Bendito Segundo Grado

This week is a special week for me as I get to spend time with a "one of a kind" class. This week has been spent with a rambunctious group of second graders who are sometimes lovely and sometimes drive me up a wall! We've had two good days and two bad days thus far. Today was a good day which makes writing this post void of any vulgarities. Had I started this post yesterday or Monday, however, it might be a different story. There is one student who drove me completely bonkers yesterday and would never stop talking. He got sent to the office at the end of the day so we could call home and talk to his mom about his behavior. He started bawling and promising to never do it again. Before you feel too touched, he does this frequently. Well we made a deal, we won't call his mom as long as he doesn't get in any trouble what-so-ever Thursday or Friday. Today we came into class and I gently reminded him that with one outburst and we call his mom and he goes home suspended. He just looked at me, smiled, and said, "oh mister!" Well, apparently it worked because today he was like an angel compared to the past couple days!
Then there's another rebel rouser (however that's spelled) who every morning has sat there for 20 minutes doing nothing until saying, "Mister, es que no tengo lapiz." (Mister, I don't have a pencil). I went off on him yesterday and raised my voice perhaps a little bit, "No trajo un lapiz?! Y que suponia ibamos a hacer hoy en la escuela?!" (You didn't bring a pencil?! What did you think we were going to do at school?!) Today he came in and I never once heard him say to me, "No tengo lapiz." So I suppose that's a minor victory right there, the boy has a pencil at school!:)
I could go on for hours about all sorts of stories this week. I just hope that I can have one more good day to finish out the week ahead 3-2 with good days defeating the bad ones. It's like game five of the ALDS in 1995 with Cora on third and Griffey at first....so exciting, who's going to come out on top? The kids or me?:)