Coming to a Close

Well there's only roughly 23 days of class left in the school year. Wow. So hard to believe. For all the, well, everything, I've gone through this year it's been pretty amazing. I can honestly say I've learned more about teaching these last months than I did in all my years of schooling.

I have learned to be more patient and understanding than I ever thought was humanly possible. I have learned separate the behaviour from the child. That may sound strange, but many people cannot do that. They see a child kicking, screaming, biting, etc. and cannot move past it. They then see that child forever as "bad" "mean" etc.

I can't tell you how many times that in the space of 15 secs a child has gone from drawing my blood in anger to sobbing and clinging to me for comfort. If you don't think that's a difficult emotional experience for child AND adult, you've obviously never experienced it on a regular basis.

I can't possibly list everything I've learned here. I'm just so incredibly thankful to a loving God who knew better than I to put me in this job. I have had to rely on Him and my loved ones to get me through this year like I rarely have had to before. I have no idea where I'm going to be next fall, if I will even have a job in any school. But if He provided me with this job and what I needed to see it through, than I'm sure He will take care of next year too.

But man, I'm gonna miss those little munchkins!!

Sing It Again, Sam!

So one of my little girls has decided she just looooves me lately! It's super cute and sweet.

Yesterday, we were visiting where she's gonna go to kindergarten next year. We were holding hands walking down the hall and she started singing softly to herself. It took me a second to get what she was singing. You know that tune "If You're Happy and You Know It"? Well to that tune she was singing "Mrs. R, Mrs. R, Mrs. R" over and over again.

She has also started complimenting everything I wear, by that I mean EVERYTHING! Every piece of jewellry, clothing, hair accessory, even my school keychain!

Another teacher came in the classroom the other day and I gushed over her amazing shoes. I was wearing green flip flops. My little self-esteem booster heard me and rushed to let me know, "Mrs. R, your shoes are pretty too! I like your shoes!"

Can I just carry her around in my pocket and pull her out when I need to think I'm awesome?

More Convos with Preschoolers

One of my little girls spent the other day telling everyone who would listen, "Mrs. R is the bestest teacher in the whole widest world...and I'm the best kid!"

I guess that makes it a perfect match then. Adorable!

Frogs, Chicks, & Caterpillars

It has been a travelling zoo in my classroom the last several weeks! We had tree frogs named Pablo & Delilah for a few days. One of which suctioned itself to the face of another teacher. Definitely one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I had to peel it off her face. Don't worry though, I got mine later when it peed on me!

We then had 3 dogs come visit. My personal fav was a tiny little terrier cross name Myla. So cute!! This was followed by hermit crabs. Eeeew! They're like creepy spiders in a shell!!

Next came the eggs that two days later became chicks. Seriously so cool to watch! Just before one of the eggs hatched I picked it up and could honestly hear it chirping inside its shell! Love it! The kids had a blast with the chicks, they were so fascinated with them.

There was also Pokey the hamster. Dude, that hamster is one tough customer. I can't even tell you how many times a kid picked the poor thing up in his hamster ball and shook the crap out of it! Not to mention the time one child picked his whole cage up and hucked it! Pretty sure that hamster's gonna survive the apocalypse.

Now we have caterpillars! They're supposed to turn into painted lady butterflies in a few weeks. Pretty excited to see the whole process.

Somewhere in between there we attempted to grow beans (huge disaster) and successfully grew amazing pumpkin plants. The kids also made awesome chamomile milk bath for Mother's Day.

Needless to say, every day is an adventure in my classroom, and not just for the kids!!