It finally arrived!!!

The last day of this seemingly-interminable year has at last arrived and passed. There were plenty of kids that I enjoyed this year, but man, am I glad it's over.

Today, the kids pretty much just played games and had fun all day. Towards the end of each class, we made a little autograph paper, and I got the kids to sign one for me as well.

It's always fun to see what the kids write. There were plenty of "Your cool" and "Best teacher ever" (ticher, techer, teachr).

One boy wrote, "Have a great wedding," which was very nice.

One boy wrote his name and then "Your best student," which was highly wishful thinking on his part.

One girl wrote, "You're the teacher I never had." Huh??

For the most part, I wrote variations of "Have a great summer!" on the kids' papers. Except for the most annoying girl in the 3rd grade. RIGHT before she handed me her paper, she told me that some boy had written something nasty on someone else's paper. So I took her paper and wrote, "Please work on tattling less this summer!"

Teacher wrap-up day is tomorrow, and then the long summer break begins! YESSSSS!!

So much to do

Anyone else out there feel like summer break just isn't long enough?

(Don't let non-teachers hear us saying things like that). It's plenty long enough, realistically. However, we are down to our last 3 weeks here in Dallas, and I feel like there are still so many "projects" I have yet to accomplish!

I haven't done a YouTube video in forever, I have some artsy-fartsy crafts to do, and I have hardly worked on my Learn Me Good sequel (Learn Me Gooder?) at all!

Where does the time go???

12 Things Teachers Should Do Over Summer Break

I certainly hope that by NOW, everyone is on summer break. Here in Texas, this is our second week off from school. If there are indeed any poor shlubs out there who are still in session, well first of all, I feel very sorry for you, and second of all, I don't feel as bad when I realize that you probably started way later than us or had an obscenely long Christmas Break.



Regardless, I've put together a little list of things that have worked for me in the past and/or things that I am trying now in the present. These are things that all teachers should do over the summer to be prepared for the new school year which SEEMS so very very far away, but which we all know will sneak up on us like a new reality-star scandal.



Here are 12 Things Teachers Should Do Over Summer Break (in no particular order):



1) Sleep for 24 hours straight at least once (just don't do this in late August).

2) Sharpen as many pencils as you can. I did this last summer, and now I think I'm set for the next decade.

3) Try to avoid getting sun burnt.

4) Read as much as you can for pleasure. We all know that's nearly impossible during the school year proper.

5) Exercise, exercise, exercise!!

6) Follow the news and happenings of the World Wrestling Entertainment industry so that you'll be able to converse with the kids in the fall.

7) Find a trivia night at a local restaraunt or bar. Try to win.

8) Wait impatiently for the final season of Lost.

9) Make some funny YouTube videos. Or at least your own personal version of funny.

10) Rent a backhoe and clean out your guest room, office, or bedroom -- whichever part of the house/apartment that needs it most.

11) Take a field trip. Or two or three.

12) Read some fun blogs.

You're a superstar

On the last day of school, I cringed as I saw many kids doing the usual end-of-school activity of signing their shirts. I didn't used to mind this so much when there was no dress code, and most of the kids wore cheap white T-shirts (or at least, if another color, still cheap). But now with the dress code of collared shirts, I just don't want to be the one that approves using magic marker on something that the parents might not want decorated.

Some of these kids were wearing REALLY nice shirts too, with signatures all over them. A couple of kids even asked me if they could sign MY shirt! And my shirt was patterned, with multi-colored stripes! What are they thinking??

So as an alternative, when the kids came to my room, I gave them each a big sheet of colored construction paper. We folded them up multiple times, unfolded them, and then drew lines on the creases, creating a nice autograph page with many squares to sign.

I even made my own for each class so that I could capture the kids' signatures and thoughts.

Most of them signed their name and wrote something like, "Best teacher ever." I think that once the first kid wrote that, the others felt obligated.

One of my sneaky devils -- really a sweet kid, but always doing something exasperating -- wrote, "Thank you for teaching me everything you know." Um, I DO have a few more tricks in the tank, sonny, but thanks for the sentiment.

On one of the kids' pages, I wrote, "You are a math superstar!" For the rest of the day, I heard this boy going around telling his classmates, "I'm famous!" or "I'm a superstar!"

One boy asked for my phone number, and then a bunch of them chimed in to ask for it. I declined, not really wanting to have to answer my phone at all hours of the night...

We've been out of school for a week now. I do miss my kids, but I don't miss having to get up early every morning!

Hope everyone's having a great summer so far!!