Don't see me!

Ocassionally throughout the week I have a 1/2 hour break during the day when I go out and just sit outside in the park. Many, many old people sit outside on the benches in the park, all day long! You would think it would get boring, but they don't seem to have anything else to do! They just sit and talk in the park all day. Anyway, most times I go out and sit in the park, I end up trying to talk to the old people. They always want to give me something! Sometimes they give me ice cream, fruit, or the latest was yogurt! This time I sat down on a bench near three old people. They were singing and it was kind of funny to listen to them. The old woman would sing a line, and then, I guess it was her husband, would say, "No, no, no that's not right!" Then he would continue to sing it the "right" way! It was pretty funny to watch them bicker about these old Korean songs. Ocassionally they would look over at me and ask me who I thought was right! I could only understand some of what they said, but Iassumed that was what they were asking me ;) The lady must have been satisfied with my response because then she presented me with the yogurt! At one point I recognized the song she was "trying" to sing as, "Oh Danny Boy," but it was in Korean. Interesting that they have some of the same old songs!

Lately in class I'm been trying to teach my kids how to be patient, and how to think about others first. Oh man, how do you teach this to 5 year olds? I'm often stumped, thinking, "How did my parents teach these principals to me?" I have no idea. During one of our classroom "How not to be selfish" talks, I noticed I must not be getting through. Two girls were arguing back and forth and they were both embarrassed that I'd pointed it out. The one didn't want people to know she had gotten in trouble, so she was covering her eyes, saying "Don't see me!" assuming that if she could not see them, they could not see her. The other girl, refuses to be wrong, so when one of the other students call her out, she plugs her ears saying, "I can't hear you!" Whew! Every day is an adventure! Most days I just laugh at the things that happen on a regular basis. Hmmm, guess I better try a new approach! :) When they are being silly, constantly I remind them to sit in their chairs and listen to me, but at the same time, they are just being goofy kids. I hate to dampen their funny spirits. I'm still learning about the balance. It makes me wonder what I was like in kindergarten...