The Connection

These are my beautiful little 4th graders when school starts at 7:30 am:

And this is what they look like from 7:31am to the end of the school day:

I love them!

Highlights of the week:

• Starting dance practice for the big Independence Day celebration. Prepare yourself for hilarious pictures in about a month. Students and teachers alike will be decked out in large dresses, sombreros, and fans. We will dance. Oh, we will dance. In front of the whole school and their parents. In preparation, the students practice during the school day and teachers practice after school. 

• A large bright green iguana was hanging around school this week. One of the guards caught it and let all the students pet it. 

• More trips to the principal's office!

Today was picture day and the boys begged me to let them get their Justin Bieber hair ready for pictures.

My favorite thing so far about teaching is getting my students excited about reading. I told them on the first day of school how much I love reading and about my favorite authors and books. At first most of them seemed weary about all the reading I told them we would be doing. Then I started to do read alouds from my favorite kids' books... now those books are a connection between us. When we are coming up with topics to write about, or when we are comparing things or need examples, the students are always choosing characters or books that we have read. Because my students are from all over and because my background is so different from most of theirs, finding things that we all have in common is really important. I love that the books and characters can be that connector for me and my students. Thank you, Scaredy Squirrel!

Some of the students that at the beginning of the year told me they were not looking forward to reading are some of the students that rush up to me during silent reading time to tell me that they finished another book. As Scaredy Squirrel would say: "Don't be afraid to read!"
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Thank you for the continued prayers and emails and for reading about my crazy new life! Love you all!
xoxoxoxo