Five for Friday(ish)

 

Well it's not Friday, but I also haven't blogged since the Summer so being a day late really isn't that bad. After a pretty crazy half of the school year, I'm back and had a great week!

After being sick all weekend long, my hubby and I finally got to celebrate Valentine's Day Monday evening. I can guarantee we will always remember our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. Below are the beautiful flowers he sent me at work.

 

Monday was President's Day and my students spent some time learning about the leadership traits of one of my favorite Presidents: George Washington. After attending the Summer Institute at Mount Vernon a few years ago, I am obsessed with GW! I wish I could spend all year just teaching about our first President.

For the last three weeks the students at my school have been bringing in money for our Pasta for Pennies campaign. The money all gets donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Friday was our final day and I had a student very quietly hand me a $100 dollar bill. To say I was shocked was an understatement. Most of my students come from homes that don't have much to spare at the end of each week. I was touched by the donation. Later, I found out from his mom that the $100 was that student's OWN money. He had been saving for an X-box, but after seeing a commercial on TV the night before about a child with cancer, he decided he wanted to donate it. I sat at my desk and let tears fall down my face and thanked god for the way he had just touched me.

Monday my mom surprised me by walking into my classroom with a shopping cart. I had told her a few months ago when seeing a shopping cart at the end of some random parking lot, that I really wanted one for my classroom. I don't know about you but I always seem to come in the door with my hands full of stuff and have to make several trips back and forth to my car. I never thought in a million years she would find a store to buy one. My students and I are so excited! They kept finding random reasons this week to use it. Way to go mom!

My students have spent the last few weeks preparing for our Black History Month Wax Museum. The kids each picked and read a biography of a famous or influential African American. They then competed research using the school databases in order to create a poster and paragraph about their person. On Friday, my students dressed as their person and presented their findings to the other students who visited their museum. They did such a fantastic job. I am one proud teacher!

We have our state writing test next week. Fingers crossed my students do their best. Hope you had a fantastic week too!