he didn’t respond to his name during attendance. i got down to his level and asked him multiple times, “what’s your name?” i asked him to write his name, and he looked at me like i was crazy. i needed him to confirm his name for attendance, but he wanted nothing to do with me knowing who he was. he didn’t want to be there and me knowing his name would be too official. but i had an early break through with him, midway through the day he came up to me and gave me a random hug.

last night i went to a special sunday evening service at my church. the pastor passed out little bottles of oil. today i anointed every seat in my classroom. you can take prayer out of the school but you can’t take prayer out of this teacher. i claim an amazing academic school year and i pray my kindergarteners are in full bloom by spring time!

the end of the school year is very near. tonight we had the graduation ceremony for the kindergarteners. my kiddos performed “God bless america” and “hero” by mariah carey. they did awesome! we just started practicing this week, but the mariah carey song was on our morning music playlist so it was a familiar tune. it’s pretty amazing how fast children learn, though.

one of my students last day was today due to family issues, and i am not for sure if i am ready to say goodbye to all my kids next week. i hate goodbyes. while i am craving summer just the finality of it all is sad. but i am so proud of my kids….they’ve grown so much in the past 9 months. the past couple days i’ve let some of the kids get up before the class and read books from the reading curriculum to the class, and seeing them read makes me so happy. it’s witness to their growth. someone once said that teaching is like giving birth, you have them for 9 months and then you let them go.

i’ll be doing a lot of letting go next week.

here is a snapshot of the card from the student who has already left.

have a blessed friday.

Hey, it’s OK…to eat lunch at 11:31, like a kindergartner. String cheese, anyone? – Glamour, March 2011 issue

read that tonight, and it made me miss my students. i l-o-v-e my breaks but i always end up missing my kindergartners.

the other day one of my students came up to me and said, “he said i talk like a ship.” and i had to clarify, “ship?” yep, a ship. lol. i hear funny stuff like this all the time.

i only have a limited time remaining with them, only 10 weeks. seeing the transformation in my kids from the beginning of the year to now is amazing, and there are still tons of growing to do.

one of my favorite children’s book is the very hungry caterpillar by eric carle. at the beginning of the school year i bought this awesome bulletin board kit based on the book, and i couldn’t wait until spring to put it up. on the other side of my door i just put up some daisies. i’ve been a bit anxious for spring. it’s been a cold winter. anyhow…

i have a hope that all my kids been eating up, and that they each will transform into a beautiful butterfly like the caterpillar in the story does.

monday gets a bad name. but hey, if you are facing monday morning it means you are still alive. i have a ton of ideas running through my mind, and so i am sure i am going to kick butt this week. i encourage you to join me in making a positive affirmation over the week.

i am looking forward to seeing my students today!!!
one of my parents texted me and told me that her kid was bored with being at home. then i ran into another parent at target yesterday, and she told me her student is looking forward to coming back to school. we should have an awesome time today at school. we are celebrating 100 days of school! oh to be a kid again.

two of my facebook friends have thought the same thing this past weekend, wishing to be a kid again.

“I want to go back in time to when the hardest decision was what mat to lay on during nap time……those were the days!”
“I miss the days when ur challenging decision of the day was wut lunch line 2 eat from or wut 2 wear 4 skool that day! Emotions r overrated n time consuming!!!!”

it’s the decisions that makes everything confusing. i tell myself that i am the ceo of my life, it’s up to me to make those hard decisions. those “executive decision”.
the funny thing is, like 10 months ago i made the executive decision to go for law school, and signed up for the lsat this past fall.
then another couple hundred dollars later another funny thing happened, i made another executive decision. if you’ve been following my blog you might have noticed that i haven’t been talking about studying for the lsat. i canceled my date.
deep down inside i just want to go to a public affairs school.
and that’s what i am going to do.
go back to that plan.

but yeah, i wish the hardest decision was deciding on what mat to choose for nap time because apparently i am doing terrible with my “executive decisions”. but i trust that God got it all under control, he has my back, and at my request he will direct my path.
got to trust.
trust.
trust
him.

hope everyone had a good and safe superbowl sunday. my mom made a mexican dish that was delish. and i was quite shocked at christinia aguilera’s performance. she totally screwed up the words to the national anthem. even pros can get it all so wrong.

okay, enough rambling for this monday morning.
have a good one.

started my third year of teaching today. i am teaching the esl kindergarten class. 25 students showed up from the 28 on my roster. i joke with a straight face that i have 100 kids in my class, but thankfully i have an awesome aid. i had a few cry babies, but i’m sure by the end of the week they will be perfectly fine. the assistant principal asked how things were in kindergarten, and of course i can’t complain! i was talking to a teacher friend and she told me that a kindergarten teacher at her school broke down in tears after it was all over. i was just tired after it all, and relieved the first day was over. i hate dealing with first day issues, like supplies and overbearing parents. overall, a good day.

i am looking forward to an awesome year of teaching!