Oh happy day, happy day! It is Friday! Howzabout a little Five For Friday today? Thanks so much to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!
This week’s theme? Things Teachers Do To Make It To The Last Day. 🙂 We are under the 25 days left mark…so close…but so far! Everyone is tired. Everyone is B.U.S.Y. Everything is chaotic. So we do what we can to keep the balance and stay sane, right?
We take the long way to work to enjoy the view. I live by the water. It is so beautiful on these sunny mornings. I am lucky and get to drive along the water on the way into work. But alas, the views are just peek-a-boo unless you take the loop. It takes a few minutes longer, but the views are worth it. And besides, someone has to check on the fishermen and see what they are up to, right? What a beautiful view!
We treat ourselves and take some time during lunch to enjoy the sunshine! This is one of our courtyards. The flowers are beautiful in the garden this time of the year. The sun is always perfect in this courtyard at lunch, too. See that green grass? Don’t you think it is the perfect place for a bench? Yeah, me too! I have tried to tell the principal that, but so far no luck. I’ll keep on it though. 🙂
We get things ready for summer. Here are some of the free books we will give the kiddles for the summer. We sorted over 2000 books today and that’s enough to give each student three books to keep! What a great thing since most of our students have few books at home. That makes a teacher’s heart happy I tell ya!
We visit the littles. This sweet teacher is an amazing first grade teacher. Her classroom and my teeny tiny office share a wall. The firsties in her class have been working and working to learn some new songs to sing to their parents on Bring Your Parents To School Day. They have the sweetest voices and make my day happy with their twice daily practice. I just had to pop in and give them a standing ovation for their great singing. Here they are practicing their rendition of the very fine classic…..Five Green and Speckled Frogs! You just can’t beat that!
We stop and take time to quietly celebrate how well the kiddos are doing. These sweeties from one of my 5th grade groups, are rocking it at determining text structure and finding evidence for it. I just have to sit back, watch and smile. They are ready for middle school. Sigh. Sniff, sniff. I will miss these awesome kiddos! They just grow up way too fast.
So there you go! The things we do to keep the balance in these last, crazy days before summer. What are you doing to keep sane? Here’s hoping that your last few days…no matter how many you have left….go quickly and happily. Have a great weekend everyone!
Smiles,
Kristin
Author
That courtyard looks amazing! Teachers at my school are obsessed with getting "steps" (for their fitbits) so sometimes I'll walk with them around the school a few days at lunch or across the street to the supermarket. No courtyard though! Love that you're distributing books to your kids for the summer 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Sarah
The Designer Teacher
Author
Hi Sarah! Some of our teachers are Fitbit crazy too! We haven't started walking at lunch but we should! Especially on these beautiful days. Thanks for connecting with us and have a wonderful summer! Kristin
Author
I love your blog. It's beautiful! I am just starting out and I received permission from parents to post pictures of their children. What is the norm for bloggers when it comes to posting pics of students? Do they choose to block out faces or is it because they don't have permission? I want to make sure I'm not breaking any protection codes or anything…
Have a great weekend!
Joyce
1st Grade Pandamania
Author
Hi Joyce! Thank you for connecting with us. We always try to only put pix of kids from the back, just hands, or blurred out faces. We prefer to do just hands, because it is probably the wisest way. Welcome to the blogging world! It's great fun! Smiles, Kristin
Author
I love that you are able to give books to the students! That is awesome. We barely have enough books in our school for our students to read during the year. 🙁 (International school that doesn't quite acknowledge the fact that the students cannot access grade level material!) That picture of books makes me so jealous!!!
Author
Hi Lindsay! Thanks for connecting with us. We are a high percentage free and reduced lunch school, so it was a grant. I hear lots of teachers have success with Donors Choose to get books for kids. Maybe that would work for your school? Have a great summer! Smiles, Kristin