Wall of Fame

I love my students.  One of the most rewarding aspects of  teaching is the relationship I get to build with these kids- loving them and knowing they love me, too.  I know they love me because they tell me, they hug me, and... they bring me presents.  Most of these presents are coloring pages or drawing done at home.  Last week I got a feather.  The little boy who gave it to me told me he saw it on the side of the road and made his dad pull over so he could pick it up. This story is probably partially made up, but either way, I have a feather from the side of the road- gross, right?
The pictures (and feathers) pile up throughout the school year.  These things- even if they are sometimes gross- are special because they show that the students don't forget me when they leave class for the day.  When they see or make something special they often think of me- and I love that (it's only fair since I obsessively think about the class). However, I don't love trying to figure out what to do with this pile of what is essentially very special trash.  Hence, the Wall of Fame.
This is a tiny corner of my room behind my table where I display all the special things students bring to me.  It's just a small area so papers get layered: by the end of the year this will be thicker than the layers of wallpaper in my grandma's house.  But each student gets their things displayed and when they ask me what I did with their special gift I can find it somewhere is the layers.  It lets the students know that I appreciate their gifts, and more importantly, I love them as much as they love me.
At the end of the year these things get rolled up and thrown out- though I always feel sad and sentimental about it.  But like a lot of us, I'm trying to embrace the clutter free classroom.  And there's not a lot of room for sentiment in my tiny classroom.

Rest time

Ahh, resting time.  The only 15 minutes in my day where I can sit at my table and not feel guilty about writing.  Right now in my class I have 17 wiggley wonders and two lunch helpers who are wiping down the chair legs- anything to get out of resting.  Later in the semester I'll use this time to work with students who need extra help.  By next semester rest time will be a fond memory.

Resting time makes me feel a little guilty, it almost seems like wasted minutes in a day where I don't ever have a minute to spare.  So to ease the guilt I let my students have their book boxes with them- but no reading out loud.  Most students get their books and then abandon them before resting time is half over, opting instead to lay quietly on their blanket.  When I see this it reminds me that only a few short  months ago many of these children were in pre-school or day care where they had a minimum of one hour to rest.  At this point in the year they aren't that far from those daycare days- they still need some time to just be quiet and rest.  This isn't wasted time- it's an important 15 minutes to recharge.

The good days...

Aren't there some days where you just LOOOVE teaching?  I mean, we all have to love teaching because we certainly don't do it for the money.  But there are some special days when I'm just in love with being a teacher.  My class is on track, my plans are done, everything is as caught up as it is ever going to be (oops, took a break to do attendance- NOW I'm caught up).  I get this shivery feeling sometimes that just sticks with me.  I guess my bucket is full today.

We've been talking about interesting words in class.  In fact, we talk about interesting words every day.  How do you manage these words in your class?  I keep small chart paper by my easel and write words until I fill up the paper, then we start a new sheet.  Here is my problem, the old paper goes on the wall and the words get dusty and forgotten.  I can't review all the words everyday (my kids love to find new words and we get quite a lot of suggestions every day).  So what do I do?  Well, what do you do?

Just try it!

The first step is the hardest, right?  So far I've discovered a million reasons not to blog- most of those reason center around the idea that there is already so much great stuff out there, what can my little voice add that's new?  Well, okay, maybe the answer is nothing.  But maybe the answer is something and if I don't try then I'll never know, right?  I tell kindergarteners everyday that it's okay to mess up, it's not okay to not even try.  So here's to taking the first step.  Here's to trying.