Celebrate 2/21

It's Saturday morning and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I have a lot of small celebrations to share.

• Monday was a day off for us for President's Day. I enjoyed having the extra day off because that meant that I could actually have a weekend without having to worry about working on Saturday and Sunday to be ready for my week. 
• I changed up how I am doing my math lessons so that I work with half the class (or fewer) at a time. My students are just so chatty that we can't get through what needs to be done when I have all of them in the gathering space. I am lucky enough to have a Chromebook cart at my disposal so they get a good mix of teacher-led instruction and practice on the computer using Khan Academy or Compass learning Odyssey. I feel like so many more students learned so much more this week. 
• We started a new routine of making a weekly goal for reading, math, and behavior.  I remembered to have them make the goal and I remembered to have them rate themselves on how they did toward achieving their goal. 
• On Thursday, it was frigid outside. We should have had a Cold Day off from school. With temperatures on the thermometer of -11 and wind chills of -29, our school district got a lot of complaints for not calling it. About half of my class made it to school that day. It was a nice relaxing day for all of us. We did a lot of learning, but were able to have some fun as well. 
• Friday, everyone was in class and everyone had a lot to say to one another. I ended up sending a few kids out for time-outs in other classrooms in the afternoon. One student, who I thought really did not care for my class, wrote me the sweetest apology note. It really made me step back and reframe some of what I have been letting myself think lately. These opportunities to adjust your perspective do not always come up and I am thankful for this one. 
• The staff book club is up and running. We have our first title selected and will meet at the end of March to discuss it. I am so glad I put the idea out there. 
• Last, but certainly not least, the middle school dance last Friday went well and the kids had fun. My student council did their part to make the night fun for everyone as well as a great fundraiser for us. 

What do you have to celebrate?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!