Siblings.....

The Pirate Year

     As I've said before,  there have been a few summers when I wasn't as motivated to create a door as I was in other years.  I thought that maybe I could tone it down a bit and just make some nice decorations for the door itself, and incorporate some activities that went with the theme into the first week of school and call it a day. That was until I realized that I had siblings in my new class...

Captain Maggie

  The Pirate Year was absolutely one of those years.  I had to move my classroom (again) and things were extra busy at home that summer, so I was going to just make a low-key, cute door.  But then I got my class list...  I noticed that I had 5 new students whose siblings I had taught in previous years.  I also had the sweetest girl that my daughter babysat for and a boy who had recently lost his mom to cancer.  It became clear very quickly that that wasn't going to be the year to cut back, and so I rallied.

 It turns out that once you've been teaching in the same community for a long time, there is always going to be a sibling or a special circumstance where you just don't want to let the kids down.  You sort of develop a reputation, and there's no way that you can go back to the old "apples on the door" decor.  Fortunately, it's those exact kids that you don't want to let down that keep you going.

     Every single year , without fail, I get a bunch of 3rd graders (I teach 4th grade) come up to me and ask me what my door is going to look like the following year.  I get former students who come back to ask me about my next theme and offer to help me decorate my classroom.  They come to me bursting with ideas and suggestions. They love that I have a new theme each year and always want to be a part of it.

 It's become a bit of a tradition for me to post my back to school doors on social media the first week of school.  I have friends, colleagues  and old students who look forward to that post every year.  It's amazing how something as simple as a classroom door can bring such joy to people- old and young- but it does! I love to watch the expression on my students' faces as they see "their" door for the first time.
    Once you witness their faces, I can tell you, there is absolutely no going back.