The Grandeur. The Simplicity.

Every day I spend with these kids is a gift; every minute is a precious memory.

Every picture I take has a story that is begging to be told.

Every morning holds the promise of a lesson to be learned and every night carries the weight of these memories, pictures, stories, and lessons.

So here I am, on a Friday night, compiling a week's worth of...well...of everything and wondering how to put so much into a space as small as a blog post.

And with that, I give you The Friday Five in the hopes that my memories, pictures, stories, and lessons will capture both the grandeur and the simplicity of what God is doing here.

Five Moments to Cherish

1. Elle running in and sitting on my lap after school, excitedly starting to tell me all about her day, but then getting distracted by something else and telling me all about that instead.

2. High schoolers in my classroom after school telling me how much they love the new books and begging me to translate more.  Making a total mess and coming and going in a flurry of greetings and questions, broken pencils and disheveled books, English, French, Creole, and sometimes a little Crenglish.

3. Little hands stroking my hair and a quiet voice in my ear whispering “I love you so much.”

 4. Really needing to translate books and write lesson plans and get work done…but leaving that all inside during recess so that I could sit by the swings and let these girls make me smile instead.

5. Last year’s class sitting around my table – the way they used to sit around our table last year – and looking at the Shutterfly photo book I made about them.  Reminiscing about that tiny, dark, hot classroom.  Remembering books we read, crafts we made, and facts we learned.  Laughing hysterically when we got to the picture of Love Findia with her face covered in white chalk.  Being together again.

Five times I realized: “Wow, my students are growing!”

1. Getting to the final bell before realizing that Davis got through the ENTIRE day without refusing to participate.

2. Francoise bursting out in frustration when I moved his seat…until I took him aside and explained that some students need more help than he does and that by giving up his ideally-located seat, he is helping his classmate learn.  Then…Francoise agreeing to step up and be a leader in our classroom and not mentioning his seat again.

  

3. Watching my students transform into self-directed, self-regulated learners.

All year I have given students their craft supplies one item at a time.  First scissors.  Finished?  Trade me for a crayon.  Finished?  Here’s your next piece of paper.  But THIS…this was the first time they got all their supplies all at once.  And they nailed it. =) Plus it was the first time I gave them freedom with glue. (Moms and teachers - you know that's a big step!!)

4. This conversation:

“The preschool class next door is being really loud, so let’s stop here.  We can finish this workbook page Monday.”

“No, Madame Erin, let’s finish it now.  We’ll listen really carefully and we won’t get distracted.”

5. Another classroom conversation. (I would like to preface this by saying that it is not easy to teach left and right in your second language while you are mirroring your students...)

Me: "Everybody raise your right hand"

Francoise: "That's our left hand."

Davis: "That's okay Madame Erin!"

Me: "Okay, now everybody raise your left hand"

Francoise: "Right hand."

Davis: "That's okay Madame Erin!"

Five Fabulous Photos

1. We got a fan!! 

2. Goofing off at recess.

3. Millie is NOT impressed. =)

4. Got this in the mail.  Made me laugh.

5. Francoise’s drawing of our class complete with students, the carpet, Madame Erin, our smilies/saddies behavior chart, and our new fan plugged into the outlet next to the window.