Week 15: I am blessed.

Monday, April 22Today was Earth Day, so I started the classes off by doing a coloring page of a bear hugging the earth and then we did a Weekly Reader on Earth Day. In the reader, it explained how all our trash goes to landfills and we are simply running out of room to put our trash; this is why it’s important to create less trash because we are then taking better care of our earth. This led into a huge discussion from the students about how smelly and gross landfills are. The expressions they were using to describe dumbs was hilarious!
Later on when the class came inside from recess, they told me that I should be very proud of them because they spent their recess cleaning up garbage off the playground. I absolutely was proud of them, but told them that they needed to definitely wash their hands before we started letterbook J
Tuesday, April 23This is our last week studying dinosaurs in science, and we are finishing it strong! We made dinosaur eggs today using paper maché and balloons and it was so much fun. It was my first time ever working with paper maché and it was definitely an experience. We started with mixing the glue and the water and I explained to the students that we were going to make dinosaur eggs out of balloons and newspaper. I described the steps that we would use today (mixing the glue and water, dipping the newspaper strips into the mixture, wiping off excess dripping, wrapping the paper around the balloon, patting the paper maché flat) and what we would do when the eggs were done drying (pop the balloon, cut a hole in them, paint the eggs and put baby dinosaurs inside). After giving a quick description, I asked if there were any questions—about 20 hands shot up, of whom 16 all were wanting to know what would happen if the balloon popped while putting the newspaper around it J
It was an extremely messy project, but one that I know the kids really enjoyed, and so did I. I am very thankful that Christy, Mindy (classroom aide) and Rachel (one-on-one aide) were all there to help in the morning; all the extra hands definitely helped things go so well. In the afternoon, it was just Christy, Mindy and I, but it still went well. For it being my first time working with paper maché and having to explain it to kindergartners, I’d say it went great!
Wednesday, April 24We finished our letterbook Ww today so we celebrated by having Wacky Wednesday! Basically the students were encouraged to wear something wacky and Christy and I changed some things around the room (i.e. turned posters upside down, switched the calendar numbers, put our class stuffed animals on top of the log cabin), just a lot of random things that the students thought were hilarious.
During our letterbook, I told the students that because everything is so wacky today, we should do the pages sitting under our desks instead of in our normal seats, which they LOVED. They thought it was so funny and awesome doing their work on the floor rather than in their seats. These silly little things reminded me that it’s the little stuff in life that mean the most sometimes. I sported a fabulous outfit today complete with cheetah tights, a red boa, and a polka dot shirt; one of my students asked me if it was my wedding dress. When I said that it wasn’t, he looked kind of sad and said, “Well, I think it’d be a great one!”

Thursday, April 25Today was a pretty normal today. It’s been strange this week because I gave calendar and math back to Christy, so I’m no longer standing in front of the class all day, every day. I definitely don’t mind giving things back though; it’s nice to see others teach. Next week I am going to spend more time in the other kindergarten classroom and in a second grade classroom because Christy said it would be great for me to just see as many different teaching styles as I can, which I totally agree with. I’m very thankful I was placed with Christy; our teaching personas are very similar so it was easy to take over because the students were used to a similar style of teaching. I definitely experienced some “Mrs. Cox doesn’t do that” times, but overall, I would say it’s been a fabulous placement.
When I went to get the milk from the office this morning for snack time, I walked into the classroom with the students saying “Happy Wedding!” and saw a gift in the front of the class from all the students. Christy had mentioned to parents that I was getting married, and many gave money wanting to give me something (which Christy never even asked for) so I am feeling SO unbelievably blessed. Both the morning and afternoon classes gave me something, and Christy brought cupcakes for everyone to celebrate; it was so sweet. I had many kind words from my students: “Mrs. DeVries, you’re going to be the most beautifulest wife” and “I hope you have a very happy marriage” and “You’re the kindest, most wonderfulest teacher, so you’re husband must be nice”. Let me tell you, these kids have been a blast to teach. They have been such a blessing in my life!
Because the wedding is this Saturday (!!) today was my last day for this week. Christy graciously told me from the beginning of my placement that she did not want me at school tomorrow or on Monday, which I so appreciate. I am ecstatic for the wedding, but I honestly am pretty bummed to miss school tomorrow—the kids are painting their dinosaur eggs!