Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you and your families all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! The class worked super hard on putting together your gifts. I hope you like them just as much as the kids did making them. I hope you are also able to plant your Marigold flowers somewhere in your yard and see them bloom. If an accident happened with the transporting of the plants on Friday, I have plenty of extra seeds at school. :)

Working on the outside of our plant holder 

Each student drew a portrait of their mom and labeled different parts of the drawing

Real flowers are nice, but this flower can last forever!

Busy bees hard at work

We wrote reasons on why our mom is the best!

After dinner, she gives me the i-Pad

She makes me better when I get hurt

She makes me lunch and dinner

Karate
One of our classmates, Chase, is in karate and invited his instructors from ATA to come in and speak with the class about self control, good decision making, and tattling vs. telling. It couldn't have come at a better time in the school year. I've noticed a pattern in my four years of teaching that the last month of school can be very difficult--the kids get very antsy and forget or disregard school rules. We have been taking a step back and reviewing my expectations. Having our special speakers come in last Wednesday was an extra special touch. I along with the instructors stressed that karate moves are only appropriate in karate class--not at school, outside at recess, the classroom, etc. It's not something to play and goof around with. 

For some reason, my fun videos won't upload on here. Bummer! 

I was invited by our student Allen and his family to his Young Native Pride performance. I can't tell you how awesome it was for me to see Allen be SO proud of his cultural background. I love when I am able to see who my students are not just as academic learners, but also who they are as unique individuals. I got to see Chase with his karate skills on Wednesday and Allen with his Native American background on Thursday night. I am always eager to learn more about my students.

Teacher Appreciation Week
Thank you to those students and families who went out of their way to "appreciate" me last week! You all are so sweet.

Last Wednesday was Mrs. Vadnais' day with us. Although we were sad to say goodbye, we are so fortunate we were able to do so many fun science lessons with her.

As a farewell, each student made a thank you card/picture for her

One of the biggest reasons why I teach is to inspire and motive my students. I am very driven in wanting to help others. I'm glad I was able to help mentor Mrs. Vadnais in her teaching path. I wish her nothing, but the best!