Counting on being exhausted?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


______________________________

Dizzying day at school, 

one in just a long line of dizzying days. 

I'm really wondering how to simplify these teaching days. 

Why must they be so long and full? 

We're five years into a new school, and 

I keep thinking that predictability and ease are 

just around the corner, 

but 

there 

is 

always 

something. 

Always.

A lot of it good,

a lot of it exciting, but

all of it 

very, very full,

each day,

long and full.

I haven't been writing enough,

I haven't been blogging enough,

I haven't prepared a slice for this week.

So, here's a gift of numbers,

written by adorable preschoolers,

somewhat jumbled and quite mixed up,

like the lists in my head.

SOLSC #9 Coincidence or calculated?

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

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Several Big Cats were playing in the sand at the sensory table and talking about "house" -

I am the big sister and you can be the Mommy
Here's the Daddy.
There are two babies with the Mommy.
I live next door to you. I have my own house.

I interjected with a playful question,
How old do you need to be to live in your own house?

Their answers were immediate, one right after another -

"5" said Eloise,
"9" said Lavinia,
"11" said Seymour,
"20-teen" said Jasmine,
"100" said Shaan.

I found myself smiling as I jotted down their responses, thinking it would be a cute note to share with families.

You can see that preschoolers are just beginning to developing number sense; they do not  have a true understanding of time - how long a day or month or year is...what an age might be? [I am flattered on my own birthday when preschoolers will guess my age as in the 20s.]

But as I jotted down their responses, I noticed that this little group of friends had steadily increased their numbers, each guessing higher than the one before.  I find that fascinating.

Coincidence? Or calculated?
How did they happen to do that?

**************

(A daily share by a preschooler, in their own words)

A Story Collage by Alyja

These are the spots where I live. The three little dots are to have fun. Look – there’s Mommy, Alyja, baby, Daddy. Here’s a spider, walking up the fence. The spider hides right here. That’s for the wild cats to scratch. They say, “Meow! Give me food! Give me food!” The wild cats came to the baby’s ancestors. They didn’t do anything, they’s just wild and they scratch people. They like to eat spiders and spiders like to eat flies. Mommy’s living in a house and I am living in the house next door and Daddy’s holding the baby. Today it is snowing and there’s icicles on top of the roof. The wild cats are going to run away. The spiders are disappeared. The End.