YAY! YAY! YAY!

Today, I checked my school email to find out that my project has been funded!!! Thanks to some amazing donors, some who I know and some who are strangers, my project will be coming to life soon! I have done my part of accepting the project now just have to wait for Donors Choose to order and send out the materials!

WooHoo!!!!

Funny story about the cards

Now that the 50 free cards from Shutterfly are submitted and being printed, I can look at it and laugh. You see, I knew about the opportunity for over a month. Timing was not right on taking pictures so it was put off until it was almost too late. We took our pictures two days after Christmas.

After visiting Grandma in Guthrie, we got home around 8:00 on Monday night. I felt the need to get the cards done when I realized that I needed to upload the cards to snapfish so they had good quality, which is not where I had loaded [to them walgreens]. Luckily, Hubby and I are in good with our photographer, his mom, so we called and asked her if she would upload them to snapfish. She lovingly obliged so I gave her my account information to do it. She promplty did it and we got to work.

We came to a standstill when it came to what we wanted to briefly say about our year. So, I shut the computer down for the evening and figured I would finish on Tuesday. After all, I have until the 31st. :)

Tuesday comes and I log in to snapfish and start working again. I finish it up and Hubby approves. I place my order of 50, put in my code and click check out. A message pops up along the lines of "we don't know that coupon code." I try it a few more times and keep getting the same message. Then, I look on the email to find a customer service number. That's right, I am going to call about why my free card code won't work. I dial, here that there is a possibility I may have to wait 15 minutes to talk to someone and now know that if I press 6, I can "hear these options from a pirate."

While waiting, I am reading my email again to make sure I did it right and that the code hasn't expired. Just as soon as Zander from Snapfish answers, I noticed SHUTTERFLY, nice and big, in my email. I am too caught off guard and not completely sure that I understand what I have done to hang up or admit what I just figured out. So I listen to Zander explain to me that just because I see a code, doesn't mean I can use it, which isn't what I asked. He misunderstood me, just like I had done the whole card on the WRONG website. I thanked him for his time and quickly hung up.

Did you catch all that?? I chose an adorable card on Snapfish (which Hubby said he "fell in love with"), had my mother-in-law load all of our pictures to Snapfish, and twisted Hubby's arm to help me get the card done on Snapfish all to figure out it should have been done on SHUTTERFLY. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

So, I call my MIL again, ask her to upload our picture and give her my account information. This time it was to the correct place and she again lovingly obliged. Who knew something free could cause such a ruckus in my head.



This is the cute card Hubby "fell in love with" from snapfish, which noone will be receiving since it wasn't free.

I do love our SHUTTERFLY one but thought this was a funny story. Hubby also fell in love again... with our SHUTTERFLY card.

Finished 50 free

The finished product for 50 free! Previously, I had posted about Shutterfly's awesome chance to get 50 free Christmas cards [See here: 50 free post]. Plans were made to take pictures over Thanksgiving. That didn't pan out. So, we took pictures over Christmas break.

I like to call these our "better late than never Christmas cards."

Joy Wishes Ornament Christmas 5x7 folded card

Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Ho! Ho! Ho!



Merry Christmas from the Snow! Snow! Snow's!



I've said before that my in-laws aren't crazy but I think silly is fitting word. In the picture: Priscilla, Ryan holding G. Boone, Jimmy and Kay holding "the girls," Amy and Callie (also known by Ryan as "those damn dolls"), Preston holding Pistol Patti, Jennie, and "little brother" Spencer in front.

Christmas at home was lovely. Can it be Christmas break every day?

Everything but the kitchen sink!

That is what this new phone has. Seriously. There is a flashlight is on it! You can adjust it to three different levels of light too! I spent some time last night reading the manual online but still don't know what the heck I am doing.

I made it through about 35 pages of the 161 so I still have a little way to go to understanding. Hopefully it will make a little more sense. I suppose this is how my Pa feels using his electronics. :)

Calling Snow'd Inn

Here at Snow'd Inn, we have entered a new digital age. Tonight we got new cell phones. I already want to throw it out the window because I don't know how to use it. Who sells a product without an instruction manual anyways?! The answer to that: T-Mobile.

The good thing is that I have a few days to read the manual online while trying to learn. Hopefully, we will not turn into the couple that sits at a restaurant playing on our phones instead of engaging in conversation. Poor little Tobie was kind of ignored by her Daddy tonight. She already doesn't like the phone either. :)

hooked on presents

It seems that each year as my niece gets older, I get hooked on one of her Christmas presents. Two years ago, it was an OSU cheerleader doll and a Cabbage Patch Kid. I also started her a Hallmark ornament series. I am a big fan of those, too!

