Cupcakes made by a parent of one of my students. Cute and delicious!

A sweater knit by Susan, our splendid principal.

A diaper changing bag/pad made by Jenna, who teaches 3rd grade, and Kylene, our Music teacher.

A sweater knit by Jenna.

A little bunny blanket made by Kylene.

A knit hat made by John’s sister-in-law.

A sweater knit by Ceres, our Developmental Kindergarten teacher.

A scrapbook display made by a parent of a former Destination Imagination student.

A fleece blanket made by Debbie, an Instructional Assistant.

A diaper cake made by Angela, a kindergarten teacher.

A tag blanket made by Pam, another Instructional Assistant.

THE quilt  worked on by Ruthie, Karen, Cheryl, Jenna, Peggy, Martha, Karen, Annette, Pam, Kylene & Katie. I was mostly along for the ride on this one.

See, I work with creative and generous people. I held it together and didn’t cry over this outpouring of love until the shower was about 2 minutes from being over and John, our fantastic librarian, came up to me and handed me a gift card. He’d already given me the knit cap pictures above, but something about his matter-of-fact way of giving me a gift card put me over the top and my eyes started welling up with tears.  Of course it wasn’t the gift card that did it – it was everything.

Maggie is such a lucky girl already and knowing how many people are excited and thrilled to welcome her into this world amazes me.

1. Buy a turkey.

2. Bring the turkey home.

3. Wash the turkey.

4. Brush the turkey with gravy using a cooking brush.

5. Pour warm water on the turkey.

6. Turn oven on to no lower than 1 degree but no hotter than 50 degrees.

7. Put the turkey in the oven with a pan.

8. Bake turkey for 1 hour and 3 minutes.

9. Take the turkey out of the oven with gloves.

10. Let the turkey cool next to the window for 10 minutes.

11. Stuff the turkey with lemons and lemon juice after you take out the bones.

12. Put the turkey on the table.

13. Cut up the turkey.

14. Put it on plates.

15. Set plates at each seat and the rest of the table.

16. Invite your guests over.

17. Eat the turkey!! Yummy!

Last year I had 22 students in my class and this year, as of now, I have 26 kids coming my way. As the first day of school creeps closer and closer, I wonder where I am going to put these 26 six year olds. I have exactly 23 desks.

Our imaginary student, Johnny Bob (named after one of Junie B. Jones’ stuffed animals), typically sits in the unfilled desk. Each morning after taking attendance the student that sits next to Johnny Bob announces his absence and as a whole class we express our concern for his education, since he’s always absent.

Sometimes Johnny Bob’s desk gets used by students that need extra space or just need a break from their current desk. Johnny Bob is the type of student that doesnt’ mind others working in his area. He’s a model student. I’ve had kids from previous years come back and inquire about Johnny Bob’s attendance. (Has he started coming to school? Do the ‘new kids’ know about Johnny Bob? Is his desk still the same?)

Come September and the beginning of Musical Chairs, I’m going to take a moment and think about Johnny Bob and what he represented: lower class size, a whole class inside joke, extra work space, comic relief and an opportunity to help my students understand the importance of attendance.

I hope Johnny Bob can come back to Room 2 next year.