Is it over already?

For some reason, I had 6 babies out today. Can you see how broken up I am about that? I only had 20 kids for the day. It was AWESOME!!! We got so much done today, it was ridiculous. Actually, yesterday was another great day, as I only had 22 there. It's amazing how much teaching/learning can actually happen when I don't have to spend every minute asking someone to sit down/be quiet/stop touching your neighbor/stop singing/stop jumping....you get the idea.

One of the best things about today (oh, I'm going to burn in hell....) is that TN was out. I know I haven't really posted about him, but he has been my biggest challenge this year. I have an entire notebook filled with anecdotal records about him already, and it's only the 8th week of school. He makes last year's Twin Boy look like an absolute ANGEL! More about him later.

I think one of the reasons so many kids have been out this week is because we've been sending home medical exclusion letters since before the fall intersession. These are given to children who are out of medical compliance (e.i. Their shots/physicals aren't up to date) This Thursday, October 15, was supposed to be the deadline for getting this taken care of, and if they don't, the children can NOT come to school until it's done. Well, some of the parents must not have understood the letter, because I think they've been keeping their kids home since they received the letter.

Normally, the parents just ignore the letters, and send their kids anyway. At least they try to send them. New Principal insists that she's going to strictly enforce the exclusion policy. If that happens, I'll seriously only have less than 10 kids in my class next week! Out of the 34 children I originally had on my list, only 8 didn't get a letter!!! EIGHT!! What I want to know is, how in the HELL were these children allowed to register for kindergarten without showing proof of the required physical?! WTF!? New Principal asked me the same thing when I told her how many of mine received letters. She was NOT happy, and asked me what the hell was wrong with the office staff. I must admit, it made me giggle a little.

Next week is going to be a short week for the kids, as Friday is a staff development day. I hope it goes by as quickly as this week did!!