Birthday Bug.

I knew that today would be different, and the energy flowing in our classroom today couldn't have agreed more with that statement. Not only was it St. Patrick's Day, but it was also one of our classmate's birthdays. The latter event was clearly the most prominent. The excitement to his birthday has been building up for weeks. I assume it started when mom started making preparations for his first big boy sleepover party. Since then, every morning he would greet me, his classmates, and their parents with the exact number of days till his birthday. Many more times throughout the day he would repeatedly share this not so new information. This then caused all his friends to run home and tell their parents again, as if they hadn't already heard. That series of events has been on repeat for at least three weeks, so I knew today had to be big.

Enjoying the silence in my classroom moments before the first jumping bean arrived, I heard a faint but clear voice proclaiming, "Today's my birthday!" coming from outside. I quickly got up ready to eagerly greet him at the door, and as I opened I made sure I was the first one to speak, "Guess what?!" I quickly asked him hoping to throw him off from his ongoing birthday excitement. I didn't trick him. "It's my birthday!" he shouted back. Maybe I acted a little too excited with the initial welcome, but I couldn't hold it in. I was happy because I knew he was.

The birthday bug hit the whole class today as it seemed to be on everybody's mind. My class didn't seem to care all that much about St. Patrick's Day. When asking questions like, "Why is today special?" all they could answer is "Daniel's birthday!" This question happened to be sandwiched between a lesson about St. Patrick's Day, but that didn't matter to them. Journal entries were about him, St. Patrick writing turned into writing about him, and he ended up getting "compliments" from over half the class. Today was his day. Can't wait till Friday, as that birthday bug will be staying around for another friend's birthday.

Biggest Valentine Ever.

Our Valentine's Day party was a big hit. Each child contributed to this event by bringing something for our party. Easy, yet I was surprised at the outcome of how the kid's responded to it. "What did you bring?" one would ask. "I brought the carmel dip!" another would shout. Or my personal favorite, "Who brought the grapes? They are not good!"

Even if it was only mom sticking a package of heart-shaped plates in their backpack and sending them off to school, I'm glad that everybody had something to contribute. I think we all need those moments to feel important and involved.

As we were sitting at the table eating ever so quietly, I read to them a new story, "The Biggest Valentine Ever" by Steven Kroll. The book became a perfect fit for my class. Clayton and Desmond worked together to make a valentine for their teacher, but ended up fighting and ruining the whole thing. At this point in the book, we all had serious looks of concern. It was a sad thing to see best friends fighting, and somehow I think we were starting to relate. The two went home that night to make one of their own, but neither valentine turned out to be as wonderful as the one they made together. In the end, my class smiled with congratulations as Clayton and Desmond stepped it up and made the biggest valentine ever!

This sweet moment didn't seem to last long. The major rush of sugar kicked in, and before I could blink an eye I had my entire class running out the door to look at the water puddle that was mischeiviously created in the bathroom. It seemed like just as I had taken care of that little moment of spontaneous creativity, I caught intentional napkins being glued to innocent faces with carmel dip. [Time for a chill moment!] No games. Only happy songs and fun finger plays for the rest of the day.

I think I can officially say now, I'm all partied out. I don't deny that I love to throw special and memorable events for my students, but two days in a row of almost uncontrollable excitement has been the two most fun and exhausting days. Good thing I have a long weekend to recover with an extra two days off!
Happy Valentines day. :)

The best day of my life.

The day we have all been waiting for finally arrived. Today, our 100th day of Kindergarten, became the most memorable event ever. Better than Disney Land. Better than Chuck E. Cheese. Better than Christmas. From the moment they walked in the door I had something special planned. They were in awe with the wall decor, and even more fascinated with the "100th Day Passports" sitting on their desks. Since the first day of school I had been telling them that on the 100th day of Kindergarten we would have a 100th day party. Yes, it was a party, but unlike one they've ever been too. There was no cake, ice cream, or musical chairs, but by the end of that day none of that mattered. I have a feeling I spoiled them enough, and don't feel bad for the slight bit of trickery I had going on with another day of work.

Only minutes into school, I had them asking, "When can we count to 100?!" We've been working so hard towards this goal, they were so eager to show me what they were made of. As we put up the final number 100 on our Daily Doodle Bug and counted flawlessly to 100, I couldn't have been more proud. I want to instill in these bursting buds a love for learning, and by seeing their blossoming eagerness proved to me that I'm doing something right. Moments like this are why I teach.

Today, my little blessings, filled up all ten pages of their "100th Day passport" with a 100th day reward sticker from each of the ten centers they visited. I tried to incorporate as much variety as I could including exercises, fine motor motors, music, writing, building, crafts, music and so much more. Every center had to do with the number 100, and it was a joy to see their faces light up as each center was completed. I could feel their proud sense of accomplishment as they each earned their sticker to add to their passport and all proclaimed at some point today, "This is the best day of my life!"

To top it all off, they had been so focused on counting to 100 that by the end of the day a few had completely forgotten that their 100th Day projects would get to be shared today. It turned out to be a real special treat, especially taking part in the 100 shaped cookie with 100 m&m's on it.

Today was the best day ever, but apparently "tomorrow is going to be even better!" It appears that I now have some stiff competition and high expectations to live up to for our Valentine's day party. However, with the built up anticipation for the delivery of Valentine's in our glitter glue'd up mailboxes I think I have it covered.

Misinterpreted.

The long awaited and highly anticipated 100th Day of School is almost here. I want the kids to be all practiced up with counting to 100. They can count by 5's. They can count by 10's. But when it comes to counting by 1's, a few of the numbers sometimes get left behind. Trying to build excitement and add encouragement I announced the class last week, "Our 100th day of school is coming up next week. One of our goals is to be able to count to 100 by then. Now a lot of you have it already, but the rest of us need a little bit more practice. So let's work hard and enjoy our 100th day!"

When it came time this week to practice counting out 100 objects for our bulletin board, I reiterated that it will be good practice for our 100th day. One little girl who always works really hard, but doesn't quite have it yet blurted out, "Yeah or she'll kick us out of school!" Oh, how I love misinterpretations. I can't help but think for an entire week she has been stressing out about that fact that she can't count to 100. On the more positive note, at least she's getting better!