Thankful Thursday

At my school Thursdays are "Thankful Thursday."  There are many things that happened today that I am thankful for, so I thought I;d blog about some happy thoughts 

1.  Today was back to school night, but I had a meeting this morning.  I am thankful that the meeting was a half hour later than normal giving me some extra time to sleep!!! 

2.  Fourth grade also received a present today...our live materials for the ecosystems we started!  Let me tell you, I have been dreading this since the summer!  Not because of the fish, snails, or bugs because even though I think they are creepy they are much easier to control.  Now the crickets were another story...they JUMP!  Yet, all my panic was for nothing.  I set up the materials and created a distribution center and the kiddos did an AWESOME job.  I had a few who volunteered to help with the crickets which meant they took responsibility for catching crickets and placing them in the terrarium.  I am thankful that I didn't have to touch the crickets and all groups ecosystems are ready for them to observe.

This is the best I can get with my phone.  I wish the picture captured the live animals inside.  The crickets and bugs are hidden in the plants.

3.  I am thankful for this little present that brightened my day. Best of all she made it just for me because it matched the Pandora bracelet I have been wearing for the last few days.  Looking at it you would NEVER guess it was made by a fourth grader.  It matched perfectly with my Back-to-School night outfit!  So of course I wore it. :)

4. I am thankful for these amazing posters that are finally hanging in the classroom.  The last few weeks of summer the great people at Litograph were giving away free posters to teachers to hang in their classrooms.  The posters are created entirely from the text of classic books and they were entirely free, including shipping.  Well I finally found some great frames and here are the new additions to the classroom.  Wish I could tell you the deal was still going on, but I think it is expired! :(

I love this frame so much I had to do a close up.

 


5. Lastly, I am thankful that at the end of one of the longest days of the school year I can say I met a group of supportive parents that I am looking forward to working with this year.  Who also created their own volunteer sheet so I they could help me out this year.  :)

These are just the things that happened today that I am thankful for and I am probably still missing some!  

Overwhelmed?

While ending a meeting with my principal today he asked, “Are you feeling overwhelmed?”  I hadn’t thought about being overwhelmed until he mentioned it.  Since then the word “overwhelmed” has been running through my mind. 

I thought of the day I took off to finish my research project for my admin program, the many meetings I’ve had this week, the students I’ve had to comfort because they are struggling with emotional issues and family struggles, and the fact that because of those things I have also only spent 2 full days this week in the classroom teaching.  The amount of curriculum that I still need to cover for the week and the lessons that I needed to re-teach because I know I can do it better make overwhelmed seem like an understatement!  As I pondered all these seemingly overwhelming things I also thought of the huge hug and smile I received as one of my kiddos left school today and said, “I’m glad I got you for my teacher.”

Overwhelmed began to take on new meaning.  In that moment I was overwhelmed and realized I want to overwhelm my students with a feeling of belonging, being loved and accepted, and with a belief that they are capable of achieving great things.   Although I felt like this was a crazy and unproductive week, something I did made this little guy feel extra special.  It is in those moments that I realize that although I feel like I am drowning in the curriculum and slightly annoyed by the many imperfections I see in myself, I am also being showered with love and adoration from a great group of 4^th graders and I want them to leave each day feeling capable and confident.

So, to my teacher friends feeling overwhelmed, remember that we are there for the children and they make it worth it!  So when you are feeling overwhelmed, remember…

Maybe one day I will remember to bring my camera home to download pictures to show that I actually am teaching!