The Little Things

I'm always amused by the little things in life.  I try my best to remember to appreciate them.  To celebrate them.  To share them.



And to never forget them.




And just in case you're curious, it's testing season at our school.  And something I thought was amazing at our old school was how the staff would come together with their students and put together testing incentives and treats for the older grades who were testing, often involving some sort of pun, and the PTO would fund these efforts.  The younger grades would even cheer the testing students on in the hallways on their way to the testing lab.  I thought it all was absolutely brilliant.  Their teamwork and thoughtfulness constantly took my breath away.



And it doesn't appear our school here does quite the same things, which is okay.  It's not going to stop me from stealing some of the things I loved from our old school and implementing them for our new classroom.  Fortunately, The Redhead's teacher was okay with me doing so.  She humors me constantly, luckily.

Those are for day one.  The kisses and mints are for before the test.  The roll-ups are for afterwards. They're not much, but it's something.  I'll also do something for Wednesday's test as well. Like most things I do, I'm not sharing this to make me come across as all that fabulous of a person.  I have flaws just like the next person.  In fact, I know so many people who can tell you all about my flaws.  They'll gladly do it.  They would love to do it.  But I have this belief that if I can do something and I think about doing it, then perhaps I should just do it.  And don't you think those students are worth it?  Tests are a big deal.  Especially state assessment tests.  For a lot of kids, it's a nauseating process.  For some kids, it's just another way for them to feel inferior. Assessment tests are also really stressful on teachers.  Incredibly stressful.  If you've never thought about it, send your teacher some chocolate during test week.  Trust me.  And don't forget the students either.  And especially your own student(s).  It's the little things that make up our lives the most, and for every little thing you do, it does make a difference, no matter how small.  I'm just glad I had the best examples at our old school to learn from in this case.  And if you too want to do something like this, The Pinterestese also have some marvelous ideas.