My (Teacher's) Heart is Full....

As I look around my classroom today at all the activities going on and the conversations going on and the fun we are all having, I just keep wondering about how I can do more.   How can I make these experiences more meaningful and beneficial for these kids that parents have entrusted me with?  How can I make that spark happen for each one of them?  How can I make sure they are open and ready for the world when I no longer see them every day?  (All this, keeping in mind that I am only human....sigh.)

This is what was going on as I had these thoughts....

• Art Center--Three children and a visiting teacher worked on recycled art.  They all worked together on ideas about how to do things. 
• Dramatic Play Center--Four children ran the Beauty Shop we have set up there (not all girls, either!).  Some were shampooing, one was adding hair extensions, and another was relaxing in the spa-like atmosphere.
• Light Table--two children were playing with Magna-Tiles, which are so pretty on the light table.  After they built their construction, they got out colored pencils and clipboards and sketched what they had built.
• Computer Center--Two children worked together on a rocket spelling game on the IPad.  They were listening to sounds and associating them with letters.
• Writing--Children came and went to the writing center with me today.  Today they were writing each other's names in their journals.  Each child is an expert at their own name, and checked carefully to be sure others were doing a good job with it.
• Igloo (Quiet Center)--we set up our igloo as a quiet center for two or three children to go and read or write quietly, and most of the children visit there daily at some time or another.  Today, two children gathered up a bunch of quilting stories and asked a college student to read them ALL to them.
• Math Center--I set up an activity where we used tangrams to set up quilt blocks (we are working on a class quilt for a fundraising event, and we are doing a short study on quilts).  We took pictures of the plans and will use them later to make paper quilts replicating the patterns.
• Happy music permeated the room, and here and there, people (teachers AND children) burst out in singing and dancing. 

I hope I never stop wondering how I can do and provide more for these children.