"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."

It’s May! What!?! This past month has been amazing.  I’m not sure where April went, but there was so much packed into this crazy month that I’m not sure I’ll be able to document it all!

 I would like to really start by celebrating my kiddos.  First of all, they’re amazing!  They have really taught me so much and I’ve learned so much through them.  This month specifically, they have given me a lot of freedom to teach them they way they need to be taught. I realize that maybe doesn’t make much sense, but, I guess I’ve just realized that I can give them more freedom and they will blow my expectations out of the water.  This was actualized a few weeks ago during small groups when I decided to incorporate a short instrumental video on the life cycle of monarch butterflies.  I had my kiddos watch the video once and then draw while we re-watched it again.  It was awesome because while we were watching it they were coming up with questions and dialoging with one another.  I was there, but I was a participant in this interaction.  It was like ACTUAL real learning was unfolding right before my eyes and they only thing I really did was find a wonderful YouTube video and allow my students the space to explore video learning.  The only thing that could have been better would be if we watched the life cycle of butterflies in real life—AND THEN WE DID!

Other highs to celebrate include two of my favorite BFFs having so much conflict throughout the day/week/month and culminating in one huge blowup over a silly headband.  But then we sat together and they hashed it out for 10 minutes with me facilitating and worked it out.  At the end Clover said, “good work, Meagan!” and it literally brought tears to my eyes! They are real people with real feelings and their upset and passion and triumphs are so very real.  The realization of this fact about my students was huge for me this month.  I think one of the greatest things about being a teacher is getting to be a witness to so many beautiful parts of humanity.  I’m amazed at the human heart every day. 

One of my favorite discussions we had this month came from a simple LGL (List, Group, Label) exercise we did about plants.  After listing a lot of words, we were ready to group them.  After a few groupings, one student came up and put “butterfly”, “beautiful”, “roses”, and “dirt” together.  When I asked her to justify why she put all those words together she said, “Because they’re all beautiful”.  One of my more interactive students jumped in to say, “dirt isn’t beautiful!” and it created this wonderful discussion on beauty being in the eye of the beholder.  You know, these are the kinds of conversations I still have with my friends/family on a regular basis.  Again, I’m simply amazed and in awe.  Reflecting on these truly beautiful moments makes me realize why I love this job. 

Of course, it’s not all roses and dirt.  There are still some flaws in my teaching style and our classroom culture that I wish I could change in the blink of an eye.  I wish I could not get so frustrated when my whole class starts talking during a read aloud, I wish I could keep better records of assessment, I wish I could get my students to stop saying put downs to one another.  Although we’re still a work in progress, and there are only 20 school days left—I’m confident that as a Pre-K family, we will diligently work and endure with one another until that final day. 

Which brings me to my final point.  I’m sad about these students moving on.  They own a piece of my heart and I’m so proud of them.  As the end of the school year winds down, I’m ready for them to move on, but I desperately want them to stay just a while longer.  I wouldn’t have learned anything this year if it wasn’t for them, and for that I owe them so much gratitude, grace, and kindness.  I can’t help it, but I love them.

***This final blog post is dedicated to the smart, kind, helpful, risk-taking, brilliant, fun, loving, GENIUS Pre-K class of 2013-2014 at Suburban Nursery School and Pre-K***

This is one of my favorite songs from Wicked and it attempts to sum up my feelings for my wonderful kiddos:

"For Good" --Kristin Chenoweth

Like a comet pulled from orbit, 
As it passes a sun. 
Like a stream that meets a boulder, 
Halfway through the wood. 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you, 
I have been changed for good 

It well may be, 
That we will never meet again, 
In this lifetime. 
So let me say before we part, 
So much of me, 
Is made of what I learned from you. 
You'll be with me, 
Like a handprint on my heart. 
And now whatever way our stories end, 
I know you have re-written mine, 
By being my friend... 

Like a ship blown from its mooring, 
By a wind off the sea. 
Like a seed dropped by a skybird, 
In a distant wood. 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you, 
Because I knew you, 
I have been changed for good.”