It’s February at LaRue Miller Elementary and the signs are definitely all around us:  famous Americans, patriotic symbols, presidential trivia, friendship quotes, HEART-y thoughts, poetry, and LOVE-ly conversations.  A young friend came to my office today to share an informal conversation and celebrate his successful math work with me (because I’m not just about the bad choices, you know).  He had his hand full of conversation hearts (used in math as manipulatives today) and instead of taking them home, he wanted to share his hearts with me to enJOY later.  🙂  Not only was the math activity intriguing (and he did an exceptional job of explaining in great detail all the components to this lesson), we then became intrigued by the words on each little heart:  “Look at this, Mrs. Van!  I made a little tally sheet of letters so we could determine how many letters on average would fit onto each heart” (the average was 8).  🙂  So I had to ask:  “What does this mean?”  His reply:  “Well, you better keep your conversation short and sweet I guess!”  🙂  After a hug, some HEARTy congratulations, and a big smile, he ended our conversation like this:  “I bet you love your job today, huh?!”  🙂  Yes, I do . . . have a safe, relaxing weekend Miller Learning Community!