Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying wonderful holidays! Our program went great! I was so proud of my students! Then Wednesday was Christmas party at school and o what excitment!! Gifts in our classes in the morning(and I got some pretty awesome ones from my students!) then brunch with the parents and skating on the pond after! Now after a couple busy days getting ready we are on our way to my sis n bro in law in Phoenix!! Yay for family, nice weather, and shopping!!

Holidays-almost!!

Finally after all the practicing tonight is our program!!I'm lil nerves how it'll go but I can't be for my children's sake!! But after it's done we have party tomorrow n then HOLIDAYS!!
O and yes it looks like I made it through those last couple days!!They were actually fun like I knew they would be!:)

How Do You Do It?!

3days of school to get through!!then the party and its holidays!! But how do you get through these next 3 filled with excitment...which causes much energy!...lack of sleep...which causes them much energy at times n the teacher alot less energy...trying to pull this program together(we almost have it I THINK!)...trying to wrap up work before holidays...sick children so always missing some of my class n always sending homework...but we WILL get through!! And some of it is fun! I can catch their excitment for Christmas very quick!!
Anything special you do these last few action packed days?...

Baking in Math Class!!

Today we had very fun math lessons! My grade 1s got to make peanut butter and then we divided celery stalks into fourths and crackers in half to eat it on! Wow they had fun!! To make the peanut butter place 1 cup peanuts and 1 tbsp oil in blender. Blend until smooth. Add more oil if to dry...they were also learning to read a recipe so I wrote it on the board and went over it with them...
A couple friends came in and made Apple Jack Cookies with my grade 2s! The students basically did it all even chopped the apple! Made for great enthusiasm! Then we ate them  during story...their lesson also was how to read a recipe...fun times!:)

Precious Girl...Why Do I Despair Sometime?

So I have this dear gr.2 girl,"Kate" who very very often forgets everything! She forgets her homework at home, she forgets to do her homework, she forgets her glasses & if she does remember then she forgets them in her locker! So Monday morning she walks in the door, no glasses, no book! "Kate", I said, "Where's your books & glasses?" She looks at me, eyes shining more then normal. "Go to your locker & check", I say.(And why wasn't I saying this all sweetly? Well to be honest, its Monday morning &already my day is running late!)Ok so there she's standing & as I ask her to do this, her eyes shine & her hand goes up. O she's clutching something in her hand..."Can I give you something?"she asks. My heart starts melting..."Yes",I say. She very delightfully hands me a little clay teddy sitting on some books that have a heart & say something about teacher on them...ok now I wish so bad I wasn't frustrated. I thank her with my heart melted n my day better...She goes & looks & no, she did not remember to bring her things but she did teach her teacher a lesson...My teddy is hanging in my window...I need to always keep my precious teddy to remind me to be patient & remind me of my precious girl...No, I've already forgotten this week but I do LOVE my students!!

(name changed)

Pre schoolmeeting Inspirations

i'm heading up to our district school meeting starting today at supper until Friday noon. I'm ready to be with lots of other teachers & get some great inspirations!! Each school has an idea board we fill with ideas that work for us that we want to pass on!So in my bag are the ideas I've brought! Here they are for you! For art idea I brought our rice pictures I posted about a couple weeks ago. For devotions one day I read about Jacobs dream and then had them draw pictures about it so I brought those! Also my moose books. We have little rugs they stand on for singing, sit on for story & Social, etc. So I brought 1along. I love them cuz it gives them their space n they know how far they can go! So we'll see what ideas I come home with!!

Fall drinks

This is where the random comes in as this isn't exactly about teaching!But right now being fall I just love hot drinks!This is my new favorite!Heat your mug of milk &dump in your insulated cup.Add a small sploosh of vanilla n bit of honey or tsp of sugar.Then drop in a bag of chai tea n your off to school!Right now the chocolatey chai is my favorite!Vanilla is also delicious! whats your favorite drink 2start your day?!

A Peek in my Planbook

Just a quick fun thing we started doing for counting practice! They all stand by their desks, when I stamp my foot they start counting by 10s, then I clap & they switch to counting by 5s, snap my fingers switch to 1s, hold up my hand-STOP!! They love it! Doing a couple times during math meeting usually now!

