Lets do this!

Teacher friends. We have 15 days until Christmas break. We can do it. I am going to challenge myself to do a few things.....personally I think it is easier to reach a goal when you only have to do it for a few days...aka 15....15 days....cause then break happens and we all get out batteries recharged by the break fairy.

My challenge to myself is (and if you so choose to take on this challenge as well thats great!)
-Stay late at school or get there early at least twice a week so I can feel fully prepared
-Take a step back before acting on frustration of any kind
-Laugh more with my kids
-Have more conversations with my kids
-I am going to encourage my kids
-I will lend a helping hand to my coworkers if they need it
-I will smile! Like so much you will think something is wrong with me
-If you need a hug you will get it, adult or child
-Be super Christmas-y, because it makes everyone happy! 


If I do not at least attempt these things, I will gladly accept coal in my stocking....

FIFTEEN DAYS!

Lets. Do. This.

Much needed

This break could not have come at a better time. The kids needed it. The TEACHERS NEEDED IT!

Side note: don't even say "I wish I got a break from work like teachers" or "must be nice to have 5 days off for Thanksgiving" if you aren't a teacher. Because YES it is nice! If you wanted to have them too, you could have become a teacher, but you didn't become a teacher so you don't have the right to make us feel bad about the breaks we get. OUR JOB IS HARD! Not saying yours isn't. Just, don't comment on the time off that we get and we won't comment on your job. Kthanks

Anyways! I don't know if it was just me, just kidding I know it wasn't just me, but like my teacher brain is mush. I let my kids do a craft for 2 hours on Tuesday.....2 hours. This break is needed for a few reasons:

-I need to re-energize badly
-I need to organize my life badly
-I need to regroup badly
-I need to nap........badly

My rope is nearing its end.....its basically just weird little frayed pieces right now.

Hello Thanksgiving break, my old friend.

Thankful

Im thankful for students who usually don't want to work at all but sometimes get the urge to try really hard all day long. It makes me feel successful.









Im thankful for students who are hilarious. The students who find a sock in their coat pocket and exclaims "Oh, itsa sock" when they discover it, and then use the 1 sock as a glove and put their hands in it to keep them warm. But the reason they didn't have gloves is because he gave them to another student who didn't have any.









Im thankful for funny and sweet conversations that I get to have with my kids. Like this:

"Can you fly?"

What??

"Can you fly?????"

No haha why would you think I can fly!

"Because you a super hero"

*Cue tearing up*




Im thankful for my coworkers, I think Ive said that before....




Im thankful that if our kids don't have coats, gloves or shoes that there are people out there who are more than willing to donate proper clothing for them.

Im thankful for when kids get creative with their family projects. We had them disguise turkeys so that they wouldn't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner, the only one I had turn one in wrote "My turkey is God I protect you so don't eat me" hilarious. I love it.

Im just thankful.

Progress

How long have we been in school? 63 days.....thats it. Like 15 weeks. 3 ish months. What does it feel like? 2 years. These past 3 months have crawled by like a sloth. A sloth stuck in tar. BUT it also feels like it has gone kinda fast? I don't know, its a weird feeling. Anyways, in these past few months, the tar covered sloth months, there has been some serious progress made. I'm going to tell you where we have progressed. Most of these aren't academic.....so sue me.

-We walk instead of run from our seats to our carpet spots
-We speak to our friends instead of yell
-We take calming breaths and chill instead of freaking out (not always....)
-We can kind of read!
-We actually work together instead of being bossy pants (also not always...)
-We can have a GIANT melt down and then come back to class and be successful
-We sit AT our desks instead of On our desk
-We laugh and dont get toooooooo carried away
-We answer some deep thinking questions instead of answering "uhhhhhhh"
-We don't yell out answers during tests anymore!
-We have 4/5 good days instead of having like umm 0/5 (yes thats specifically about 1 kid...maybe 2)
-We worry about our friends when they are sad or hurting instead of laughing at them..

Am I saying that there is nothing we can work on? Thats exactly what I'm saying. we are perfect. hahahahahaha Im so totally joking. We have so much to work on. But I would say that for 3 measly months, this progress is pretty good. So bring it on the next 6 months! We are going to progress the crap out of you.

