Word Vomit, NO! Actual Vomit!

I’ve been waiting for something especially exciting to blog about…well on this past week it happened. We had a stomach virus hit our building hard! On Thursday and Friday we had a huge drop in attendance because so many of our little sweeties were sick, throwing up to be exact.

Luckily, I somehow survived, and did not catch the virus. However, on Friday I did experience my first (of many I’m sure) vomit in the classroom situation. One of my poor little guys was sent home early on Thursday, but wanted to see me so much (okay I added that part) that he told his mom he had to go to school on Friday.  He came in and I knew he was still very SICK. I asked if he wanted to go to the nurse and he said, “maybe, if you really think I need to.” Most kids are chomping at the bit to go to the nurse (usually when they aren’t really all that sick) so I knew he was really trying to be tough.

He went to the nurse for about 30 minutes then came sluggishly back to class, laid his head down on his desk and tried his best to stay awake. After a while I went over to check on him, as soon as I got to his desk he said, “Miss Bass, I need the trash can!” I dashed across the room, grabbed the trash can, and headed back to my little guy. When I was only about 5 steps short it started. I dropped the trash can in front of him, but not quite in time, although it did aid in furthering the mess, he already had puke all over his desk and down the front of him. Poor kid, I felt so sorry for him.

I was very blessed to have my literacy coach in the room at the time. She had been helping teach a lesson on writing, and boy was I glad she was there. She helped to get my sick student to the nurse while I stayed to corral the rest of the class, who were by this point trying not to lose their breakfast as well. I start to kick into “nanny” mode and clean the throw up myself, then remember “wait, I can call a custodian to help!” I was so thankful that within just a few minutes the mess was being cleaned up and I was not the one doing it. A huge thank you goes out to all custodians!

After opening the windows and going crazy with Lysol wipes, our room was good as new. As for my little guy, he went home. Overall, I’d say my first adventure with puke was pretty successful!

On a lighter note, Cute Kid Quotes:

“Miss Bass, What does scandalous mean?” – Sally

“Where did you hear that word?” – Me

“In a song.” – Sally

“Uh, ask your mom.” – Me

I have a student with autism, he is extremely creative. Last week at recess he brought me a twig with a tiny red leaf on the end and said,

“Miss Bass, here…I made this for you”

“I love it….what is it?” – Me

“It’s a stop sign. Now when kids a being bad you can just hold it up and say STOP!”

Cute like a Chihuahua

This week was by far the hardest week yet of teaching. The newness of everything is wearing off and the kids are getting very comfortable with me (maybe a little too comfortable). But the biggest lesson I learned this week was how to give my kids my best when my heart is hurting. As most of you know by now I found out last Sunday that the baby I nannied for last year, Paige, has a cancerous tumor in her chest. She is so sweet and I took care of her from the time she was 5 months till she was 15 months, so she is my baby too. That being said it was incredibly hard for me to go to school and focus while I was awaiting news on her condition. And of course Monday and Tuesday the kids were CRAZY! The saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” went through my head about a thousand times those two days. Fortunately, by the end of the week it proved itself to be very true. After “laying down the law” on Wednesday with my week started getting better, and by the time the kids left on Friday I was feeling much better J

Cute Kid Quotes:

Madison: “Miss Bass! Tyler said the F word!!!”

Me: “Tyler, get over here!”

Madison: “You know. F-L-I-P”

Me: “Never mind Tyler”

One day I wore a black and white striped cardigan…and got this fashion advice from on of my girls…

“Miss Bass, I don’t like that sweater. It makes you look like your in jail!”

To practice writing friendly letters I had the kids write me a letter telling me what they think of our class so far this year, here are two of my boys responses.

“So far I think this class is good, but it is not that good.”- Rocky

“You are the best teacher ever. You are coot like a cwow.”  -Tyler

(He read his out loud to me, if you can’t decode kid spelling it says “cute like a Chihuahua”).

My “Charmed” Life

Tonight I watched the video my parents made me for my high school graduation. It has been a while since I’ve watched it (ok, not that long…maybe 5 months). But tonight I saw it with new eyes. I have always known my life has been very easy. Also, I knew that when I started teaching I was going to hear stories about my student’s home lives that would shock me. As, I watched the 30 minute DVD of my life flash across my TV I began thinking about just how blessed I was growing up. Honestly the worst thing that happened to me in the 3rd grade was that another girl told me I looked like a leprechaun because I was wearing an all green outfit on St. Patrick’s Day ( it was the cutest little green and white striped top with a green scort, and she was obviously jealous of me). At the time it really hurt my feelings and crushed my little heart. Funny how those things stick with you. Needless to say, the problems I hear in my class each day make my “drama” seem like a joke.



