You KNOW her?!

What a GOOD week. I feel energized this weekend. I am going to spend today cleaning my house & cooking. I took a very busy friend's advice and made a menu for my week so that my poor husband won't be stuck eating cereal everyday for dinner. :) I am excited to get some things done today! My husband is so stressed studying, so that leaves me time to get my house back in order.

*My birthday is coming up and I asked my husband to let me splurge just a little. I have an appointment scheduled for a massage, a pedicure and I'm going to pick up a piece of cheesecake on the way home to split with my husband. Best birthday EVER!? YES!! I feel like I've been working non-stop, so it will be awesome to have a 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving with family too!!

*I get to take our kids on our first field trip on Friday. I am so excited. You should have seen them when I was explaining what a field trip is, where we're going, etc....They were on the edges of their seat and when I finished, several of the girls started clapping. Pure joy. So sweet.

*I got a new student this week...I was really proud of my students for how helpful and sweet they were to her. It was fun to see how welcoming they were.

*In my classroom we share our supplies...so we have table boxes in the middle of each table with pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, etc. I was starting to get annoyed that some tables are not keeping them very organized, so on Tuesday night, the "Clean Fairy" left candy at the table whose box was organized.  The next day when the kids got to school, I told them the Clean Fairy had come and was so happy to see one table was very clean, and that she left a present for them. "Is she like the tooth fairy but for clean? You KNOW her?!" And later when writing time was over..."Put the pencils back nice-the clean fairy might come!!!":) I have a volunteer who comes every Thursday to help with center time. When she pulled a chair to help one of my struggling students with writing, he said "Are you the fairy?!!" She looked at me totally confused. ha My classroom has never been more clean. Problem solved.

*In running club we have been training for a 5K...it's this Sunday. We ran our last training run on Thursday after school. My partner ran in dress flats and skinny jeans. 2 miles. That is dedication. It is going to be so fun to run the race tomorrow!

*I started teaching money and the value of the coins. We started with the penny-colored a penny, cut it out, and put it in our "Piggy Bank". Then on the spot, I made up this cheesy song "A penny's worth one cent, a penny's worth one cent, a penny's worth one cent, woohoohoo!" It went over well. "I love this song!" "That's a fun song!" We sang it several times, and then as I was helping students with math later, my whole class broke into the penny song. Put something to music or rhythm and kids will remember it!!

*I was an ABSOLUTE clown teaching Social Studies on Wednesday. I finished my lesson early, so did a short lesson on not rushing to be at the front of the line/pushing in line/etc. It was called: "What is Mrs.  doing wrong?!" I was running, pushing, knocking chairs over, etc. The kids were laughing so hard. One of my quietest students: "Mrs., my mom says you're a REAL good teacher-and I think you're REAL funny too!"

*We're making a class turkey. I was ready to leave one night after school until I got a good idea. I called my husband and said I'd be a little late, but it was a good reason. I sent home a "feather" with each family and asked them to write something they are thankful for. When they send it back, the feathers will go on our class turkey. Even when people have very little, they still have so much. For one-they have these AWESOME kids. When I wrote my feather as an example, I wrote: I am thankful for my class. They said "For US?!" Their faces were full of pride. :)

*We do pizza hut book-it in our class...If the parents read to kids and keep track of the minutes, at the end of the month they get a coupon for a free pizza. One of my families filled it out, but when I passed the coupons out, said: But we don't have a car, how are we going to go get that pizza?" It got me to thinking about how excited I am for Thanksgiving...food, family, fun, 5 days off school!!!, but that most of the kids will not have very much to eat that day. My husband and I decided we're taking one of the families who has really reached out for help (and my student who asked about the pizza)  to a pizza buffet the day before Thanksgiving. Is it sad that I'm more excited for that than to eat my Thanksgiving meal!?

I found this awesome quote on Lecrae's facebook: "You can impress people from a distance, but if you want to impact them, get up close."

*There is a good chance that my dad might come up to visit and volunteer in my classroom this week one day. I am so excited for my students to meet him-a sweet, kind man. What an example he will be to the kids! Plus he's a banker, so they can sing the "cool" penny song for him. hahaha

*We went out to a trendy place for dinner last night and walked around First Friday art shows. It was SO fun-I could only handle so much modern art before we hit up Blockbuster for a funny chick flick. ;) At least we were cultured for part of the night!

I love to zip coats, give kids clean pants when the have accidents, tie shoes, and play momma all day long. These kids bring out a better side of me. I have changed so much in the last 4 months and I am so glad. I feel like I am constantly feeling the presence of the Lord, and that I am desperate for the Lord's strength everyday. I don't want anyone to think I am a good person for doing what I am doing or to give me any credit-I seriously feel totally blessed to have this job with these kids. I always tell my husband, I'm doing what anyone would do in this situation! The need is SO great. We have to open our eyes to help!!

:)