Go Cowboys! (I think she wants to be one when she grows up ;) )

Who can't resist a Cabbage Patch Kid?!?!

Last year, it was a flapper dress-up dress and a stocking I made her so that she would have an Oklahoma stocking.

Isn't she adorable?!?!?

She loved making the dress move!

There are even rhinestones one some of the snowflakes to make them shimmer!

This year is no different! Her mommy told me that she likes arts and crafts so I ran with that! I am super excited about it and keep thinking of more things I could add to it. Here it is, the super present (or the one I am hooked on) of 2010!

Oh my goodness!!! I would have such a fun time with this!!! I am glad that I will get to be with her when she opens it. (I hope she will like it...) Maybe we'll make something wonderful together!

My plan is to send her supplies as the year passes. I already have some more stickers set aside to mail her. See when I was little, I collected stickers. I still have a shoebox full and decided Claire could get good use out some of them. I also hope that she (with the help of her parents) will send us some of her work. Oh, I can't wait!

Christmas break.....

is officially here!!!

Here is a little list of my plans for the next few days...

• Sleep in
• Wrap presents
• Finish shopping
• Nap
• Sleep in
• Snuggle on the sofa-mobile with Tobie
• Maybe some laundry

I LOVE CHRISTMAS BREAK!!

Day 77-79

Day 77- While my kids were in PE, I was informed by my neighbor that there would be a fire drill in about 10 minutes, meaning as soon as I got my kids settled into the class and started on something the alarm was going to go off. Luckily, we do a calendar group time on the rug when we return. So, we are getting started when the alarm goes off. My kids did an excellent job of getting into line quickly, quietly, and in a pretty calm manner. I tell my line leader to stop at the door going to the playground so I can make sure everyone leaves the room. As my friends are standing there another teacher starts out of her room and towards the door and a third teacher starts out her room towards the bathroom. Then she says, “Isn’t that the tornado alarm?” The other teacher and I look at each other, tell our kids to turn around and head to the bathroom. Oops. I guess I should know the difference between the two alarms. After all, I am preparing them in true Oklahoma fashion…. When you hear the tornado siren, head outside to look for it!

When that drill was over, we sat back down to continue our calendar. Then, the fire alarm goes off. This time we head for the playground. Just so you know, I was positive it was a fire drill since the fire alarm was flashing on the wall. We quickly and safely made it out and then went back in after the all clear was called. For the third time, we sat down to finish when one of my kids says, “Well, we just have one more to practice. Is the bad guy one next?” I was impressed that he realized we have always practiced all three drills, one after another since we generally do a fire drill, tornado drill, and intruder on campus drill in a row.

The one comment then sparked a conversation with lots of “What if” questions. What if a bad guy knocks on our door? What if a bad guy comes in our window (side note: my classroom window is at least 5 feet off the ground)? What if a bad guy steals Fifi (the Elf on the Shelf we adopted.)? My dad just got out of jail. I have to be safe. If a bad guy breaks into my house I hope he doesn’t take my ducks. I’ve been collecting them forever.

I then feel the need to reassure the kids that they are my first priority. The following is our conversation:
Me: You guys are my first priority at school. I will do whatever I have to so that you are safe.
Kid: What if a bad guy comes in our room???
Me: If a bad guy comes in, I will tell them to steal me and leave you all here.
Kid: They can’t take you. We would miss you.
Kid: Yeah. We love you.
Kid: I would kill them if they took you.
Kid: There are lots of us and only one bad guy. We could all beat him up. (I think, good in theory but you are 5 and 6 years old. Good luck with that one.)

In that one conversation, I learned that even though my little friends drive my batty sometimes, they really do like me. The one that would “kill” for me has almost led me to banging my head into a wall.

Day 78- One little friend had to go home sick. On Tuesday, she was sent home with a fever. Due to school policy, she had to stay home 24 hours before returning so she was gone on Wednesday. When she was at school on Thursday, she just looked miserable and then she threw up. Ick. I had gone to pick my kids up from specials when another teacher was on her way to go check on her. When I got back to my room, Mrs. M. said, “She was over the trash can by the time I got down here.” That student then pops her head up from the trashcan and says, “See! I told you I was sick.” Bless her and her sick self. She did not want to go home because she wanted so badly to be at the party. “Nana said I can’t go to the party if I don’t stay at school!”

Mrs. M. later informed me that “the little boy closest to the trashcan was rubbing her back and comforting her when I walked in. I immediately told him to go wash his hands.”

One of the ornaments my kids made. I swear the one with all the glitter (bottom right) will make the tree lean when hung.

