A Very Happy Birthday!

Today has been a really special birthday for a very lucky person... Me!

One thing I love most about my job as a teacher is that birthdays are really treasured. Yes, sometimes I feel rushed to cram a "celebration" into my social studies time, and yes you're right in assuming that cupcake sugar can ruin a 6-7 year old for the afternoon. But it really is fun to watch the kids glow all day long when people wish them happy birthday thoughts. All of my kids know I love to bake so I've been excited to get to today when I can bring my own cupcakes in.

You should know that something cute happens in first grade. The kids need to know your favorite color so they can make paper notes/crafts/anything out of them. This happens all.the.time. My first few years I changed my "favorite colors" a lot just to keep them busy, but this past year I took the easy road and defaulted to my JMU colors of purple and gold (yellow for them). I have a lot of kind gifts and notes in purple and yellow hanging in the classroom. It only made sense to add the colors to the cupcakes.

And to answer your question- yes, I have food allergies in my class. I have a few peanut allergies, a few tree nuts, 1 egg, and 1 red food dye. These kids enjoyed grape Jell-O. Good stuff!

We also have a fun tradition in my class where kids can donate a "birthday book" to the class library. It can be a favorite, or just one from home that they're ready to pass along.  This year I catered to the animal lovers in my class by bringing this one.  It was a big hit!

Thank you to everyone. Today, I am the luckiest!