Dismissal Time

Dismissing the kiddies at the end of the day is always bittersweet.

Bitter because... okay, fine maybe not so bitter. Haha.

Sweet because...

There is a great sense of tranquility and peace once the kiddies leave for the day. 

There is something VERY peaceful about a classroom that was ONCE bustling with ALL kinds of noise and learning that is NOW completely empty and quiet!

All the chairs have been put up,

pencils have been lost, 

and pieces of paper remain on the floor for the custodian to sweep away. 

After school hours is when I do my best teacher thinking, I think.

I love an empty classroom!  

Do you? 

3rd Graders

3rd Grade is a very interesting grade to teach.

When I tell people that I am a 3rd grade teacher, they are always curious to know how 3rd graders are.

3rd graders range from 7-8 years old.

At around this age, the kiddies are independent enough to take care of themselves... meaning they can go to the bathroom by themselves, think and act critically(most of the time, haha), and most importantly you are able to build a meaningful relationships with them.

Don't get me wrong, I think in every grade, you can build

a special relationship with each and every one of your students.

However, by the time students come to 3rd, something inside of them starts to mature and they start acting a little bit like big people. They understand consequences better, can sit and read independently, and most importantly can handle having some real responsibilities. Therefore, the relationships I come to form with my 3rd graders feel a bit deeper and more meaningful. I mean they start to read you and all your different moods. Sometimes, some of my students know just with a glance from me exactly what I want them to do.

Anyways, point of the post is that today I was reminded of just how much I enjoy this grade when one of our students randomly wrote us the following letters.

Background Info: Ms. Phantastic and I often share stories about our pets. My dog, Teddy and Ms. Phantastic's bunny, Snowball.

Third Times the Charm?

Hello my invisible & non-existent readers!
I have been thinking about blogging again for awhile now. AGAIN?
Well, I've started a number of blogs attempting to document my 1st
"official" year of teaching(" " because before this year, I permanently
subbed in one class for 7 months which to me FELT like my first year).
However I was an EPIC FAILURE at updating and maintaining my blogs.

This is officially the 3rd blog I've started and I do believe 3rd times the charm, right?!
So here I go again in trying to squeeze in here whats left of the school year.

Just to give you a little background info.
I am currently teaching in an Integrated Collaborative Classroom (formally called Cooperative Team Teaching). HUH? What the heck is that (you may ask)?

Well, roughly translated, it's a class with a mixture of special education and general
education students and there are TWO teachers in the classroom.
1 general education teacher and 1 special education teacher.
Honestly, I love it because I admire and respect my co-teacher and we just
happen to have a group of fabulous, curious, and SWEET (like honey)
students in our first year of I.C.T. together.

Therefore I will use this blog to document all things related to teaching (mostly the good, the stressful and the rewarding). So here I go.... AGAIN.