My kids are too cute.

I was apprehensive coming into today because my students had a long four-day weekend.  It had been a while since they were in the school routine, and one of our instigators was back from a Florida vacation.  However, when they rolled in right away in the morning, I knew we'd have a good day.  I was greeted with lots of smiles and hugs!  During morning meeting, I only had to tell them once to make a circle (and it was actually a circle... crazy!) and they did a WONDERFUL job of listening and not having side conversations.  For our activity we played a game called "Martian, Tiger, Politician, Salmon" that required them to do an action, make a sound, and play a game similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors.  They rocked it!  Everyone understood the game, we smiled, we laughed, and it was awesome.  :)

The rest of the morning continued to go well.  We worked on a project for "Square 1 Art" which is a fundraiser that our school is doing.  They had a great time creating nature scenes from torn construction paper.  While we were working, we played our class playlist- the list of all of their favorite songs.  It was awesome to see them light up when their song was played.  One of our boys chose "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.  Soon after his song came on, he proceeded to share with half of the class how Michael Jackson died.  He said, "His heart had been beepin' too hard, too hard.  He had had a heart attack and he died."  It doesn't sound nearly as cute typed out, but the way that his cute little voice said it and the actions and facial expressions that he made along with it were priceless. 

I realize that I am redundant with the word "cute" in this post.  I had an early childhood professor who told me that you shouldn't have kids do projects that are "cute," they should be projects that mean something.  I try to avoid calling kids cute just because I want to respect them as learners and not patronize- but honestly, it's the only word I keep thinking.  I am feeling good about my decision to be a teacher today.  How lucky I am to spend so much time with these awesome young people! 

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow night.  Let's hope this love can carry over into my first lead day tomorrow!

-Miss T