The Icing on the Cake

My birthday began with surprises. The first one from my husband. After frustrating him by shaking the present to find it was a puzzle, I quickly opened it to find a panoramic puzzle of Times Square. The second surprise came once I got to work...

I walked into the 6th grade hall to find a teacher waiting for me and quickly pulled me into her classroom. She asked me all sorts of crazy questions, like asking me to name all my favorite Christmas carols. After a few minutes of this, I asked if she was stalling, sure that something was going on. With a big smile on her face she said, "Yes, so make yourself comfortable. I am supposed to stall until the tardy bell." After another ten minutes the tardy bell rang and I was off down the hall. I arrived at my classroom door to find this.....

Behind the cracked door I could hear "shhhh!" and "quiet!" and "she's coming!" I slowly opened the door to find all 46 kids crouched in the doorway with a handful of confetti and paper streamers. I quickly called Matt to drop the camera off at the school after finding the kids had arrived early to decorate my classroom, with the help and supervision of my team teacher, Mrs. Brown. In true party fashion, the kids brought a few yummies to share with the class. I got tons of hugs from the kids (the best present) and a few fun cards and surprises on my desk. My favorites included a Christmas light necklace that blinks, flowers, a football helmet animal bracelet, and several handmade cards. One was made by all my homeroom boys, complete with their sweet signatures and Alabama drawings. Another card came from one of the boys in my homeroom. It read, "Mrs. Tanner, I hope you have a great birthday. You are a great teacher. In "girl talk" that means: i <3 (heart) u!" All my birthday items are in my "Why I Became A Teacher" box; a box I keep around for those tough days on the job where I need a reminder of why I put my all into each day at work.


Here are a few pictures from the day....

The bookshelves in the back of the room

Decorations on the window (the balloons did not stay up for long, thanks to my boys)

The sign they made out of Kit-Kat candybars behind my desk

My sweet Yaseen, who teaches me more about sign language each day

While they remind me each day that they are all stubborn, anxious, and emotional preteens, they also reminded me that they are caring, funny, eager to please, sweet, and sneaky! I always said growing up that I would be a teacher, but NEVER for middle school. Funny thing is, now I can't imagine teaching anything else!