May the "Fourth" be with you.

May the “fourth” be with you. Haha! I had to say it! I mean, it is the day, right?! I’m not even a fan of Star Wars…but I know it…so that is there for all my Star War fans out there. Not that I’m saying that I even have any fans. *laughs*

Well, we have opened up the preschool again for essential worker’s children. But so few are coming in that we have scheduled times to come into school to watch the two children who come in. Today is not my day, but I am here at the school right now, sitting in my classroom, because there is internet here…and I need the internet. Plus, we have decided that in two weeks, since we are closed for the rest of the school year to our school ohana (basically those who are not essential worker’s children), we will do a drive by goodbye. Where our school ohana will drive by in the parking lot, and we will give them their belongings that they have left in the classroom and end of the year gifts and what not and say goodbye.

It makes my heart hurt. And I am not even lying about it…it really does. I miss “my” preschool keiki. I miss them so much. They have been the constant in my life for the last 9 years and this is the longest that I have gone without them. Yeah, I have taken vacation time - 3 weeks at the most when I went to the Philippines for Christmas/New Years a few years back, but this is going on longer than three weeks now.

I will be the first to admit, I do not know what it is like to be a parent. I only know what it’s like to be a teacher and an auntie (a kicka$$ auntie, if I do say so myself!) And as a teacher and an auntie, I miss my littles so much. Like, I mentioned, they have been a constant in my life and I worry and think and love and everything them. They are not mine…but they are “mine.” One thing that I like about living and teaching here in Hawai’i, is that you are “auntie” to everyone younger than you. My keiki have the chose to call me Ms. Charity or Auntie Charity…and no one bats an eye at it. And for the most part my preschool family treat ME like family…hence the term “school ohana”. Not only that, but my co-workers…yeah, I work at one of the best schools ever (am I biased, not really…maybe a little), but I am not joking…we are all like family here. We watch out for each other and have each other’s back. We have this thing that we are always saying, “Family first”….and we live by it. And we are all family. We are all ohana. And I miss them all.

I had…no I HAVE a real awesome group of kids this year. Well, every year I do…and every year I feel like I can’t love any group of kids that I love “this” group of kids…and every year I am wrong. Happily wrong. I love every child that walks through my door. That walks through the gates of my school. Who am I kidding…I have a soft spot with it comes to the early childhood years. I adore the 2 year-olds. One of my pet peeves is when I hear the term “terrible twos”; I hate that term…I lovingly say “terrific twos.” Again, I am saying this with a teacher/auntie point of view. As a parents, I might see things a little bit more different. But for now that that is how I see it.

I personally think it’s because I CHOOSE to be with that age. If I HAD to choose an age group to work with it would be the older 3-younger 4’s…but I do have love the 2 year-old age. Don’t get me wrong…they are at that “I want my independence!” stage and they will test your every boundary and push your every button you have and/or didn’t realize you had. They will cry for no apparent reason and they will stubbornly tune you out…ever heard of selective hearing?! Yes, try saying, “do you want candy” to a child who chooses to “hear” you and watch how fast they come running. You can accurately compare their attention span to that of a goldfish and get ready for one volume and one volume only. All day long. All 14 little ones. And in that one volume…oh, did I mention that volume is loud. Just loud…not soft loud, not medium loud, not extremely loud….just loud. But yes, in that loud volume of voice they will ALL talk to you at the same time. And they act as if they can’t hear each other talking…they just talk and except you to hear them. All. At. The. Same. Time. And you know what? You learn how to do that. You learn how to make each child feel like they are listened to and you slowly teach them to stop and listen to each other by echoing what each child says and asking that child what they thought of that. And you slowly realize that in the middle of all the noise, the mess, the constant stories, the cries…and the potty training…you love what you do.

I mean, at least I did. I do. I miss it. It’s been so long since I was in the middle of that “glorious” chaos. Did I think that it was “glorious” at that time, no. Do I miss the random cries, the sudden tantrums, the constant sound of loud, no…and yet, yes. What I miss the most is the hugs, and yes, the stories. I miss the cuddles and the random checking in from my littles. I miss the little hand that grabs onto mine and the arms that encircle my leg. I miss the rarity of an empty lap and the random “bop” on the nose. I miss the yells of excitement when a child’s favorite song comes up on the playlist (yes, I have music CONSTATNLY playing in my classroom), the random “epic dance parties” we would have, and how when they heard a specific song they knew to lay down and have a quiet moment. I miss doing my laundry and finding a random rock, dried flower, browning leaf or some trinket in my pocket, gift by a little one. I miss all the flowers the children would pick (we are blessed to have our preschool located where there are several plumeria trees and flowers everywhere!) and I miss the feel of a child pulling my hand to an open area of the playground so we can dance to whatever song that is playing. I miss hearing the children’s voices as they sing “Into the Unknoooooown! Into the unknooooooown!” for the millionth time. I miss having the children run up to me and spin in circles to show of their beautiful outfits and them yelling out, “watch this! Watch how fast I can run! Watch this!” I miss it all.

