I know I say the same thing to myself every single weekend, but I just don't know how Sunday night creeps up on me so quickly! Friday morning at school they announced for staff that anyone who wanted to purchase tickets with the group from school who we're buying needed to make sure they brought down their money before noon.  My students almost never tune into our morning announcements unless they notice that the principal mentions a message is specifically for staff, they can be so nosy!  After they finished the announcement of course I had about five students who just had to know what the tickets were all about.  Is it a show?  A movie?  They kept coming out with different predictions (I really could have capitalized on a great inference lesson right there!).  I told them teachers were pitching in together to buy tickets for the Mega Millions drawing.  I have a boy in my class who likes to be the center of attention and thinks of himself as a really cool kid.  It was very surprising to me when he was the one most disturbed by the idea of me buying a lottery ticket. "Well, what would you do if you win?  Nothing would change right?  You'd still come to school right?"  Another student chuckled and said "Yeah right!  If Mrs. M wins the lottery she's going to retire!"  I chuckled at that comment and added "With a nice long vacation!"  My "cool guy" really couldn't wrap his mind around it, and said again "but you'd still teach us right?  You wouldn't leave before the school year was over would you?"  The other boy shook his head and walked away.  It just goes to show that we can never quite tell how much we reach our students, or how much some of them rely on us.  I reassured him that the chances of winning were very slim, that I'd be more likely to get struck by lightning.  That at least got a hint of a smile from him, and he said "I'm still going to hope you don't win!"  So, as I finish up my lesson planning this Sunday evening wishing that I were on a warm beach with a good book in one hand and a fruity drink in the other, I can face Monday more easily because I know there's at least one person I've made a difference to.  =)