unique of the week

last year wasn't a highlight in e's educational experience. she did a great job and loved learning but it sort of lacked some of the things that tingle my teacher soul. if you recall, i wrote about one them way back when from the preschool days and i still think about that experience years later. i longed for something similar last year and kept hoping it would come but it never really did. not in the same way. not with the same excitement.

don't get me wrong, e thrived in kindergarten. and while her teacher didn't do the things that make my heart sing, she was a good fit for e at the time. but i would be lying if i didn't say that i was praying for a different kind of teacher this year. i hoped my e would get someone that went the distance and poured her heart into her classroom.

at back to school night this year, i had high hopes. the presentation of the curriculum and classroom environment was dead on in its alignment for what i think is "best practice". as a former teacher myself, i have expectations. sometimes my expectations are too high, but this teacher seemed to hit that target. i went home excited and hopeful. i want e to love school, to reach her amazing potential, and to excel in an innovative environment.

this week (and at other times so far this year), i've seen that beginning to evolve. i love it!

each kid gets assigned the role of "unique of the week" at different times throughout the year. this week was e's turn. she came home last week with a blank poster that she was to complete. she was also tasked with filling the estimation jar with an item of her choosing. lastly, she was tasked with choosing 4 things to share with the class that are important/special to her.

filling out the poster was so much fun. over the course of a couple days, e and i went to work. we colored, brainstormed, and completed the above items. on sunday night, she did a run through of her presentation for her dad and i. it was adorable!

on monday, she skipped off to her class with her poster under her arm and her items tucked safely in her backpack. she was so excited.

she made her presentation to the class. then she showed off her webkinz dog, her photograph of her bff from chicago at the american girl cafe, told the story of her trip to niagara falls (sharing her wooden maid of the mist boat), and held up the first chapter book that she read all by herself (meet kit from the american girl series). she delighted in knowing the number of barbie shoes that she had deposited into the estimation jar and loved watching her peers make guesses at the magic number (all the while holding in that secret).

then, her classmates got to ask her questions. they asked her about her favorite games, her favorite fish, favorite bird... you know, typical hot topics in the life of a first grader. while she answered, her teacher created a poster all about ellie. while writing on the big poster paper, she modeled proper sentence writing- capitalization, spelling, punctuation etc.



later this week, all of the kids will create a page about ellie. they will draw a picture using ideas from her posters and then copy three sentences to tell about her. this will be compiled into a book that will return home for e (and her momma) to cherish for years to come.

e will remember this for years to come. her momma will, too.

i think it's going to be a good year.