Sharing the Love!

Its usually pretty hard for me to balance being a Mom and a Teacher at the same time. It seems whenever something special is going on in my own children's class, its likely my classroom has something beyond the norm going on too, making it harder for me to step out and do something with my OWN kids.

I got really lucky on Valentine's Day because it fell on a Tuesday which is my easiest day of the week at work - we have Speech, Gym and Music all on the same day - not much NEED for ME to be in the midst of it all. So, with the go-ahead from my fantastic teaching partner and with my Student Teacher taking over, I was able to take a couple hours last week and go help with Jacob and Sarah's Valentine's Day party! It was a lot of fun for both the kids and I and I'm SO glad I could make it!

I helped at the Craft table while kids glued together heart picture frames. I got to see the kids that Jacob and Sarah talk about and see more of their classroom. They had a lot of fun - making a frame, playing with red play doh, handing out their valentines, decorating a cookie, estimating candy hearts and topping it all off with an ice cream sundae!  Talk about a sugar high! I was glad I got to drop them back off to daycare when I went back to work and that they had gymnastics later in the day to burn off all the excitement and sugar!

I do have to wonder though - when did Valentines day become as big of a candy day as Easter and Halloween! SO many of their cards came with candy and between the 3 kids, our candy jar was overflowing when they were done sorting through it all!! They, of course, loved it and have spent time before bed every night this week going through their bags of cards and notes, lingering over their favorites and trying to remember who gave them each one.

Making a picture frame

Play doh cupcakes

sorting valentines

estimating candy hearts

The only moment all morning I caught them both in the same spot!

I just have to share one fun picture from my classroom that afternoon. With our busy day, we didn't have a lot of time for much of a party but that's ok as our students don't usually get too excited about it all. One game that we've made a tradition at each holiday is a "Pin the tail on the donkey" of sorts. We have a Rudolph for Christmad and I have a heart and arrows for Valentines. Its fun to watch the kids wander around, blindfolded, trying to find the right spot. I'm also impressed with the kids who use their other senses to figure out where they need to be!