"This is the Best Day Ever"

       "This is the best day ever!" Said one of my little boys today.  I bought 20 plates from Dollar Tree (best teacher store ever) and the kids were decorating them for Mother's Day. Since I could only supervise a few at a time, I let the rest of the kids play with Legos and read books and play with the math stations -- not our usual routine.  The little boy was thrilled to make a plate AND play with Legos --- and that made this his best day.  It made me a little sad to think that kindergarten is so much about reading, writing, and arithmetic that a few minutes of Legos meant so much to him.

       

       As we wind up the school year and start the assessment ordeal, I am trying to add more of the fun stuff that we didn't have time for earlier.  We planted seeds last week, and the kids hurry over to check out their plants when they come in the morning.

  

        I also got out my collection of magnets and amazed the children with the way they could repel and attract, depending on the poles.  (they are so easily amazed -- great fun)

       But the biggest excitement of the week was when I got out the dinosaurs.  I read a book

     I

"If The Dinosaurs Came Back" and the kids were so excited they could hardly sit still and listen to the story.  Probably no one will ever listen to everything I say with such eagerness ever again!  They wrote some great stories about dinosaurs, drew a stegosaurus, and begged to take my collection of dinosaurs outside at recess.

  

       This is Teacher Appreciation week, and I have been surprised to receive flowers and candy and sweet cards, and lunch from McDonalds. It warms my heart to get notes telling me how much their child has learned this year in my class.  Kindergarten is such an amazing time of learning -- they come in as a blank slate, barely able to name some letters and numbers. Now they are writing stories and reading books. One was writng a story today -- she was on the fourth page when the bell rang at the end of the day so she will finish when she gets here in the morning. Incredible!

        Just a little over 5 weeks to go and still so much to do!  But I hope I will take time to have a few more "best days ever" in these last weeks.