always well behaved and patient, works really hard and is so smart. She's tall and thin, big wide smile, brown eyes and bangs with ponytails. Her parents are from Mexico and Guatemala. I saw the free lunch form she filled in and I knew they were broke, but I don't know how they survive on their income. I asked if she was having a party for her birthday and she shook her head, "No, I don't think so."
Today I stopped at a bakery on the way to work and bought her a cup cake. Such a simple gesture and she was so, so happy. I didn't care that the other kids were envious.
She wore a skirt today and at the end of the day, her legs crossed sitting in a gathering, one of my boys was pointing: "Ms. Lowe!! What's that on her legs? What is that?"

B was pulling her skirt down hard, covering her knees with their hands. I saw the warts.

"Beauty marks," I said.

"What?" J said.

"They're beauty marks," I said.

I., the coolest boy in my class piped in: "That's because she's beautiful."

I could have kissed him. I saw B's face beaming under a smile she was trying to hide.

And now I've left the building and I'm off to New York for the weekend... I haven't seen my family in a few months and I'm in high demand. My grandmother is nearly 90 and my father is not yet mobile himself, so I'm due.
It will be nice to see family, but it is a source of dread as well - a weekend is a precious thing to lose - in this business, or any business. Laundry, changing sheets, sweeping up the endless golden retriever dog hair... It all has to wait.

And lesson plans? God knows I need a few hours to work on them. I hope we can leave early on Sunday without offending anyone.