A morning with second graders...

Yesterday was my first day helping out in Mika's classroom. I was a little bit anxious (I knew reading and math was on the schedule) but I was totally blown away by the second graders. Not only were they all amazingly polite (Everyone answered me! No one talked back!) but they all read quite well, too.

I'd known some of the kids since kindergarten (when I helped out there) and some from last year. Some kids had already seemed embarrassed to say hello to me outside of class but when they saw me again, they were all smiles (that was nice!). It was lovely to see how far they've come, too.

Mika's teacher is extraordinarily nice, too. Kids are constantly coming up to her before and after school, to say hello and give her hugs (and these are children she's had in previous years). She runs a tight ship and I was pretty impressed. During the moments when I had finished working with a group of children, I was able to observe Miss Mika at her desk. WOW, she sure does fidget a lot during class! At one point, I thought I heard her humming (which alarmed me, I've been trying to break her of that habit for ages - no sense in having people throw erasers at her in college for being disruptive during an exam), but then realized it may be the boy next to her - I couldn't tell, they were both fidgeting! Ah, life as a second-grader...

I was only there for less than 2 hours (but I felt useful) and then it was time to pick up Miss Marika. I had been nervous all morning about her, but since the kids weren't permitted to play outside because it was too cold, there was no playground incident. I was shocked at how relieved I was.

Tidbits...
1. In case you're a Basic Grey fan but not signed up for their monthly newsletters (they have a monthly sketch and inspiration project), check it out here: BG Newsletter.
2. There's a new batch of free B&N ebooks here.
3. If you are a (free) font lover, you may want to check out this scrapbooking site/store. I used to check them all the time ("Thinking of You" is one of my favorite fonts of all time - it's similar to the Making Memories rub-on font), but hadn't in a couple of years, until I was looking for a specific font.
4. Betterworldbooks has extended their Labor Day sale for another week (til 9/15). Woohoo! Don't forget to go through Ebates!

Hope everybody's having a good week! =)