General Tso's Chicken

*I am so blessed. I love my students. I love my husband. I love my job. I love my house. I love our friends. I love our city. I love my family. I love my commute. I love running on my treadmill to Lecrae every morning to get ready for work. Can you tell I had a good week!?

*It was the last full week of school before Christmas. I've been testing like crazy, squeezing in fun activities wherever I can, and having so much fun making a fool of myself in front of my students. :)

*I'll start with the heartbreaking news to get it out of the way :(. On Friday when I came back in from dismissing my students, the secretary stopped me and told me that one of my students' moms had been looking for me. Because they are being sent back to their home country. Her last day of school will be Tuesday. My eyes filled up with tears. I am anxious to get a chance to talk to the mom, but I am SO sad to loose one of my students. This sweet girl who brings me drawings and cards every single day. Who came into my room barely speaking English, and when I just tested her, knew all of her letters, was writing sentences and reading books. BOOO! I am heartbroken.

*One of my students on the playground: "Mrs...I don't got no bed at my house. I sleep on the floor. I hope I get a bed some day." :(

*My husband and I are really praying about becoming Foster Parents. We are in the primary stages of praying and asking the Lord if this is our call....the more I am at work, the more I want to do it. I don't care if I'm tired or worn down-when I interact with my students and hear their lives and fears....it makes me want to start TODAY! Please be in prayer about that....And now to the hilarious parts of the week. There are so many!

*One student...First thing in the morning..."Mrs. I got you a present!!!"...later in the day-"Mrs. I got you a present-are you excited?!" At recess-"Mrs. I got you a present. I'll give you a hint...mar-k-er-s." Me-pretending not to hear to ruin the suprise..."Mrs! Did you hear me?! I got you markers!!! MARKERS!!!" :) lol The next day she brought me the gift and I opened it with her during centers. Her face was glowing as she gave me the gift. So sweet.

*On the Smart Board, I made a Jeopardy game with words that my students had to sound out. It had the music and everything. I split my class into groups of 4, had a scoreboard, and told students they had to whisper to each other to figure out the answer. I would call randomly on a student in their group, so they had to ensure that EVERY student in the group knew the answer confidently. I never expected it to go so well! The kids were at the point where they were saying: "I'll take the letter "a" for 200." It was so fun. Our school instructional coach came in and was SHOCKED to see the team work and how well they were sounding out words. It was so fun and they were so competitive. When I told them it was time for recess, they begged me to let them keep playing. :)

*At the end of the game, it was time for us to play a math game. I said to a student, "Go back to your chair my friend." He looked at me so sad and went over to move his behavior bear to the next level. I asked him what he was doing, and he said: "You made me move my bear." :( Me-"No. I told you to go to your chair. CHair. " Student-"Oh...ya. I can do that!!"

*We are writing "Opinion pieces" in writing this month, and we decided to make a class book about our favorite foods. I was asking my students about what their favorite foods are. Most said: Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, etc. The trick was that they had to write WHY it was their favorite. I was walking around helping students sound out words, and one sentence said: "I like Macerone becuz it haz the cheez." And then I walked over to another student...I was frustrated with him for writing random letters down. He said: "It's not random....it says 'General Tso's Chicken'. My favorite food is General Tso's Chicken." Oh! Lol What a funny child.

*"Mrs. I love every single part of school. I even love just walking in the hallway holding your hand."

*"Mrs., this weekend I'm going to Chuckie Cheese for my birthday." Me-Wow! That sounds so fun. Who all is going with you? Student-My mom, YOU, my grandpa....  Me-I'm not going, sweety. Student-Just smiles.

*Next week we only have 2 days. I am so excited. On Monday my husband is coming into my class for the first time to help me. We are going to make ornaments as a present for thier moms. They are SO excited. We already made the gift bags, cards, etc. for the gifts. I told them not to tell their moms so it was a secret. "Mrs...is it ok if we tell our mom that we made them a present but we don't tell them WHAT we're making?!" Me-Sure that's ok! Student-Good, cuz I already did. :)

*I tested my students on "Reading Records" this week to check their reading level. They are expected to be at a level A or B. Most of my students did great. ONE student baffled me. He got 100% on A, B, C, and D!!! I am going to test him on E on Monday. SO exciting!!!

*We are having a school sing-along with Christmas carols, decorating sugar cookies with our book buddies, I got them some gifts, making gifts for their moms, playing a Christmas Jeopardy game, and then I also made a class slide show to the song "You Got a Friend in Me" for the Christmas party. When I made it,  I was tearing up. Sure do love these kids. It's going to be an amazing week.

*Glen the Elf is still extremely popular. The mother of the child that is so mad that we don't call him "Chippy" told me that everyday when he goes home to tell her about his day, When he brings up Glen the Elf, he says: "You know-the Elf that Mrs. calls Glen, but his real name is Chippy".

*Tuesday after school I get to drop off the presents for the families that we adopted.

*Another highlight of my week? My husband's last day of school was Thursday. I'm so so so happy to see his smile again, to hang with our friends, AND to have his help around the house. :) Friday night I came home from work to flowers, a clean house, laundry done, groceries bought...BEST HUSBAND EVER!!!

*According to my husband, I am a Christmas light snob. I only like white lights and classy looking houses. Not a big fan of the blue or gaudy looking houses. It was fun to look at Christmas lights in the areas of mansions as I criticized their lights. Kind of pathetic how big these houses are...just 2 miles away from my school. The differences in wealth is sickening.

:) Happy Teach.

Then 2 1/2 weeks off with my husband and our families. I am so excited. Have a VERY Merry Christmas!!!