All this to say, I am very thankful for the “charmed” life my parents provided me. Even though it breaks my heart to realize my “normal” life isn’t the reality for a majority of my students, it only makes me want to work that much harder to show them stability, encouragement, and unconditional love at school. Each day I go to school I get to give them hope, and it is my goal that in my classroom each of my students will have a “charmed” life.


*A special thanks to my mom and dad. I love you both so much. I’m the woman I am today because of you. Thank you for teaching me the value of hard work. And for always believing in me and loving me no matter what. I’m truly blessed to be your daughter.

Sweet Notes

Without a doubt one of the best parts about being a 3rd grade teacher is all the sweet cards and notes the kids write me! It always brightens my day :)

Here's on I got today:

"I think you are the best teacher in the world. I think your pretty. My best friends are Landon, Josh, Blair, Nathan, and you."  -Nicholas

And here's another kid quote:
This was my conversation with a student while we were having a "book conference" (a time when they tell me about a book they are reading).
Landon- "While the guy was sitting in the bathtub he blarfed."
Me- "He what??"
Landon- "He blarfed"
Me- "Can you spell that for me?"
Landon- "Blarfed. B-L-A-R-F-E-D."
Me- "What does that mean?"
Landon- "You know, it's when you burp and throw up some too."
Me-"Sorry I asked."

Me to class: "Alright, Miss Bass' Class, I need you ears closed and your mouths open."
Paige: "Ughh..Miss Bass I think you mean your ears open and your mouths closed."
Me: "Just wanted to make sure you were listening..."

learning, love, and a few tears...

Well...yesterday was one of those break you down to build you up kind of days.  And on my 5th day of teaching I shed my very first tear. I tried my hardest to laugh of my troubles..but yesterday it was too much. I said to myself, "Janae, you're not going to cry you and going to laugh this off!" So I forced myself to laugh, but it quickly turned into a cry. I'm sure if anyone else would have seen me in the hallway they would have thought I was loosing it, but that moment that exactly what I was doing, loosing it! I only shed about 3 tears, then I quickly composed myself and went back to class. Now after reflecting on the situation here are a few things I've learned...
*It's ok to cry, everyone does it.
*By having "issues" with a student I have to chance to show myself and everyone else what I'm made of.
*After having a bad day, you really really appreciate the good ones.
*Teaching isn't just about the students learning, it's about the teacher learning what works for each student to learn.
*Today I was better because of what I learned yesterday...and LOTS of prayers.
*If I have many more days like yesterday, I'm going to have the strength of a body builder.


“Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.” -- Samuel Johnson

A New Beginning

The past 3 weeks have been full of packing, unpacking, cleaning, decorating, meetings, making copies, laminating, and lots more.  And even with all these things going on I have been able to have some fun too! God has really been blessing my time in Branson so far and I know he will continue to do so. Here are a few of the ways I've felt His love lately:

*Spending time with old friends
*Making new friends
*Coffee and Conversation (Women's Night at church, yes I'm a full-out grown up now, I go to the women's events!)
*Placing me in a wonderful school district and school building. (Our back to school district meeting was opened with prayer!)
*Providing me an awesome 3rd grade team of teachers, and a very sweet and kind mentor teacher. I would be lost without her.
*Giving me 26 students to love and teach.

My last blessing leads me into the name of my blog...I decided to name it learning, love, and laughter because that is what I know this next chapter in my life is going to be full of.  First, although I am the "teacher" I will be learning just as much if not more than the kids this year. Next, love, I know I'm going to need to choose to love my children every single day. The reason I decided to be a teacher was because I knew I want to serve and love kids. And last, laughter. I know this year is going to be full of trials. I told mom that instead of crying when things go wrong I'm going to try my best to laugh! We'll see how well I do with that, but I haven't cried yet (I know its only been two days).

I also want a place to share cute things my students say. So I'm going to try to have at least one kid quote for each blog post. Enjoy!

Kids Quotes:

From one of my students who was talking to his group members and didn't know I could hear him. "Ok guys, raise your hand if you love Miss Bass. I mean not like LOVE LOVE her, but love her like you love ice cream."