Now, if you are a fellow teacher, you are shaking your head in agreement, raising your hands in a "Praise Jesus", and taking a long swig of your evening drink. However, if you are not a teacher, or do not work in an elementary school, you may be thinking..."Come on....it was Valentine's Day! The day designated for hearts, cute babies in diapers causing nothing but love and happiness, candy, flowers, and cuddly teddy bears...WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG????
EVERYTHING PEOPLE!!!!! EVERYTHING!!!!
First of all...
Every year, without fail, Valentine's Day is DISAPPOINTING!
The children come in with their decorated bags and boxes and their carefully chosen valentines expecting MAGICAL things to happen! Why wouldn't they? Every commercial they have seen on television shows happy people smiling and laughing. Everyone is hugging and giving and receiving fancy expensive gifts. The stores have been decorated for months...the aisles overflowing with delicious looking candies and cakes and treats! What they have seen on television is what they expect to happen when they get to school.
Music should play.
Confetti should fall from the sky.
Expensive, beautifully wrapped packages should be placed at every seat, and treats upon treats should be set up in the classrooms like the fanciest buffet you have ever seen!
CRASH! BANG! BOOM! SMASH! SCREEECH!
Welcome to what we teachers call...reality. I wish with all my heart that I could give my students all these things. I wish I could give all students EVERYWHERE all these things...HECK...I wish I could have even a few of these things...but it is reality.
Every year, without fail, Valentine's Day is STRESSFUL!
There is always confusion...Who didn't bring a box? Who doesn't have valentines to pass out? Who brought valentines with candy attached even though the school policy strictly says no edible treats? Who brought valentines to pass out, but only eighteen, and we have twenty-four students in the class? Who needs help passing out their valentines because mom wrote the names in cursive on the cards and the child can't read them? Who needs the arm glued back onto his 3 foot tall robot valentine box because it fell off and his "mom said she doesn't want his robot ruined at school?"
Every year without fail, Valentine's Day CAUSES TEARS!
What could cause tears at a first grade Valentine's Day Celebration you may ask? Oh, well let me give you the short version...Teacher: "Why are you crying?"
1. (While passing out valentines) "I don't want to give away this Batman valentine. It is my favorite."
2. (While opening valentines) "Why did you give me a Barbie valentine? I don't like Barbies."
3. (While opening valentines) "This one doesn't have a name on it and now I don't know who it's from."
4. (While opening valentines) "I don't think I got one from __________." (How they could ever make this claim with the mess of valentines, envelopes and treats spread out in front of them I will never know!)
5. (After opening valentines) "I lost the valentine ___________ gave me." (Again...how could they even tell????)
Every year without fail, Valentine's Day leaves me thinking...
I can't wait to hear all about your Valentine's Day adventures this year! Leave your comments below!
All I can say is that I am glad that I get to share all the madness with you each year! It amazes me that it is easier to help an entire class into Halloween costumes than it is to have an entire class successfully do Valentine's Day! Here's to many more Valentine's Days in first grade together!
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be as much fun without you friend! How many Valentine's Days Halloweens and 100th Days has it been???? Now that adds up to a lot of bracelets to add to our collection!
DeleteLove you,
Diane
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ReplyDeleteI'm glad I got to read this.
ReplyDeleteI figured it be a lot of craziness but, I have more respect for you now than before. If that was even possible.
I got to hear about her valentines box not being goodone enough. I didn't realize how intricate these things should be. Lol.
Thanks again for all you do.
Nakol,
DeleteYou are too kind and too funny! Her box was absolutely darling! (But yes, these things can become very involved!) I hope she enjoyed her first Valentine's Day!
xxoo,
Diane
I don't know why that posted twice. Blah.
DeleteI told her the same. She worked hard on it. She did. She loves everything you guys do. I know I say it all the time but I'm so glad she got you as her teacher. Enjoy your break.
Oh my goodness. So, so true! I got home from school at 7:00 tonight because it took me that long to clean up from the party. This year, I had 3 slots for party volunteers on the Sign Up Genius form, but surprisingly 10 parents (plus a grandpa) showed up to socialize with each other. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteUndercover Classroom
Hahaha Chrissie! I just laughed out loud! We don't even do parties with parent volunteers...so I BOW TO YOU!!!!
DeleteLove,
Diane
Our party was yesterday. My principal is a retired superintendent and said "I have been out of elementary school for a while and didn't realize how big of a deal Valentine's Day has become." The amount of stuff they got was crazy! I had 18 adults come (in addition to my student teacher and myself) and somehow things were still awry at one of the 3 stations. Glad to hear you survived; now we have the weekend to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHee hee,
DeleteI am glad to hear you survived as well! Bring on the weekend!
Love,
Diane
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ReplyDelete