It's nice to feel appreciated...

This past week Friday was one of my students' last day. He was a shy little guy who endured a tremendous amount of change while he was here. His Dad is in the Navy and after serving / living in Okinawa, Japan, they were sure he was getting transferred here, to Phoenix, so the family moved ahead of time and have been living with the father's parents. They moved shortly before school started and the little boy started complaining he wasn't feeling well. After several tests, they discovered he had juvenile diabetes. =( So, it's been a constant blood sugar battle since then. He ended up in the hospital before school started and then once it did start, he had to leave to get his blood tested two - three times per day, receive insulin shots and etc...all while at school. Our school nurse is AWESOME, so I'm sure that helped him feel better as well. Needless to say, he and I became very attached. He's painfully shy (he was the one that said "pissed" instead of "missed" in my earlier post), but also made several friends...the entire class was sad he moved. His Dad ended up getting his final transfer papers....to California.

I can't say I've treated him any differently than my other students...I love them all, but he definitely has a soft spot in my heart. On Friday, as I walked him out to his parents we both started to cry. I knelt down and gave him a big hug, he put his hand out in the "I love you" sign language sign and pressed his hand against mine....then his parents started crying. I'm sure going to miss that little guy!

Later on that evening, I came home and checked my facebook account...this is what I found written on my wall from the office manager at my school.

"Yes, he was a little sweetie and great parents. You are such an awesome teacher Lara. Your relationship with the students is outstanding. Those kids know you care for them. The environment you create for them is safe and secure. If my girls were 1st graders, I would love for you to be their teacher. Most Sincerely."

Ahhhh....Wow! It's definitely nice to feel appreciated.

Updates...

Man, I got sidetracked with posting on Facebook rather than my blog. My apologies to you all! Here are a few gems from the past few weeks. I have some pictures to post as well, of some of their latest projects.

My question to the class..."Where's Steve at?" One student's reply, "I think he's pissing...(the class falls silent) I mean MISSING!! (student buries head in lap completely embarrassed). hahaha! We had a very quick discussion about how sometimes our brains think faster than our mouths and we make verbal mistakes.

"Poop smells...sometimes REALLY bad...did you know that Ms. Eklund?" (said by one of my first graders after he decided that his brown crayon reminded him of poop)

I am laughing myself silly over a brain energizer that ended up with one of my first graders doing an impression of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" song. HILARIOUS!!! Dance, hip moves and high pitched squeals included!! I love teaching!

Mrs. Eklund...what's a wedgy?" (that spurned a FUN conversation) ha ha. Try explaining THAT one without laughing out loud. Then in the afternoon my classroom just started to smell well, um, like crap...literal crap. Couldn't figure out what it was, I had everyone check their shoes, and discreetly asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom (no takers) so I sprayed some air freshener, hoping someone had only had a bad case of gas. Then it smelled like crap and air freshener MIXED (lovely smell). So we went to recess for a few minutes, leaving the classroom door wiiiiide open...only to find out when recess was over that one of my students had crapped his pants...literally...poop everywhere on his behind. Shorts, down his legs...everywhere. Poor guy. I sent him to the nurse and he ended up going home. He was back today tho, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to learn! ;-)