Un-BEE-lievable

Something you should know about me: I have something of a "keeping up with the Joneses" attitude when it comes to, well, everything. I have always been a high-achieving person; school and the like has always come pretty easily to me, so it's fortunate that I have this competitive drive to be just as good as the best people around me, because otherwise I'm sure I would slack a lot.

Anyway, despite being an elementary school teacher - an above-average one at that, if I do say so myself - I am not an overly "cutesy" person. Yes, I am a giant nerd like all elementary school teachers. But I've never delved into that insane level of cutesiness you often see. It's why I could NEVER teach kindergarten. (But am totally in awe of those who can and do. More power to ya.)

Anyway, I was fully planning on continuing my path until I heard that several other of my (freaking awesome, by the way) team members had classroom "themes" planned. Rather than saying, "Wow, team members, that's great! I'm so excited to see what you have in store with your owl- and star-themed classrooms!", I thought something like, "Holy crap, Katie, now YOU have to have a theme!"

After much debate and polling of others, I settled on bees. Confession: I made my decision largely based on my strong desire to call my newsletter "The BUZZ from Third Grade." So sue me. I'm also very excited to use the phrase "the bee's knees" somewhere in my room (it's great for teaching idioms!).

So we shall see how it goes with the theme thing. I plan to do it in moderation - I'm not going to be constantly saying things like, "Remember, BEE yourself!" or my new favorite that I came up with - "Give me hive!" - but I do want to come up with some sort of class cheer or song that will be bee-related. Plus, I've been thinking a lot about what makes bees a good mascot, and here's what I've decided:

1. bees all work together toward a common goal; most species don't/can't function alone.

2. bees work really hard for their rewards. I think my class motto will be something like There's No Such Thing as Free Honey. (meaning, you only get out what you put in.)

That whole "queen bee" thing ain't so bad either...