Grateful Friday

 Yesterday my students worked on their self portraits.  It's a good first week activity to practice listening and following directions and routines.  I told them they could use colored pencils or crayons, no markers.  (Markers get a little crazy + I have skin toned colored pencils and crayons.)

One boy really wanted to use markers and he kept asking and I kept saying no.

When it was time to make their name tag that will accompany their portrait on the wall, I showed them a few variations of how they could make their name.  Then, I said, "But you can do it any way you want."

Of course, a few of them had follow up questions.  "Can I do rainbow colors?"

I said, "Yes, you can do whatever colors you want."

"Can I do two colors?"

"Yes.  Whatever you want."

More questions and I finally said, "Follow your heart."

The boy who wanted markers came up to me and said, "My heart really wants to use markers."

I told him too bad, not on this project.

We read the story Elmer.  It is about an elephant who is patchwork instead of gray and feels like he is a misfit, but then he realizes he is funny and all the animals love him.

To practice brainstorming, we gathered ideas about what made them unique.  I started by showing them how I can write backwards.  (Always a crowd pleaser for 8 year olds!)

At the end, I took a picture because I was so delighted by their ideas:

I am a lot less delighted by this marker I am using that is staining my board pink.... I will remedy that eventually.

All that aside, I am feeling grateful.  I am enjoying this class.  I love being a teacher.  I am grateful to feel healthy.  I am grateful for Mark being my buddy and helper and all the things.  I am grateful Adam is coming home today (!) and I'm grateful we are going to Nevada this weekend.

Both our dads have the same birthday, August 22.  I am grateful for both of them!