I’m impressed.  They’ve worked like champs.  They sing like angels.  Their jokes make me laugh and their poetry makes me cry.   And the children of Room 204 work together.  Beautifully.  I love this class.

They raised well over a thousand dollars through raffle sales.  Every day a top seller would give the sales talk as the others listened.  They told how they set up shop in a coffee shop; or asked a trusted friend to take them around neighborhoods; or set up a lemonade stand and advertised free lemonade with purchase of raffle tickets.  They sold tickets in their parents’ restaurants.  They wrote thank you notes to “clients.”

The students in my class understand that working for the common good is part of being a good citizen.  We have talked about it all year long.  We can each do our part and we can do it in a way that is kind, fair, and responsible.  And fun.

We won the raffle contest.  And we won another contest, too:  we brought in the largest number of parent volunteers.  Any time I want to take credit for how amazing our class is, I pause for a little reality check.  These amazing children come from amazing parents.   They have parents who understand about working together for the common good.  They have parents who each do their part.  As I moved through the Strawberry Street Festival this weekend, I saw their parents everywhere.  These children have mothers and fathers who are kind, fair, and responsible.  And fun.

I hope the wonderful mothers of the children in Room 204 had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.   I am lucky to know each and every one of you.

And very lucky to teach your children.