Today, I had pep talks with all of my students before we did their timed reading test (1 minute to read a passage). I set goals far beyond the norm for each child and they almost all met them. 

SS surpassed her goal and LO increased so much that we had to put her tracking pin on the wall and off the chart. I didn't make a chart with high enough numbers!  

In perfect Friendly Letter format, JR wrote the following to me today:

                                        December 19, 2008

Dear Ms. V, 
    You are the best teacher I have ever had. In fact your the only teacher that makes all subject very easy and this is the first present I ever gave to a teacher. Your the special one. I never told you this ever but I respect everything you do and make. Your the one who taut (this word is circled with an sp next to it...an editing skill we learned) me how to wright a letter. 
                                         Your Friend, 
                                               JR
P.S. Merry Christmas! I will miss you. Sniff. Sniff. 

MP's Letter Home: 

Dear Mom, 
   To let you know, I been doing good on reading, math, and social studies. I got to work on writing and writing my spelling letters. Guess what...I finished my first story!!! I been doing good on my attitude, integrity, sense of possibility, plus exhibit discipline. I been learning a lot from my teacher. I love you mom and thats all I need to let you know. 
 
                                          Your son, 
                                           MP

P.S. I'm proud of finishing my frist story!!

KH's letter to his family: 

Dear Family, 
    I am doing good in math like long division, order of operation, input and output and I do all the steps Ms. V teaches for them. I have a little trouble with compare fraction, least to greatest, and greatest to least. What I am not having trouble with in fractions is improper to mixed number, add and subtract, and simplify. What I used to have trouble with in reading is cause + effect and drawing conclusions. I mostly had trouble because of my bad attitude in all my subjects when I thought something was gonna be hard. It's not my teachers fault it's my fault. But my teacher is fun because she makes up dances to help us learn things, she lets us buy pillows to read on and lets us buy lunch with her. She makes funny jokes, vocab games, play bizz buzz for math and gives us multiplcation songs. She is fun. I'm learning. 

From: KH

JL's Letter to her Family for Parent-Teacher Conferences: 

Dear Family, 

I have been doing so well in school because I follow directions the first time. I remember the first week I came back to school that Ms. Valenzuela had to call you and tell you that I was not being good. I have learned so much from Ms. Valenzuela when I have a good additude. 
                                        From, 
                                        JL

While playing a memory game on holiday vocabulary words:

KH: "We aren't doing too well. We really need to kick it up a notch! Hey, that's an idiom. It means to step it up! Oh, shoot. That's another idiom." 

Ms. Wright: "Ms. V, this is from Eddie. He's too embarrassed to give it to you (hands me a necklace with a little jingle bell wearing a santa hat on it). I'll have you know he only had enough money to buy one and so he bought one for you." 

We think I officially have a 3rd grade admirer. These are the moments that make teaching hilarious. 

"Ms. V fractions are crazy! I'll never look at a pizza the same way again." KH

AZ: "We're not having Christmas this year. We don't have enough money. But as long as I have my parents' love then that's more than enough for me" 

Beautiful, beautiful child. 

Truer words were never spoken:

Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring a refugee camp and talking about the need for nicer curtains. To the extent they intervene at all, politicians respond by either throwing more money at the problem (if they're on the left) or making it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools (if they're on the right).

Meanwhile, millions of students left behind in confused classrooms spend another day learning nothing (TIME Magazine)

Things that break your heart as a teacher:

Dear, Ms. V
I love you as a mom but I now you are not my mom. I thank about you every day in my life. I see you in my dearms a lot. Ms. V I love you so much. You feel like my mom. I see you like my mom. You do stuffs for me. I love you like my mom. Will you be my friend for ever? Can you teach me to do stuff like the other kids? 
I thank you for being my teacher. 

SM 

My kids decided that they wanted to write a list of things they liked about reading. Here are a few things from their lists: 

LO: I like making predictions on stickies and finding out after we read if we were right or not. It's like a surprise! 

OC: I like book club. Clubs are just always fun and this one is with books! 

KH: Book Club. I like book club because I could discuss it with people and get better at my fluency. It makes me feel so happy because it's the first time I've ever been able to do it. I love it! I just hope the students next year will love it too! 

KH2: Drawing Conclusions. I have a little trouble with it. But if I keep studying I will get a 100 or an 80. Last time I only got a 75 percent, but that was a big increase from the time before. 

MP: I really like reading Number the Stars as a class. We get to make a lot of predictions and the book is very exciting. We never know what is going to happen next! 

PM: I really like both of my book club books. The twits and the Mouse on the Motorcycle. 

SH: I liked cause & effect BECAUSE it tells you the clue words THEN when you see them in a book or sentence you will remember cause & effect! (she's a witty one!) 

Ms. V: "KH you need to relax and enjoy the morning, my friend" 

KH: "It's just that I'm so excited to come to school. I've never been this excited to come to school before!"

"Every Tuesday I get the butterflies because it's Book Club day!" - KH 

Math benchmark testing today...

It's hard to walk around and watch your kids make mistakes on the things you have taught them. This, however, is cancelled out when you see KH or SH using EVERY step you have taught them on their scratch paper. 

One of my students has been dealing with some issues at home for the past week or so. I have been very worried about how this might start affecting him academically. 

Today things became worse for my young friend...a cousin died over the weekend in an accidental shooting in the home. After telling me about this, my student still got right to filling in his agenda and doing his bell work. 

The strength my students exhibit continues to amaze me.  

On the way to lunch bunch today, my kids were telling me how happy they are that I can be mean, but mostly I make things fun. 

I asked if they were sure that they were learning and the assured me they were. 

Later while we're eating...

"That test had a part in it that said 'stop and think." I went ahead and wrote metacognition next to it." - KH

"See, Ms. V, we're learning." -OC