It’s February 1st, a month and a day from the start of my maternity leave. And things at school have kicked into high gear since New Year’s while I wind down my school year and try to fit everything in with the kids before I go. I’ll be back for 2 weeks in June, but really this is my end-of-year in a lot of ways.
Three of my 2nd grade girls presented me with this drawing on Wednesday, and I wanted to hug them but thought I would burst into tears. I’m 33 weeks now and highly emotional. I will hug them next week, when it doesn’t take me by surprise.
I’m so excited, all the 2nd grade classes are now done with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. We’re finishing up book reviews of it this week. I wrote 3 sentences on the board and asked the kids to fill in their opinions, good or bad, of the book. They had some great thoughts about it, I was so impressed! I used to take it personally when students didn’t like a book we read in class together, but then I remembered that I don’t like every book I’ve read, either. Especially those I read in school, so why should I expect them to be any different? The point for me is that they really think it through, I don’t want them to just tell me it was good or bad. And they totally get it.
WARNING: SPOILERS to follow for the book, if you haven’t read it already and want to stop now!
Here are Emily’s thoughts:
I can’t believe the end of March is finally coming this week. It’s always such a long month, but it’s also a great time with my students, knee-deep in library projects. Here’s what’s been happening in library class this month:
My special needs classes have been reading Dr. Seuss stories, and we made these Horton ears last week.