Adventure #21: The 100th Day of School!!!

We made it to the 100th day of school! I can't believe it- I can't figure out where in the world all that time went. I feel like yesterday I was sitting in our apartment for the first time wondering what in the world I got myself into :) Sometimes I still wonder what in the world I got myself into! But I love my job and I love my students and I wouldn't trade it for anything right now. There are definitely days where I want to quit- days when I don't feel good and my students seem to never stop talking! But then I get some sleep and slow down and take a deep breathe and realize, they are just kids. They are kids who may be very talkative some days, who may not want to listen some days, and who can be perfect angels on other days!

Yesterday one of my students came up to me and said, "Miss Parkinson, thank you for teaching me how to draw stars!" It kind of threw me off a little, because it was such a random thing to thank me for, but she was really sincerely thankful. The kids were supposed to draw stars on their math paper and lots of them didn't know how to and were complaining as such, so I stopped for a minute and showed them how to draw stars. It was such a little thing, but this little girl was so excited to be able to draw stars. And its moments like this that remind me why I am a teacher. There have been lots of moments in the past couple weeks where I have really been able to see growth in my students- growth in their knowledge of the world around them and growth in their behavior. Its been awesome to see students who at the beginning of the year were driving me up the wall and back down again, now able to sit in their seats for most of the day and raise their hands when they have a question. I have really begun to feel like my students are learning something from me-and that's a great feeling :) That's the thing that keeps me waking up those days when I'm not feeling so well, keeps me going back after days that weren't so much fun, and drives me on through the mounds of papers I have to grade and file and keep track of :) Speaking of which, I better get on with getting those grades in the computer!

Adventure #20: Sunny Winter Days

As I look through my facebook newsfeed I often come across people discussing the lovely frigid weather in Minnesota, and it makes me miss the snow and winter just a little bit :) But then I walk out into the sunny 70 degree weather and I don't miss it very much at all! You are welcome to come on down and sit by my pool anytime :)

School is continuing to go well! The past couple of weeks I have really felt on top of everything and its a wonderful feeling. Its great to be able to come home at night and sit on the couch watching TV and not feel like there is something I should be doing or grading. The biggest problem I have encountered in the past couple weeks is an accident epidemic. I haven't had any issues with this all year long and all of a sudden in the past week, I've had 6 accidents. Maybe I'm being too mean and not letting them go to the bathroom or they are drinking too much water or what, but its been a little nuts. Thankfully we have a wonderful nurse who takes good care of the poor kids :) Hopefully this week will be accident free!

Hope you are all staying nice and warm! And just remember, if you ever need a break, this lovely pool is just waiting for some visitors :)

Adventure #19: You know you lived with someone too long when...

You wear the same outfit to school without even talking to each other! Ash and I got back from break and realized we bought the same shirt in different colors (this happens fairly often by the way). This morning I got up to work out (there were way too many Christmas cookies involved in my break!) and I was in the bathroom when Ash left for school and didn't see her before I got to school. Well we maybe need to check with each other before we get dressed because I walked into the copy room and realized we were wearing pretty much the same outfit in different colors! Great minds think alike I guess :)

The first couple days back have been pretty good! My kids have actually been fairly well behaved which I was not expecting but am really enjoying. I am really enjoying getting back into the groove of things and catching up with everyone. Break was really relaxing and refreshing for me and I was able to come back excited to be back to teaching and everything that goes with that! We'll see how long this new found energy lasts...a few more nights of grading 3,250 math facts and I might be ready for another break :)