Well if we are going to share about our students....

I just got done reading Jen's blog and enjoyed a good laugh over some of her students' comments. I thought about what I had experienced with my students the past few days and realized that I also have some comments that are worthy of sharing and may bring brightness to someone else's day.

Ironically, the grade levels I am enjoying the most right now in the FOCUS classroom are 3rd and 4th. I think that is ironic for two reasons:

1) Those are the two grade levels I have taught in the classroom since I graduated: 3rd grade for four years and 4th grade for one year

2) The fifth graders are the students I know the best. I thought I would enjoy them the most. However, sometimes I think that results in them feeling too comfortable so we have to lay down the law hard the first few weeks. Then I thought I would like second grade because that is the grade I originally wanted to teach. While I love them and they are precious, I am new at working with people that young. I am having to remember it just takes them longer to do things.

So with my precious third graders, I have had some really good conversations. They all have what I think of as old souls in a way and many of them have classic names. The first day I had FOCUS with them only one showed up on time so we had some extra time to talk. We talked about a variety of things but then the subject of the presidential race came up:

J: I am so glad that Hillary Clinton didn't get the vote to run for President.
Me: It is not because she was a woman is it?
J: No it is because she was a CRAZY woman.

Then this week we have focused on goals and setting good goals in our third grade group as a team. Since we are a team, we have decided to have a third grade FOCUS mascot. Yesterday we opened the floor for suggestions. I started by saying maybe we could be the otters because they are not only super smart but fun. We want to have fun in FOCUS and we want to work hard to be supersmart. I had no idea how equally and deeply they had considered their suggestions

Suggestion One: Turtle - We don't want to go fast and get all the answers wrong in FOCUS. This suggestion carried on with a detailed example of a case of going to fast and the consequences associated with it.

Suggestion Two: Ninjas - Ninjas stand for grace and grace of mind. Ninjas are smart.

Suggestion Three: Monkeys - This stands for being crazy about FOCUS. We want to be Crazy about everything we do in FOCUS so we can reach our goals.

Suggestion Four: Stegasaurus - The stegasaurus was the smartest of the dinosaurs and we want to be the smartest of the students.

Suggestion Five: Shooting Stars - Our school mascot is the comets and shooting stars are like comets. We would be reaching for our goals. They are light in the darkness.

Wow, huh? Yes, that is right....third graders!