Day 79- It’s CHRISTMAS BREAK!!! I made it through my first kindergarten Christmas party! AND, it went surprising well! We had Polar Express pajama day and a very relaxed day. My kids had a long specials time, meaning our specials teachers took the whole school in the morning since the afternoon would be filled with Christmas caroling and party time. After that we went outside, had lunch and then came in to watch Polar Express. The kids were excited because they got to lay down wherever they wanted and with their stuffed animal friends they brought to school. After about an hour of the movie they started getting restless so we began packing our bags to go home. Before I knew it, it was 1:30 and time for Christmas caroling. We sang carols until 2:15 and then returned to our class to get ready to for the party.



Group picture after caroling….



When we returned, I found out that one of my students will be moving. I heard speculation from the older sibling's teacher but we had heard before that they were moving and it didn't happen. I am very sad my crazy story teller will not be returning. Now that I think about it, maybe that is why he was acting so crazy the last couple days. Hmmmm.

At the last minute (the night before), I decided we would do a little edible project for our party. Ice cream cone Christmas trees. Only one tree ended up on the floor but it didn’t even leave a mess. Here are some pictures of this event.

It took everything he had not to wipe his hands on his shirt every second. Who knows how many times I told him not to.

Who needs a spoon anyways?!?!

After putting some frosting on her tree, she used her hands to spread it.

He put all of his ingredients IN the cone and enjoyed eating it too!

A finished product!

He put EVERYTHING he had onto his tree! When he took a bite off the top, a parent said, "Ugh. I can't even watch that." It was so much frosting!

This is mine. I made it at home and decided it is what I am giving all those people that tell me they want nothing for Christmas. I expect to see it displayed in a prominent place at your home or office (Hubby) throughout the year. Maybe next year, you will give me an idea for a gift. :)

Stringing Lights

When my father in law (FIL as Pa now calls him) was staying with me, I gave him a job to cut out some bat masks. He did an excellent job and agreed to cut out some Christmas light bulbs. He was going to take the project home and I would pick it up over Thanksgiving. He would have had 6 weeks to cut about a million bulbs, but he left the job at my house. We saw him at tailgating so I kindly took the project to him. At that point he still had two or three weeks to get it done.

Two days before Thanksgiving, I talked to my MIL and he hadn't even started. See, the urgency to get it done was getting higher since 1)he would be having a pacemaker and defibulator put in on Dec. 8 and wouldn't be able to do much with his left arm for a couple weeks and 2)Christmas was quickly approaching and my kids would need those bulbs!

I sort of gave up on that and started cutting my own bulbs. My aide at school helped as well as my Dad. Then my MIL informed me that she was going to work on them, while she waited at the hospital the day of the surgery, and then bring them to me.

Boy did she cut! I now have a gallon size Ziploc bag full and shouldn't have to cut bulbs for at least three years. These pictures are for you Kay... but I don't know that you read this, so you will have to start.


"I don't have room at my table. Can I work on the floor?"

Donors Choose

So, my project is posted on www.donorschoose.org! When I got to school on Thursday, I had an email from them. In the email, it talked about how Oprah chose the website as one of her favorite things and now Bing wants to donate a million dollars and YOU CAN HELP!

• Go to www.bing.com/give.
• Click on Start here.
• Under "I choose. Big give $5" fill in your email address and agree to the terms.
• Then they will ask if you want to make it your home page or a tab. [I made mine a tab because they like my school computer to be set to the district website.]
• Bing will then send you a code.
• Go to http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=488494 and enter $5 in the green box on the right.
• On the next page, at the right, choose edit so it will give the $5 to the project and not partially to the website.
• Check out and enter the code that Bing emailed you.
• DONE! You just helped fund my project!!

It sounds long but it quite simple.

Orange M

For our Sunday School Christmas party, we played a new (to me) version of dirty Santa. As a group, we chose a color and a letter. All gifts had to start with that letter and be that color. I made this Orange Mosaic.

Hubby made an orange muffin, which I forgot to take a picture of. :(

Day 76

3 Days left!!!

Just in case you have forgotten the reason for the season, here is reminder from the mouth of a kindergartner:

"The King of Christmas is God."

I received an email today! My grant has been posted! I have 5 months to get it funded before they take it down. Check it out here:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=488494&utm_source=dc&utm_campaign=facebook&utm_medium=projectpage

Day 75

4 days until Christmas break!!! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!!!

One project is complete! My kids decorated their glass ornaments today! That’s right, I said GLASS. Five and six year olds decorated glass ornaments today. AND, not a single one broke or even came close to breaking. When I mentioned doing this to another teacher, she poo pooed it, saying, “They can’t handle that.” All I have to say is, “Booyah! They did it!!”

