Be Cool, Walk in School

Hola!

Today my kids were once again on a roll and continually making me laugh! I honestly don't think I could have a better job, or a more entertaining one at that.

Every morning our principal sends out a message to the students via email as we don't have an intercom or speaker system in our school. The end is always the same message. It used to be about reminding other students the rules if you see them running inside during break. This week he changed it up a bit to say "Be cool, walk in school!" My kids loved the change and have fun reading it with me every morning. Well today Mr. Colin popped in my room for a while to just observe and to have a chance to be around the kids more. When he came in we were talking as a class about some rules we should have for working on writing (part of the daily five). I was so happy because my kids were on task and sitting super nicely. They weren't blurting out and they were coming up with such smart rules... such a good time for an unexpected visit! :) The kids noticed Colin in the room but just kept going about with the discussion, that is with exception of Bean (nickname taking after Mr. Bean...) He rose his hand and proudly said, "When we work on our writing we should be cool and not run in school!" As he said this he slyly glanced back at our principal and gave a little smile. I have to admit it was hard not to laugh at how amused he was by his swift comment!

While Mr. Bean's comment was good and fun I must say the best part of my day was during our last block together. Right now we are doing a social studies unit on character traits. We have learned about honesty and responsibility and this week we have been learning about being kind. My kids had been doing a really good job with it and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them today, so I was heading into social studies with about only half of my block planned. Right before break ended I had an idea to have the kids draw names and write a few nice things about that person on a note card, then I would read them aloud and the student could keep the note card to take home or use as a book mark. It was also a great activity because we have been learning all about adjectives this week (I love when lessons integrate various subjects)! The kids wrote their nice comments then I collected the cards and read them out loud. So many of them were so shy about what they had written about other kids and what was written about them, but they LOVED it!! What second grader doesn't want to talk about themselves for a few minutes anyways? So many of the kids put their classmate was "handsome" or "beautiful" and a lot of times mentioned how they were smart or had helped them spell a word in the past. It was probably my favorite teaching moment in these past few weeks. It was so great to see all the kid being genuinely nice to one another and to see how HAPPY it made them. None of the kids needed help thinking of a nice word to say about their peer, which I found to be impressive and quite mature for second grade. The whole time I was reading I could not contain my smile and sometimes a few giggles came out as well!

Now I have one more day of school before the long weekend. While I am more than ready and excited for a three day weekend and some beach time, I have to admit I will seriously miss my kids! I'm quite positive I have the most wonderful class in the whole world :)

Cheers!

Michelle