Celebrating the Fall Semester

 

What a year it has been!  At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, I left a school where I had taught for 21 years to start over at a much smaller district closer to my home.  The 2021-2022 school year brought new challenges as I had to re-establish myself as a teacher, plus dealing with the ongoing residual effects of a pandemic.

With a new school comes new traditions and thankfully the return of some older ones too!

This year, we had a full week off for Thanksgiving, so it was a good time to be thankful for each of my students.  During that break, I hand-wrote their name on a wooden ornament to hang on the Cardinal Tree.  This tradition is one I first heard about from Rebecka's post on One Good Thing and I have to admit, it is just adorable to see the students look for their name and to take a selfie by the fireplace.  There is just something so cozy about this little corner of my room and I'll be sad to take it down over Winter Break!

This week was finals week, which can always be a stressful time for kiddos!  On the last day of final exam review, I set up a hot cocoa bar and gave each kiddo a little goodie bag with an activity book, a candy cane, a pencil and eraser.  I was so proud of the students - no large messes happened and they did a great job of picking up after themselves!  It was a learning experience for me though, as I learned that many of them had no idea how to make hot cocoa!  I was also super happy that the weather cooperated and gave us appropriate hot cocoa temperatures!

All in all, it was a successful week to wrap up this semester and I'm really proud of how well my students did on their finals!