I have decided that kindergartners can do whatever you push them to do. After all, they won’t even try if you don’t push them to do it. Coming from second grade, I push my kindergartners A LOT. Poor things don’t get babied by this teacher. Lately, each day we have been doing addition problems during our calendar time. Today I even threw out the term “fact family” to them. Now I didn’t mention the subtraction part of that family but we talked about the addition side. For example, today is the 13th. I don’t have 13 fingers, so my leader and I did some team work. He held up any number his first choice was 10. As a class, we had to count on to 13, meaning I added 3 of my fingers to make up the 13; thus making 10+3= 13. Then, we talked about how 3+10=13 is part of the fact family because it uses the same 3 numbers. I promptly told my kids that they were learning second grade things and they immediately felt smarter!

Tonight, we had Supper with Santa, also known as MADNESS. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves but also learned a lesson. When one person plans, make sure they are going to be there with their plan. No one really knew what was going on since that person couldn’t come due to sick kids. Kudos to the teachers that all worked together to make it happen. If there is a next time, we will know how to plan it to run more smoothly.

Due to Supper with Santa, I was unable to attend bunco. I was really bummed about not going because it was Christmas sweater themed and I didn’t get to wear this…
This picture does not do that sparkly sweatshirt with attached turtleneck justice. Several years ago, a friend had a Tacky Christmas Party. Hubby may have taken it to extreme but aren't we festive?!?

Last night, I posted my first grant on http://www.donorschoose.org/! This website allows teachers to create grants for materials for their classrooms and anyone can read about the project and help fund it. I am waiting on Donors Choose to send me an email saying my grant has been posted or needs more information. It is not a large grant, so hopefully it will be funded quickly and I can get those items into my kiddies hands! When the project is funded, Donors Choose sends a ‘thank you kit’ and my friends and I get to write letters of gratitude to the donors. Several teachers in my school have had grants funded so I am excited that I finally did my own!!!

72-74

72- At school, our principal does a question of the week. This week it was stupid, but good because it was something simple I could help my kids do since many parents don’t give a rip.
The following is a child’s answer.

When I read “Blitzed,” I immediately pictured a stumbling, drunk reindeer. I had to hold back laughter and say, “Excellent job. I will make sure that gets turned in.”



73- Nothing to write home about…. Well, wait. We got an Elf on the Shelf. The class voted and named him FiFi. Who knows why??? BUT, FiFi is there to watch to see who is naughty or nice. He flies home to North Pole each night to report to “The Boss.” Then the next day he is in a different spot in the classroom. Some kids said they didn’t believe he was real. Some kids believed. I told them, “It’s your opinion. You are entitled to believe or not believe but FiFi will still be here to report back to Santa on who is naughty and nice. What will he say about you?”



74- First thing this morning a friend of mine is singing, “Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke.” What did you say??? He repeats it. I am amazed at 2 things… 1) what kids pick up and 2) what parents listen to in front of their five year old.




Elf down!!! FiFi moved and I totally forgot he was up there when I opened the cabinet door. FiFi went flying to the ground. One of the rules is that you can’t touch FiFi or his magic powers don’t work. Try explaining to the kids that I can touch him to pick him up off of my foot and the ground and that he can still fly. Some of the biggest non-believers were very concerned about Fifi’s magical power. I had to convince them that accidents happen and that it probably meant not to play with him. Then, one child was examining him, with his eyes only, and said, “Why does he have a tag????” My response? “it is probably how Santa tells who the elves are. There must be a lot of them so he has to know who is who somehow.”




I literally almost lost my marbles at lunch today. I don’t know how many times I have told this certain child not to mix her food up but she did it once again. There’s nothing like peaches, milk and mashed potatoes and gravy, right?!?!? I told her, “I don’t care how long you have to sit there, you are eating five bites of that since you are five years old.” She proceeded to play in it and mix it and repulse the other children that were sitting around her, hence the reason she sits at the end of the table as close to by herself as she can be. She finally takes a teeny, tiny lick of it and I said, “That is not a bite. Five bites now. You have four minutes until we leave and the fourth graders come in. You will sit there with them until you eat your bites.” Then she started shoving her mess of a tray across the table at the boys sitting there. She once shoved it towards the edge of the table and I informed her that if she “knocked it off the table, she would be cleaning it all up and going home immediately.” She just sat there and huffed and puffed but I am so over your naughty, hateful behavior. I left her sitting at the table with a second grade teacher watching her hoping one of the fourth grade teachers could get her to do it since they had the same issue earlier. I am sure that if they saw her concoction they would know exactly why she was there and what she needed to do.




Then I go to take my class and another class down for rest time. I thought I was going to fly off the handlebars at some of the kids in the other class. I definitely needed something hard to drink after that 30 minutes in the cafeteria.




