Having fun

Holy Moses (that’s for Tony) – I don’t know when I’ve last gone for a week without writing a blog post. So sorry! But it kind-of exemplifies my life right now. Crazy! I have one that I’ve written for tomorrow about an amazing picture book, but for now I wanted to leave you with two videos.

See, I think we can all get wrapped up with everything that needs to be done in our classrooms. I’m constantly glancing at the Illinois Standards, Common Core Standards, the calendar. How is it already November 10^th? But sometimes what our kids really need is fun.

We’ve had a lot of fun in my class this year. Heck, I’d argue that reading a picture book a day is fun already. But I remember certain events this year – the time I wore a hat to read a book, the time I sang with some students while walking around the track, the time 24 kids sang The Duck Song to me, as some highlights from the year. Yesterday added to that list.

See Mr. Garrett, an amazing fifth grade teacher in our building, held a school-wide election Tuesday. The kids elected the president but also: their favorite sports team, their favorite superhero, and two teachers they’d like to see race. They elected Mr. Garrett and Mr. Wadleigh.

Friday we began with a beautiful Veteran’s Day assembly. Veterans related to our students came. Our two elementary buildings housing the Pre-K – 1^st graders and the 2^nd-3^rd graders all came over. Each class sang a song and we passed out flowers to the veterans as fifth graders read their names. A slide show played for the entire assembly with photos of any veteran related to the students. Wonderful.

Then the other students left and it was just our 250+ students. We began with two classes giving a presentation and then it was race time. As I stood there taping, laughing, and being hugged randomly by fifth graders I had tears in my eyes. I was listening to the sound of pure joy. Awesome way to end any school week.

The actual race:

The celebration at the end:

Have a wonderful weekend!