I miss when my littles would excitedly wait their turn to call out an animal for me to sing about so they can dance. I miss the little voice that says, “lavish me, aunty” (what they say when they want a cuddle). I miss looking over to the multiple fishtanks I have in my classroom to see the children talking to the fish and telling them stories. I miss how they have their own table to eat lunch at, but they still want to eat at the “big table” where their feet can’t even touch the ground, just so they can have lunch next to me. I miss the “torpedo” hugs…(you know that hug, that hug where the child locks in on you from across the way and nothing can get in his/her way as they barrel past everything and everyone just to explode into you for that hug that just so wanted at that very specific time.), and shockingly enough, I miss the fact that whenever I had to go to the bathroom I had an entourage that I would MAKE stay at the door and I had to talk to them and sing to them the whole time least they check under the stall to make sure I was still there.

I miss them. I miss my littles. I miss my keiki.

And I hope and pray that they are okay. I hope and pray that they know that I miss them. I hope and pray that they know that I love them.

Aloha!

A piece I created to remind myself that "Good things will happen, love is real, and WE WILL BE OKAY."

Goodbye, Hello.

Who knew that goodbyes can be so draining. Emotionally draining. Mentally draining. Physically draining. Just draining of your soul and happiness. At least, to me, that is what it seems. The first two rounds of goodbyes in this month of goodbyes have happened, and yes, it was just as hard as I remembered and dreaded.

As a teacher, whenever the month of May rolls around, you already know that emotions will be flying here and there and everywhere. Not only is it the end of the school year, but it's also a time of "last minute things." This year the end of the year came out of nowhere. I mean, I was aware that it was coming up, and then BAM it was there!

The goodbyes started early this year. Way before the official last day of the year. In the school that I work at, we have a lot of military families...and we had a lot of families this year that were stationed at a new place before the end of the year. I will forever respect and pray for all military family...whether they are currently in the military or if they once were. As much as I dread saying goodbye to my families at the end of the year...these families have said goodbye to a life that they created in one place to move to another. That is hard...and yet, they still do it for the love of our country...and I appreciate, respect, and admire these families. (Thank you, with deep respect, thank you.)

Every year I tell myself, Charity, there is no need to cry when you say goodbye, but every year the tears flow. It's the parents that get me. At the end the school year, I have the parents coming up to me with tears in their eyes as they thank me for helping their child develop and discover new things about the earth around them. We talk story about WOW how their child has grown from the first day they walked through my door until now, not only are they taller and more mobile, but how they are more confident, more curious, and more verbal. We talk about how independent they are and how they have grown to have such wonderful, unique personalities. And being a 2-3 year old teacher, one thing that we talk about is how they are finally potty-trained and able to use their words more. They thank me for all of this, but it wasn't only me. I thank THEM for their patience with me, their trust in me, for inviting me into their families to become an "Auntie/Teacher" to their child. I am forever grateful for their trust and open arms. We did it together...with the help of each other. There is no doubt in my mind that I could have done any of that by myself.

This year (and for all the years that I have taught so far!) I had such awesome parents that liked to be involved with what we did in school. I felt like I had a wonderful relationship with "my" school ohana; we had open communication all around and although this year started with a lot of criers, it ended with tears of happiness and accomplishment. And it is because of the close relationship that I had developed with each family over the bond of love and respect for their child that made it hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the school year.

Now with the majority of my keiki gone, yet with some returning for the summer, I have a "new" class. A new class with a different dynamic of personalities and minds. Today is only the 2nd day of our summer program, but I can tell already that it's going to be full of laughs, fun, dancing, singing, exploring, and running around in the sprinklers! I usually have a smaller group for the summer, that this year it's no different. I have joined up with two other classes to make things more interesting and fun. But on our own, in my own class...we laugh, we dance, we are ohana.

Tiny Feet.

Today my DollGirl came out of her classroom and showed me this beautiful creature that hatched in her room. I'm not sure of what the technical term is when a caterpillar emerges as a butterfly from it's chrysalis...is it called hatching?! Well, anyway, my DollGirl's classroom is blessed to have a lot of chrysalis' that are on the verge of hatching and this little guy came out while they were in the classroom and so when it was time to come outside to play, my DollGirl very carefully let it walk on her finger to let her take it outside.

Here is her little cutenss giving me a "loud" smile as she shows me the beautiful butterfly that she was able to hold for just a moment before it took off to the skies! I'm so glad that I was able to take this really quick picture of her holding the gorgeous butterfly.

