Birthday suspense

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I think my students are more excited than I am. Which makes me nervous. What do their mothers have up their sleeves? But, oh, how I love my sweet students! On Monday I made a comment about how this should be a normal week; nothing too exciting or unusual is going on. One boy raised his hand and said, "Your birthday is on Friday. That's exciting!" I replied, "I didn't even think of that, and you did." (Hmm, interesting.)

Then this morning one girl said, "We went shopping last night!" She had just been talking about the sweater she was holding, so I said, "Oh, is that sweater new?" And she said, "No, we bought your gift!" Later she volunteered to pray at the beginning of the day and she prayed that I would have a good birthday tomorrow.

Fast forward to lunch time. One of my boys came up to me and said, "Can I tell you something?"
 "Yes!"
"People are going to bring you gifts. I know it."
Smile. "Are you supposed to tell me that?" I whispered.
"Oh, well, I don't know... if they're bringing them... you know."
I let him off the hook and didn't ask any  more questions. But another boy, overhearing this, asked, "When is your birthday? Oh! Tomorrow! TOMORROW IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Well, no matter what tomorrow brings, I'm looking forward to spending it with my students!

Interviews & sincere prayers

Today I overheard an older student interviewing one of my former students. The conversation went like this:

"What's the most exciting thing you did this summer?"
"I have no idea."
"Did you go on vacation?"
"Yeah, I guess." (Runs off.)

Haha, I don't think he got the information he wanted for the school newspaper article!

I love listening to kids pray. Especially when they don't care about other people listening. They're so sincere and heartfelt. I talked a little bit about how we should pray for our president, and then asked for volunteers to pray. One boy prayed this: "Dear God, I pray for President Obama... that he could... ... do... his paperwork... or... whatever he does... I don't really know."

I mean, honestly, who really does know what exactly the president does? Amen!

It's September already?

Well, we're gearing up for our first full week of school! I've really been enjoying the year so far. Last Thursday, the calendar person announced the date at the beginning of the day, and one boy said, "Wait, it's September?" Haha, my feelings exactly, buddy! At the end of the day, he said, "It's the end of the day already?" Maybe he's not the most time-conscious person, but I'm taking it as a good thing!

I can tell the students are comfortable with their new teacher and classroom when:

• Two different times during Reading class in the same day, two different students were completely kneeling on the floor by their desks... trying to clean up the floor it looked like. Let's try that at break time! 
• One student had his jacket wrapped completely around his head... I have no reason for that one. 

And tomorrow I look forward to welcoming a new student! So my 12 increases to 13. And now the girls are outnumbered 3 to 10!! Say a prayer for them. :) 

Lectures & Math class dramatics

I found my strict side coming out today. (I hope they still think I'm nice!) I pretty much lectured on everything from trying to find answers in your books before asking me for help to "you are responsible for your papers, not your Mom" to proper hand sanitizer use (that sounds familiar, right? Let's just say there were globs of it where it shouldn't have been). I have to remind myself that they don't know all my expectations yet, and so I have to patiently remind them. Patiently is the key. God's still working with me on that!  

I also found myself getting dramatic during Math class. Now, I'm not usually prone to the dramatic side, but as I asked questions and saw glazed over faces and when everyone kept asking me the same question that I had just answered, I started speaking in a loud, high-pitched voice, pacing, and waving my arms. Bet you would've liked to see that, huh? Sorry, just bored third graders. 

On a more humorous note, I enjoyed eavesdropping on their lunch conversations today, which ranged from midgets to the largest lollipop in the world. Kids are the best. 

My teacher reputation

So I found out through another teacher that students say I'm "nice, but strict." I think that's a pretty perfect reputation for a teacher to have! I'm actually a little thrilled by it. I wonder - do I have last year's class to thank for that? :) I do miss them!

One day last week I was walking down the hallway to talk to one of the fourth graders, and one of the fourth grade girls stopped me. She was getting a snack out of her backpack, and she insisted that I take one of her favorite cookies! I tried to say no, but then I couldn't resist, because she was being so sweet. This is how much I love her: a. The cookie wasn't part of my diet. b. I didn't ask her if she washed her hands and I didn't have time to sanitize mine! But I ate it anyway. :)

Also last week, we gave a reward to all the students in the elementary grades who completed their summer math packets. The ones that didn't got to stay with me (the nice, strict teacher). One of the fourth grade boys made me smile, as he brought back memories of last year. They had been in my room at least half an hour at this point. I was quietly having a conversation with another student when suddenly (from across the room) his head pops up from the book he was reading and he says, "Who? What? When?..." Then he starts looking around the classroom noticing for the first time the things that had changed from last year. No wonder I was tired. I pray for the fourth grade teacher!

Quiet beginnings

The first full week of school is over already? It just sort of slid right by. I feel so relaxed and rested!

The week started out very quiet! It was so odd for me when the students walked in in the morning and took break barely making any noise at all! I found myself almost saying, "You can talk to each other." But then I figured I'd enjoy the quiet, and they'd eventually warm up and need to be reminded to be quiet. I was right. By the end of the week, there was much more chatter going on! :) But I have a feeling they'll continue to surprise me. Like today when I assigned a Math worksheet before break and said I'd give them time after break to work on it, but that it wouldn't be homework. "Can't we work on it during break?" they asked. Wow.

However, I was a little concerned when the first homework assignment was due on Wednesday and already 2 out of my 12 students didn't have it done! On the bright side, my new homework log was not made in vain!

I thought, "Oh boy, it must be time for the responsibility lesson." But since then, everyone has handed in their homework every day! They must be adjusting to third grade!

Although there's not so many crazy things happening in my classroom every day like last year (ergo the rested and relaxed state I'm in ;) ), the students still amuse me with random comments. When they found out I went to school with another teacher they know, one said, "I didn't know you go that far back!" And when another teacher walked into our room one day, someone said to her, "You look bigger than last year!" (She doesn't, by the way!)

I already received several encouraging notes from parents of my students. It's so amazing knowing that they are entrusting their children to me and that I have their support! So after this first wonderful week of school, I am just really looking forward to all that the year will bring and spending time with and getting to know each student in my small class!

Goodbye summer! Hello school!

I can already tell this is going to be a fun year. My students were talkative and happy and cooperative!

I had to smile inside when I found myself - within the first half hour of school - saying things like, "Please walk!" "Raise your hand if you have something to say." "Keep your hands to yourself!" They must forget this stuff over the summer. So we said goodbye to summer and hello to school!

We each wrote something we liked about the summer and something we're looking forward to in the school year. (Also Pinterest-inspired!) Most of them are looking forward to things like "field trips," "friends" and "gym," which are all good things to be excited about. But I was thrilled to also see "times" (multiplication), "handwriting," and "Book-It"!

I think I'll have some helpful little teachers this year as well. One boy, looking at the schedule, kept asking questions like, "Is it time for break yet?" "When is our treasure hunt?" At one point I said,  "You have to be patient." Another student turned around and said to him, "Patience is a virtue." Indeed. I think that was my favorite moment of the day. :) Looking forward to many more!