Dear world, I have the best kindergarteners.

Here we are again, a starbucks morning as is tradition on Saturdays. However, this morning I slept in until 9:45!!! Much needed.

I'm looking outside the starbucks window, and it looks like death outside. The umbrella tables are blowin in the wind. The sky is gray, and so is everything else. Going to be a BEAUTIFUL DAY! not. With that said, I completed my application for Hawaii Public Schools. I am in need of adventure stat!

Tonight I get to go to the farm which is really exciting. Can't wait to see my girls and my cows. It is a tradition that me, Syd and Addy make cookies before every holiday, so today while the parents are at dinner, I will be making Valentines cookies with my 2 favorite bakers. And spending some much needed time with Licorice, Chantel, Baby and the others.

I cried many times at work this week. In front of my kids. It freaks them out. They think its hilarious. Not crying because I was overwhelmed or upset, but because I was so proud. A few occurrences?

1) One of my little boys who was once a HUGE struggle, behavior wise specifically, and just trying academically, has made such a huge 180. Well, we were in reading group, and this boy sat and read me his whole book from our guided reading group. He was proud, I was proud, his friends were proud and wanted to give him a "yahoo" and well, thats when I started to tear up :) He then asked me "Ms. Baylis, did I make you proud?"

That's our words. Everyday when I drop them off at lunch I say "make me proud."

2) Everyday after writers workshop, I have 3 kids choose a friend who they saw doing their best, and those 3 kids get to come share their writing to the whole class. Well, the 3 chosen were AMAZING. I know my kids are great, but what I saw right then blew me away. I told them "umm..am i in the wrong room? This is 1st or 2nd grade work.. not kindergarten work...WHERE did you learn how to do this?" And while some of them just laughed, one girl raised her hand and said "Ms Baylis... you taught us how to do this!"

3) My last moment of proud i'll share with you happend when decorating valentines bags. It had not crossed my mind to make my own, but when one of my kiddos brought me a bag that said "MS. Baylis" spelled perfectly, I was told I would be getting lots of valentines. One after another, kids started bringing me their foamy heart shapes, their stickers, and all their other decorations that they were given, and to my surprise, were even sharing with eachother. At one point I told them, Ok, i think i'm good! I don't want to take all your decorations! And they all came to the consensus that I always gave them things, and they wanted my bag to be beautiful, and they had no problem sharing with me.


This was the first week when it really hit me how big of a change my kids have made. I guess this blog has turned in more of a reflection for myself, but thats ok. At the beginning of the year, about 1/3 of my kids were labeled "behavior" problems, and i'd say we maybe have one or two occurrences a WEEK, which is the biggest progress I can imagine.

Anyways, while a lot of the time my job is stressful, depresssing and just draining, I love my kids and Rm 101 is growing strong.

Have a good week