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.
This week I celebrate students.
1. Students on the student council who work hard and are rockstars. We have had quite a few events lately and they have done an amazing job of planning and working to make sure things went well. It was fun to see them efficiently deliver candy and flowers yesterday for our fund-raiser.
2. During writing workshop, I suggested trying something fun and writing a love letter as an inanimate object. Many students branched off from this suggestion and came up with fun and creative ideas. One student's poem started with the lines:
Little flowers I slaughter,
sorry about what happened.
This is a poem from the lawn mower to the flowers in the yard. Another student wrote a letter to herself from her bed. It was so fun to see the levels of creativity that can spring from just having fun with our ideas.
3. A former student reached out to me and would like to do volunteer hours in my classroom. This was a great letter to get at the end of a day that started with an angry argument with my husband and continued crabby all day. Getting this letter made my mood lighter and really helped me to turn around my day. I am so excited to have this student work with me this year. He is one that needed a positive influence and support to get through his middle school years and mature into a responsible young man. He got it and is now thriving in high school. It is so nice to know that I influenced this child's life in this way (or at least was a part of it).
These are my small celebrations this week. What do you have to celebrate? I can't wait to read everyone's posts and find out. I would love to hear from you in the comments!
So wonderful that you have your former student coming back to volunteer. This is always so special to reconnect in these ways. The lawnmower poem is great! What beginning lines.
ReplyDeleteTerrific that you had a former student reach out to want to be with you in the classroom, Andrea. It says a lot about what kind of teacher you are. It puts life into perspective, doesn't it? Have a good rest of the weekend too!
ReplyDeleteI love your students poetry lines and perspectives and how touching to have a student offer his help to you, reaching back to pay it forward.
ReplyDeleteI love it when leaders start emerging through activities like student council. Congratulations on learning about your impact on your former student. Middle school is such a hard time for kids and they are lucky to have you as their teacher.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great writing idea!
ReplyDeleteLove hearing how your former student is going to be volunteering in your classroom. How wonderful.
I had a letter from a graduating senior last year who I had taught in 6th grade. It still makes me happy. She helped in my classroom at the beginning of the year and we're still enjoying things she created for our classroom before she headed off to college. I love the idea of writing a love letter as an inanimate object. Thanks for sharing the idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to see our students flourish. I get the opportunity to see former students in leadership roles as they lead WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) groups with our 6th graders. It's so fun to see how much they've grown since 6th grade. Even some of my former goof offs become wonderful leaders!