If I could take a picture...

I'd take a picture of several moments that happened today in my classsroom that I'd like to freeze in my memory forever.

I'd take a picture of what the friendship of R and B looked like in 1st grade.

You see, these are two boys who are BEST friends. If you looked up the word in the dictionary, you'd find their pictures there (together of course). They are OBSESSED with the Texas Longhorns and sports (particularly baseball) in general. They are incredibly well mannered, smart, sweet, kind, helpful, respectful, and FUNNY! They pretty much have never been parted since they met in my classroom the first day of school and I'm sure will try their best to always keep it that way. They are always together, arms around the other's shoulders, patting each other's backs, (and shhhh sometimes even holding hands!) wrestling, laughing, and just having fun. They are born leaders and great at what they do, which is be a positive role model for other students. I'm not afraid to admit that they have completely stolen my heart.

I'd take a picture of today when I was grading a paper and I looked up and saw R literally dancing around the room doing these poses that made me laugh out loud.

I'd also take a picture of when I was grading that paper and B strutted up to my desk and boldly announced that he'd forgotten something. When I asked him what he'd forgotten, he said, " MY DIGNITY!" with his arms spread wide. I of course began cracking up! After I stopped laughing I asked him where he had heard that and he told me some show. I then asked if he knew what that word meant, and he said no. So I sat him and R down and we looked it up in the dictionary. I informed him that it was probably a good idea not to go around spouting out words that he didn't know the meaning of...but it was a good thing for him that dignity was an ok word!

The last thing I'd take a picture of would be today when we were playing the game Sparkle. Sparkle is a spelling game that my kids absolutely love! You all get around in a circle and the teacher calls out spelling words. Each child says a letter and you go around in the circle until the word is spelled correctly. After the word is spelled correctly, the next person will say "sparkle" and the person to their right is out. You would not believe how obsessed my kids are with this game! I swear they ask me every day to play it!

Anyways, the words had been spelled and the students had all been "sparkled" except for R and B. They were the last ones standing..waiting to see who would be the Sparkle King! Haha..

Since R and B are extremely smart, I decided to give them one of our harder spelling words because I knew they could do it. The word that I gave them was "parakeet" and it went a little something like this.

R: "p"
B: "a"
R: "r"
B: "a"
R: looks confused and says "what was the word again?" So I told him "parakeet" and reminded him where B had left off
R: "c" (side note, when you say the wrong letter in the word, you get skipped. R should have said "k" instead of "c" so I just looked at B. B was following along and realized R's mistake).
B: "k"
R: now R is really confused..he got this really funny look on his face like "oh man, there's no way I'm going to win this thing..to heck with it!" then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Ok..now I'm just going to throw a letter out there! "I"!

And that's where I lost it along with everyone else and was laughing my head off! I mean, hilarious, belly laughing. I can just remember thinking "why don't I do this more often? why don't I really, truly, laugh with my kids?" Maybe there aren't that many opportunities where the situation arises, but today I learned that when they do, I need to drink them in, and always remember them. If I could take a picture of today, I'd take a picture of my student's smiling faces, in mid laughter, when we were all -including me-having the time of our lives.

Oh yeah, R and B finished their game where B became the rightful "Sparkle King". But don't worry..R wasn't upset. He just laughed it off, tackled B and gave him a big hug.

Friends forever..yep...I'm certain they'll be friends forever. :)