* School Pinch Me Moments

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I absolutely love my kinder-bug kids this year! I came home each and every day exhausted, but loved! They were the hardest group of kids I have ever had. Emotional with a capital "E." There were so many growing moments, I don't know if I can remember them all. I will share just a few of the "Pinch me Moments..."
I'll never forget "Tallest in the Class Rocky", who needed to go to the bathroom. It was at the very moment that we were preparing to go home for the day. I asked, "Can you hold it til you get home?" Rocky just lived a couple of houses away from the school. He said, "Ok." The next thing I know, Rocky is missing. I buzzed for the office to help. Just as they answered my call, another teacher called the office saying they saw a kindergarten boy climb the fence and run toward housing. Within a couple of minutes we were on the phone with the security police to report a "run away kindergarten boy, when another phone line rang in the office. It was Rocky's mom calling to ask why "Rocky had walked home before school was out? " Rocky was brought back to school by his dad. It seems Rocky misunderstood, thinking I'd told him he could "go home at that moment and use the bathroom." Rocky, our Super Hero!
And, then there was Simone. Tiny Simone. She cried almost daily for months. I couldn't get her to talk, with tears or without tears. I was beginning to wonder if she could talk, her family assured me that she talks at home. So, I had patience. One day at the end of January the children came running in from recess. "Mrs. Probert," they chorusedc "Simone can talk!" Surprised, I looked for Simone. She came right up to me and stood as big as her tiny body could stand, looked up into my eyes and said, "I talk now!" The children picked her up and carried her around the room with joyful cheers of congratulations! And, she talked everyday after that. The tears didn't stop, because she had a difficult time verbalizing her needs, but she 'talks now." She holds a special place in my heart.
Ethan, oh Ethan! He came to school not knowing what a letter was. It wasn't long however, before Ethan was reading! We call him "Sponge Ethan," because every lesson went inside his head and came out in an amazing aura of knowledge. It wasn't long before Ethan got board, and he decided he was going to do "what he wanted" to do each day. Listening to his teacher the first time was not one of those things he wanted to do. We tried lots of behavior plans, but Ethan was tough to crack. As the end of school came, Ethan was working on his very own behavior chart. Ethan was sitting on the floor along with all of his peers. I reached up to the chart, and I said, "Ethan, I don't think you need to behavior chart anymore." "I think you are done with this!" I took the chart, tore it in half and put it in the trash. He looked so surprised, and so very pleased with himself. The cutest thing happened next. It was one of those "pinch me moments." As I dropped the torn behavior chart into the trash, Ethan's classmates clapped, and gave their best kindergarten whistle as they congradulated their little friend. Ethan smiled almost every minute of the day from that moment on.
There are just so many moments like this. Moments of "the light bulb turned on..." and moments of "we are a community of friends." I teach for these moments. I teach for "pinch me moments," the little everyday ones, and those that will remain in my head forever!
Thanks for letting me share, thanks for reading!!! I'm sure I will record more of these moments in the days ahead.... so that when my head doesn't work anymore I can read and remember!
The photos in the smilebox below were taken during the last week of school, and the last part of the slide show includes pictures from our Kindergarten Advancement Program.