Celebration 12/14

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I am looking forward to participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone's classrooms and lives.

These are some things that I had to celebrate this week:

Monday--On our Teacher Professional Development Day my principal gave us the afternoon to work on what we needed to work on.  This does not always happen and I needed the time to collaborate with my grade-level partner and organize my class library.  There were books piled on my table and my desk and everywhere there was space.  I was so happy to have time to get some things done.

Tuesday--When I checked my mailbox on Tuesday morning there was an envelope from a local high school. There was a short letter explaining that they have a program in which their students write a thank you note to a former teacher.  And then there was this...

When I first opened the envelope, I had in mind a few students that I thought would possibly write me a note.  This letter was from a student who surprised me.  It really made me feel good about the way that things that I do influence students in a positive way.  This particular student was in my fourth grade class and I really did not feel like I connected with her in the best way possible.  When she was in my eighth grade language arts class, I realized that she had taken more lessons from my writing workshop than I had realized.  She was the student in eighth grade who wrote a 30,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo.  I guess I didn't realize that she also attributed her love of writing to my classes.  This was a pleasant start to my Tuesday! 

I also enjoyed my language arts classes on Tuesday.  I played the Maya Angelou tribute poem video for the classes and then read the picture book biography of Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson.  We had great discussions in all of the classes about apartheid and the legacy that Mandela leaves.  I really enjoyed reading the thoughtful blog posts that my students wrote after our talks. 

Another celebration on Tuesday was the release of Despicable Me 2 DVD.  My husband and I are huge fans of animated movies and we had not seen this one in the theaters.  I went to buy the movie right away on Tuesday and we enjoyed a fun movie night.  

Wednesday-- I gave my students a project proposal form for Genius Hour.  We had a very busy hour really delving into the topics that students were curious about.  I want them to go farther than just putting together informational presentations, which is what the majority of my students did in the first trimester.  It was a difficult class because it is hard to figure out how to steer students who have forgotten how to be curious, but the thinking that happened was really rewarding and I will be so glad to see the results of this trimester and the Genius Hour projects of my students. 

Thursday--I had a student council meeting.  I am really enjoying working with this group of students this year.  They are responsible and fun to work with and we are doing great things.  

Friday--My husband and I went to the outlet mall nearby to purchase the things that my brother-in-law requested from us.  The shopping trip brought it much closer to home that we will be traveling to Spain next week.  I am really looking forward to seeing my in-laws and I know my husband is excited to see his family as well.  While we were at the outlet mall, we stopped into the Ghiardelli store and got a free sample of peppermint bark and purchased hot cocoa.  This was a nice sweet treat.  

Saturday--Today we went to Half Price Books.  I keep saying that I will not buy more books, but then more good books show up in the clearance section.  Today I spent $30 and walked out of the store with 15 books.