Account Number, Please!

I just love Saturday mornings. You know it's going to be a great day when you get to start it off with an early morning pilates class and a trip to the coffee shop to catch up on your web readings. How can that not be a great day?

So I have successfully survived my first week in 6th grade! For the most part I really am loving it, but I do miss my little ones...especially at times like last night when I was working at our school's carnival, The Gathering. I was running the Plinko game with another teacher. It mostly attracted the younger students, including many of my students from last year, and as they came running up to the game with their sweet little smiles and eager hugs it just made my heart break a little.

The hugs. Yes, I think all of the hugs are definitely what I miss the most!

And while I do have a few of my kiddos from my class last year stop by my room each morning, it's just not quite the same. Tear.

But there is definitely an upside to having older students. I am LOVING the curriculum. It is so much more interesting for me (duh, right?). Yesterday afternoon was the big opening of the classroom Bank of Hoxmeier and Hoxmeier's General Store, and this was definitely the highlight of my week!

Here's my store sign made on Vistaprint. Check out Teaching in Room 6 for more awesome ideas on running a classroom economy!

On Tuesday, all of the students filled out job applications and were given classroom jobs. Fridays are always pay day for these positions, so the girls all visit the bank and the banker (one of the jobs) gives them their pay. The banker fills out the bank log and the students all fill in their "check books" and/or deposit slips. After they are paid, they are allowed to visit the merchant (another job) at the the store. The best part of this whole thing yesterday (and the reason I deemed this relevant to post about) was the girl in my class who has the job of the banker. I just can't even convey how ridiculously ecstatic it makes me that she has the job of the banker. I quickly explained to her how to give out the pay, deposit slips, and fill in all the bank records of checks and balances and she took it SO SERIOUSLY. It was both amazing and amazingly amusing at the same time. For each job, she would call out, "Next customer!", greet them, and then say "Account number, please!". One time a girl came up to the bank before being called and she said, "I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm already in an appointment, you'll have to come back later". I was stifling giggles on this one. She even tried to convince a few of her customers to open savings accounts and relayed the benefits of saving their money vs. spending it all right away.

I'm pretty sure she's found her calling, ha!