The 2nd Grade Chick

My name is Amanda, I'm a blogaholic thief!  Why wouldn't you be when there are umpteen million wonderful ideas already out there in teacher blog land!!  The next piece to my new and improved classroom management plan comes from Mrs. Dillard at I cannot wait to implement warm fuzzies and reward coupons!!!!!

I bought the thirty-one beach bag for the....well, beach.  Last week was my first week as a mom of 2 girls in dance.  This means that on Tuesdays from 5-7 we are at dance.  We eat there, and each girl has an hour of downtime there while they take turns.  This means we have 2 dance bags, 2 lunch boxes, and 2 toy bags.  Last week they each carried all their bags there but in the hurry to clean up camp and get out of there we had a lot of coordination and fussiness.  I was thinking to myself I really need another thirty-one bag, then it dawned on me!  I don't need ANOTHER one.  I need to clean out the beach bag and use it for dance!!  So I was able to fit a blanket (for a supper picnic, 2 dance bags, 2 lunch boxes, 2 toy bags, my wallet, camera and a I have a place for dance notes too!!!!!  I simply cannot live without this bag.  Here are some photos or our dance night.

I have incredibly mommy guilt for this one.  I don't pack lunches for my girls--ever.  M longed for a cute lunch box her kinder year.  I told her it was pointless because I wouldn't be putting anything any there and yes she was destined to eat school lunch for her whole school career.  Last year she did approach me again.  She packed her lunch, presented it to me and said, "Can I take this to school?"  How could I argue with that?  So there it began, she started feeding herself.  This carried over into the evenings when pleas for snacks or something else for supper  was usually met with a "no" from me.  The girl could survive on her own with an apartment and a full fridge.   Then there is J.  My parents were here last week while the daycare provider went to Vegas.  My mom says, that kid eats all day long!!  But she feeds herself.  She didn't need me.   Here is my response to my friend's FB post about h...

I'll never forget when M was in Kindergarten and starting checking out library books for the first time!  It was such a task to remember to bring that library book back every other day in order to check out a new one.  I reminded her the first three times to make sure it was in her backpack the night before, but as every parent does that first year, I forgot once.  M discovered it 5 minutes after walking across the street to our school (yes we live that close), she was still in my classroom before school had started when she discovered it and begged me to run home and get it for her.  I said no gently, that the library book must be her responsibility.  She cried, I was heartbroken, I toyed with the idea of getting it at lunch and it bothered me all day.  Every time I saw her in the hallway she gave me a puppy dog sad face.  It was one of the hardest things I ever did BUT fast forward to third grade and she RARELY forgets her library book and if she doe...

Confession--I did not teach M to tie her shoes until 2nd grade. Defense-  I also did not buy her shoes that tie until then.  Why bother?  To me it was too frustrating and I knew that even if she COULD do it she would still take the lazy way out and ask other people to do it for her, therefore I decided to save everyone the trouble and just not deal with it AT ALL! Does it bother me when kids come to school and their shoes are untied?  No, not at all, but you won't see me tying them either.  I do however teach them to tuck them in in a nice and safe way, they can also opt to ask a friend.

I am honored to be a guest poster at Check out my post  here. Thanks Jenae for the opportunity!!

I just read two great posts about letting children solve their own problems.  I have actually seen a picture of a brain scan showing a child who had a parent do everything for them.  It showed little brain activity in the frontal lobe (your problem solver).  Do you want your 16 year old to have little brain activity in their frontal lobe?  Read this great blog post at Aunt Annie's childcare and this post at The Corner on Character .