Teacher Appreciation Week, Day Two

Warm fresh apple homemade muffins, home-canned "V-8 Splash" from the fruit trees in their yard, and a box of strawberries with a note that starts, "I love you." Yep, this teacher began her blog post with an incomplete sentence.

I keep seeing on Facebook that today is the actual day...National Teacher Appreciation Day. Well, someone forgot to inform most of my class, judging from their behavior this afternoon. It was a complete rodeo and I hope we all do better tomorrow. I'm hearing comments from the principal and other teachers that the kids are getting a wee bit crazy this time of year (do I sound like a first year teacher?), but I don't remember it being quite this challenging. I'm glad at least that I seem to be in good company.

Still, what's not to smile about when a girl pads up to the front of the room to see if that spelling paper with no name on it might be hers...barefoot? How is it that you have been shod all year, Child, and today, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, you just stroll right up to me barefoot? You see, if I don't smile, I might cry.

Found out after lunch that the father of one of my students suffered a heart attack this morning. The mom came in to tell me (as well as her child) and ask about her son's emotional welfare. The boy witnessed the onset of things as Dad was transported to the hospital, but never said a peep. He did not cry, he did not ask to call home, he did not share his concerns...rather, he showed complete family solidarity and was able to cowboy up when his family needed him to be strong at school. I mentioned my admiration to him while remembering all the cool things he wrote about his dad in his journal recently. Looks like Dad will be just fine.

And then there's the girl who somewhat belatedly realized her coat was missing! She jumped up, scurried over, asked permission to retrieve it from the art room, and soon after returned from the art room still worried that she hadn't found it. She headed back to her chair and said, "Oh! There it IS!" Right on the floor right behind her chair. This may or may not have been the same child who was barefoot earlier.

The rest of that strawberry note included this, "When you teach, it is easy to understand." Here's to knowing I might possibly be getting through to someone.