The fact that it's already February school vacation week is actually crazy. It feels like we were just getting back to school and sharing stories about our summer! This vacation was very much needed though, for both the kids and for me. I always find that this time of year is draining. The cold weather is getting old and while the days are getting ever-so-slightly longer, even more sunshine would be welcomed with open arms. Mid-year report cards and parent/teacher conferences have come and gone, the work is getting harder, and the "let it slides" from the beginning of the school year are now a thing of the past. So, yes February vacation snuck up on us, but thank goodness it did!

We had a few cool events this week. The first had to do with poetry. Robert Leoni is a fifth grader, and last year during our poetry unit, he began getting really into writing poetry. He would regularly type up poems and share them with me on Google Drive. He is incredibly gifted, and we compiled enough poetry to put together two full books of his poems. He still writes poetry and shares his poems with me, and so his teachers kindly let me arrange for him to come in and chat with this year's fourth graders. He talked about what inspires him to write poetry and his "journey" as a poet, and he read some of his poems to the class. The kids then got about fifteen minutes to write poetry, with Robert and I circulating the room to support them. I'm hoping we can do this activity with Mrs. O'Keefe's homeroom when our three-week cycle switches and I have that class in the afternoons.

We also had the Kennedy School talent show this week! And to represent the fourth grade, our very own Shay and Basilia sang on stage. It takes so much guts to get up there in front of the whole school, and I was so so proud of the two of them. I talked to one of the upper grade teachers after the show, and she said that my expression during their performance was priceless. Apparently I was grinning from ear to ear, looking like a proud parent...

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Owen and Seriyah. Owen did a particularly awesome job during class on Friday. Students were assigned two poems to read and annotate, and then they answered questions about the poems on Chromebooks. One of those questions involved typing up a response about the poet's message. Owen got right to work, and just did an all-around awesome job. He's done great with poetry, and Seriyah has too. Seriyah is a natural when it comes to writing poetry, and I love when she shows me the poems that she is able to whip up in just a few minutes. She also has shown a lot of growth lately in dealing with frustration, and I'm proud of her progress this year.