Day 65

14 days until Christmas break!!! What?! Too early to start counting down until the next break? I don’t think so! You try being in a room full of 5 year olds when they have been at home, out of our school routine for 5 days.


The classroom was full of songbirds today! Throughout the day I heard the following songs:
· Single Ladies by Beyonce (included some dancing reminiscent of the Single Ladies moves)
· He Belongs to Me by Taylor Swift
· Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
· And various Christmas songs


For the next week and a half we are learning about Christmas Around the World then we will do Christmas. For that, I got a book, The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett, off of eBay for $5! The first time I heard this story was when I worked with my favorite substitute, Mrs. Chambers. We did a cute little reindeer that the kids got decorate ‘wildly.’


I am also very excited to read my favorite Christmas book, Mortimer’s Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson. It is a very sweet story about a mouse looking for a home. He finally finds one up on a table but he has to drag all these people and baby out of it. After a day out roaming he finds that those people are back in his house, so he drags them all out again. While in the process, he hears the dad telling the Christmas story to the kids. Mortimer feels bad so he drags all of the people back in making sure baby Jesus is snug in his bed. It is such a cute book!


I am off to finish up some school work. Ciao!

It's been a while....

Are you ready for another installment of crazy stuff my Pa says?!?!

While discussing the weather for our football game this weekend, Pa informs Preston and I that “it will be pretty damn cold.” He then informs Preston that he better get his “fur lined jockstrap” out because he will need it. I guess I am just out of luck.

Unfortunately, when I we asked the lady at Wal-Mart where the fur lined jockstraps are, she told us they were sold out. Guess we’ll have to try another Wal-Mart. ;)

GO POKES!!!

Day 64

Hooray for Thanksgiving Break! Even though I knew it was finally here, I didn’t leave school until 6:15. BUT, I was quite productive after the school bell rang… and before too. We’ll start there.

We started the day on a small lockdown since some old man was wholed up in his house with a gun. I don't really know any details, (I wish I did, it would have made for a better story) but I don't. The lockdown was lifted just in time to go to recess but we were busy doing... something.

These are some turkey we made on a whim when the copier was down yesterday. That is their foot for the body and hands for the feathers.

Our district had a “Hats On” day for a 17 year high school student that has a life threatening illness. We paid $1 to wear the hat and all the money went to the Make A Wish foundation. Kaylon’s wish is to go meet the Boston Celtics. Here are my friends in their hats. Some of them paid but didn’t even bring a hat. Lucky for them, my BFF and I buy stupid hates at Michael’s that I let them borrow. See MJ, those purchases paid off. :)

Here are my hat wearers and our wise old owl.

We also decorated for Christmas. I mean, the kids were pumped about it being the last day for the week, so the day was already wasted. If I think about it, I will take pictures.

It was also bedlam day, which I hate. Kids don’t know the difference but they sure will spout off about “I can’t believe you wear that color! It is not even allowed by my rules.” or“OSU is going down.” Those are straight out of the mouths of a third grader and fifth grader. My response is, “You are entitled to your opinion but I like OSU because that is where I went to school.” And then I walk off before I make any nasty comments.

My neighbor of 5 years is an OU fan. The first day my dad saw my classroom, he went out and bought an OSU sign for outside my classroom door. I was instructed that it be hung identical to the OU one above Mrs. Thompson’s door. Since she is retiring at the end of the year, we had to take a bedlam picture. The plan was to have mean bedlam faces. As we were posing, I decided at the last minute to throw up my pistols and it’s a good thing I did! She snuck in her #1.

This is the next picture, where Mrs. Thompson is asking, “Did you put up #1?” “Nope. Pistols firing!!” Then I start asking where her mean face went?

I have absolutely LOVED working next door to her. I could not have asked for a better second grade partner and neighbor. I just hope that no matter what I am teaching next year, she will come back to visit and volunteer in my room. :)

After that fun, I got down to business. My lesson plans are ALMOST complete for the next 2 weeks. YES, you read that correctly, 2 WEEKS! I sat down with Ms. Diaz and we got to work planning until Mrs. Taylor called and we went hunting for Stuart in her room. With the trashcan in hand, I was trying to catch the little booger but he was too fast. Did you know mice climb walls?!?! While in hot pursuit, I unknowingly stepped on a Sharpie. I screamed so loud thinking it was Stuart that the other two were screaming jumping with me. It was really funny though!

I wrapped up my evening watching Aladdin. It's been a long time since I had watched it.

I actually may go up to the school house for just a bit tomorrow because I want to get everything done so I won’t have to go up anymore this break. I’ll let you know how that goes. I am super excited to head home for a few days. I am thankful that so much of my family lives in one place. I wish that we could all live nearby and actually want to see each other, even if it is just for a short time.

Day 63

So, what do you call a Monday without a copy machine available?? TODAY. For real. Not a joke. I would like to mention that part of being a teacher is being flexible but not quite that flexible. Nonetheless, we made it through the day.

I bet you are wondering WHOOOO these cuties are, huh?!?!

Well, these two sit inside my front door. But, I have a bigger one at school. I bought them this weekend for 75% off! Let's be real, I bought three adorable owls for the price of one!!! I'm not a great mathematician but I know that is a great deal! And, did I mention how cute they are?!?!

At school, my wise old owl looks for a table to land on that is making wise choices. Don't you worry, we talked about how I would cry if something were to happen to that cutie. The kids seemed to enjoy having it in class and appeared to work better knowing that the owl was looking for a table to land on.

In case you have lost count... there is only 1 more day until Thanksgiving break (which made a day without a copier/lesson plans a little more bearable)!!!

Lately, I have found that I like owls. Cute ones that is. I am off to enjoy my evening!

50 free?!?!?

Yes, please!

There is no better way to sum up a year than doing it for Christmas! With Christmas at the end of the year, it is a great time to be thankful for the whole year’s events. When it starts getting close to Christmas, I start racking my brain for how I want the cards to look. Shutterfly’s generosity with 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers is going to make this even more difficult than I already do! I love the collage look so it can include pictures that sum up the year but also the elegance of a single holiday picture. So many decisions!


Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/bubble-wreath-holiday-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/monogram-snowman-christmas-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/vintage-snowflakes-holiday-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/holiday-love-sketch-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496


If you blog and want 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, go here: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

Day 62

2 DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!

I am ready for a break and ready to go home to see my family.

7 Days Old

We had a friend move about 5 weeks ago. While working on math, or something, the kids asked why she hadn't been at school, even though we talked about her moving before she left. So we emailed her, via her mom. They thought it was cool to hear back from her and a few days later, they were talking about her again. I noticed on my calendar that her birthday was on the 11th, so we emailed her this birthday wish:

I do love that my little friends are so caring. They loved decorating their letter and thought it was so cool to put it all together.