Silly memories

A couple Wednesdays ago I enjoyed a great day. I've since enjoyed great days mind you, but parts of that Wednesday really stuck out. After school I headed to Santa Cruz where not one but FOUR boxes were waiting for me, but that was just the icing on my already good day. [Before I get too carried away--shout out to my amazingly supportive family for sending so many supplies for school. Grumpy and his Sunday School spoiled us with a couple boxes, and my kids will be ever appreciative of the various school supplies, bulletin board decorations and fat stack of books! Mom and the staff of North Elementary--you spoil us, and we are ever thankful! How did a girl get so lucky?]

But before I get too far ahead, I have to give credit to my second graders. I had such a great day at school. I had to teach the first two periods to both classes, so I was floating between two classrooms for eighty minutes. This happens from time to time, and used to get me decently stressed. I've since learned to tough it out for 80 minutes and remind myself that I have the rest of the day to be appreciative of whomever is teaching in my other room. So on days like that it's just an accepted fact that the kids' behavior has a tendency to fall. They have way less attention than they deserve and are accustom, so of course they get a little crazy! I can normally get them roped back in once I have them solo, so it's only a little frustrating during those first eighty minutes. Well last Wednesday they were incredible! Maybe I'm learning how to be more interesting :) or maybe the kids are learning how to portarse mejor, but whatever it was I was an excited teacher. And I praised them endlessly for all their positive behavior. It's a special morning when you get to spend your time energetically presenting new material, praising excited participation and appreciating good behavior--it's extra special when you get to do all that on a morning when you could have been left feeling stretched too thin.

So the kids were great, and I am loving how much their participation seems to be improving day after day. There was a funny sequence of tumbles, and I couldn't help but jot them down. Dad has always said Grace should have been my middle name :) In the class before lunch I was with 2B, and all of a sudden sweet Samantha was on the floor behind her desk, seemingly near tears. I guess she thought her chair was closer than it turned out to be, and her legs scooted it too far back as she tried to sit down and...boom! Tumbletown. Luckily I was near her desk when it happened and could jump right into damage control. I think her tears were more out of embarrassment than anything else, but at first I was worried she was really hurt. The sweetest thing happened right after she fell--chivalry came alive in the classroom! I have this little guy Eric who is generally so distracted I feel like in his head he is anywhere but the classroom. His participation is almost nonexistent and he cuts up so much I sometimes wonder if he just loves to hear me call his name. In fairness to Eric, he is merely one of a few I've decided must have been given to me to help me learn lessons of patience. Well no sooner had Samantha fallen than Eric rushed over to make sure she was ok. It was adorable! He came over, helped her stand up, assured her she was going to be ok, helped her get her skirt straightened back out, brushed her off a little and helped her nestle back into her seat and under her desk. It was such a sweet moment I felt my eyes stinging with tears and had to talk myself out of starting to cry my joyful tears. Some people are just so emotional. But I was so proud of my Eric! I was sad Samantha fell and had gotten so upset, but it was nice to see Eric in a different light.

For lunch that day Maryann and I walked to the cafeteria. The weather was lovely so we chose a table on the front porchish area. When I went to sit down, I quickly found myself on my butt, skirt basically over my head completely confused as to what had happened. Maryann laughed that my first reaction was to sit up, fling my skirt down and smooth it back out while I frantically searched the yard for a student who'd spotted my panties. Yeah, so I thought my chair was closer to me than it was and I guess my legs pushed it back as I tried to sit down. I'm not really sure how it is possible, but somehow no one saw me skirt-up on the cement wondering what had gone wrong. The few students who happened to see the tumble looked at me a little confused, but I didn't suffer the uproarious laughter I feared. No tears like little Samantha, but it seemed I might have a little chivalry of my own. Diego from 2B had apparently seen what happened, and headed over to check things out. He looked like he was walking up to give me a feel-better hug, but instead leaned in to examine his glasses. He puts his glasses around my neck before each recess, and it's totally cute because he won't walk away until he's seen me put them around my neck--his parents must have him very worried about losing and/or damaging those things. He walked up, examined his lenses with a careful eye, gave me a nod of "thank goodness you didn't scratch them" approval and walked away, all without uttering a word. That had Maryann and I laughing even harder. We'd already had way too good a laugh about the tumble itself, but Diego sent us over the edge. I find it odd that Samantha and I both had random falls on the same afternoon, but love that both led to a cute story.

After the trip to Santa Cruz the rest of the afternoon and evening was filled with schoolwork--so much that I didn't give myself time to open my packages, I just got to work and left them as something to look forward to the next day. But I love days like that--the kids were cute, the excitement was high, learning was fun and surprises are always exciting!