A Dose of Confidence

 On Friday, our district has a Professional Development Day. I, as it turns out, am hosting one of the workshops. Suitably, my workshop is on blogging. I feel at home with this content. The learning process and continuous hunger to be "more"-to know more, do more, learn more, see more, experience more, is innately "me," as it is innately characteristic of many of our second graders. Thus, I blog as an outlet to reach out to you, 2B's parent and family community, but also to express myself "more" than I could if I didn't blog. So talking and guiding learners on blogging? That part is okay with me, but...

The truth is: I am a newbie! This is a year of nothing but new for me, you know this. A new teacher. A new classroom. New students. New families. A new district. A new group of professionals. So, as I prepare for my interactive workshop on blogging, I've asked myself (admittedly more than once in the past few days): can I do this? Walk confidently into a room of experienced educators I respect and admire and be in the driver's seat? Turns out, I've found my answer in Room 2B.

As your child's trusty, first-year, second grade teacher, I am pouring my heart and brains into the classroom like I haven't poured my heart and brains into anything ever before. Do you know why this is? Well, there are many reasons. But one of the reasons is this: every day, when I walk into 2B with too-many bags balancing precariously on my shoulders and flick on the lights, I am reminded by the fact that once again, my day is full of "firsts." It is the first time I am teaching the lessons I am teaching in every content area that day. Sometimes, I let this truth make my eyes wide, my mind spin, and my body move at a superwoman speed, rushing around and prepping for the day's lessons. So this week, in thinking about teaching and learning with our second graders, I've also been thinking about this "first" for me in presenting at a professional meeting in our district. When the students entered 2B yesterday morning, though, I looked at them and realized: they, too, experience a day of "firsts" each day, like I do. It is the first day they have been engaged in that day's teaching and learning ever. And it is the only day they will be ever again! How unique and beautiful. How trusting, kind, open they are.

I draw parallels with our second graders all the time, but for me, this was quite a meaningful one. It is always, always moment-stopping when our second graders give me a dose of perspective. Teach me something. Give me the gift of professional growth. And guess what? It happens all the time. My hope is that I return the favor.

So, think of me Friday morning, as I walk in to the workshop I am leading with a smile of confidence and reassurance that our second graders gave me.

And enjoy a few pictures of us at work from this week in Social Studies!

Ringing in 2013 with Great Habits

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I was super excited to ring in 2013 with our second graders after winter break. The night before, I couldn't sleep! My brain was busy thinking about what we'd do the next day, getting back into the swing of things at school. I was wondering how the students would come back to our classroom--would they need to readjust to our routines? Would they need reminders about classroom expectations after having a chunk of time off?

On that Wednesday we returned from break, I rushed to grab my camera at 8:50 am, after I stood at the door and wished a happy new year to our students coming in. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears! All I had said was "let's get this year started off right--peaceful and calm, focused and excited to learn--by getting right back to our routine of independent reading while you wait for Morning Meeting."

During this less than 10 minute snippet of time, our students gave me a sign. I took note of the evidence of maturity they were showing me, signaling they are growing as learners, as individuals, as a dynamic group.

Happy New Year to me! And to you!!!

Holidaze

It felt like the Friday before Winter Break came and went in a tizzy--and it did! It was super action packed, completed with our school wide Holidays Around the World celebration, a snowman craft, and Cocoa Cafe. Parents and families were invited in on Friday afternoon for a cozy read, a crackling fireplace (on the SMART Board), and hot cocoa (courtesy of barista Marina & company). 

During Holidays Around the World, students visited India, Brazil, and Russia; they were engaged in three cultural activities from each. Some were holiday themed and some were simply cultural. Please enjoy some of the photos taken throughout the day. 

Playing Snakes and Ladders, an ancient Indian game, where our present-day Shoots and Ladders came from!

The Nutcracker, facilitated by Mrs. Fraser,  dance extraordinaire

 Playing traditional Russian game

 Snowman craft

Cocoa Cafe: My cup runneth over with a room full of families and friends reading together

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook...and For Two More

The week following the tragedy in my hometown, Newtown, the students periodically asked questions about it all--about the kids at Sandy Hook, about Newtown, about the officers stationed at WPS. I fielded these questions gently, addressing concerns and questions in a way that acknowledged their importance and relevance while respecting and preserving the amount of knowledge students had or didn't have about all of this.

On the afternoon of Thursday, December 20, though, students happily snipped and turned and colored and wrote on plenty-a-snowflake for Sandy Hook. (Since then, I have learned that Chalk Hill School in Monroe, where the students will attend, has a total blizzard of paper snowflakes blowing in from kids all over the state). Nonetheless, the sense of quiet urgency and little paper snowflakes cut with care that filled 2B that afternoon was lovely and heart warming.

At the end of the day, students packed up as usual and waited in line in the classroom, chatting animatedly, to board their buses, as usual. I walked them down the hall and towards the double doors near the art room--all of this was very ordinary. The two officers were standing at the end of the hallway doing their job, making us all feel safe, as we should. But then something really pretty extraordinary happened. Our second grader leading the line stopped abruptly. She hurriedly plunged her hand into her fluffy, pale pink coat pocket and held her hand out towards the first officer we saw. She looked up at him and said "thank you for protecting us." She slowly slipped a small paper snowflake from her hand into his. Of course, I teared up immediately. But then, when I thought it couldn't get any more meaningful--at least five of our other second graders slid their hands into their pockets and did the same, now to both police officers. I thought I was the only crier...but I looked at both officers and locked eyes with them--all three of our eyes were shining with tears.

In the last post, I blogged about the importance of kindness in 2B--really, in every classroom and every home and every town across the nation. I talked about the epic responsibility to TEACH kindness. But in this moment that passed all too quickly, my students proved that they've got it, and they're taking it into their own hands (quite literally) to be kind on their own. And those kinds of moments? Those are the ones that whisper in my heart that I am the lucky one, to be graced with these children as their teacher.