The good news???? ONLY 5 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!!!!!!! It will be a busy five though. We have Christmas presents to make, testing to get finished, classroom to get cleaned up (Christmas things to taken down and sent home), and I am sure I am leaving something out.



MENTAL NOTE to myself: Don’t forget to move FiFi! AND, don’t put him somewhere he will get knocked down.

Day 71 (Only 8 days until Christmas break!!!)

Have I ever mentioned not liking lunch duty? Well, I don't. I would love to see how some of these kids act out in public with their parents at a restaurant. Today, not to mention other days I have had lunch duty, kids were pouring their milk into their beans. I have seen kids dump pineapple "tidbits" into mashed potatoes. Sick. When I catch them doing it I stand there and tell them they are going to have to eat that. Food is not a toy. They just look at me like I am silly. I wish I could make them eat the nasty concoction they create. It would only take one time and they probably wouldn't do it again.

I have once again started testing my students for their report cards. The two that I have gotten through did really well. They did well the first time but were still able to improve. I must be doing something right! We'll see as I continue to test them.

Christmas... I haven't done much shopping. Some people will not give any ideas or suggestions as to gifts (PA! I don't care if you say you want nothing, you are going to get something so don't you think it should be something you would use?!).

Day 70...

It is getting to that time of the year when we can no longer go outside for recess. Sooooo, we stay inside, ALL DAY. The kids don't seem to mind free time but it is also nice to get outside and run. Last week, not even thinking, we suited up in our coats and went out. After about 4 minutes, I had friends coming over complaining about being cold. How did I solve that? We started running around the playground, playing follow the leader. When I made a turn and saw that half of the class was following me, I decided it was time to jog towards the door. Lesson learned.

It was a typical Monday. Glad it is over.

Random jingle that was sung today had something to with a poke and making a family. This child said, "my mom sings it all the time." I meant to ask him later how it went so I would have something to write about but forgot. Maybe tomorrow.

How do you divide your Christmas when family lives close by?? As a child, Christmas Eve Eve was spent with grandparents on my Dad's side. Christmas Eve was spent with Nandy and Pa. Christmas morning was done at home with Grandparents coming over to check out what Santa brought.

It has been changed a little since getting married...

• Christmas Eve- is still spent at Nandy and Pa's, followed by a candlelight church service at 11 p.m.
• Christmas morning is spent at my Dad's
• Christmas afternoon is spent with Hubby's parents
• Either on Christmas Eve Eve or on the day after Christmas we venture down to Guthrie to visit my grandma.

When Hubby and I were dating, we would exchange gifts after church (around 12:30 a.m.). Luckily, Santa knew the 'older kids' liked to sleep in a little more, so he didn't mind that we stayed up late. It gave him more time to cover the young ones. ;)

Day 69

Oh Friday! I love you! You bring me double specials which makes my day seem shorter and more manageable. Christmas around the world is in full swing. We have discussed Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. I had some little Jewish kids playing Dreidl on Friday. I had to adapt it so they could play but they had fun. I forgot to take pictures though! I am going to try and get them to play again for the sake of taking pictures.

For Christmas around the world, I am making a book. MOST of it was made for me by some company but they did not include Kwanzaa so I had to make my own. We will “visit” Mexico, Italy, Sweden, and Holland. Hanukkah was also included. Since Kwanzaa was left out, I set out trying to make the Kwanzaa kids look like the rest. Here are before. The girl is from Israel and the boy is from Holland.

I am pretty impressed with what I can do with white out and a Sharpie.

This book only took hours out of my life but by golly it is ready for next year!

Saturday, I finally finished decorating the tree. I do need to make a trip to Hallmark to get a few more ornaments. I just love my Hallmark ornaments!

I think I will include Christmas memories that I don't want to forget. Last post was the spinning nativity. This time will be the icicles made of beads.

I remember making these with my mom, my brother and grandparents. Who knows how many of these we actually made but I have a gallon size Ziploc bag full of them. I remember going to some shop in Enid, that seemed to be full of beads, in search of just the right beads for this project.

Day 68

11 Days until Christmas break!!! Boy did I have some whiney kids today. They must be as ready for Friday as I am!

Even though our tree has been up since Sunday, it is still naked with no ornaments…until tonight. I got through the small box of ornaments and need to tackle the bigger box. Sad thing (maybe for Hubby) is I will have to get another box to hold the ornaments. My collection has outgrown two boxes. [Side note: I say MY because 90% of the ornaments are from my childhood, 5% from when I started buying my own series, 3% are Preston’s and 2% are Tobie’s.]

Sometime within the last year when I was at my Dad’s house, I told him I wanted this spinning nativity of my mom’s. I didn’t say he had to give it to me right away but shockingly, he knew right where it was in the attic and I took it home with me that day. Tonight I got it out!

