Full of Gratitude & Giving Thanks

It has been a while since I posted here. I could apologize but then I know we will likely be in the same boat again in a few weeks. I am just not one of those bloggers who seems able to commit to O EXTREMELY grateful for you who read it. I love sharing the adventures of my classroom with you even if I don't share them as often as I should!
posting several times (or let's face it, even once) a week. I am doing my best and I am S

Thanksgiving is this week and it has me thinking about all I have to be grateful for at the moment. This is the first year that we will be having a family dinner, the way my mom did them, since she got really sick before she passed away. Holidays were my mom's thing. She loved everything about them and she made them magical. In order to celebrate with family and still have the much desired leftovers I have made a dinner for us the day before the holiday and then we would go visit family on Thanksgiving. Once mom got sick I made two complete dinners then took one all in containers to my parents so they could celebrate without the work. This has been the routine for the last 5 or 6 years. This year we are all gathering at my parents' house and I will be cooking there. I am thankful that I have a family to spend the holiday with, and for the special shared memories we have of how mom made it special. I know she will be with us this year.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to share my classroom with Maria and embarking on the adventure this year has been as we have taken on this new role of Instructional Specialists. I am (surprise!) very particular and controlling about my classroom. Working with Maria I have learned to just let some things go. This is a good thing. Working with her has made me a better teacher.

I am thankful for the ability to work with other teachers in their classroom and assist them with curriculum. It can be nerve-wracking putting one's self on the line to walk into someone else's room,

but I think it is even more so having someone come in to your domain and I am thankful that so many teachers have allowed Maria and I to come into their rooms this year.

I am thankful for my third grade team at my site and those not on my team but who are essential to keeping me grounded, sharing the ups and the downs, and for just being there each day. I do not know what I would do without them.

I am grateful for my students and their families who make my job worthwhile. With the events that have occurred in our nation since election day I have seen the fear and uncertainty in their eyes and we have tried to answer questions without scaring them. When so many of them are worried about what comes next for themselves and their families. I am grateful that I get to be their teacher and share this year in their lives.