Feb 8

Today was quite a day!  My husband is still out of town so I was flying solo again.  He will be back next week.  In fact I was walking into the primary room the first question I was asked was "Where is Bro L?"  No one is more excited for him to be there than ME!!!
Jr Primary was a little loud today.  Okay, so as Heather O put it, it was like New Years Eve in there!  Lizzie said  the opening prayer, and Ana gave a talk, or a scripture.  Lizzie made sure to bless the Beluga Whales.  Phew, I was worried about those whales ;).  And Ana tried to eat the microphone while giving her talk.  Her sweet mom would try to move the microphone a little bit, but she was determined to talk right into it!  I know you have all heard how it sounds when someone is too close to the mike, so unfortunately I can't tell you much about what her talk was about.  But I do think she has a great future in her teens to run the drive thru. She was equally intelligible to the teenager who asks about your order.

By the time we headed to class everyone was a little "energetic".  I got them into the room and started the lesson.  Now... I know that a lot of thought and prayer goes into these manuals, but every once in a while, I question the logic behind the lesson.  Today, against my better judgment, I followed the plan laid out, and we talked about Moroni.  Then, as per instructed, we rolled a paper into a trumpet and pretended to be Moroni with his trumpet.  Whooo eee.  Trumpets and reverence do not go hand in hand.  So when I could, I put them away until they went home.  Hopefully they enthusiastically trumpeted all the way home!

We missed Israel.  We had to discuss for 5 minutes where he was.  Each time I thought I had explained that he was probably home with his mom and will be back next week, someone would bring it up again, and we would have to explain it all over.  Hopefully no one is absent next week : /

Today Wiley wanted to tell us all about his new house!  We are excited he gets a new room, and a new pool, and a new yard, and a new whole bunch of trees, and a new kitchen....

This started a new trajectory, Ana wanted to share her picture from her talk with us.  It was a picture of Jesus and a heart, and her whole family, and some fish, or whales, or something.  She will draw me there next time. Then she wanted her picture made into an airplane.

Everyone was getting a little fidgety so we attempted to do a reverence walk down the hall.  They did pretty well.  Except Fierce was making whooshing noises the whole way.  We got a drink at the drinking fountain (unless you have taken 6, 4 year olds to get a drink you don't understand what a monumental feat that is).  They all took a turn and then we continued to walk semi-reverently down the hall.  We got to the end of the hall where there is a door to the outside, this is where we were supposed quietly turn around and go back.  EXCEPT....we had the boys try to make a quick getaway to the parking lot!  But HA, I am too experienced, and too wise for them and they were quickly shepherded back down the hall. We ran into a member of the bishopric who almost pretended to be Godzilla, but thought better of it (Phew thankfully).  The girls turned the hall light off and we proceeded back to class ( I figured someone would turn it back on). We ran/walked to the classroom (the boys running until I could catch up to them and remind them to walk reverently).

Boys are different (special) creatures.  They were trying to walk reverently, while at the same time, trying to be in front of everyone else.  Finally I made a new rule, everyone had to be BEHIND teacher.  Then we made it back to the classroom.  They had hit their threshold on reverence, so we took some pics.  We folded up our chairs and laid on our bellies and looked at the pictures.  We spent the rest of the time identifying who was who.  I almost forgot to collect our reverence cards and hand out lifesavers. I should of known they wouldn't let me forget that!  Claw's mom laughed at us because I had found out that there is a right way and a wrong way to hand out lifesaver's.  If you hand it to them outright they will fight about what color they have vs what color they want.  Instead, I make them close their eyes and open their mouths and they have to guess the color I put in there.  I am just sneaky like that.  However it does sorta resemble a mama bird feeding her little baby birds.

The topic today was the restoration of the priesthood.  I know it doesn't sound much like we learned anything, and we probably didn't. We did identify all the main characters in the pictures.  I don't know that they ever learned who Oliver Cowdery was...

Selfie

Wiley "This is my happy face"

Ana "I want to do a funny face"

Israel 

Lady "I just want to smile"

Claw "Arrrrr"

Coloring

Happy Faces

Silly Faces

Tired Faces

Funny quotes

Lady... When asked who loves her. "My mom and dad, and Wiley. Even if we die."

Wiley "I am going to marry Lady. I love her. And she is mean"

Ana and Lizzie when asked if they know who Joseph Smith is. "Yes. And he prayered and saw angels. And gave high five to the Beluga Whale. Can we talk about sea animals now?"

Claw speaking to me and my husband, "and do you have kids?"  Us, "yes". ( we show them a picture of our family). Claw, " and are you married?"  Us, "yep". Claw "to each other?!?!?!"

Later Claw, speaking to anyone who passes the open door. "My teachers are married...to each other!!!"

Israel, "I like RED!" (About anything, crayons, lifesavers, etc) and heaven forbid we hand him a purplish red, or write his name in GREEN at the top of his paper. :)

Todays class

Feb 1

My husband came up with the brilliant idea that we would bribe the kids to be reverent. If they sit reverently they could earn a lifesaver at the end of class. This week, my husband wasn't there and I expanded on it by giving them a little picture of kids being reverent, which I would take away if they weren't reverent.  At the end of class, if they still had their card, they could trade it for their lifesaver.  Claw especially liked this idea.  It was like magic.  I have never seen a 4 year old sit so reverently for so long!  Lady on the other hand, had great fun telling everyone how reverent she was and showing them her reverent card.  At least she thought she was being reverent :).

