Thursday, 3/27/14

You know when someone has a project that they've created and so it holds a special place in the person's heart; the kind that's often referred to as one's "baby"? That's Kids Teach Too for me, and it was today! About 60 of Benson's students developed and created a display about something they find interesting, which they then taught about to their peers, Benson staff members and a variety of parents and volunteers. It went swimmingly, and I could not have been prouder of how well our students conducted themselves and how brilliantly they taught others.

Check out the cutie pies from Room 16 who rocked KTT today!!

 I am utterly exhausted, but these faces make projects like this 100% worth it! Great day! Congratulations to all participants!!

Friday, 3/21/14

Another 2nd Grade Career Day is in the books! 21 amazing presenters + 110ish second graders = a morning of learning, memory making and fun!!!

Here's a little window into our morning.....

Mr. B's 3rd time as a Career Day presenter!!

Everyone loves a chef!

Mr. P amazing the kids with his artistic skills!

Mr. T----the kids' future principal!!

A farmer in a bee suit; how cool is that??

The Itasca Police come to Career Day every year! 

Mr. K demonstrating that safety always comes first!

Grandma K, a nurse of 38 years! What a blessing!

Mrs. K showing what many Benson staff members would look like with new hairdos! So fun!

Mr. W helping us dream of future parks (and entertaining his son!!) 

Itasca Firefighters are also yearly visitors to Career Day!! 

Mr. B from the Itasca Bank. He's been a part of Career Day long than I have and is always a hit!

Tuesday, 3/18/14

The kids came in today asking if the leprechaun had come last night. I told them that I'd hoped not because I spent a long time cleaning up after him!! Luckily, he did not. There are just some little remnants of his time here in room 16. I forgot to get the ladder, so the green evidence he left on the disco ball is still there, and his little footprints were still on some of their desks. Nothing a chlorox wipe couldn't handle this morning. ;)

Tomorrow is our citizenship assembly, so this afternoon the kids were doing some writing about being a good citizen. I was impressed with what I saw them writing, and I'm excited to take the pile home and read their thoughts tonight. The first grade teachers do a great job of getting the kids' writing skills ready for 2nd grade, and it is such a thrill to see the strides they make throughout the year. There are still sentences that start with lower-case letters (ugh!), but the content grows so much and the kids' confidence in putting their thoughts on paper is just impressive. This time of year becomes very contemplative for me. I marvel at the independent, intelligent, well-versed students who have emerged in my class, but I lament that our time together is rapidly coming to a close. All the more reason to cherish every moment!

By the way---you voted today, right?????  Good citizens! =)

Monday, 3/17/14

Welcome to St. Patrick's Day in my world! Leprechauns visit and wreak havoc with my home-away-from-home. Then the children show up, one with a trap for the little stinkers and one with the spirit of the day! I love my life!!! Enjoy

This is what we walked into this morning...

Mayhem ensued, as you can imagine!

My bulletin board was written on!!

Not cool with Celebration of Learning around the corner leprechauns, not cool!

Thank goodness, my smartie thought to make a trap! And it's an amazing trap, to boot!!

In what other job do you get to look at this all day long??? I'm so blessed! (this will make me laugh forever and ever!!)

Wednesday, 3/12/14

Apparently those pesky little leprechauns have decided to come and wreak havoc on my classroom again this year. The morning had fully gotten underway when I went to the couch for target time and there were little green leprechaun tracks all over the couch, the bookshelf and the recess toys. Luckily one of the kids had the smart idea to get a paper towel, put a little bit of water and a touch of soap and then rub the tracks out. I did what she told me and it worked! ;) ;) ;) I guess we'll have to see what tomororow brings....

And I just had to share the following with you. Just when I'm having the kind of day, week, month where I have to dig deep to find strength, I come in after lunch to find these waiting for me. I work pretty hard to build an atmosphere of love, support, caring, understanding and faith in one-another in my classroom between the kids, and sometimes I'm lucky enough that they are overflowing with their love and I get a bit of it boomeranged back to me:

do you see the shoes???? love!

look at the amount of time and work that went into the making of this card! amazing!

holding hands--i just can't express what that picture does for my heart

do you see what that says? i lost my breath for a second when i first read it--it brings tears to my eyes!

Monday, 3/10/14

Happy Monday, and what a Monday it is! I don't know what the temperature is, but I know that it was already 40 when I was in the car at 7:30 this morning! I remember looking at the field outside of my classroom this morning and seeing the slightest hint of the ground below the snow trying to peep through. I asked the kids if they thought that there would be enough melting today to possibly see the baseball field where that little spot of hope was. I just looked out now, and not only can I see parts of the baseball field, I can actually see grass! GRASS!  What a difference a day makes! Of course, I know that we're on track to have the ground recovered before the week is over, but I take every small victory I can receive!

Today was a great day! We are not following a different schedule this week, as we were last week to help out our ISAT taking friends across town. We are actually going to have a 5-day week, and there is not one thing (other than meetings) in any of the boxes on my calendar. I know it sounds insane, but actually getting one complete week in teaching is a blessing like you can't imagine. I might actually get all of my goals met and all of my to-do lists completed. Maybe.... a girl can dream!

Speaking of a girl dreaming--is anyone else excited to see how The Bachelor pans out tonight? Excited might be an over statement, but yes, I admit it, I got roped in, and now I'm stuck and have to see it through to the bitter, bitter end. I know it's not going to be all of the hype they make it out to be, and I know that my brain would better be served watching the talented folks (and the cutie-pie judges) on The Voice, but I'll dvr The Voice and see how this whole Juan Pablo shenanigans plays out. I'll be annoyed with myself that I watched, but I guess my mind needs some brainless time too. That's when the intelligent cells regenerate, right???? Anyone? Bueller?? Bueller??

Okay--this brainy girl needs to go and clean up her home-away-from-home so she can go out and feel the warmth on her face. Happy Monday! Bring on the spring!

Tuesday, 3/4/14

Hi! I hope you all had a great long weekend. The kids filled me in on some of their fun----I had a nice weekend, but not nearly as nice as the kids. Kudos to you all! We all need a break from this weather.

I think I'd filled you in on the Rose Queen pageant that I was running on Friday night. It was a huge success. Things like that are always stressful because you want them to go off without a hitch, but at the end of the night when I got to look at the strong, confident, bold and courageous girls who were gracing that stage, I felt nothing but pride. I only met the contestants in early February, but still felt a strong connection. High school can be a tough time, but they handled themselves so beautifully, it was a lovely experience. I can't wait to see some of my little girls when they are at Lake Park getting involved in the event!! (hint, hint!)

Then I woke up on Saturday to yet another round of laryngitis. I don't know what the deal is. I've always joked that I have the strongest vocal cords around from doing this job for so long, but they are definitely proving me wrong. So, back to the immediate care I went after yesterday's institute. Back on meds. Blech!

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to wish you a happy Fat Tuesday! I'm stopping for a shamrock shake on my way home tonight. I'm giving up sweets and white things (bread, pasta, rice) for Lent, so I need to do it up tonight!! I've got pasta from Tree Guys and then that shake should do the trick. Hopefully I'll drop some of these evil lbs somewhere along the line before Peter Cottontail comes hopping down the lane.

Okay-that's it from here-----now that I've written about that shake, I can't really just hang around here for much longer, now can I??

Have a good night!