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8

There are 8 days of school left before the holiday break.

There are 34 students who are getting more and more excited about being on said break....

It is not my favorite combination.

Throw in a cold, this whole past week, that made me lose my voice and my patience....I was not the nicest teacher.

One of my parents thinks that her child is being bullied, when many other students think her child is the bully. Her child threw a laptop at another on Thursday and was suspended. It didn't happen in my classroom, so I don't really know all of the details. I do know that her son had already been having a rough day, and that her son has anger management problems. I also know the other child involved had a bad reputation last year for stealing and lying, and may not be truthful about his participation in the situation.

I think it is sad that some students think it is funny to provoke others. My students had a guidance lesson this week on "sandpaper words" and "velvet words". During the lesson, they demonstrated that they clearly knew the difference. In real life, though, they continue to speak like sandpaper to each other.

My students are in a funny position -- they know each other too well. Most class groups are totally different from one year to the next, as students move in and out of the district and get re-mixed each year among all of the teachers in the next grade level. In the immersion program, there are only two class groups to mix the students within, and no new students move in to the program. Occasionally students move out of the program, but very rarely do new students join. These children bring up with them a shared history much more closely resembling the relationships between siblings than classmates. The bickering, the picking on, the instant support, the knowledge of which buttons to push....It can be lovely to see, and also disheartening, too. I hope that they will figure out a way to support each other better through the years, to put aside leftover hurt feelings, and to realize the amazing gift that they have -- most students never get to know their friends so well.

8 days to go -- school days -- and I'm already hoping that they fly by.

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