Happy Is In the Details : Teacher Appreciation Week!

Almost all of the teachers I had growing up were awesome. I can name every teacher I had in elementary school, a bunch from middle and high school, and the ones I spent lots of time with in college. I always felt like they loved me or wanted me to be my best self, but it wasn't until I was older that I realized how true that was.

Earlier this year, I had a mom come into my room just fuming! Her son was missing his mitten and it was a cold, snowy day. Even though I let him borrow a class mitten, she wanted the missing one. She said something about how no one will care for her kids like she does- it was a definite dig at me. This mom was 9 months pregnant (and ended up having a gorgeous baby girl a couple days later), tired, and upset. I knew at the time that the mom was taking out anger on me. I didn't take the comment personally, but it has stuck with me. This mom didn't know that we searched every where for the missing mitten. She didn't know that I made sure every kid had a hat and mittens to wear each day. She didn't know that I spent my own money to get some hats and mitten for kids to borrow when it was oh-so-cold out. It's true- I will not care for my kids like their parents do- I'm not their parent- but I care for them so much! I hope my kids feel like I love them. I hope they feel like I push them to be their best.

It's teacher appreciation week and although some crazy things have been happening at my school, the kids and PTA have been doing some nice things to help us feel appreciated:

A girl brought me this from her garden.

A bouquet from some of my kids

A girl wrote this letter for me. It says "teacher day" at the top. She explained what she "wrote" on the bottom, but I don't exactly remember what it says :)

A mom helped her son write this- she asked him what would be good to bring to school for me and he said, "my listening ears!" So they wrote "listen ear" on a note :)