Almost Done

I can't believe it, but another school year is almost over. I've had a really great group of kids this year. Some have been very challenging, but for me that's part of the fun, trying to figure out what makes them tick. One girl in particular worried me from the first day of school. She had no fear. I went through my whole bag of tricks with her on the first day of school. Nothing fazed her, and I just really didn't know if we would both survive the school year. I had to pull out the Treasure Box right away because I could tell the idea of a treasure intrigued her. Everyone in the class earned a trip to the Treasure Box during that first week except her. By the end of the week, she was so mad at me she was spitting nails. She marched around the room shouting, "All I want is a stinkin' treasure. Just give me the stinkin' treasure." To which I informed her that my treasures didn't stink and if she ever wanted to be able to go there she better show a little respect for the box. We came to an uneasy truce, but things did get a little better. At least I thought.

She drew this picture about 4 weeks into school. It was supposed to be a picture of something you can hear. I asked her to tell me about it and she said, "It's you. You talk all the time." Notice the scribbles all over my body. I think that speaks volumes about her true feelings for me. I was curious about the bloby thing on the left so I asked about it. She said, "That's a brain. Not your brain because you don't have one, but I would like to give you one." This is going to be a long year, I thought.

We've had a shaky relationship for most of the year. If I would just let her be the boss, all would be well. Last week, she made all the girls in my class cry because she was telling them they had hairy chests. Apparently that's a huge insult to a 6 year old girl. I didn't know.

She going to be mad at me tomorrow, because I've already heard that she was bad for my substitute today. I had to go to a workshop so I knew I would be out. I told the class that if I got a good report from the sub I would bring worms to school on Friday. The sub said all she had to do was say, "Remember the worms", and everyone snapped into shape except for this little girl. So, I've got the worms, both real and gummy, but I haven't decided if I'm going to let her anywhere near them. We'll see how it goes.