After the butterfly flew off, for some reason DollGirl wanted me take a picture of her socks. She rarely wears socks, but it has been kind of cold lately and so she decided to for whatever reason to wear these cute mismatched socks.

When her classmates saw that I was taking a picture of her socks, they thought I was taking a picture of their feet and wanted me to take pictures of their feet to. It was super cute coz I told them that I would take a picture of their feet if their feet smiled for me. This is their feet smiling for me.

More "smiling" feet! I just love how these children think. I love how they LOVE to go around barefoot, and I appreciate living in a place where that is allowed. When I first started to work in a preschool setting and saw how they would do this, I would get upset that they might step on something that might hurt them, but the longer that I worked here the more that I saw that this is the way of life here. I even have parents who remove their shoes when they walk into my classroom! Now, that is respect!

This reminds me how careful we have to be around children. They will mimic you. They will follow in your footsteps whether you wan them ore not. They are innocent. I have to remember this and this makes me smile because I realize because of them, I am always striving to be a person worthy to be followed in her footsteps. :)

Keiki Field Trip: The Bus.

Today we had (at the preschool we call it) an in-house field trip. Usually our in-house field trip means that we stay in the school, however this time we didn't really stay in the school, we went on the City Bus! We didn't really need any parent participation. We we out to the front of the school and then "Aunty" told us all about what the bus is about and all about the safety, etiquette, and rules about being on the bus, how to get on the bus, and how to act like on the bus. 

Then we all got on the bus and we were able to take a short ride around Kailua! It was a lot of fun. I love how it was such a simple thing...riding the city bus...but the kids loved it! All they had to pay was a penny! And that was because we wanted them to know what it was like to put money in the ticket box, and then say, "Transfer, please!"...it was super cute to watch! I loved this in-house field trip! It was super fun for the kids and it reminded me that the simple things in life can mean so much to a child who is experiencing something that they don't normally wouldn't, like a ride on the city bus!

On a side not, I was SUPER proud of all my keikis! I am currently potty training some of my little keikis (more than half of my 16 children!) and I have to admit that I was worried that one of mine would need the bathroom at the most inconvenient time! But we all made it with no accidents. And so yes, that makes me one proud teacher! :)

KiwiBop Postcard Pals: December 2016.

 I actually got these postcards on Monday, but I kept forgetting to take pictures of them, so I am just writing this now. But I never got the postcards for last months and I figured it was because I was not at school for the past two weeks, so maybe this one is supposed to be for last month? I'm not too sure; I'll just have to wait and see if I get another package before the end of this month and then I will know for sure. :)

Kiwibop Postcard Pals is a monthly subscription that "sends awesome postcards to your child that will engage their reading skills and teach them about the world!" The membership is only $3.59/month, and you pay annually so that would be $43.08 a year, but if you use my referral link here, you will get a 10% discount! It will automatically renew yearly, however you can cancel at anytime so that you won't get billed the following year when your subscription is done for the year! When you first sign up, they will send you a Member Welcome Kit with four initial postcards for free as well as some stickers and some fun activities to do! Once you are a member, you will also have access to their online Fact Explorer, which is a very good resource for curious minds!

My preschool keikis LOVE seeing this envelope! They are always excited to get this subscription because they are so curious as to what they will see! :)

My keikis LOVED this one...they asked a lot of questions about outer space and we ended up making up stories of what we would see and do if we were outer space!

My keikis LOVE crocodiles! The animals that they are always talking about are the crocodile, shark, and the manta ray. Ever week we have chapel with the residence pastor here and part of chapel is when he brings out his "friends (puppets)"...one is a bird named Birdie and the other is a crocodile named Crocky...so yes, they are always talking about Crocky...and so when they saw this postcard with a crocodile, that was it! They all wanted to play "Crocky" and sing all the crocodile songs that we knew and make up songs about crocodiles. I love it!

I love these postcards because most likely than not they have nothing to do with the theme that we have for the month....but that is one thing you have to realize as a teacher (or anyone who is around kids) you have to be super flexible and just go with the flow. I do have a lesson plan and what should happen that day...but 75% of the time we deviate from what the original plan was. And I love it! With these postcards, it creates opportunities for the children to come up with different creative games, activities, and imaginative plays! I love it! Each postcard that they saw brings up questions and different activities ideas!

I can go on and on about the different things that you can use these postcards for...I'm just saying I think that they are a good thing. :)

So that's the monthly packet of Kiwibop Postcard Pals! I highly recommend this subscription and if you would like to subscribe your child (or other children!) with this fun, educational postcard subscription please click here for a 10% discount on your membership! 

Keiki Nature Walk.

Because only few of my keiki's came in today, my TA and I decided that we wanted to take our kids our for a nature walk. We asked some of the other kids in other classrooms if they wanted to come with us on our impromptu nature walk. We allowed the children to lead where we going...as long as we within the campus area. It was beautiful and fun walked. I loved how the children really explored, and wasn't afraid to get dirty if need be. It sprinkled rain a little bit, but that didn't bother the kids or my TA and I...winter's in Hawai'i are warmish..and so we were okay.

