Given that today kicks off our 40-day celebration of The Mailbox’s 40th anniversary (go to http://www.themailbox.com for details), let’s have some fun with the number forty!
What does 40 mean to you? Is it the sum of 20 + 20 or the number of dollars you wish you had in your pocket? Have you ever had 40 students in a class? Or maybe you’re looking forward to a 40th birthday or anniversary celebration. You tell me!
And to make this even more fun (and that’s what this is all about—fun, fun, fun!), there’s a prize involved! Simply share what 40 means to you, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a goody bag containing 40 individual school supplies! Just be sure to leave your comment before midnight EDT July 21.
Forty is fabulous!
Diane
Congratulations to Angela T! She wins the school supply goody bag!
40 means my parents are too young. 40 means too many students in one class. 40 means the amount of school debt I still need to pay back.
Forty brings back my memories of my mother and father-in- laws fortieth wedding anniversary party. It was a joyful celebration of an endearing love story. I remember their happiness while watching the granddaughters playing in their matching pastel little Bo peep dresses. All the guest that came to celebrate with them and share in the memories of their forty years together. The beautiful cake made by my sister in honor of their love. The happiness my husband and his sister shared in providing the celebration to honor their parents. This is what forty means to me.
What does 40 mean to me??? The most awesome year at my preschool. We turned 40 2 years ago and we rated a huge article in the paper and had a blow out of a party.
Congrats to Mailbox and to Willow Creek here’s to the next 40 years helping kids and teachers
40 was the magic number that was needed to split my class of 38 first grade students into two classes and hire another teacher, but it never happened. Concerned parents complained, and tried to enroll as students. I traced all 38 children on white paper and let the children color and cut out “themselves ” and place themselves in their seats for open house as a visual to others of what it looked like to have that many students in one classroom. That didn’t work either. What did work was the kindness of my college. The 2nd grade teacher at our one teacher per grade school, volunteered to take my top students for reading on a daily basis. I sent ten students to her every day for 30 min. and that gave me a break and allowed me to cope for the rest of the day. I still remember that year as stressful and challenging, but a year in which a valuable lesson was reinforced- kindness and helpfulness to others. I still look for ways to help my fellow teachers. It may be through sharing my resources, taking a challenging student for him or her, or just listening, but the main thing is to work together. We’re not just in this for ourselves. We’re educators and we should try to work as a team and support one another as best we can. Our students will benefit and so will we.
40 is the amount of students I wish I will never have to teach in 1 class. My largest was 38 students and I was struggling.
I started out – 2 years ago – with 40 students in my classroom. And it was a huge range of abilities …. From 2 non-English speakers up to 5 gifted students. If was a challenge, but we made it through the year with everyone showing growth. 🙂
40 is the magic number to keep our 3 K teachers working 🙂
40 is the age I’m turning this year! I remember being a young teacher who thought I knew so much. I’ve grown so much since then and I think I’m getting better, not just older!
The number forty to me means forty years of AWESOME Mailbox Products! Congratulations!
wishing I was turning 40 again, instead of 60.
Forty was when I reevaluated my life. I thought my kids were almost grown and I could start a new chapter with just hubby when I found out I was pregnant. Started with the kiddie stuff all over again. It’s been a blessing though!
They say that “60 is the new 40!” Still teaching, and still loving it : D
Forty means you are just starting to live, you are mature, and enjoy life.
Happy 40th Anniversary! I’ve been in the education field for 15 years now and always count on The Mailbox for great ideas and resources. To me, 40 (plus 3)is the number that’s just right for me…I will be celebrating my birthday in just a few weeks 🙂
40 is the birthday I will celebrate soon- looking forward to it!
40 that was a long time ago for me. I am finally under 40 thousand on my student loans.
Fourty are the days that I actually take a vacation in summer to mentally stabilize my core and regain my zen in order to continue coming back for another EBD special education year.
40 reminds me of Noah & his 40 days and 40 nights of rain! I’m currently in the process of finding a teaching job (I’ve graduated 2 years ago) and I feel that I’ll never reach dry land! I can’t wait to get started with a room full of kids!
Forty means I’m almost fifty but most teachers are younger than forty and I’m trying hard to keep up technologically. From a previous poster, forty or almost forty is way too many to have in a classroom—you must be a great teacher to survive that year!
Forty also means congratulations Mailbox—-I love reading your ideas and using your materials..Here’s to another forty
My next birthday I turn 40! I 4 years ago I would of never of dreamed at age 40 I would
Have my dream job- working at a part-time preschool in a church! I love my job ! Our first year we had 17 kids and now approaching year three we have at least 40 students! This program means everything to me and my passion for kids!
40 years of teaching!
Forty means many things for me. With all the state guidelines that are being put on teachers I think they need to realize that we put in many more hours a week of work then 40. We put in extra time before and after school and on our weekends and summers. I wish more people would realize this. Forty was when I really looked at myself as a teacher and thought, “Just live each day and enjoy the kids.” I think it really hit mean after I turned forty that being a teacher is not always what you study it is what the children teach you. It also means a great number for me because my parents made it to their 45th wedding anniversary for us to celebrate with them. We were hoping for the 50th but my dad passed away. Happy 40th anniversary Mailbox!
