Grateful Friday

I feel very grateful today.  

Today is kind of the last day of school, but I don't know why we actually call it that when the day is so ridiculously short.  Yesterday felt like the last day and this is a little bit of fluff the next day for reasons beyond my understanding.

We will have a fun faculty party though.  I have no idea what we'll be doing, but I know who is in charge of it and I therefore know it will be fun.

I took my crayon initials I had made for my students and they were thrilled.  It makes me happy to make them happy.  My sweetest boy had told me the day before when I said I had a gift for them, that he would also have a gift for me.

It was a trophy, made out of tinfoil.

He is more often than not very solemn.  He said, solemnly, "It is a trophy that I only give to the best teachers.  Guess how many teachers I have given it to before this?"

I said, "How many."

He said, "Zero."

He also gave me a personal invitation for recess:

He meant it was the World Cup.  It was mostly some kids in my class against some kids in Miriam's class and those kids take soccer VERY seriously.  They have gloves they share for the goalie to wear.  They run around yelling GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL when they score and they fall very dramatically when they get bumped.  I had recess duty, so I couldn't watch the entire World Cup, but I checked in several times.

Another student brought me a picture his mom had painted for me.

She gave me the bottom picture after our field trip to the butterfly biosphere last fall and the turtle is reminiscent of our aquarium field trip.  She was a chaperone at both field trips and is just so kind!  I told her son, "Thank you!" and "I love it!"  

He said, "Oh...my mom painted it."

(I also messaged his mom a thank you!)

Right before lunch, a student gave me this necklace to untangle.  It reminded me of the Gordian knot, but I tried my best to emulate Alexander the Great.

It took me a good part of my lunchtime, but I untangled it!

While I was untangling, the assistant principal came and told me that during the 6th grade graduation that  morning, one of my former students had mentioned me in his speech.  He said, "Mrs. Davis taught me cursive and it changed my life."

That just cracked me up.  I guess that just goes to show that you never know what will be life changing!

I saw another 6th grader in the hall and he said, "If I knew then, what I know now, 3rd grade would have been so easy!"

That is the goal.

During lunchtime, Miriam's husband brought some steak he had grilled for her class.  They also had watermelon and an ice cream sundae bar.  Miriam came and told me to come and get some steak.  It was hands down the best steak I have ever had.  Miriam and Nate go to the world championship for grilling and they are amazing.

I told them I had some fruit snacks for my class and they don't even expire until May 24.  

Nate said, "Fruit snacks that haven't expired yet are a delicacy!"

In the afternoon we cleaned out desks.  I had a list of where to put everything they found inside their desks.  It was on my overhead for all to see.  I even read it aloud to them and pointed to every destination of folders and textbooks and papers.

About half of them just got to work and cleaned their desks.

The other half asked me over and over, "Teacher, where do I put this?"

I would say, "Look at the board."

I thought I was going to lose my ever loving mind, but we survived it.

One of my trouble makers had had a difficult morning and was skating on very thin ice after an incident at lunch recess.  He struggled really hard in the less structured days of the past week.  Even though the office told me I was supposed to give him zero more warnings, I gave him a few. When he couldn't stop messing with other people, I called the office and Matt came and got him.  Matt had another student, a first grader who is also on the behavior struggle bus, in tow.  The first grader happens to have the same name as my student and he said, "Hey!  It's a party!"

(Aside:  no teacher at Bonneville will ever name a child that name.  That name is dead to us and that is science.)

Matt said, "Yes, it is."

And they went merrily down the hall.

Finally, whether or not I feel busy enough this summer, I have been given homework.

My students, past and present, are insisting I watch Thelma the Unicorn on Netflix.

And don't you think I won't.