That gym with those children

 Yesterday was Camp Day, which is a third grade tradition that I started (because I like to camp so much????). 

We have the classes rotate between teachers.  I have a team of overachievers.  Alissa had tents set up in her classroom and they played board games.  Miriam had tents set up in her classroom and they toasted actual s'mores.

I did not have tents set up.

We did an art project and played games (I can't emphasize enough how much they love Down by The Banks right now) and I read them the Berenstain Bears Bear Scouts.  I love surprising them with old books like that.  At first they aren't super interested because the book looks old and babyish, but then I start reading and they get completely invested.

Camp Day was fun, but also chaotic.  I would much rather be a teacher than a camp counselor.  The last week of school feels more like a camp counselor (today is field day), but at least I'm a camp counselor with kids I love.

At the end of the day yesterday we had an assembly to celebrate the growth of the multilingual learners.  There were about 70 of them and they walked into the gym with the rest of the school cheering.  Each student was waving a flag of the country where they are from (I provided a bunch of the flags from my stash of flags we use for our cultural program). Their parents were there and I did my VERY best not to cry.  

It just got me.

Those brave children go to school in a second language and also in a lot of cases help their parents navigate the new language!  It's amazing.

At my local elementary school, the principal was going to throw candy off the roof if they reached $10,000 in their fundraiser.  I can't imagine our school able to raise 1/10 of that amount.

Still.

Keep your $10,000 and give me that gym yesterday filled with those children.

They had each teacher come up and present certificates to their classes.  One of my students (who I will call J) didn't have a certificate.  I asked Maren, who was in charge, "What about J?"  She told me that he had passed WIDA (the intensive English test they have to take) so she had a different certificate for him.

After I was finished, I returned to my class and they were just as concerned as I was.  "What about J?"  "J didn't get one!"  I told them to just wait.

Then Maren called up all the students who had passed WIDA and the crowd went wild.  J's name was called, but he didn't hear it so he sat on the stage with the rest of the kids, the only one without a certificate.

As soon as they were done, I abandoned my class, made a beeline for the stage and told him to go get his certificate.  He said, "She didn't call my name."

I said, "She did!  You just didn't hear."

A big smile spread on his face and he went to get his paper.

I can't celebrate these kids enough!