Can I Just Say...

That I love playing basketball with my sister? We just won a game with only four players... mostly because of her rebounds and motivation. Rach, I will make my free throws next time.

Sincerely,

your cherished one

Friday was a hard day at work. I had my first official observation. It went well, but I was a little hyper sensitive given the fact that I was feeling very sick all day. The kids were excited for the weekend. The air conditioning went out in the whole school. I was sweating. So were the kids. After recess one of my boys came up to me and said, "Mrs. Dyer, some kid out there said you are the worstest teacher ever. Really, its true, he said it!" After politely reminding him to return to his seat I just thought .... "of all the days to hear that..."

First of all, worstest isn't a word. And I have to remind myself that it was some kid who doesn't even know me and was probably pulling the whole "my teacher is better than yours" thing. I was telling this to my sister later that night, trying to lick my wounds, and she said, "You are not allowed to care what a 7 year old thinks about you." Then she added that he probably said that because he was jealous that he wasn't in my class.

That made me think, and I have decided that I agree. I was sick and emotional that day. But regardless of that, I do have a fun class. We love read alouds. We get really into them. I have a store where they can buy silly bands and candy. I hug them everyday and tell them how much I love having them in my class. So even though Friday was rough, I am looking forward to Monday. Because I may not be a perfect teacher, but I am trying my hardest to be the best teacher I can be for them. And you know what? I think they know that.

A letter...

Once a week my students write friendly letters to someone. Since we are still practicing, I had them write their letters to me again this week. As I was going through them and responding this weekend, I found this one:

September

Dear Miss Dyer

I know we are going to haf a grat year. I am glad I got you so far its fun. this is long. Learning is fun and it is grat grat.

From,
*****

It warmed my little heart. I think learning is great great too, little buddy. See you in class tomorrow.

Dear Man driving the truck outside my window,

Is it really necessary to blast your music and sing along at the top of your lungs at midnight? Right outside an apartment complex? It is summer, people sleep with their windows open so they don't have to break the bank keeping the air conditioning on. I know it is Provo, but there are still some people that need to sleep and be responsible. I'm sorry, but I don't think it is funny when you make pig noises and other strange animal noises very loudly to your passengers and honk to get the person you are waiting for to hurry up.

That being said, I am sorry that I yelled at you. Well, really I just yelled out my window. But if you did hear it among all the other noises you were making, I apologize. I will keep it classy next time. But maybe you should too.

Sincerely,
me

I received my first official love note today. The girl obviously wrote it at home because it was written on cardboard. It says "Teacher. You are so nise."

Also, one student kept calling me "Teacher" in class and one little boy turned to him and yelled "Call her her name. Call her Mrs. Dyer"

Speaking of my name, there is some confusion in the school. On my door is a big sign that says "Welcome to Miss Dyer's class!" Clearly my students are using this to know how to write my name because when I read their letters they wrote me the other day, half of them started with "Dear Ms. Dyer's,". I have the the task of being on recess duty this week and as I was holding the door open for one other 2nd grade class to go through, one girl said "Hi Mrs. Dyer's".

I love my job.

...little things

...are saving me in this job.

Like yesterday when I took my class to lunch feeling as though I had just failed as a math teacher and was feeling very despondent, one of my boys came up to me and said:

"I like your clothes. I like this," as he pointed to my coral sweater.

I just thought to myself: bless you child.

Little did he know that that morning I was about to put on my gray sweater but then decided to wear a brighter one because maybe the kids would think it was fun.

That little comment turned my day around.

...until I made the mistake of asking track 2 if they were excited to come back the next day...

Tokens

I am the kind of person that is comforted by good luck tokens. You know, things that you have on you to remind you of someone or something when you look at it. I needed that comfort on my first day of school. As I sat in my room counting down the final minutes before I went and picked up my class, I realized that I am very blessed as I looked around at all the tokens I have in my room.

For instance, there are the hundreds of books from my second grade teacher (many of which I read myself as a seven year old) with S. Walker written inside of them. There are crayon boxes with names labeled on every one by my mom because "she would have wanted her crayons labeled in school". Each of my books are marked with a beautiful sticker from my sister who designs beautiful things. Outside my wall are 29 bees hot glued to clothespins to display work on. My dad hot-glued on every one of those bees hours before open house. I have big dragonflies hanging from my ceiling over the reading chairs from Sister Jennings. I have books, flashcards, and math tools from my mom who has been handpicking them out at garage sales for the past several months. My sister pinned up the number line on the back wall because only she was able to reach it. My teaching chair comes from a good, good friend who taught several years herself and loaned this one out to me. All of my folders and spirals were labeled with the help of family and friends.

I couldn't have done it without you. My room was built and prepared with a lot of love. From a lot of people. Thank you, thank you, thank you!