Growing in Gratitude

Happy Thursday Everybody

Today I'm joining Julie and Trista for their monthly Growing in Gratitude link-up, helping us to focus more on having an attitude of gratitude.

I shared the image above on Facebook the other day. And it got me thinking... Someone (or rather 3 someones) I'm super thankful for at work are my principals. At my school, we have students in PreK - 12th in one school. Therefore, we have 3 different principals AND a director we work under. And as a Special Ed teacher, working to meet the needs of my students and advocate for them to receive what they need/desert, I've had to meet/work with all of them a LOT this past year and this year. And I'll have to do so even more this coming school year (and beyond). 

I would have NEVER been able to start my class if it would not have been for the INCREDIBLE support, encouragement, and assistance of our principals (all of them). And knowing that I'll have students in my room from elementary grades, middle, and high school grades, I knew I'd be working with all 3 of our principals this coming year. 

And y'all... I've taught under a principal who was not very supportive of me or my students (thankfully not here at DA!). So I can truly appreciate what a huge blessing having such supportive principals really is.

I'm thankful this room every Wednesday. This is where we have Kids Club each week. I love my time with these kids each week. And I feel so blessed that God's allowed me to lead them, to learn from them, and just to get to know them. I love this time each week. And while it pains me to consider, I know I may not be able to continue to do Kids Club next year. So help me pray that God gives me guidance and peace about that decision - whether I continue it or not...

I'm thankful, not just for these beautifully delicious looking cookies, but also for my sweet friend and co-worker who had her Baking Club at school help her make them for our Kids Club party we're having next week. What a special treat!

I'm thankful for a new (to us) website geared towards kids in school, where we can research all sorts of fun things. This week, we're using it to research information about various animals for our Design a Zoo project (which I'll share more about later). My kids are LOVING this research time every day!

I'm thankful for teachers sharing ideas via the internet. This is something I've always been thankful for, but so much more so this year as I didn't have a set curriculum. So I've spent lots of time this year, scouring the internet, looking for ideas and such. And now, as I look ahead to next school year, I'm already making plans. Plans, like using the book, Ferdinand, in a special way, with my crew.

** And as a side note, my class has gone from "Oh no, we might have to cancel because we have so few kids to Oh no, if many more apply, we might have to start turning people away because we're going to have to many students for one room/one teacher." This is such an incredibly huge answer to prayer!

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