2/11/09

I had a great birthday!  My day started with waking up to streamers and balloons from my roommates, and Nicole made breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes) for us and some friends.  Yum.  When I got to school, here's what I saw:

Last week sometime, my students enlisted the help of another teacher and the custodian, and I guess they just assigned people what they needed to bring.  They had Capri-Suns, cupcakes, an array of chips, candy, and popcorn.  I got balloons, silk flowers, a plastic vase, and quite a few cards.  So sweet :-)  It was a very interesting balance to try to show my students that I was very thankful and that I thought it was so sweet, but that I also still needed to discipline the kids that tried to take advantage of the fact that it seemed to be a "fun day" from the beginning. That was not easy, but it worked out okay.  There were only a few kids who pushed the limit, and for the most part, everyone was in a great mood, and it was a great day.  

After school, I came home and my roommates had invited my friend Cary over, and we all ate Lilly's Pizza.  Yum.  When I went to Community Group, we all stood around outside (because today was SO amazing outside... 75 degrees!).  When we went inside, they had arranged some brownies and ice cream, along with a lovely picture of me:  

This all started when Cary and her husband Jason decided to get rid of a large picture of him at our community group's Christmas gift exchange.  It has been passed around a few times, and now I get to decide who the next recipient is, and I get to put their face on it!  Fun.  Now I just have to find a place for it until then.  Maybe on my desk at school.... 

I am thankful for all my wonderful friends and family who called and wished me a happy birthday.  I have really been missing my mom these past few weeks, and this morning I found myself feeling an overwhelming sadness, even in the midst of such wonderful people and blessings.  I know it's not a bad thing for me to miss my mom, but I am thankful that God showed me that if I focused on how sad I was today, I would miss out on the joy of seeing the family of God care for me and love me.  It was a conscious fight all day long to choose to focus on the here and now instead of on what I don't have, but I am thankful that God showed it to me first thing and helped me all day.  

"What do you have that you did not receive?"  1 Corinthians 4:7

Thank you, God, for the many undeserved blessings you showered down on me today!

Today

2-hour delay today - kids come at 10:45.  Very exciting for all teachers and students.

In reading - we have 6 laptops for the kids to use.  It's very difficult to monitor the use of the laptops while trying to teach a reading group while trying to answer questions about latin stems while trying to keep 3 kids from literally shocking other kids with fake Juicy Fruit purchased at Spencers.

After lunch - one of my lovelies decides he can leave the classroom without asking me.  I don't realize this for about 10 minutes.  A kid goes to find him and brings him back.  I write a discipline referral.

Later after lunch - 4 kids swarm my desk to ask me questions.  In the midst of the confusion, one kid knocks my macbook (my own personal computer) off of my desk onto the hard tile floor.  I yell at them all to sit down.  A blood vessel in my eye bursts.  This is true.  I wait about 3 minutes before I check to see if my computer still works.  I pray this whole time that I will react appropriately regardless of whether or not it works.  It does work.  Praise God.  

After Math - another teacher comes in to let me know that one of my kids was playing with a $100 bill in class.  This is not the first time that has happened this year, both times it's been boys in my class that have these big bucks.  ***(we found out later that one of them actually traded it to the other one for his cookie and bag of chips...  Jacob and Esau?)

After school - a student brings me papers to grade.  This is the news that brightens my day a bit.  3 girls from another class chose to write about me for the last writing assignment.  Here are some of the sweet (and funny) statements they made about me in their writing:

Student #1:

"She is smart.  She is nice.  Although, she can be a little mean when your getting on her nerves, but other than that she's still nice."

"She dresses cool, she's sporty, outgoing and hip."  Ha!  :-)

"Ms. Christie is a great reader, when she reads the whole world stops idmmedieity."  (that word is supposed to be 'immediately...')  "She knows when to punish you and when to love you.  She knows when to act silly around you."

Student #2:

"Ms. Christie is so magnificent and pretty!"  (this one makes me giggle, because I imagine she had a list of words she wanted to use that were 'big words.')  

"Ms. Christie has beautiful shoes."  This one makes me confused, because I pretty much wear the same flip flops every day...

"Suddenly she is very kind."  Hahahaha, again, trying to use a "writing term" but not using it in the right way.  Precious.  

"She loves when I ask questions about math.  Sometimes when I really understand it she is very excited.  She is never creul" (cruel) "and she believe in me."  :-)  sweet....

Student #3:

"You are very special to be in her clas.  But she makes you take your shoe off if you ask her for a pencil.  But she is still a spectaculart teacher."  

"She helps you when you need it.  An she give out candy to.  I love candy.  How about you?  Don't you like candy?"  This one makes me laugh because I honestly don't give out candy very often.  But maybe I did one day - she obviously remembers it as a very motivating part of being in my class....

Now you have been on a virtual field trip of my day.  Hope you enjoyed it!