Exhale!

I'm done with school and I'm done with class (for the week)...time to take a deep breath and relax! I feel like I have no obligations for the next few days & that's an awesome feeling!

I just have one little paper to get done by July 2nd...but I'm not going to think about that right now!

I'm pretty sure Laila is excited to hang out everyday. Her favorite thing to do is lay at our feet under the desk...

On a side note, we were at bowling this week and someone had a Paws with a Cause puppy in the bowling alley. It reminded me that we had talked about training Laila to be a therapy dog so she can go into schools to "read" with the kids. I think she needs to calm down a bit still, as she still gets very excited with new people and likes to jump...which is not really acceptable when you weigh 100 pounds! She loves being around people & really loves kids so I know it would be a great role for her if she were super well-trained. Something to work on over the summer!

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Back to my original reason for writing this... Goooooooooooooooooooo Summer!

Have I Mentioned School's Out for the Summer?

Well sort of. I don't have students right now, but I have to report until next Wednesday. I have to say, the Kindergarten Celebration was pretty cute. Watching the kids singing their songs together really made me realize how much they have grown up! I leaned over to one of my coworkers during the song and said, "Kindergarten is the best grade to teach!". I don't feel like that everyday (haha), but sometimes I have moments that make me remember how cool my job is.

I will get to miss my kids for a week and then they start back at summer school on Wednesday, so I will see them again. Since I've taught second grade the least two years and our third graders go to another building, I really don't get to see former students often. It will be so fun seeing my kids all the time next year when they are in first grade!

The district is closed today, but I have to go in for a meeting and then the weekend is mine. Muwhaha. Just wish I didn't have a paper due tomorrow! Boo.

Exhausted!

Nothing much new here this week. I should be writing my paper right now, but I have been staring at the computer screen, zoning out instead. I think I'm exhausted from the heat. Teaching kindergarteners will do that to you. Teaching kindergarteners in 95 degree heat the past two days will definitely do that to you. So I think the theme for this week is survival!

P.S. I got home from work yesterday and let Laila outside. I checked out the window a few minutes later & Laila had knocked her pool over and was sitting inside it, waiting. So funny, she wants to get in her pool everyday when I get home.

Zoooooooooo!

Yesterday the kindergarten classes took a trip to the Detroit Zoo, which I was pretty excited about because I have never been before! It was the perfect way to spend a sunny Friday at the end of the school year. Apparently about a million other schools had that same thought...it was incredibly busy!

We were slightly disappointed because the lion exhibit was closed, we didn't see any tigers, and the monkey exhibit was being cleaned but we did see a lot of animals. I just realized that we never saw elephants...I wonder if the zoo has any?

A giant anteater. Creepy!

We thought the polar bear up on the hill looked pretty depressed in the non-arctic "Arctic Ring" exhibit. Polar bears just seem like they should never see grass. But a docent we talked to assured us that polar bears can live in a wide range of temperatures, like those that live in Canada. Still, he looks like he'd love some snow.

The kangaroos did not move at all. Must've been too hot?

We (the kindergarten teachers haha) were a big fan of the giraffes. Sooo pretty!

This picture doesn't quite capture how amazingly blue this bird's head was. Did you know that the zoo doesn't own the peacocks? They just come on their own!

I wish I could show you how cute the kindergarteners looked while they watched all the animals!

Hard to see, but zebras grazing. The one in the middle is a baby! Did you know that zebra mother's keep their babies away from the group for

the first few days of life so the baby can learn its mother's stripes, smell, and sound? Aww.

Part of the Kindergarten Team

We had a little drama trying to get all the groups back onto the bus on time, but all in all it was a pretty smooth trip.

End of the Year!!

I can't believe I will be done with school on Wednesday (well, with kids at least). My class this year was awesome and I am sad to see these kids go. I am equally sad that only NINE, yes NINE, showed up for field day today. It did make the moon bounce easier because my whole class could go in at once and no one had to wait. If more kids don't show up for the last day and a half, I will be super annoyed after having given them ALL of my patience for an entire year! This happened last year too, so at least I am more prepared. But it's always amazing to me that the kids don't come to say goodbye or get their crayons, summer packets, and portfolios!

School's Out for the Summer!!

...until summer school starts, that is. We will be at school next week, cleaning rooms and taking things down and we have two PD's. Summer school will start the following week. Not much of a break. I will have the second half of summer off, as far as I'm planning. Our summer school schedule is so nice, so I was considering teaching both sessions. We teach M-Th, Fridays off and it's only half days! Plenty of time to do whatever I want in the afternoons!

The last day was fun, but slow. Only 10 kids from my class showed up today and that's more than any other class. It's been like that all week. Some kids didn't come at all this week...didn't even get their things from the classroom. Strange, if you ask me! In second grade, I certainly would've wanted my pencil box and writing journal!! Some of my favorite kids came today and a couple of the boys cried when their parents came. SOOO cute, I will definitely miss my first class ever.

Tonight we have our end of the year staff party at a banquet center in Livonia. It's also the day that awards are given for the Teacher Incentive Program...Let's hope I make some bank! Poor Gil is being dragged along, instead of watching the Wings game somewhere fun. We've been promised that there will be a TV there tonight. Here's a picture of us at a Wings game last year. Go Red Wings!!!