I'm not sure that you can see it, but do you see all the mangoes that the keiki found?! They were so excited to see the fruit. I told them that when they get rip and drop we can go for another walk and pick some.

Such a beautiful tree! Makes me want to climb on it's branches...or at least put a swing on it! :) But it was a good day...we had a good walk. And my keikis (and other kids in the school) had a lot of fun. :)

Keiki Gifts.

I had mentioned to my TA that I was getting worried that the gifts that I had gotten for my preschool keiki weren't going to be here in time...so she brought me something to cheer me up because I was getting super stressed about it! This Volcano candy is just like pop rocks...and I ended up sharing them with my keiki, and they loved it! But I seriously was getting nervous because the last day of the school for this 2016 year is Friday, and the books that I had ordered like on the 6th of this month still had not come in! Then a few hours later, Jami, our office lady walks into my classroom with this box of books! They came it! I stayed after school wrapping them so that I can send them out tomorrow with the kids!

So I wrapped 20 of these babies, and I had to wrap them fast because I did NOT want to be stuck at the school when it was getting dark and it has been getting dark earlier and earlier...but I'm glad that I was able to wrap them...that was a load off my back! Now to other things to get done before this week is done!

Random Family Beach TIme.

I usually go to the beach early on the weekends. I like going to the ocean in the mornings when there aren't that many people out and I can have the beach sort of to myself. It's nice going out to the ocean. I love the ocean. The problem with going so early is sometimes my family will text me and ask me if I want to join them at the beach...when I just got back! Today was one of those days. It was good that I still have my beach attire on so I told them to part at my place and we can walk over.

They didn't really go into the water, KaiBoy and I walked the shore some and DollGirl just played in the sand. It was pretty cold out and there were a lot of people at the beach already. (Another reason why I like to go early. When the crowds start to come, I leave.)

I love the fact that I live so near to the beach. I honestly believe that it's my soul place and I can't fathom the idea of leaving it. Thinking about it just makes me go blank.

Although it sprinkled some, the day was gorgeous. I love the weather here in Hawai'i. It's perfect weather! Look how beautiful it is! Hey, a random thing I learned today! When I come here early in the morning, I always see that boat! (The one in the in the left of the picture in the middle.) I ALWAYS see it there...and I never really thought about it...until I saw one of my preschool parents run past me and jump in the water and get on the boat! Well, now I know who the boat belongs to! :0

I hope I never take this beautiful place for granted. I wish that my family would come here more. I love the beach and I love being near it. I love it so much...and I know that my DollGirl and KaiBoy love it too. I hope we stay here for a long time.

Gift Wrapped and ready to go!

Today I finished! I finally finished with the keikis gift to their parents! I though that I wasn't going to get it done in time, things were going SUPER slow! But with the kids help, we got it all done! :)

And there it is! I think that they turned out great! The keikis decorated their own everything. The bag, the bell, and I love how it all turned out! :) Yay, to getting things done early...so now I can have fun with the kids. Oh wait. I always have fun with the kids! :) I love my job!

DIY Christmas Bell.

Yay! Today we FINALLY completed our Christmas Bell ornaments for our parents! I think that they turned out super cute and I love them so much! They were super easy to make and I think that this might be a Christmas project that I am going to make with my DollGirl this year when we are on break.

I spray painted the clay pots red and green and then I allowed the children to "paint" the pot with metallic/glitter glue. Then I gave them various things that they could glue on as well-buttons, winter sequins, pompom balls, and glitter. I did give it a quick spray of sealing varnish and wrote their names inside the bell and also attached a bell inside. And I also added a tag with one of my favorite quotes on it. I think they turned out amazing...and I hope that the parents will love them!

Now I just have to get the Children to finish decorating their gift bags so that I can wrap/bag these babies up! :)

DIY Christmas Handprint tags/ornaments

This week at the preschool, we are working on our Christmas presents to our parents. It's a bit harder because not all the kids come on all the days and so I wanted to start a bit early and not leave this to the last minute. Today I was able to complete all the hand prints tags that I plan on putting on the bags that the children are going to decorate.

I think that they came out super cute! I made these last year and they were a hit with the parents! I hope that they will like them this year as well! I am a sentimental person like that...and I like making hand print arts and craft so that the parents can save them through out the year. I think that it's a nice memorabilia.

I found this poem that I placed on the back of the mittem/hand print on the internet...and it was a super cute poem so I really wanted to print that out. These tags are really quick and easy to make...and it's a nice keepsake. I think that it's also nice to hang on the tree as well. :) At least I have one step down from finishing the Christmas presents! :)