Luckiest Thing Ever

It was an interesting week with my students--I feel like I should do a "Week in Review!" Can't imagine it would be so interesting to some of my readers (who are you? don't be shy), but I'm going to record a few recent happenings anyway.

On Monday, school started and we promptly headed to a computer lab to type persuasive essays. I left our classroom dark and locked. Everyone was quietly pecking away when in burst one of our students who exclaimed in an overly loud voice, "My dog slept in this morning! Sorry I'm late." Maybe you had to be there, but a few of us tried to keep our laughter to a quiet chuckle.

On Tuesday, a student had a run-in with a bully from another grade. He didn't know his name or which class he belonged to, so he was advised by an administrator to look for the kid during lunch and recess, in order to point him out to a duty guard. Getting bullied is not funny at all, but my teacher heart totally noticed when my student used the word perpetrator. We celebrate great vocabulary and word choice.

On Wednesday, I was checking planners. A child had completed the math homework, but not the spelling. When I asked, this child reported, "I couldn't get my spelling done because I had therapy last night and I ended up behaving in a really rude manner which ended in a big fight with my sister." Oh, okay. The excuses this century are getting better and better: my dog slept in, I had therapy last night.

On Thursday, a parent called to let me know her daughter's period had started. I love this family so much as I have taught some of this girl's older siblings as well, but still, I'm not sure I need to know certain things. But hey, if it makes them feel better to know that I know, then okay, I'm fine with it too, I guess.

And today was Friday. It seemed as if all H-E-Double Hockey Sticks broke out today. A perfectly well-behaved boy disassembled a red ink pen whilst attending class in another teacher's room, spilling ink on the desk and chair. Sure enough, we've got the "morphing-into-sixth-graders" thing going on. Another highly respectable boy chose to say the following in front of other classmates, though his comment was not directed at anyone in particular, "Hey, Butt Crack, Junior!" Butt Crack Junior? I'd rather not hear that in my classroom. One girl didn't have a yellow science packet on her desk and couldn't find her pencil and, and, and...she just sort of crumbled into tears saying, "I guess I'm just really TIRED today." I think we ALL were!

Somewhere in the middle of all these messes, we managed to change mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper fractions to mixed numbers. We tutored our first grade buddies in reading. We read the newspaper. We learned about erosion, Pangaea, and the 1964 earthquake in Alaska that was the longest ever recorded (five full minutes, folks, five full minutes). My class earned ten minutes of extra recess for their success in our month-long readathon. We watched CNN Student News. We sang "Be a Builder" to build up self-esteem. We went to the library to check out books about our American Heroes. We wrote. We spelled. We recycled.

We painted. Have I ever mentioned how painting with thirty-four youngsters takes years off my life? We talked about VALUE, an art concept they've already been exposed to thanks to Mrs. P. However, we related VALue to VALentine's Day because "We Value Our Friends." You know, it all goes back to being a Builder. They had a good time mixing colors and playing around with the whole concept of Value. I love hearts and couldn't resist snapping a few pictures for the ol' blog.

Other things were going on as well! On Monday, our whole team had to present in front of the School Community Council. According to the scores on our presentation, we'll be earning a few bonus dollars. No pressure there. The team before us went late. We kept ours to thirty minutes, but of course, it went past contract time. On Tuesday I had a hair appointment. Just a trim. Nothing improved.

On Wednesday, I had a technology class after school. Makes for a late night. Learned some new things. Actually assisted others who knew even less than I. Imagine! On Thursday, I had another class--literature. Met the author of CANDY BOMBER, a nonfiction book about generous Americans during World War II. Loved it. When I got home, some ladies came over for a training meeting. Another long night.

Today is Friday and after school a parent came in to talk to me. Together, we resolved an issue. She left and I sanitized my desk with Clorox Wipes. I came home for another training meeting with even more Church Ladies. I'm pretty sure I'm done training people for a while.

As I head into the weekend and think of what's been happening during the last few days, I must tell you about my FAVORITE part of the week. I had my darlings respond in their journals to this prompt: What's the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you?

There were some interesting things to read about: finding lots of money on the floor at Wal-Mart, going to Disneyland, winning the Pig Race at the Corn Festival, intercepting that pass--these kids are truly lucky. But then I read this one paper that put things into perspective for me. I don't have it with me to quote exactly, but here's the gist of it:

"The luckiest thing that's ever happened to me is that Jesus died for me. I don't know if it's really lucky and if it really counts, but that's all I have."

Luckiest thing ever. And sometimes that's all I have too.