sunshine

Spending each day with fourth graders is a bit like playing the lottery.  Every single day is full of a hopeful, positive feeling . . . like you just might "hit it big" . . .  and sometimes at the end of the day, you reflect and you DO.  You have a day that is filled with "ah-hah" moments, smiles and giggles, friendships that warm your heart, patience and an act of true, selfless kindness from one nine year old to another that reminds you what life is really all about.  And then some moments you feel like you lose . . . big time.

Today I found out that one of my students - who was just yesterday an active, happy, fabulous part of our team - isn't coming back . . . he moved all the way to another state, just.like.that.  No goodbyes, which feels a bit like a sucker punch, no time to process, just gone.

Admittedly, it is part of the "business."  Most teachers gain a whole new class at the beginning of each school year and bid those lovlies goodbye the following June.  I also realize that in my district, stability is the norm, not the exception, so we deal with this far, far, less frequently than teachers in some other places.

But!  None of that makes it any easier.  My kids at school are exactly that . . . my kids!  Sure they have homes and families and they leave me each day, but when we are in school, we are a team . . . a school family.  I have a fierce teacher-love for them that drives me to show up, work hard, expect the best, and hold them accountable, just like I do my own beautiful children at home.

So today when I found out that B left us, I had an instant lump in my throat.  I hate knowing that he didn't get to say goodbye, that my other 24 kiddos didn't get to say goodbye, and that *I* didn't get to say goodbye.  When I had to tell my kids that he moved, I might have choked up just a little . . . and then came the sunshine.

We made cards.  It was an optional activity during quiet time, but every one of those precious nine and ten year olds got out their best markers, creative ideas, gentle words, and chose their favorite colored sheet of construction paper.  They crafted, they illustrated, they cut, they glued, they wrote, they chose their best Pokemon cards to carefully tape inside in a selfless gesture of friendship, and one even made an elaborate diorama scene of our classroom to remind him where we spent our days.

After school, I sat down to read through the cards before packing them up to send on to B.  And I got all teary.  You see . . . the innocence and genuine love that comes from the hearts and minds of kiddos who care about each other is the most powerful thing on earth!  The words that they used to wish him luck, the pictures that they drew to illustrate how much they'd miss him, their memories together, or what they'd remember about him . . . they stopped me from feeling so gloomy.

Instead I'm trying to see this for what it is . . . an adventure in the road that is our collective life.  People come and go and things don't always and won't always feel "right", but they are . . . because they are.  There is so much we can't control, so if we can hold close the "things" that matter most, we'll always remember that everything is just as it should be.

Maybe B's job in our classroom was to make us stop to appreciate each other a little more, because by December sometimes those sweet little nine and ten year olds start to bicker like siblings trapped in a Yugo on a 24 hour road trip.  Whatever it was, I'm confident that he is on the path that was meant for him, and I'm hopeful that he is feeling content and comforted tonight, remembering the people he met only in September, but who accepted him exactly as he was and who shed a tear today when they found out that our moments together were fleeting.

So while I left school feeling a bit like I lost the lottery today, as I reflect, I'm feeling a whole lot more like a winner.  I get to go back tomorrow after all . . . and that is a stroke of luck that can't be discounted!

When you can't find what you need, make it yourself.

At the end of the summer, we lofted our 7 year old's bed.  We wanted to get him a desk and have a reading space with a bean bag, but since his room is on the small side, we knew we needed to be creative.  Thankfully the hubs is pretty handy, so between his ideas and some loose plans that were inspired by . . . wait for it . . . Pinterest, he now has a hanging bed.

His room was redone in a football theme.  I use the term "theme" lightly since I'm not a "theme-y" kind of girl.  I prefer to keep things simple with a splash of "theme" here and there.  He needed the space in his bed and below his bed to be lit up.  I started at IKEA, shopping for lights that we could mount on the wall.

I found lights that would work and after hunting around Michael's Crafts for a while, discovered a little thing called glass paint.  With some blue painters tape, a brush, and the glass paint, I got busy and turned those boring old white lights into something that is more suitable for a growing boy's room. 

Classroom crafty . . .

I'm super excited about the way things are going in my reading block this year.  Of course my lessons are skill based, so I bring in a new story, article, poem, or several of each throughout the week.  I love the focus on the skill, which students can easily extend to their own reading and we pull into our class read aloud as well.

Last week, our skill focus was main idea.  We've actually been doing this all along, since we dissect each story for topic, main idea, and summary details every week, but this week we dove in a little more.

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest, but I'm also very much a "Do-It-Yourselfer" who loves to take what others have done and modify it to fit our exact needs.  Here is the anchor chart that I used to kick-off the skill and had posted near our story organizer board all week.  (I'll have to share the organizer board someday; it was inspired by advice from a seasoned teacher and I love the flow and support it lends us as we add to it each day.)

This build on a sample that I found on Pinterest, so I can't claim all of the ideas, but I worded some of them a little differently and added some flair.  I actually had three different students compliment me on it . . . tee hee!!

I spend a little time in my classroom again this morning.  My real intent was to finish grades, which are due tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.  In true me-fashion, I found other things to keep me busy.  Oy!  (I was able to justify it with the fact that what I accomplished can't be done at home, but I can finish my grades from the comfort of my kitchen this evening . . . so . . . )


Tomorrow kicks off trimester 2.  I have a classroom filled with really cool kids and I mean that . . . sincerely.  Many of them have struggled to get through books, and I wouldn't consider all of them "readers" . . . which is painful to say at this point.  I recognize that my job as a fourth grade teacher is to inspire kids, and I feel like there is nothing more worth being inspired toward than READING.  We all know that strong readers are more successful academically for so many reasons.  I changed the way I did a few things at the beginning of the year, and I fear that I dropped a couple of elements that pushed my kids to focus on reading and begin to value the importance of truly READING books from start to finish . . . most of all, to enjoy them.

When I told my kids last week that typically my fourth graders would have read no fewer than 13 books at the end of trimester 1 (many of them would have read well beyond that!), the looks of shock from even some of my voracious readers told a story that I knew I needed to face.

I don't want to make reading WORK . . . but the reality is that if a fourth grader hasn't been "a reader" until now, it can be a difficult hurdle to jump.  I've worked tirelessly in many ways and continue to feel like something is missing.

So today I built a "POP open a GOOD BOOK" bulletin board.  Each student has his or her own popcorn bag and will add kernel stickers (ordered from Amazon and Really Great Toys for $3.59 / 800 stickers) each time they finish a book.  I need to add the goal at the top, which is to read 13 books by the end of the second trimester.  My students already complete a reading log, so each time that they finish a book, they will add a popcorn kernel sticker to their personal popcorn bag on the bulletin board.  One sticker represents one book.  They can also share about their book at morning meeting, hopefully to inspire others to read it!   I'm toying with the idea of celebrating their awesomeness with a popcorn / reading party on the last day of the trimester.

Each kiddo has his or her own bag.  I even have one and can't wait to start adding kernels and sharing my books each time I finish one!

I'm loving the way that the letters GOOD BOOK turned out.  In a fit of inspiration, I glued aluminum foil to construction paper and then cut the letters out.  Worked like a charm!  GOOD BOOK pops, which is the point! :)

I also added some texture on the paper popcorn kernels.  Those were inspired by another Pinterest post for textured bulletin board boarders, which I did at the beginning of the school year.  Staple, scrunch, staple, scrunch.  It looks a little more "staple-y" than I'd like, but I didn't think ahead to use lighter paper, so my kernel ovals were cut out of construction paper.  Oh well . . . I'm happy with it and can't wait for the kids to see it tomorrow.