Five For Friday!

I just love linking up with DoodleBugsTeaching for this Linky party!

What a week, what a week... (If you read only one of these five things, please read #5.)






1.  I have been sick since Saturday!  Yes that's right... A WHOLE week!  I still do not feel a hundred percent. :(  I had to miss THREE days of school this week due to the fever. :(  This is a nasty virus (sore throat, fever, cough, headache, stomache ache, etc).  BUT it afforded me the time to start not one but TWO LINKY PARTIES!

2.  We had our Egg Hunt at school and the kids were so sweet.  They had a BLAST! I just love my class.  They all brought in stuffed eggs earlier this week.  I counted them all up and checked them last night.  Some parents came to help me hide the eggs while the little darlings were at P.E.  Each kid had to find fifteen eggs and then sit on the bench until everyone was done.  They were not allowed to open the eggs until we got back to the classroom.  They handled that well!

When we returned it was a free for all!  I had drawings for some prizes as well.  Everyone won something.  I let the kids pick one egg to take with them to lunch.

We did projects and watched an introductory video on the solar system.

I felt guilty because I was still sick and the egg hunt wore me out.  Our day was not jam packed and was rather relaxed.  We will have to do a lot of catch up when we come back!

3.  Yes, I said it, when we come back!  I am on SPRING BREAK!

I know I should be more excited than I am.  I need this time to catch up.  My house is a disaster and needs major straightening and more baby proofing.  We are going to have my daughter's first birthday here next month.  She started WALKING!  (I guess this is number four but I'm clumping it with three.)

Aside from the house, I need to catch up on grading, writing report card comments, filling out checklists, and whatever else I lugged home in my bag. :)

4.  Smile moment:  The kids know how I love cows.  One was so sweet and brought me in a moo cow because I have been sick.  It poops candy!  I need to take a picture and put it on here.  Too funny!

5.  Just a reminder to always send your students off with them knowing how much you care because life changes in an instant.  Thursday, I called one of my sweeties up to have a quiet talk because he was making a series of poor choices.  We discussed how to turn his day around.  Usually at the end of the day I touch base again about "our talk" to remind the sweetheart that tomorrow is a new day and to learn from what happened today.  With that said, I did not touch base with this child and went home thinking about doing it in the morning.

The next morning, he's super quiet and his mom comes up to conference.  I'm expecting to discuss the talk I had with him the day before but instead she is apologetic about his homework and then goes on to tell me something that really hit home...

His sister was playing in her room the night before and somehow had her old (clunker T.V.) fall on her.  She is only four years old.  The paramedics were in my student's living room trying to save his sister's life.  His dad was not home and he was brave by being strong for his mom and his sister.  He had to witness the trauma.  His family spent most of the night at the ER.  Luckily his sister is fine.  She is sore, but she is fine.  The T.V. almost crushed her lung.

He still came to school ready to work the next day.  I told him how proud of him I was.  He made smart choices in a crisis.  He was an angel for his mama.  We shared what happened with the class.  I made sure to catch him being good.  At the end of the day he came up and gave me a big hug.  He said he did not want to go on Spring Break without doing that. (My eyes are welling up right now...)

His actions, his story, reminded me to send each child off at the end of the day with no regrets.  He reminded me that life changes in an instant.  We, teachers, do not know everything that is happening at home.  We need not assume and should treat poor choices with respect.  What I mean is that we should know our students the best we can by taking time to find out the why.  Ask what is going on?  Ask is everything okay?  I cannot tell you how many times over the years that a student broke down crying when I called him/her up to my desk and said, "I'm concerned.  You are making some poor choices today.  Is everything okay?"  I just wait and LISTEN.  We can't fix everything but we can show we CARE.  An extra minute of our time can make a world of difference in the life of a child.  Make sure to catch each child being good at least once a day! (Sorry for the ramblings...I just keep thinking what if it was my daughter?)