M is for Moms

This week's writing topic was about our mothers.

The students were given an interview form to gather some information about their mothers to use as their details.

I thought it would be pretty cool if I had my mother call and answer the questions on speaker phone.

Since my mother doesn't understand that my whim is her command, I had to improvise during our writing time.

I told my students that her favorite color is yellow. She likes to vacation in the mountains. And her favorite holiday is Christmas. I also finished the sentence "My mom likes it when I..." with "make her laugh because I am her funniest child."

My mom decided to call at her convenience, which happened to be during math, but we conducted the interview anyway. My students loved hearing her on the speaker phone.

These were my mom's answers:

Don't worry. I asked her permission to forge her signature. This time.

So I was 1 for 4, but I'm not even sure my mother knows what she likes...

I did not complete the other portion of this assignment though. The students were supposed to draw a picture of their mothers on the back of the page.

This was one (rather accurate) drawing:

This is a drawing of this guy's mother at the beach. It was raining and windy.

 I'm not sure if Mom is frowning because a) her umbrella is flying away, b) a giant clam is on it's way to devour her, c) a huge bird is flying directly over her, d) a coconut is about to drop on the family Cadillac, e) deadly looking stingrays swim around in shallow water, f) there are spiky waves headed her way, or g) her son is in the cabana safely eating a sandwich.

I especially enjoyed Curly Top's portrait of his mother. There is just something about it that screams love.

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Or maybe that was just me screaming...

Have a wonderful, lovely, fabulous Mother's Day!

A is for Appreciation

It has been a week full of teacher appreciation.

(Despite the fact that our district/state informed us of further budget/position cuts, but I won't go there now...)

Our school's wonderful administration and PTA gave us little gifts of appreciation all week long. It was very sweet of them.

But the most meaningful displays of gratitude come from the actual kids we teach. This week, Sassy made sure I felt her thankfulness.

And Sassy KNOWS how to appreciate the finer things in life...Just look at this picture she drew of the bedroom she would like to have if she could decorate it any way she wanted to.

There is Harry Potter wall paper and she is diving into her trampoline-jacuzzi.

She also has a dog that says, "wolf".

But the important things are the signs on her door. (click to enlarge)

I promise I don't promote the discussion of good "looken" boys.

Sassy appreciated me on Wednesday. She brought me a red leather Brighton belt. She handed it over and said, "I appreciate you and please don't use this on me..."

She also informed me it was actually from her grandpa. I found out that it was originally for Sassy's sister, but was not as appreciated by her sister as it would be by me. So...thanks Sassy's grandpa! (He is a loyal reader of this blog.)

Sassy appreciated me again today. She brought me a wrapped gift this time and said, "I would REALLY appreciate if you didn't use this to spank me!" It wasn't a paddle, but this:

 That would probably leave a mark...

Then I saw this on the back:

So Sassy actually "appreicates" me, but I think that's as good (if not better) than appreciation.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, fellow educators! I hope you felt as much love as I did.