Week 4:

This week I have decided was a full moon or something was in the water. We had a very crazy week and the children were ALL acting out of character or being extra wild. On Monday alone we had one student go into a fit and throw chairs then another little boy bit someone. Also on Monday we got a new little girl who didn't make it through her 1^st day of school ever. She had 2 full blown temper tantrums where she pushed tables, threw chairs, tried to tear up the classroom, and hit and kicked both teachers.  The principal had to come talk to her twice and by the end of the day she was suspended. Her mother refused to come get her and her sister who is 16 had to come pick the little girl up. The child isn't allowed back at school until her mother agrees to come have a meeting with the principal to discuss the child's behavior. It was also the first day of summer school at Starke so there were about 150 other children and teachers on campus which threw off our VPK students especially since most of the VPK students have siblings who are coming to summer school.  This was just on Monday alone.

The rest of the week was a bit less eventful. We are having trouble with attendance for our students and the excuses we are getting just seemed to be parents being lazy. So many times we get told that the parents wanted to sleep in so they didn’t bring the kids to school that day. In most other schools excuses and attendance like this would be unacceptable but Starke is a whole another world and these are everyday struggles you face in your class.  The home lives of these kids is shocking, they are constantly facing challenges that range from where they next meal will come from or if they will have water/electricity to gang violence and drugs. It is so important for the students to be in school not only for their learning to increase but also for their well-being to get them out of their home lives for a few hours and to help them to develop into people that rise above their environment.   

 One of the highlights of my week was when we got to do animal dances with the students. They were so in to all the animal noises we made and how we went around the room acting like the animals! It made the craziness of earlier this week kinda worth it J

"MRRRGAGGLHLGRGLL"