When the candles are lit, the heat propels the blades making Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the Wise Men and a Shepherd spin on the bottom. I always remember this sitting on my Grandma Mattie's foot stool. Now it will sit in my house each Christmas.

Day 66-67

12 days until Christmas break!!! As much as I am looking forward to Christmas break, I have no shopping done and no lists or ideas to work with. I also do not look forward to January 4th, when the kids return and I have to try and get them back into my routine. BUT, in the mean time... those two weeks off sure will be nice!

• Song of the day- Don't Cha by Pussycat Dolls (sung by a boy)

A friend got a shiner today in class. He was walking back to read a book with our assistant when he fell and hit his face on the leg of the chair. He did one of those silent screams, shed a few tears and was over it. When he returned with an ice pack, he was telling the other to "Look at my eye!"





Last night, I went to my friend Tiffany's [who never reads this blog (or yours CA), so I should talk real bad about her right about now ;) ] for a Scentsy party put on by my other friend Heather. I took my friend Jana from school and we had a good time. My nose was definitely on over load after some sniffing. I was able to pick up stuff I had previously ordered and of course ordered some new. I got lots of compliments on the smell of my room today! It smelled like Sentimental Cider. I also feel like I should get a cut of Heather's pay since I am doing a little side work for her at school. Maybe by the time I get my next round of smells in, I will have my teacher neighbor sold on a warmer and some smells. Are you hearing this Heather? :)

As of today, I will be lost no more and ready for an Ohio spring break get away! Romantic right? Anyways, we picked up our Cyber Monday purchase today!

It is so cute and already seems so smart and all I have done is plug it in! It is so small too!

I am off to bed. Today I had the "woke up at 8:00" hair do going on and I am not sure I can pull it off two days in a row!

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.

Day 59-61

Day 59- Eh. It’s down in the books. We had a TAPS (basically PTA) meeting today. Pretty sad when there are more teachers than parents that show up. This month, we offered a craft time for the children while their parents were in the meeting. This is what they made:

Fancy hand turkeys!

Day 60- One of, okay, my favorite substitute was in the building today! I was lucky enough to work with her two years ago when she was a long term sub for another second grade teacher. I loved seeing Mrs. Chambers!
While we were on the playground, one of my wild childs came up and said, “I don’t have a noodle shirt under this.” Mrs. Chambers and I looked at each other then I looked at the child and said, “what?” She replied with, “I don’t have a noodle (motioning a thin strap) shirt under this.” We just laughed and I asked her if she meant a spaghetti strap shirt. She said, “A noodle strap.”

Day 61- We are all off of 1-10!!!!! As I was walking around looking at their work on Number Masters, I almost wanted to scream when I saw it was done correctly, 1-10!!!

Three school days until Thanksgiving break!!

On an exciting, non-school related topic… We ate a Chick-fil-A tonight!!!! The new one is about 10 miles from our house! I couldn’t be more excited! If only I had known that the first 100 people there at 6 a.m. this morning won Chick-fil-A for a year! I totally would have sent Preston to wait in line all night and then joined him at 5:30. :)

Our Veteran's Day banner

Day 56-58

Day 56- Thursday, October 11th- Hooray for still being able to write 1-4 without help! Now we just have to focus on 5-10 and pass that by December 17th. Unfortunately, this child’s parent did not show up to conferences for me to brag on her number writing improvement. I will put this on my to do list to call and harass the parent about coming for a conference. (If you know me, you know I am good at harassing people.)

Speaking of conferences. I had one more this afternoon. I spoke to this parent on Tuesday after school to see when she could come since she never signed up for a time. It really helps to corner them when they are trying to pick their child up. She may have been hoping I would forget that she told me she could meet with 3 of the teachers (1 for each child she has at our school). Nope, sure didn’t forget.

For our car rider dismissal, we have a system (see picture below for visual).

Pink and purple dots are teachers. The pink dot (who happens to be me on this day) walks down the line of cars and calls back on a walkie talkie to the purple dot telling them what color cone the child needs to get on. For example, Bobby on red, Suzy on orange, etc. Then the kids are in line for their car to pick them up. So, I call this child’s family to the orange cone and follow up with, “Make sure purple dot (who happens to be a 37 year veteran and my former partner) goes to the car to make sure she comes in for the conferences.”

In the mean time, I watch as our purple dot walks back into the school with the 3 children and the mom parks up the hill a little bit. From down the road, maybe 60 yards, her body language walking in, carrying a sleeping toddler did not look to thrilled to be there.

