My kids finished their first week of school this week and I would have to say the week was a success! Cayden is in second grade and Amos & Deacon are both in kindergarten.
My greatest fear happened when I realized Amos and Deacon would be in the same classroom. The list is long as to why I didn't want this, but my number one reason is that I want Amos to be his own person. He seems to be in the shadows of his younger brother sometime and I know that him having his own space, teacher and friends will allow him to blossom.
Half way through the week we found out that they would be splitting the classroom and I nearly pulled a hamstring jumping for joy. The first day of school the boys teacher said they acted like they didn't even know each other, but by day three they were being regular brothers and one of them got in trouble for yelling at the other one!
So, on Monday Amos will start over with a new teacher in a new room. Kinda like a new “first day of school” for him! He is super excited and we must have worded it just right because not once has he felt weird for being the one that is moving rooms. Praise God for that!
I have written all the teachers an email and included my note to them. I have already heard back from one and this mommy will be doing a bulletin board next week. Oh my gracious I have no clue what I'm doing!!! It will be a dang good board though I just know it!
I can't wait to begin blessing my kids teachers with little things throughout the year. They are jewels to us and put so much of their time and effort into teaching. One teacher told me that she has never had a parent help her in the room. I can't wait to get in there and read to those 2nd graders. Oh and she said I can bring Story with me. Start praying now for Story to behave or I will have to walk her home and that will not be a good moment for either of us!!!
Here's the letter I sent to my kids teachers:
Dear _______ – We are so excited that Cayden, Amos & Deacon have you as teachers this year! They are super excited about art, PE & music and to be back in school. We want you to know that we are here to support you and help you this year. We would love to volunteer in the your classroom or whatever else you need, just let us know. We would be happy to help you with projects or field trips as well. We want to support you in your efforts this year as you teach our children each day!
We also want you to know that we will be praying for you as you give your self to our kids and all their classmates each day of the school year. We are thankful for all you do and know that teaching is not an easy job, so we commit to praying for you throughout the year.
We also want to be a blessing to you in any way that we can. If you could answer these questions for me sometime this week I would appreciate it.
- What magazine do you love that you don’t currently subscribe to?
- What are your favorite breakfast drinks?
- What are your favorite snack items?
- If you could get any breakfast on your way to school what would it be?
- Do you have any hobbies?
- Do you need any craft items from our house? Toilet paper rolls? Old magazines? Buttons? Fabric scraps?
- What is your favorite restaurant?
- What is your favorite drink from Sonic?
- Do you enjoy reading? If so, what kind of books?
- What is your favorite splurge?
Thanks!!
Jamie & Aaron Ivey
Oh, Jamie… this warms my little teacher heart. (Not currently teaching, but still consider myself a teacher.) What a blessing you will be to them! It’s such a joy when there is a parent that understands the importance of the work that their kids’ teacher does!! Keep it up 🙂
Aww… I really wanted to be a room mom too; but divorced when my kids were 2& 4 yrs. I applaude your dedication. I have many 7th & 10th grade friends because of the storytimes, parties & extracurricular activities I encouraged them in. “you get out what you put in!” c:
tears. no words can tell you what a blessing you are to those teachers. praying for pickle so much!
having been in education for @#$%* number of years, (and still hanging in there)I’ve just got to say WOW! Those are some very lucky teachers! It’s so nice to see someone who realizes and appreciates what teachers do!
Oh Jamie this is so sweet! I’m sure that it will be such a blessing to those teachers!
i’d poo myself if i got that letter from a parent! you rock!
that is SO awesome! I know they were totally blessed by that note!! super encouraging!
Hi Jamie!
I felt the same way about blessing the teachers at our kids school over the past few years. I want to encourage you in what you are doing because I’ve seen how grateful the teachers are for parents who take the time to acknowledge them. Most teachers really don’t get much appreciation.
An idea that I did for a few years was at the beginning of each month, I took in desserts for the teachers and put it in the teachers lounge. I usually made 2 things like cookies and brownies, or whatev. At that same time, I celebrated teachers who had a bday that month. I always wrote their names and b-date on a small dry erase board and they kept it up all month. That way they could recognize the bday too. One year I actually had small gifts for each teacher like a candle or candy, but the last year I did it, I only took in the snacks and it still went over really great.
We’ve since moved to Haiti to be teachers and now I appreciate the ones from the states knowing “exactly” what they had to do to teach my kids.
I love your efforts and I pray that you will radiate His love to them this year. From my small efforts to love on our teachers I reaped much because they would find me in the hall at school and ask me to pray for them or want to talk about something that was going on in their life. I know the only reason they did that is because God opened the door through the desire He put in me to bless them.
I can’t wait to hear how your efforts play out for you! You WILL be a blessing!
Susan
Wow. I’m blown away by the kind of parents y’all are to your kids and how involved you are in your children’s school lives. What a wonderfully refreshing thing to see!
My parents were very much involved in my brother’s and my school life as well. I attribute a lot of who I am today to their involvement. They were PTA presidents several times, they were chaperones at almost all of my school dances (ok, that part I wasn’t as crazy about back then! ;-D), and they were very much involved in what I was studying. Mom had been a teacher herself, so I didn’t even get a break in the summer; she knew that it was important for us to keep learning even in between school years.
You remind me a lot of my parents and how they felt about education. I applaud you for being such an attentive, interested parent. And for just being so sweet to your children’s teachers. They must adore you!
This is lovely! I bet your teachers felt so appreciated!
I have twins in preschool and separated them this year (their 2nd year) for those same reasons. They were a “unit” and too much of a distraction to each other.