At one point Wiley told Lady that she was MEAN.  Lady was very upset by this.  She came to tell me, and I told her she shouldn't listen to him.  She stopped crying, and agreed that this was a good idea.  Later in class, Wiley started saying things to her again.  Lady started complaining about it, to which Wiley responded that "Teacher said you shouldn't listen to me".  I guess I gave him a free card, because it was her fault for listening! hahaha

We colored a picture of the First Vision.  When Lady "helped" Israel clean up his crayon, by taking it out of his hand and putting it in the crayon box, he melted.  He became a puddle on the floor.  We tried to tell him he could put his own crayon away, but he couldn't hear us.  Finally I knelt down and handed him back his crayon, at which point, the storm instantly cleared, he popped up and promptly put away his crayon with a huge smile.

After seeing pictures of the first vision Ana pointed out the Heavenly Father and Jesus are twins!  Just like her and her sister.  I know they aren't, but they are One in purpose, so I let it go.  Her parents can untangle that one.

And they ALL earned their lifesaver.

Some of our first "tales"

If you have never taught primary, I am so sorry.  It is so fun!  And you learn a lot about people from their kids.  (Hahaha are you worried?)  Kids have their own quirks, that are funny at home, but add it into the quirks of 6 other 4 year olds, and you get pee your pants hilarious.

Week 1- I made little CTR shields with their names on them that we could tape to the back of the chair.  That way they could know they "belong" to our class, and (hopefully) stay in their seat.  The second outcome was probably just wishful thinking.

In a way it worked.  They loved their little signs.  In a way they didn't, the tape didn't stick well to the chair and they insisted on putting it back up.  Every time.  Even after the tape lost its stickiness.  One of the kids insisted that we didn't have the right name because we wrote it in all caps.  His "a" had a tail in it and the one I wrote didn't.  Another didn't like my handwriting and insisted it was spelled wrong because 2 letters were touching.  Ooops!

Wiley loved my husband.  And put up with me.  :)  All during class he would rub and pat my husband on the back while saying "I love this guy".

At the end we got to hand out CTR rings.  It was a huge "FAIL" in red using all Caps.  If we weren't volunteers we would've been FIRED.  We went around the class putting the little adjustable rings on their pointer finger and practiced saying Choose the Right through the whole class time.  Of course, being 4 year olds, they had to play with the rings and take them on and off.  We were glad we didn't hand them out til the end.  Then in all the going home commotion, we didn't realize Claw had put is back on and and was showing it to EVERYONE who walked down the hall, shouting "Choose the Right".  The problem...He had put it on his middle finger.  We tried to get him to change fingers, but he thought we were trying to take it away.  In the end, we let his parents deal with it.  Good thing he lost it that week, I don't know what people would think about the crazy mormons if he still had it on.

Meet the class

Usually I will try to post each week after class, or activities but I am playing catch up.

Lets start by describing our class
 Teachers... me and my husband

Claw- the only boy at his house.  He is mischievous, and fun loving, he know serious gospel answers, even when you think he isn't listening.  He responds well to praise, and wants to please teacher, and asks lots of questions. He loves to talk..

Lady- the oldest girl in her family.  She literally knows all the answers.  And then explains them in the vernacular of a 4 year old, and truly understand the concepts.  Oh, and she has a fascination with death.

Wiley- He has been friends with the family for a while. He knows us and likes us, mostly. His mom is in primary with us, and sometimes he just wants to sit with her.  Especially if my husband isn't there. Lady and him have been friends for a long time, and he has accepted the fact Lady has decided that someday they will marry.  Whether he likes it or NOT.  He is the youngest in his family and the only boy.

Fierce- He is easy going, and not a trouble maker.  He is kind of the policeman of the class.  He likes to tell us when someone is doing something they are not supposed to.  And doesn't like anyone invading his space. He would rather hang with the 14 year olds and his parents.

Israel- Comes from a big family.  Goes with the flow.  Until he doesn't. Loves to sit in my lap. LOVES to say prayers and or be called on for anything.  Very motivated by candy.

Ana and Lizzy- Twins. Very sweet and loving.  Love to talk.  Especially about anything to do with the ocean or sea animals.  They can turn anything into a story about and octopus or starfish.  If you call on one, they both answer.  And they always agree.. with each other.

Hopefully with that background you will understand some of the dynamics and experiences we share.

Welcome to our class blog!

Hello all!  After being called as teachers of the CTR 4b class, my husband and I have had sooo much fun, and so much fun telling the tales out of primary school, that I decided to put it all in a blog so all can share.  Hopefully you realize this is all in good fun and hilariously funny (to us anyway).  I won't use real names, but I will try and pick names that will make it obvious to those involved who is who.  Feel free to share this blog with people if you like.