10 reasons today was exceptional

1. A parent thanked me just for ‘being the person that you are’.
2. A child passed a note to another child. She a) wrote it at home and not in class (as evidenced by the paper we don’t have in school); b) waited until we were lining up at dismissal to give it him, and c) kept the content G-rated. These three note-passing factors have never coincided in my classroom, ever.
3. No one used the word ‘said’ in their narrative writing (and 4 kids actually asked to use the notes from their writing folders to find more descriptive synonyms).
4. I got to eat a really good lunch with my co-workers (as part of a 3 day Thanksgiving potluck bonanza). Brownies with Andes mints inside? So stealing that recipe.
5. Only one of my students ‘forgot’ to prove his answers on the district’s benchmark assessment test (BAT)…and a sharp glance was all it took to get him to go back over each question (Major improvement from the September BAT…yay kids! You took your time and looked back in the passages!)
6. I didn’t have to teach reading (because of aforementioned BAT).
7. A 4th grader who s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e-d last year academically and socially told me she made the honor roll and had no referrals for the whole quarter. The grin on her face almost brought tears to my eyes.
8. I have no papers to grade.
9. A very challenging little man approached me randomly during math and said softly, “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve been giving you, Ms. Powell.”
10. A group of children spontaneously (and accurately) computed the elapsed time between music class and lunch…and then one kid whispered, “But I don’t care if lunch is soon, ‘cuz I like math. And I like it better to be at school than at home. 3rd grade is the funnest ever.” The others actually agreed and I turned away so they couldn’t see my bemused smirk, then thought better of it and whirled back around with an unapologetic grin. “Thanks, guys. I’m glad to hear you enjoy school. That makes me happy, too.”

Not a bad start to the first 5 day week we’ve had in awhile.