It’s not my birthday today, but I did just celebrate turning 33 on February 14. For the last two weeks, I’ve been laughing to myself that I’m 33 with 3 kids. Then, as I was typing the date on my welcome to class slide this morning, I thought it was so delightful to be 33 on the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the year. My mind just couldn’t stop there… I remembered how back in 2022, I made a huge deal to my classes about 2/22/22. We CELEBRATED; I had incorporated twos into every single thing.. what I said, grouped students in pairs, a poetry prompt that related to twos in some way.
Well, I didn’t push it that far at all for this, but during my early morning conference period, I set my phone alarm for 3:30 to be dramatic about the time with 7th period – such a perfect class to fake delight with me in something so silly, too. I announced how excited I was about 3/3 at 3:33, especially because I have 3 kids (I didn’t share my age…. how do we all feel about sharing our age with students? I didn’t used to care, but now I realize it depends on the school year?!). I told them they should open their laptop cameras and take selfies to commemorate the cool moment! When I grabbed the digital clock (below) at 3:32, one of my students suddenly shouted frantically, “NO, NO! STOP! Mrs. Decker, do you want me to take it? I’ll wait for it to be 3:33, BUT ALSO 33 seconds!!”
Obsessed with how easily they become invested with me. This is 33. ❤

Happy Belated Birthday!! When it came to my birthday and sharing my age often my 4th graders would always want to know. I’d typically give in and tell them. Half of the time they’d never guess right.
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Oh, I’m obsessed too! I would totally go all-in with my cool teacher with all the 3’s going on. I love your photo and so impressed that the student captured it to the second!
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I came to your post because of all the 3s. I’m obsessed with numbers also. Last winter break we had to stop the car and wait so my car hit 111,111 miles at 11.11 am hahaha. Love your photo, and as Denise said, super impressive to get the photo at the right second. When I was a librarian in elementary school I asked kids to guess my age when they asked. It varies from 20 to 100.
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Britt,
That photo is so cute. Print it. Frame it. Put it in the yearbook. I never think about dates and numbers, and now I’m obsessed w/ 6-6 because I’m 66. I’ve outlived my father by many years, and until J20 had thought I’ve aged fairly well so didn’t really mind telling kids how old I am. Now I feel as though I’ve aged ten years since J20.
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Also 33 seconds!! That is SO sweet. Really enjoyed this post!
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