40 is my age this year. A year with one of my most enjoyable classes ever! A year of celebrations and tears with the closing of our beloved neighborhood school. A year of cherishing each day with my students and fellow teachers. A year that I won’t forget of endings, and with August arriving soon, beginnings!
40 is the age I was when my house was full of teenagers! It is the number of children in one day of 2 sessions of preschool! It is the age that I thought was getting old when I was young! It is the fast approaching number of years I will have been teaching!
Lordy, Lordy…Mailbox is 40!!!!I have enjoyed and treasured Mailbox for more years than I can count. I had them with me when I was a new preschool teacher to when I was a Director and now that I am a Child Development teacher…they are still on my shelf ready for my students to discover. I hope you have 40 x40 more years providing encouragement and ideas to all. Happy Anniversary
40 is the age when I moved to my present school and taught 5th grade for the first and only year.
40 means you are almost there. 40 means how many years I am married. 40 means what did you say because I can’t hear as well. 40 means I wish I had saved 40 dollars each week or month for my retirement. 40 is the number of potato chips I eat until I am full. 40 is the final leap from youth. And finally 40 is the number of dollars I wish I had from my last pay check.
I remember turning 40 in my second year of teaching. The special education teacher across the hall schemed with my second graders and they met early before I arrived to turn our classroom black, the doors, streamers from the ceiling, even black t-shirts on them all! I don’t know how much we accomplished that day but we made some very fun memories!We have to remember though we are working hard to help each child be successful academically that it’s important to mix-in fun and character building (ie, caring enough to show someone he or she is special), Mailbox has helped me do this for the past 9 years, this year is number 10, wow, almost a decade!This year is my 7th year with first graders.
Forty to mean represents the number of years my parents have been married. I wish someday to find someone to spend at least 40 years with.
40 is a birthday that is coming soon. As I saw on a cartoon today, I’m almost 40 but still feel 20…Until I hang out with some 20 year olds, then I’m like, no, never mind, I’m 40. 🙂
On April 1st (April Fools Day) 1973 I met my future husband at a local dance (shockingly, he really doesn’t like to dance). How can it be 40 years? I tell people I’m as old as “Jack Benny”, and they say who?? I must be old now. Anyway, it has been an amazing 40 years. Isn’t that how long the Jewish people wandered in the desert looking for the promise land. Is there a promise land for me too? I guess that is called retirement.
Teaching pre-school is my second career
and I received my ECE degree when I
was 40. My husband and I just celebrated
our 40th wedding anniversary in April.
40 means 60 more school days before we celebrate the 100th day of school
40 is 5 years away for mean, and it will mean 15 years cancer free for me!
40 means the hours in a week I would like to work as a teacher. Needless to say, teaching has not been an 8 to 5 job. Most of the time it’s 40 and 40 more in giving the best I can give. 🙂
When I found this site Iknew that this is what I was looking for. 40 means-you know what you are doing. Worksheets are perfect for my special students.
40 is the age most woman will never admit to, (29, 39,etc.)40 is the beginning of maturity when you realize you are not longer 30 and not yet the dreaded 50. 40 is a great year hope you are as successful in the next 40 as you were in the last 40. Happy Birthday Mailbox.
40 means to me two classes of 20 in one large room only devided by cubby’s down the middle.. and rarly a quite moment.
40: my kids graduated from high school, college, started careers – and I had time to think about ME! I started college myself and now I’m a teacher! Whoo-hoo!
40 is the age my oldest son will be in 2014.
40 is the birthday I celebrated this summer. I don’t feel old, working with preschoolers keeps me young!
40 is the age where you are old enough to know better but young enough to give it a try! Never too old for adventure! (Isn’t that why we all teach?)
40 is the birthday that passed for me 3 years ago.
Whenever my pre-k students ask me how I old I am, I tell them. They usually look at me and say, “You’re old!” 😉
It does get them excited about numbers, though. They start asking how to write my age, then they start asking about other numbers. Before you know it, we’ve got a writing-numbers-around-the-room activity going on! 🙂
40 means how many days I hopefully can get through during my first year of teaching without crying! =)
At 40 I was celebrating the one year birthday of my miracle child. I also decided to pursue the career I had always dreamed of and I went back to school part time to complete my teaching degree. And after working as a teaching assistant for several years I will finally have a classroom of my own this year.
in 15 years i will be 40!
In 40 days I will be back in the full swing of teaching- doing what I love best. I can’t wait!
At the age of 40, my husband and I were given guardianship over his cousin, Layne. She has down’s syndrome and is such a blessing.
40 is the number of potato chips I can eat in a row
When I was 40 years old, I was selected for the NEWMAST program for teachers by NASA. It was the first NASA workshop that I ever attended, and it was fantastic.
40 is the number of posters hanging on my walls
I’ll be forty in two years.