The conference with the 2nd grader started while I finished up duty with other teachers. When I came in I went hunting for the 1st grade teacher to make sure she came back down to meet with the mom. When it was my turn, I met the mom and kids at my door. I was greeted with an awful smell. That poor sleeping baby was in a poopy diaper! Who knows how long she had been in it either. Anyways, I raced through my conference because of the smell. I know a few times I said, “I really encourage you to work on …. At home.” That is my nice teacher way of saying, “Take an interest in your child’s education. I can’t do it alone and he/she is trying here at school.”

After I was finished I walked them out and she tried to leave without going to the last conference! I had to say, “Ms. ___’s class is down here.” And walk her down there. While she was meeting with the 3rd teacher, our PE teacher came down the hall. She got this look on her face so I asked if she smelled something. “Yes! What is that?” I informed her, “THAT is in there. And was in my room and this room! And, all down the hall.” YUCK!!!!!

This happened a few days ago and I just remembered to post it. As a student is working I hear her start singing. “You change your mind….” Anyone else recognize the Katy Perry line from Hot n Cold?? Try this at 36 seconds.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/katy-perry-hot-n-cold/58643cd0ef955a046fdf58643cd0ef955a046fdf-258362836181?q=hot%20and%20cold%20by%20katy%20perry&FORM=VIRE2
She is 5 for goodness sakes. Shouldn’t she still be listening to Barney?

Day 57- Friday, October 12th-

If you didn’t know… this is a pirate ship. Well, it was a ship similar to this.

I was showing my kids a video about Veteran’s Day when a student said, “A pirate ship!”

Day 58- Monday again…. It was an okay day. Luckily, we were able to go to recess before lunch. The later lunch goers were not so lucky thanks to the rain.

We had our first experience with painting today. They painted a spider web in October but they only had white to choose from. This time they had 5 color choices. Too bad we don’t have good paper to paint on. : ( I do think that some of the pictures could have turned out better if they had stopped painting. I only wore a little bit of paint home on my hands and pants. Hopefully it comes out of my pants or my coworkers will be seeing khaki pants a lot.

Today, I started something new to help teach my young ones about responsibility. In the morning, we do literacy centers. They generally have 40ish minutes to complete their task. Starting today, if they did not finish they have to put the work in a folder and finish it before they do free centers in the afternoon. I am hoping this will motivate them to work more and chat less or else they miss out of fun times with their friends. I only had 4 friends put their work in the folders today. One told me, “He didn’t tell me I had to do it. I just didn’t know.” I followed up with, “I explained everything you had to do and you saw the others working on it. I’m sorry you will just have to finish during free centers and pay more attention to what you are supposed to do tomorrow.” I am heartless I tell ya!

When that particular child did get to play, he found himself with hurt feelings by another student. I kept hearing him say, “Can I talk to you in private?” or “I need to talk in private with you.” I don’t think he ever did but it was a nice try.

I am off to read a book. Well, a chapter of a book. I have some Principal Lovin' Care (PLC) tomorrow. What's that you ask? It's a whole new post that isn't going to happen today.

Days 50-55

Day 50- Wednesday, November 3rd- Hmm. Nothing too memorable a week later. We are half way to 100 days, which is a big deal these days. Another milestone is that we have actually kept up with counting the days. Only once I have tracked down another teacher to check our number. These kids still like calendar and get their feathers a little ruffled if we don’t do it.

Day 51- Thursday, November 4th- There has been some breakthrough with one of my students and Number Masters. This student wrote 1-4 without any help! That sounds silly, but it is a big improvement over where we started.
Long day is over. I think I put in 12 hours since we had conferences from 4-7. They all went smoothly and I had several parents remind me that they would love to send extra supplies, etc. if needed, which is something I never heard in second grade.

Day 52- Friday, November 5th- Next week is “Freedom Week.” We, kindergarten teachers, brainstormed and came up with an idea to make a giant flag and let the kids put red handprints as stripes. Being a little anal, I took over making the actual flag on paper. I wanted it to be accurate. 13 stripes, starting and ending with red, totaling 7, 6 white stripes, all the lines close to being the same size, etc. I must say it looks pretty good. Picture to come….maybe, if I remember to take one.

Day 53- Monday, November 8th- While working, a student comes up to me tattling that a girl at his table took his marker. I promptly told him to “go talk to her about it. I didn’t take your marker.” I listen in to see how he will approach this. In case you are wondering, “Jesus said it isn’t nice to take other people’s stuff.”

Day 54- Tuesday, November 9th- I was shocked this morning when a new little friend showed up at my door. Well, he wasn’t actually new. He was in my class for about 7 days before he was going to be moved to the new kindergarten class. Then, he never showed up to that class because he moved back to his prior town. So, he is back. He is interesting. He can be playing and then all of a sudden come up to me and say, “The pee pee is coming so fast. I can feel it.” Of course I say, “Then go to the bathroom and don’t wait so long next time.”