These are a few of my favorite things

I love:
~When my little boys cross their legs when they're reading books
~ How my kids call hand sanitizer "hanitizer"
~Also how a trampoline is a "jumpoline"
~When my rough kids have really awesome days! (duh...)
~When my kids say funny things like "We are arch enemys!" and "I WILL get revenge, but like what is revenge..." even though they shouldn't be saying things like that....
~imaginations
~Puff ball hair
~Library day and sitting on the floor with my class to listen to our librarian read to us
~Being like, really dramatic to my class because they think its hilarious, because it is.
~When a kid has a story to tell and they get really into it
~My coworkers
~Reading to my kids
~Our hall monitors 
~Making my kids be weird because sometimes they hate it and I feel like a nerdy parent and I LOVE it.
~My kids. They make me feel cooler than I am
~Feeling cute and then having a kid tell you that you look cute because then YOU KNOW its true because kids don't lie
~Run on sentences
~Listening to *NSync and having my kids have NO CLUE who they are.....JK I hate that


Thats not all but I'll stop

I don't know what I would do without them

This is actually about 2 sets of people. My students and my coworkers.

First-My students.
They give me a purpose. They have made me become a better person. They have made me a sassier person, which isn't always bad..... They make me think outside the box. They make me work harder. They have taught me so much! THEY'RE 6!! If only they knew.....
They have also taught me how privileged I was growing up. I remember on a few occasions, only a few.....when I wasn't thankful for what I had. I look back on that now and feel so spoiled. Not necessarily with the things I had, but with the loving family I was so lucky to have. Some of these kids talk about the most adult topics....because the adults around them treat them like adults and don't censor anything that they talk about....I know I have said this in another post but they are children. Let them be children.
I have one little boy who has a "girlfriend" in kindergarten....their relationship is hard on him. She honestly ruins his day sometimes....like what the heck. THEYRE 6!!! Im 25 and still don't have a boyfriend to ruin......He was upset the other day because she walked by him in the hallway and didn't wave at him. So then he was laying in the hallway on the lap of one of our hall monitors, because our hall monitor, bless his heart, took time out of his day to try and help him overcome some of his girl issues. Anyways, my kid was laying on his lap crying because this girl "broke his heart" and she walks by again and ignores him and my little man says "UGH! She just walked by and didn't even see that I was upset about her! SHES THE WORST!" Like such adult issues...and he can't even do subtraction yet...I can only imagine what other problems they deal with that I don't see or hear about. My main purpose is to be there for them. Let them be children. Show them how fun learning is. I do my best at that. While they are at school, they will be children.

Second-My coworkers.

I am incredibly lucky. I have wonderful coworkers. They are my friends. They listen to me when Im having a total meltdown (which is frequent). If it weren't for them my job would be much MUCH harder. It is no surprise that I work in a difficult school. Our kids can push us to the edge. The things that we are expected to do as teachers stretch us thin. I honestly don't know what would happen if I wasn't so close with my coworkers. I can come to them with personal and professional problems. I trust them. I know that if I get the flu at 9 pm on a week night that they will help to cover my class if I don't get a sub (which is also a frequent problem). I am blessed....#blessed....sorry about that...I have heard of different work environments where the people don't interact, they don't talk and laugh, that sounds awful. I never want that. I'm afraid that someday I will work somewhere like that....for right now though I will be thankful. I will be thankful that I work with incredible teachers who support me and help me grow as a teacher. I get to work with my friends. For that I am a lucky girl.

Happy Halloween

It really was a happy Halloween at school on Friday! It felt like Halloween when I was in school. The students had the chance to wear their costumes on Friday if they earned it during the week. All but 2 of my students earned it which is AMAZING! So the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade had a costume parade. JUST LIKE I USE TO DO IN SCHOOL! It was great. They were great.

Usually Halloween is like the worst holiday ever in school. Kids are all hopped up on sugar and creepy stuff and the day is total madness and chaos. This year it wasn't! I don't know what happened. Maybe I was just in a better mood? I don't know.

My most challenging student had his best day he has had all year. I was really excited because he legit earned his cupcake at the end of the day. It felt so good to reward him. I hate to take things away from kids. Okay sometimes I don't totally hate it....but its not a great feeling to make a kid upset. Sometimes it just has to be done. But I don't want to talk about that. I just loved that he earned something fun! Legit earned it! Friday felt like school when I was little. It was great. I would like to place an order for more of those kinds of days!

Please and thank you :)

Love Miss Philips