Today was a long day.

I was in my classroom a little after 7:45 and out again before 3:45, but it was still a long day.

Often I get there earlier, and usually I stay much later, but today was one of those days that just sap you of energy so that you crawl home with your tail dragging on the ground to collapse on the couch and regroup for tomorrow.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad day, though there were a few bad moments. It was just emotionally draining.

We started with a bit of fun. We colored bookmarks with the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch while we waited for our community reader, one of my student’s mother, to come in and read us Horton Hears a Who. Then we talked with her about her job and her pets. Then everyone told their own pet stories, some a tad more believable then others. After this, we decided to have an early snack before going on with our reading lesson.

Then we had a discussion about fears, and rumors, and telling mom and dad, and asking for help. You see, the Momo challenge has made it into my students’ discourse and dreams and they had questions. So we talked. I pointed out that I’d done some research and found out that there really is no Momo challenge video. There’s just a warning about the video, and that warning has gone viral. I reminded my little ones to go to a trusted adult when they are scared of anything, instead of only going to another student and spreading the fear.

Then we continued our Dr. Seuss celebration by reading The Butter Battle Book – which lead to a discussion of wars and of discrimination, and of what we can do to stop both. I am so proud of my students, of their thoughtfulness, of their insights and their determination to do the right thing, be kind, and treat each other fairly. That little classroom holds our future, and believe me, it’s shining brightly right now.

In the afternoon we worked with cubelets and the students rose to my challenge of creating a robot that would carry a couple of blocks across the classroom. Then we opened the adjoining door and some students from the class next door came in and we partnered up and read together. Then my class marched downstairs to Art class where they made the most magical seussical creations which they showed me with huge grins and pride shining in their eyes.

We didn’t really do anything in the curriculum today, but we still learned so much. It's those teachable moments, when everyone is listening, everyone is interested, everyone is taking an active role in the conversation -- those are the moments that made me fall in love with teaching. 

But they're tiring, too. Thankfully I've got the whole weekend to recover...