Sometimes you just color.

Yesterday was one of THOSE days at school. I was grumpy. A cold front was blowing in. Christmas is barreling down on us. There was a Supermoon recently and my kiddos were just W.I.L.D!!! After school  I was just in funk and knew we needed a day to get back on track. So...I drove over to Michaels and purchased a giant cardboard gingerbread house. We are currently wrapping up a 2 week study of The Gingerbread Man stories and I had seen a friend post about these cute cardboard houses.

So this morning I set out to break our funk with a giant cardboard box.

During learning stations I pulled out each cardboard piece, dumped markers all over the floor, and said "have at it guys."  And they did. They were so excited. They colored with a fever I had never witnessed before.  I had kiddos choosing to color rather than playing on Ipads or in waterbeads. In fact 15 out of my 20 kiddos chose to color the house rather than work in learning stations.

At first I relished in the few moments of peace and tried to check off things on my never-ending to do list but after seeing my kiddos having so much fun I decided to push that to the side and lay down beside them and color.

And we colored. For an hour and a half. We colored. And talked. And laughed.  And sang Christmas songs. And bonded. Nope...this was not on my lesson plans. No...I had not planned out standards or anything "academic".

But sometimes that is okay. You see...by putting aside learning objectives and school stuff...you get to actually listen to your kiddos. I learned about a  student's trip to eat pizza the night before, what one kiddo ate for dinner at his grandmother's house the night before, and that one kiddo was secretly hoping his tooth would fall out at school so he could get one of those cool treasure boxes to put his tooth in. I heard stories of Melvin and Marvin...two elves that live at one student's home as well as many other elf stories. Elves are important to kindergarteners right now. I heard my kids encouraging each other and complimenting each other. They helped each other out and showed endurance because they wanted to finish the project.

But academics were not completely pushed away. They are always there. We planned and looked ahead to see which part needed colored next. We discussed how colors changed as they overlapped. We discussed patterning and counted gum drops. We worked as a team.

And it was fun...so much fun. I had lost my joy for a bit in the classroom as I was caught up in all the "stuff" that comes at this time of year. But today...I found it again...by coloring a giant gingerbread house with my kinders.

And it was beautiful!

What a journey so far...

Let's go back to last April when this whole journey began. At the end of the day, I was greeted by my principal and daughter who presented me with balloons and flowers announcing I was voted as Teacher of the Year for our building. I was surprised and so honored to be selected by my peers.

Fast forward to the end of May. We were just about to wrap up the school year and we were in the middle of my favorite day of the year...our big OSCARS themed awards ceremony. Everyone was decked out in their movie star best, the room was filled with parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. and the hallways and classroom was completely decked out. It was standing room only. Halfway through the ceremony, in walked my principal again...this time followed by our superintendent and several other people from our central office. They halted the ceremony to announce I had been selected as district teacher of the year. I was completely shocked and so blown away...I just broke down in tears. It was such a memorable day to have so many people there for the surprise announcement and I was so honored to represent our district.

After that, it was a whirlwind time of preparing applications for district teacher of the year and writing my big back to school speech. In August, as the school year began the district comes together for a back to school assembly. During that assembly I gave my first big speech in front of about 2,000 people. It was both an exhilarating and completely terrifying day for me.

Later that week during a professional development session, we received an email stating I had been selected as a regional finalist.

In September, I was invited to the state capitol to be recognized as a regional finalist. The ceremony was live streamed so my coworkers and family were able to watch live as the announcement was made of who was in the top 4 state semi-finalists. I was thrilled to hear my name called.

I was welcomed back to school the next day with signs. posters, flowers, a lounge filled with my favorite treats, and so many well-wished I couldn't breathe!

Two weeks later, the Arkansas Department of Education came to my school to observe and conduct formal interviews. I was told they would announce the 2018 Teacher of the Year "before Christmas".

Then just a few weeks ago, on September 29th...in the middle of a reading assembly I got the surprise of a lifetime. After our superintendent finished up reading a book to the entire student body, Commissioner Key walked in to read another story. As he began to read aloud the story, members of the school board, department of education, community. press, and my family began to file in. Commissioner Key read a story about a teacher (me) and officially announced me as the 2018 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. I was I was completely overwhelmed.

These past few weeks have been filled with media visits, photo sessions, and working on my National Teacher of the Year application...which in itself is a unreal experience.

I am still completely overwhelmed at this point and looking forward to what lies ahead on this journey as ATOY!