oh my sweet rapture

today my students told me my face was red.
I told them it was because it hurt from smiling so much.
they stared at me for a minute, laughed and said yeah,
"You're probably right."

They get it.
we disco before math.
we yoga before reading.

we pretended to be cactuses and to remember the word "saguaro!"
today we dissected a one
to see if our prediction
about it looking like a cup of water in the inside
was correct.
we were wrong, but
at least we got a chance to cut up
a cactus.

we made a giant patternized math problem today using
every child in the room.

we took a stupid standardized test that has no way
of recognizing how loving and hilarious my students are...especially
the ones who coudn't read the test to begin with and found it
more fun to fill in c's and d's instead of attempting
to allow the state to see their true "IQ."

luckily I won't get in trouble
for their lack of motivation to please
the government, and they won't get in trouble
for their lack of understanding the english language.

we listened to school house rock.
and rocked out.

the other 3rd grade talked about ghosts today
and whether or not they were reality or fantasy.
luckily I haven't had that discussion yet.

tomorrow I attend the happiest funeral
I will ever attend. I simply can't wait
to hug the people i miss and share one
last time the music that brought us together
and was a soundtrack for an era.
we grow. and laugh. and smile. and mourn.
and miss. and love. and hurt. and hate.
and pretend to be cactuses.