GRADE THREE!

Finally, I find myself back in the classroom as a homeroom teacher!! After years of FSL (French as a Second Language) options Teacher, it feels soooo good to have my OWN class again!!  It's only day three and I know we are still in the Honeymoon phase, but I LOVE MY CLASS!!!!!  I am blown away by how much French these kids can speak (it's a french immersion grade three class.)  They are eager to learn everything and they LOVE to sing along with all the "tunes" I play on my laptop, especially at lunch when I play English music on internet radio.  Our School Wide theme this year is "Seeds of Change" so I took a pic of all of the students with gardening gear. Seriously, "Seeds of Change?!" What kind of theme is that to work with? Besides that, in French the whole thing directly translates to something about a penis...so we are not going with "grains de changement...."  Either way, it's not an easy sell compared to last year when the theme was "rock stars!" 

I will display their "seeds of change" photos somehow in the classroom for "meet the Teacher night" next week. 

We also have a class motto, "Choisir le sourire," which means, "choose happy." (I'm trying to make this my life motto so it seemes natural to share it with my students.)  I took a pic of each kid smiling ridiculously huge and I plan to make a motivational sign for each of them to have on their desks.  The kids are completely buying in and everytime something frustrating happens and one of them says, "choisir le sourire." It makes me grin!!

I made a motivational sign of Payton as an example...

 This is me being a "seed of change."  

The new early morning routine at home has been challenging...for all of us. I am NOT used to getting up in the 6's! My kids always sleep until at least 7am, but I need to get up before them as my morning regime now includes more effort than throwing on sweats and a hat.  We've had to wake the kids up each morning instead of them waking us (which is what is normal to them) and it hasn't always been pleasant.  Ryder does not like to just get up and pee, get dressed and get in the car. He likes to take his time in the morning and Payton just seems to be against putting on all clothing, which is weird because once she is finally wrestled into it, she is just as agains taking any clothing off....There have been some epic meltdowns both in the morning and at the Day Home at pick up time, (most of them by the children) but we are finally settling into a routine...sort of...I hope!  September is going to be crazy, caotic and busy for all of us, but we are choosing to be happy, to hold hands and to get through this month of adjusting together...can someone remind me of this tomorrow when I have to get the kids out the door by myself (Marty is gone for the next three days) and Payton is back arching and screaming cause she doesn't want her jammies off and Ryder is loosing it because he can't reach the microwave by himself to heat up his milk......TGIF!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and always choose happy!!!