Oh Brother!

 The above picture is just to prove to you that my brother loves to joke with me! He had put that sign on the door to welcome me home from Utah one summer. 

I was woken up from a much needed nap this afternoon by Kyle. He was super excited and said I just won tickets to have dinner with Jon Scheyer! I FREAKED OUT! He continued to ask if I wanted to come...aka FLY TO NORTH CAROLINA! I of course said yes, but when. It would be not this Saturday, but the next. How was I going to make this work. I kept asking questions and he had an answer for everything. I started looking at my schedule and right as I asked well what time on Sunday would the dinner be at he broke the news that it was a JOKE! He lied! He didn't win tickets to have dinner with Jon Scheyer. I was a little crushed inside because I have a slight crush on Jon and would love to have dinner/marry him! (See picture below...who wouldn't love him?) Once my heart stopped racing and I realized that I wasn't going to get to meet him I did have a good laugh with Kyle. He quickly said well now I know how to get you to come to North Carolina! 

I sure do love my little brother!

Dear Jon Scheyer, 

If you do want to have dinner or just get married, feel free to give me a call!!

Big Hearts

Today I cried at work. Sometimes it happens. I'm always amazed at the size of hearts these small children have. Once again they have taught me a valuable lesson.

As part of their curriculum they must learn how to write a persuasive letter. We started working on these last week and did our final practice before the big test tomorrow. Today's assignment was to persuade me to allow them to sit next to a friend of their choice. They were pretty excited because I also informed them that if their letter was good enough I really would move their seats. I have never seen them work so hard! As I read through the letters I had to smile at the crazy things that came up. Two of the letters impressed me (which then led to tears). 

Dear Miss Hoppes, 

I promise not to talk with William. I swear not to play together while you're trying to explain something. We will help each other earn ice cream points. I'll be super nice. I will not have any problems. Please Miss Hoppes. Please with a cherry on top. 

Rhett

Now what you need to know is that Rhett is the probably the most popular kid in our class and William is my sweet little autistic boy. Rhett asks Will to sit with him at lunch, he offers to be his buddy during reading, and he always has a compliment for him. It melts my heart.

Dear Miss Hoppes,

I want to sit by Traeson because no one ever talks to him usually and I think that is just not fair. Can I please sit by him today? This is a good reason because if I sit by him I can help him on his work and maybe if I sit by him then I can probably help Will too! Oh and if I can help Traeson and Will then you can get some more work done, wouldn't that be nice! Don't forget that I can probably keep both of them happy and I think they are some smarty pants and super cool. It's like they eat Smarties all the time!

From, 

Taylor

Again, how can that not melt your heart. Traeson needs some extra help because he has some special needs. He is the sweetest boy, but it's hard to understand him so the kids (not trying to be mean) don't always talk to him. Taylor could have picked any of her friends, but she really wanted to pick Traeson and Will so that she could help them. Did you catch that she was doing it to help me too? 

How are these children so giving and selfless at the age of 8? Huge lesson today for me. Think less about myself and my problems and do all that I can to help those around me. Thank you 2nd graders for another lesson on life!

I'm a Mormon

Amanda found this Sunday night. We kind of LOVE Grey's Anatomy...She found a real life Derek!

I Feel Appreciated!

2nd Graders are pretty adorable! I love them all year long, but come Teacher Appreciation Week they sure do make me smile. The PTA sends out this long list of all of our favorite things so that the kids will spoil us. Right down to on Thursday they wore yellow because it's my favorite color! 

This is Day Two of goodies! Luckily the kids were kind enough and let me share my treats with them.

 This adorable plant was given to me today!

 Flowers and cards! 

Such sweet notes from students and parents.

And of course a note from Will... 

Dear Miss Hoppes,

You are a great teacher.

I love you!

Will

(The front had a picture of the Titanic on it)

More than feeling appreciated I feel loved. I feel loved by these kids every single day! I get 20 smiling faces and 20 hugs (at least) every day! I even had a 6th grade teacher stop me the other day to tell me that she doesn't know what I'm doing, but apparently her class asks if they can have me for a teacher every day (I don't think she was happy about that)! I'm lucky to have the job I have and to be surrounded by amazing people daily!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all my teacher friends out there!

Math Tanning

Who wants to do math inside when it's AMAZING outside? Not Rhett...not Me! 

We took a quick test and then reviewed addition, subtraction, and multiplication with chalk outside!

Rhett + Chalk+ Sun= Great Tan

Sunday Stroll turned Icy Climb

The weather was really nice this weekend so I got this amazing idea to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon and walk around Silver Lake. I take my students up there at the beginning of the year for a field trip. I love this place. What I didn't realize was that in May there is still snow up there...oops!

The walk around the lake isn't difficult. I just put on some old flats and thought it would be easy to take my shoes off and dip them in the water. FAIL! 

 The whole walk turned CLIMB wasn't like this, but Katie was a trooper and made it through the "icebergs"!

 View of Silver Lake...yes that is the lake featured in the bottom of the picture. I realize it looks like a snow covered meadow, but really its solid ice!

 We finally made it to the fishing dock that sits on the lake. Katie sang us a few tunes and then we headed back to the car. 

 I lasted most of the time without my fleece, but though I should probably wear it as my toes had lost feeling and I didn't want to catch a cold in May!

 Aubrey catching some rays.

On the way home we spotted this little guy! I LOVE moose! They are my favorite animal! I was so excited to jump out of the car and snap a few pictures!

Although this stroll around the lake turned out much differently than planned (we were going to sit with our feet in the water and read) it was still an adventure! So glad we made it happen! Can't wait for the next Sunday outing!!!

Perks of the Job

Let's face it...I don't teach because of the money! I love my job and I love the little added bonuses that come along with it.  Since I teach 2nd grade I get them when they are 7 turning 8. Now in Utah that means A LOT of baptisms. Some years I'm closer to kids/families and I get a few more invites. This year I was so excited to get to spend a Saturday with the 3 boys below. Rhett and Kyson got baptized in the morning followed by a WONDERFUL party at the Painter house. (I LOVE them). After lots of food and lots of laughing I headed back to the church to see Will get baptized. 

Rhett and Kyson being "cool" during our measurement unit

Will working on an art project.

As I sat through the baptisms I thought about how lucky I am to know these boys and their families. I spend a lot of time with my students. One girl pointed out that she spends more time with me than her Mom simply based on the fact that school is all day long. I try to be a good example for these awesome kids, but I think in the end they teach me more about love, sharing, patience, and happiness than I teach them about Math, Science, and Reading. 

I'm lucky to be a teacher!