I mentioned in another post that my son Colton has the best teachers that I could ever hope for.  His school is having Teacher Appreciation Week this week.  A letter was sent home last week that had a list of suggestions for parents of what to send in.

Monday:  Ream of paper
Ok - so I didn't want to just send in a ream of white paper. I decided to get a ream of colored paper {What teacher doesn't love colored paper? I know that I do} and put a note on it.  Now, the tricky part was thinking up a cute saying that included the word "ream" in it.  Um, yeah - that was hard.  This is what I came up with.



And now that I reread it, I should have written "from the mountainside" instead of "to the mountainside."  {Yes, I just went and fixed that.  It bothered me too much. lol}

Tuesday:  Sharpies
I love, love, love Sharpies!  I kind of wish these were for me. {Have I mentioned I love Sharpies?}


Wednesday:  Ziploc Bags
This is kind of boring, but my wonderful mother-in-law is going to make some cookies to go with the bags.

Thursday:   Glue Sticks
I bought a big box of glue sticks and divided them between the two teachers.  I had some orange bags left over from my son's birthday party and I thought they would be perfect for glue sticks.  My husband, on the other hand, said they looked very "Halloweeny".  Thanks Honey.  LOL


Friday:  Nothing Bundt Cake Bundlet
So if you do not have a Nothing Bundt Cake near you, I'm really sorry.  It is the best dessert/snack/yumminess {yes that's a word-lol} ever made.  My husband introduced it to me about 9 years ago when it was only in Las Vegas.  They now have stores in many states.  I might have accidentally bought 1 {or 3} extra to make sure they tasted ok for Colton's teachers.

Have you ever heard this from your students before?  I heard it again today.  What I love best about this is that I am the only teacher most of them have ever had.  LOL

Someday I think I'm going to write a book about what my students have said to me.  When I was student teaching, I had a student ask me if I was married.  I wasn't at the time so I said no.  She said "Doesn't anybody love you?"  I was floored.  I didn't know what to say.  Finally, I said that my parents loved me.  It's fourteen years later and I still haven't forgotten that conversation.

Just this week, one of my Kinders told me "My heart is broken" in this very melancholy voice.  I asked him if he knew what that meant.  He told me that it's when you are very sad.  I asked him why he was sad and he said "Oh, I'm not" and got back in line.  I just love Kinders!

This has been a unique year for me. I moved down to Kindergarten from First Grade and this was my son's Kindergarten year. I say it's his "Kindergarten year" because he has Classic Autism and has been in a self-contained class since he turned 3.  Colton has the best teacher and in January she started taking him into a gen-ed classroom daily to be around his peers (his gen-ed teacher is great too).

I was so happy to be going to Kindergarten (especially since my bestie was moving down with me). I was also scared because I didn't know how I would feel to be around students who were the same age as Colton. Would I be upset all year because my students could do things that my son couldn't do? Turns out, I love being around my students all day. Truth be told, I feel like I can relate better to my students this year.

The best thing about having your own personal Kindergartner at home is that you can practice some things before you take them into your classroom. I know I said Colton has autism, but he is so stinking smart (I know ~ I'm his mom, I'm supposed to say that, but he really is).  He doesn't talk, but he uses sign language to get his point across.  He knows his letters and sounds (he identifies them when you say them), can add and subtract and writes awesome sentences sounding out words that most of my Kinders can't.  {Funny sidenote, one night Colton had to write two sentences for homework and he Kinder spelled a word. My husband wanted me to tell Colton how to spell it correctly. I told him no and we almost got into a fight. LOL}

So anyway, back to my own personal Kindergartner.  Colton did not get homework last week so I pulled out a  project that I made for my class to practice combinations of 10.  He did such a good job. He wrote his addition sentence and colored the pictures to match.


Now, the teacher in me wishes he would have colored nicer and written his numbers neater, but the mommy in me is so proud of my little guy.

I have had such a fun year teaching my Kinders and being a Mommy to a Kindergartner.

Click here for your own copy of the Combinations of 10 book.