More Than a Teacher and a PACKAGE from Squawkers

Hi sweet friends. I have missed checking in and sharing with you all that has been happening...let's just say CRAY CRAY.

*MRI and EEG for my mom...and we are still praying for answers
*a sister who broke her ankle in 3 places and had surgery PLUS  heading back to school with 3 girls and she is unable to drive
*a classroom makeover
*Back to School for me
*Stress because of the family health issues which then causes me not to sleep and triggers my Chrons and migraines

BUT God is great and has blessed my family in so many ways this past month. =)

Today we had our 1st day of school. I already love our sweet School Family. =)

I loved seeing all of my little ones come with ready confetti and jitter glitter in their hair. This is an activity I will do every year...so stinkin' cute!!!

We drank Jitter Juice and the BIG NEWS was the mystery package. I am sorry for no pictures but it was from Squawkers the Parrot (We are Price's Parrots). Squawkers is a parrot who visits our room. He watches for friends being helpful and kind. He moves and hides all over the room and even in different places in the school. He tries to trick us by pretending to look non-living. He helps us start our year long investigation of the different animal families.

In the package, he shared with us several parrot books for us to read. We will make a venn diagram comparing parrots(birds) to us (mammals). He also left us our names on sentence strips and a HUGE box of goldfish to play name bingo and other cover up games. He left us a color word poem puzzle, individual little jars of play-doh to practice making letters, numbers, words, and our lunch/id numbers.

He left parrot straws and magic balls.

The magic ball changes color if you are going to have a good school year. =)

I have made the magic balls for at least the past 9 years. The kiddos LOVE it and you don't even have to do it the first day. One year it was the second or third week. I still get a little paranoid that there will be one magic ball that I forgot to add the food coloring to...but my OCD has me checking and checking! Click here to go to the original link.

grab your magic ball poem by clicking on the picture above

As I started this year, I remembered that God put each one of my kiddos in my room for a reason. It is easy to forget with more rigorous standards and the pressure to dive into your curriculum as soon as possible every single day that we are met each day with little hearts that are fragile. We are MORE than a teacher...we are the Safe Keepers of the BEST each parent sends us...remember- They are not keeping the "good ones" at home on the shelf. =)

So, take a few minutes to read this poem and remember you might be a child's biggest blessing....you are leaving heartprints that will last a lifetime. =)

From My Heart to Yours,