Goodness I have been SOOOO busy lately!! That's a good thing, though. Time flies when you've got a lot of things to do, which means Kurt will be home soon!! He's been gone already six weeks... September is right around the corner!!!

I'm volunteering at the local elementary school now. At first I was working with a boy who had just recently moved here from Mexico. I made sure he knew what his assignments were because he really is a bright kid -- and math is math in all languages. :o)

But apparently I'm doing so well not only with him, but with the whole class in general, that I'm wanted in other classes. I'm not even sure how the school counselor found out about me since it wasn't the teacher I'm working with who gave me a recommendation. Maybe it was J., I don't know.

They've put me in another class, and it really makes me feel grateful that my first experience with teachers and schoolkids was in Mrs. T's fourth-grade class. She is so very organized, and the kids are so well-behaved because they know that they can't get away with crap in her class. They have stuff to work on, and she always has a backup in case they get finished early.

Mrs. M's third-grade class, where I'm working three days a week now, is a lot more chaotic. Some kids are doing this, and others are doing that... Kids get up and get a drink of water whenever they want to (there's a water fountain in each classroom), and the noise level is just something I'm not used to. In Mrs. T's room, it only got noisy when they had buddy reading with the 2nd grade class; the rest of the time they were quiet or they missed recess. Simple as that.

Now Mrs. M really loves her kids, each and every one. But she's so disorganized and ineffective that the kids just aren't learning. And she has no control over them, which is just scary. I told J. at recess today, "Can I come back??? I miss my class!!!"

Plus I like the kids in Mrs. T's class anyhow. They are just the most wonderful bunch of kids. There are trouble makers (two kids that are separated from the rest of the class -- like I was!! *wink*) and the smart mouths, but they're a really neat bunch of kids to work with. Today they came up to me at lunch and said, "Mrs. W!! Mrs. W!!! Are you coming back to Mrs. T's class today??? We have missed you!!"

I love those kids. :o)