Conferences are over!!! For this semester, at least. I have a few that didn’t show up and of course they are the ones that I need to talk to about working with the child at home on letters and numbers. Go figure. In the 4 full years I have been teaching (this is my 5th year), I had the most awkward conference last night. Grandma was taking notes! Now I know how the doctors felt when I was relentlessly taking notes with my FIL this summer but it was for his health and livelihood, not to be odd.

Day 55- Wednesday, November 10th- Today, I was able to see a good reason I would want to stay in kindergarten next year. That reason would be the actions of a first grader. Oh. My. Goodness. BUT, then I think about some of the pre-k kids I see trolling around the school. The thought of both of those scenarios makes me want to have as many kids (I’m thinking Gosselin or Duggar size) between now and then so it would make sense for me to stay home. I tried rationalizing with an aide in our school about having lots of dogs, which would be an easier goal to obtain, but I don’t think that would fly.

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. Red, White, and Blue day at school, which means blue JEANS! You got it. I can do that. Our faithful leader wanted to just do red, white and blue day on Friday, which is normally our school spirit day that we can wear jeans, since we will be having rise and shine and have invited veterans to it. I chimed in that it made more sense to do it on Veterans Day and did not mention that I would be wearing jeans. ;)

In all honesty, I think it takes a special person to volunteer to put their life on the line for strangers. Strangers that may not appreciate it, will gripe and complain about what they are doing instead of be thankful. Strangers that will protest them but not have enough balls to do it. There are also the strangers that do appreciate it and feel very blessed to have such brave men and women that will take care of business because I am too chicken to do. I pray for the families of soldiers to have strength while their loved ones are away. I pray for safety and a speedy return for those that may be away from families. May God be with them all while they are protecting everyone’s freedom.

Day 49

Number Masters Update: 4 more and we will all be off of 1-10. 3 of those 4 can normally do it but get all flustered when I time them. Hopefully, that number can keep going down this week.

I am in preparation for parent teacher conferences on Thurday and next Tuesday. I cannot wait until they are over. I do not know a teacher that likes them.

Day 47

I've got no new pictures today... I am all pictured out.

It definitely seemed like a Monday. Long. Cloudy for most of the day. Cold. It was dark when I got to school this morning. I guess that is what happens when I don't plan ahead and go on Sunday.

My kids did their first 'journal entry' today. After drawing a picture, the only word they had to write was Halloween, which was already written on their page. As they were finishing I went around the classroom asking what their picture was. Then I wrote, "On Halloween, I carved a pumpkin with Mr. Snow and Tobie." (or whatever their sentence was) and they had to trace it so that they were 'writing' a complete sentence. They all did pretty well and I have 10 hours to decide what their word will be tomorrow.

Found out today (from the nurse at the hospital who called my phone!) that my Nandy will be having her shunt procedure tweaked. I had to give my Pa a hard time for the way I found out. I think he was quite surprised that I already knew when I called to harass him. Will be praying that all goes smoothly and that there is a speedy recovery. She has come so far since the first procedure!

Last night was Halloween. I don't know if it was because of it being Sunday or what but we did not have our usual big trick or treating crowd. Lucky for us, we buy the good candy and have lots left over!!! Because of this, I tried my first Reese's Fast Break. It is a very interesting piece of candy. Tastes like a Reese's Cup with Milky Way fluff and Butterfinger flavor mixed in. If I don't eat them all, I would offer you one but you'll have to hurry!

Oh, wait! I do have a picture to post. Preston could hardly contain himself when I brought it home....

God Bless school pictures. And for some reason, my principal took a 3x5 and wallet picture of every teacher. I wonder if she is going to hang them at her house to think of us fondly? HA!

And just in case I ever get lost, ask Hubby for this... I am sure it can be found in his wallet. :) But according to my Pa, when I was little he told me they [kidnappers] would bring me right back so you won't need the card for long.

Yes, I have one of these from every year I have taught.

No, I do not buy these. It is just one of the perks to being a teacher. Free school photos! Yea-ya! Don't be too jealous.

What a cutie!!!

I received a text message from my brother yesterday. Shocker, I know. But it said, "Claire wanted me to send this ASAP."

How precious is that?!?!?! I just wanted to jump through the phone and squeeze her to pieces! It also prompted me to rummage through facebook photo albums and get pictures of her ready to print off at Walgreens so that I will have them to post all over my house since she is so dang cute!

Here are a few of my favorites that I pulled off....

Apparently, this was her other Halloween costume. Girl is already changing her mind left and right about what to wear. :)