Check out others joining this here!

A Peek in my Planbook

I'm joining Clutter Free Classrooms here for...

It's been a busy week even if it was only a 4 day week!I haven't blogged for a few weeks so this will be a few highlights from the last few weeks! It's fall & I just feel like doing fall stuff!

For composition before Thanksgiving we made this Thankful tree. We did handprints with fall colored construction paper. I let them totally do their own hands-draw & cut out- so we have some very interesting pointy fingers but it's their own work. I love how it turned out! I have it up on a door in my room.

In Science, we've been studying "The Animal World". Beavers were one animal we studied so when Dad told me we had a beaver lodge in the dugout I knew we would be taking a little field trip. So one cool fall afternoon we headed out there with Dad & Mom. Dad even let them stand ontop of the lodge & told them more then the Science had taught them! Afterwards they got to pet the horse & then in for fresh cookies & chocolate milk before we headed back to school. They loved it! And I love when they can learn from seeing hands on...

A fun fall craft we did was make pumpkins from toiletpaper rolls! We did them like this except I didn't use leaves and for stems we jus twisted a brown paper bag! They had fun & they helped with measuring & cutting their own fabric!

ok that all for highlights right now! What are all your fall ideas?!

Fun Art!

Yesterday was again Friday & I had to come up with an art project for them...So here it's 9p.m. Thursday eve & anything I find that I want to do I don't have the supplies!! So I send out a message to my friend & family that I need help!! And thanks to my sisters ideas combined with mine I was soon making colored rice. I did it in fall colors & we glued it on pictures of turkeys. They loved it & I was really pleased how they turned out!!

Random thot of the day

Some days all you can do is trust and keep going...thats how I feel with these little people...where am I leading them? Where will they be at in June?...in 20 years from now?...We are building futures!

Camping Theme Classroom

Well I'll try n give you a few ideas & a picture of what my camping classroom looks like!!It's been a real hit! Right by my door I covered the wall with night sky bulletin paper. I found a double sand colored flat sheet at Wal-mart for a great price! So yes!that went on the floor for sand. Set up a 2 person junior tent, set some camp stools in there & covered some pillows with plaid fabric threw those in to complete my reading corner! Thanks to my dad & lil bro we have a campfire infront of the tent! We used a small swirl cage fan & a red bulb covered that with a lampshade that we had covered with small logs teepee style. Then I cut "flames" from red foil tissue paper & yellow cellephane & glued those out the top of the lampshade. I'm quite pleased how it all turned out! I've stuck some little yellow craft birds from dollarama around my class. One wall is my good work wall. Title is s'more good work with a clothes line to hang work on. I glued graham crackers, mini aero bars & laquered marshmallows to clothes pins for on there. Composition wall is "Campfire Stories" with a picture of a fire. My table has a red & white table cloth with a lantern sitting on it. For cleaning jobs I titled it "Camp Cleaners" and made little sleeping bags out of that quilted fabric, painted the job names on and then they clored pictures of children that I mac tact and stuck in the sleeping bags! Anyway thats some of the ideas of the fun I had creating this place I spend so much time at with my bunch!

Need Ideas!

Every Friday for about the last hour we have "art"! Its the highlight of the week! Anyway i need some fun, quick, cheap ideas that 1 teacher can handle with 9 students! I love to do seasonal ones sometime so thinking about making a big picture as a class with sticks for trees and logs, leaves, grass, wheat, imagination!!!Any other ideas?!

Cozy Story Time

Another day done wth the bunch...I just love them all! Each so much their own little (or big :) )self! This year i did a camping theme (post details about it yet!) so at story time today we turned off the lights and sat in a circle in front of our tent and read by the light of our campfire(fake ofcoarse!) and lantern! So cozy and fun!! They loved it!

A Bit About Me

Well as it says on here I teach grade 1-3...Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 2nd week of the 2011-2012 term n it already looks like a great year!!I'll be putting some ideas on here for any of you teachers n welcome any ideas back!!also other day to day stuff will go on here cuz there is a little bit of life not taken up with school! Anyway must get some sleep so can face my bunch with a smile tomorrow! and we'll see how this blogging thing goes!