What time is it?....Summer time, its our vacation!

Well, the last day of school has come and gone. It is currently 6:19 a.m. Why am I awake? Why have I been up for an hour? I don't know, I know i'm exhausted and wished I was sleeping right now, but I'm not... Perks of getting up when I did, is that I got to see an amazing sunrise. Also, it is the end of May in AZ and it was only 70 degrees outside yesterday and it rained for the first time in 3 months, so this morning it is nice and cool plus it smells like rain...Which here smells like creosote bushes (which I love), not like dying worms and mold as it does in Indiana. Another small perk to where I live. I've opened windows and am sitting here in a sweat shirt!! It's one of my most favorite things to do! Which is one of the reasons I'm so excited about going to Cascade this summer, I have a feeling its going to be a lot of work, but the weather is going to be perfect... (aka not 110 degrees).

I am actually feeling quite sad about not having most of my class anymore, of course there are always a few that if you had them even one more day you're not sure if you could do it. The kids made such amazing progress this year! I have lots of stories, so I'll share a few... First is oneof my boys, he came to first grade and couldn't count to 10, by the end of the year, as long as he had a number line could complete 30 addition or subtraction problems in 3 minutes correctly!!! What a huge accomplishment!

Next is a girl, this little girl couldn't sit still or complete anything or ever keep her mouth closed at the beginning of the year... She was in trouble almost constantly, I had many discussions on an almost daily basis for the beginning part of the school year with her parents... After a while she realized that she got (positive) attention when she was doing things and acting the right way. Once that finally....(after many a talking to)....sank in, she really became one of my biggest helpers. You'd think this child would really not like me since she had been in touble so often, however, she was the one in tears yesterday because she just loved me so much and didn't want to leave(her words not mine). She even made up a song for me about how much she loved school and her teacher... Now that is why I teach first grade!!!!!!!! They are just so great!

One more...This child has been one of my 2 biggest issues the entire time he was in my class. We had made hue progress in his aggressive short tempered behavior until... he missed 6 weeks of school FOR NO REASON!!! (Side note, parents keep your kids in school!) So he came back to school worse off then he had come to me to begin with. Finally, we were getting somewhere and now we have summer vacation. Let me tell you though, that child would have done anything for me that last week of school, he was my best helper all this week. I just hope he can remember that for next year!

So back to the sleeping issue, why on the first day I can really sleep in because I have NOTHING to do am I awake at 5:18 in the morning?