This Is Why I'm A Teacher

I had one of the neatest experiences on Friday at my school. We've been working on alphabet letters and sounds at centers for the last week, and I have this activity called an alphabet arc. The students all get a baggie with all letters A-Z, and they have a workmat that they have to place the letters on. When they put the letter down, they have to say the sound it makes, and once all their letters are up we start making words. I asked one group to pull down the letter that makes the /p/ sound. They pulled it down to the middle. Then I asked them to pull down the /i/ sound, and then the /g/ sound. Then we sounded out all of the sounds and put them together to make the word Pig. One of my little girls was SO excited. Her face just lighted up and a  HUGE smile came across her face. She said, "That word says Pig! I can read that word! I can read!" It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. She was so excited to learn that she could read and was so proud of herself. That is my favorite thing about teaching, is watching that lightbulb go on in my student's heads, and seeing them realize that they can do hard things. I love seeing them make progress and it was one of those moments where I stepped back and remembered that it is moments like this that make teaching SO rewarding.  :)