I L-O-V-E having conversations with my students! Especially this time of year, when they feel totally comfortable with me. There were a few exchanges that made me not only smile but beam today.
* I called my ELL reading group to my table. One of the boys is the youngest student we have. He didn't turn 5 until Sept. 2! He has learned so much English since school started and we are very proud of his progress. I will call him "Little S". So, Little S comes over and sits down. He says, "Mrs. Hutter, I really like the Valentine stations." (he is referring to the Valentine math stations we work through last week) I said, "You did? Why did you like them?" He smiles and tells me, "Because they were beautiful." My heart just melted!
* We live in the state that has back to back National Championships in college football. (RTR!) Anyway, "Mr. C" is a huge fan of the team that won this year. At least twice a week, he will wear a shirt that shows his love for the team. Today he had one on that I had not seen before. So, as we are walking out of the classroom door for lunch, I ask him, "How many of those shirts do you have?" He just smiles, shrugs, and says, "A lot!" The little girl behind him chimes in and says, "Tons! Plenty!" Hahaha! Maybe she likes crimson and white more than orange and blue..
* Our school has an after school care program. Several of our students attend this program. We are in the process of benchmarking our students in reading. I still need to do this with most of my students. So, I was in my classroom late this afternoon and walked out to use the restroom. When I saw that a few of my students were still at school, I decided to ask their after school care counselors if I could take one of them back to my classroom and read with him. He was excited to come back to the classroom with me. He walks into the empty classroom, looks around, and says, "You know what this makes me think about?" I said, "What does this make you think about?" He says, "That everyone else in the whole class is absent but me." CUTIE!!
My sister, Elizabeth read Green Eggs and Ham to our kiddos. She has been a part of our class before. She helped them make ornaments for their parents for Christmas and painted their faces at our Christmas party. 
Our students predicted if they would like green eggs and ham before tasting them. Some of the ones that predicted no, were wrong!! We had plenty that came back for seconds!
