Holiday craze!

Oh man... surviving the last week of school before Christmas break is quite the feat. The kids are bubbly, excited -- and just crazy! But, to be completely fair... so are the teachers. I know I, for one, can't wait for the break because somebody is having their first Christmas!!

This week has been a week of playing catch-up -- and laughing at their funny antics. It's a week when the kids are truly happiest coloring and listening to Christmas music. In those moments, I just have to sit back and remind myself to rejoice in the sweetness of childhood. It's in those moments when as a teacher, you have to make the decision of A. do I fight for their attention and attempt to do this planned activity? or B. do I just let them be happy children? It's usually B. I just can't get enough of their sweet, innocent, and wide-eyed Christmas spirit.

Here's just a little recap of the cute, funny, and strange things from this week...

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Student quote: "Hey Mrs. A - do you know what I notice about the word 'table?' It has an animal name in it -- bull."

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Mrs. A (doing report card assessment) - "Okay, honey. I want you to start counting out loud at 1 and just go as high as you can go."
Student: "Really? Do I have to count past 1000? Because I can, but I really don't want to."

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While sharing what we want for Christmas (most of them said "iPads" -- yikes!!)
Student: "I want a Kindle Fire. Oh, and to go to the North Pole."

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An adorable kinder joke (love their cute humor)
Student: "What do you call a mummy who eats crackers in bed? A crumby mummy!"

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This is SUCH a cute Christmas card one of my little kinders gave to me. What a super author -- adorable!!

[Santa, Santa, what do you see? I see a elf sitting on a tree. Elf, Elf, what do you see? I see a reindeer pulling me!] SOOOO CUTE!

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This was a funny little book one of my kinders wrote. She obviously took some coloring sheets and thought of what she could do with it. Can't decide if this is cute or strange... or both... ha ha ha!

[What is the gingerbread man eating? The author is Mallory.]

[Gingergerbread, what will I eat? A cupcake.]

[Gingerbread man will you eat a gingerbread?]

This is where it starts getting a little weird... LOL!

[Gingerbread man will eat a dog.]

[Gingerbread man will eat a bells.]

[What will I eat last? A person.]

What a cute little weird book. :)

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I found this adorable note tucked into my mailbox. It was an "I miss you" card from a former student while I was on maternity leave. Notice my pregnant belly. Ha ha ha!

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And THIS. This just melted my heart. Honestly, if I ever doubted why/how I do this job -- this is it. So sweet and genuine -- and completely melted me.

The 2nd graders at our school were working with the principal in the computer lab to create "advertisements" for our school by coming up with their favorite things about Morton. Our principal had this little one -- one of my favorite former students... even though we aren't supposed to have favorites :) -- bring me his rough draft card. I nearly cried. :)

You can see the advertisements here on our principal's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jk_bergstrom/status/545765142634725376

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Today was just funny

Today was just funny. And I think I really needed it. To say that coming back from maternity leave has been hard would be a total understatement.

Don't get me wrong -- I still love my job. A lot. It keeps me so busy, inspired, entertained, and challenged everyday. But, leaving my new little one was harder than I expected. And, returning to a classroom and a class that was not "mine" was harder than I expected, too. Things are slowly getting better around here, but I've had a lot of work to do! :)

So, today was a funny day. I laughed -- a lot. And I really, really needed that. I needed a couple laughs to remind me to just take everything in stride. Sometimes, even when things aren't perfectly controlled in here (like I'm used to), it's best to just laugh when something is funny. Today, my kids reminded me to not take things so seriously.

First of all -- and most hilariously -- one of my little boys walked right up to me while I was teaching and dropped two one-dollar bills, some nickels, and a few pennies on the cart I was using. He said, "Here. This is for your baby." I kind of chuckled and said, "Well, okay - thanks!" (I, of course, was just going to give it back to him after I was done with that lesson.) He then added, "You know - it's for your child support." WOW. I just laughed out loud. How could I not?! He obviously has some previous experience with this subject...

Then, their writing just made me giggle today. It was so cute. Teaching kinders to write is so difficult and challenging at times. They have to learn SO MUCH and concentrate on so many things. It's the hardest subject to teach this age -- for sure. However, today, their writing just made me giggle. I just had to enjoy the cuteness of it and forget all the other stuff. Thought I share a few cute ones:

[I am big and strong!] -- it's a elephant. Cute, huh?! Can you tell we are learning about exclamation marks and talk bubbles?

[Do I like Easter? I love it!] -- so funny because you know... it's Christmas. :)

[I am brave! On the roof!] -- I adore this picture. Look at this little cutie stringing up the lights on his house. Plus -- they are even patterned. Too cute.

Ahhhh... take a deep breath. It will all be okay if you just remember to LAUGH a little everyday.