What I'm Thankful For

Principal ponderings...

I am thankful for my job. 
I love my job.  I am truly grateful that I get to be the lead learner of an elementary school.  Every day is different.  Every day I learn something new.  Every day I am challenged to think and grow.  Best of all, every day I get to interact with some really great kids.  And the adults are pretty cool too!

I am thankful for dedicated teachers.
The teachers at our school are extremely dedicated.  They go above and beyond for our students.  They collaborate with each other and share their learning with each other.  Our teachers are in the building early in the morning and long after students have left for the day.  I am thankful that we have teachers who work hard to make a difference in students' lives every single day.

I am thankful for books, books and more books!
If you know me at all, then you know of course books would be on my thankful list.  I love that I have a house full of books, an office full of books, and even a nook and an ipad with electronic books on them.  I love to read, and I am thankful that my job supports my reading addiction.  I am also thankful that I get to share my love of books and reading with the teachers and students in my school.

I am thankful for a supportive husband.
Thank goodness for Mr. Garden.  I am so glad that I have a husband who understands that even though I say I am going to be home by 5:00, I usually don't get home until at least 7.  I am grateful for a loving husband who realizes that he often has to be patient while I am spending time with my laptop and my never-ending emails and long to-do lists on our couch.  I am also grateful for a husband who encourages me to sometimes close the laptop and ignore the never-ending emails and the long to-do lists.  He reminds me that there is always tomorrow and eventually things will get done.

I am thankful for twitter and my PLN.
Thanks to twitter, I never feel like I am alone in my job.  My professional learning network continues to grow, and I learn something new from people all over the world every time I enter the world of twitter.  Twitter has helped me make connections.  Twitter has guaranteed that my professional development is always, well, developing!  Twitter has not only connected me to educators well beyond my community; it has also allowed me to provide connections and information for the staff ad students in our building.

I am thankful for our students.
Our students put a smile on my face.  They are the reason that I get to work as early as I can.  They are the reason that I continue to read as much as I can about best practice.  When I am having a rough day, it usually only takes a few minutes in a classroom talking to a student to forget about what was stressing me out before.  I am so thankful that I get to watch when it clicks for a student.  I am also thankful that I get to be involved in helping a student when they are struggling.  I love our students!

So what are you thankful for?

Currently reading:
I was talking to Mrs. Fournier's 3rd grade class about what books they had been reading recently.  They have been reading quite a variety.  One book that they had taken a close look at during their unit on characters was Because of Winn-Dixie.  While I have read many books by Kate DiCamillo, I was embarrassed to admit that I had not read her first novel.  So this past weekend I read it and enjoyed it!

Events this week:
Monday - Teachers will be verifying report cards, Dr. Bent visits classrooms at 1:00
Tuesday - Last day to update report cards
Wednesday - Early release day, report cards available online at noon
Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving! No School
Friday - No School

Great things I noticed last week:

• Mrs. Fournier's class invited me in to talk about how many books they had been reading.  The class set a goal to read 50 books in a month.  Guess what...they crushed their goal and red 83 books in a month!  Awesome job!
• Mr. Smith's 3rd graders were trying out the new chrome books by typing some of their pilgrim writing on them.  The only sound in the room was fingers tapping away on the shiny new keyboards.
• Mrs. Fulreader led a great training session for parents who signed up to volunteer during recess and lunch.  She had parents playing rock, paper, scissors, 4 square and switch.  Looking forward to parents engaging kids in games on the playground.
•  1st graders were working on some combinations of numbers that forced them to add up to 4 numbers together.  And yes, they are using X to show the unknown in their equations!
  
  
• I was in Mrs. Wilkins's first grade class and they were writing and drawing about things they were thankful for.  This student was doing some amazing drawings with his pen!  And he was making me hungry. ;)
  

Check it out:
Once again...love what Kid President has to say.  Here he shares with us 20 things we should say more often:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yCOSHeYn4