Spankings

I was on the phone with Leslie while she was driving and her boys were getting rowdy. Finally, she had had enough! She said, "Do I need to pull this car over?!" Eventually she did just that and I listened as she said, "Here we are on the side of the road. Do I need to get out and start giving spankings?!" To which her youngest replied, "Yeah Mommy! Give 'em spankin's!" We both about died laughing. Good times!

Last Day Before Break

The whole school earned a PJ day today because all-together they brought in 847 pairs of PJs for the Road Back to Home shelter. These are some of my students relaxing during the Polar Express. Ha ha.

Glitter!

Here's a random post. I just bought this glitter stuff for your nails and it has a really long brush on it. It's my new favorite thing. This is what I did with it this time. Before this I had purple sparkly nail polish with silver on the tips. Mmmm. Glitter! (Yeah, I have nails now.)

Christmas Cards in Class

Extra or left-over wrapping paper? Wondering what to do with it?

How about homemade Christmas cards?!
YAY!

Take a piece of white printer paper and fold it hamburger style and then just glue on pieces of paper to create a nice Christmas scene. Then add glue and glitter and a nice note on the inside (ps write the note BEFORE doing glitter!) and you've got a really cute card that your kids can stick a coupon in (as a gift) and give to you or their siblings.

Here are some that my students did today. (I can't show faces without parent permission so it is just their cards. ha ha)

Also, our school is trying to collect 800 pairs of PJs ranging from K-6th grade sizes. We are donating them to "The Road Home". It's a place where homeless families can go when they are trying to get back on their feet. Mothers are allowed to go into the "Candycane Corner" and select new PJs for each of their children and 800 of those choices will be coming from our school! If our students get to 800 pairs as a school, we will have a PJ party, hot chocolate, and watch the Polar Express on the last day of school. (Which is WEDNESDAY if you can believe it! BOO to still being in school.)

I promised my students that if we could get 30 total for our class (at least one for each student in our class) then I would add in an extra treat for the party. I made sure to bring a few pairs to show my support and added it to my class's total numbers. We are at 26! The school as a whole is in the mid 700's as of today. Yay kids! Keep it up!

Hud

After spending a day trying to win this little guy's affection back (first with force...got kicked...and then with candy...that worked better) he came up to me and said, "Hey, do you want to make some pictures with me?"

He turned around and looked at Leslie and said, "HEY, you were not supposed to be in the picture!" ha ha.

Good times. At least he was warming up to me again.
: ) Thanks for the candy idea Stace.

Ancient Greece

In my class we are doing a simulation of ancient Greece. It has been pretty stinking funny so far. I have placed my students into Polies (city states). There are seven. You probably remember Sparta and Athens, but there is also Corinth, Magara, Argos, Sicyon, and Samos.

They are responsible for the whole group getting assignments in, being at school, addressing the teacher with respect, doing daily problem solving, keeping their area clean....etc. The points that they win will be taken into the Olympic games on the last day before Christmas break and the winning team of the Olympics (by points awarded during the events added on to the points awarded during class) will receive a pizza party in their honor.

We decided as a class that students may bring offerings to the king to win back negative points. I suggested nice drawings or service.....but this is what I got:

My kids know me a lot better than I thought! Ha ha. Ugh. They were definitely awarded points.

The Note

After a really hard week with difficult parents and kids, not to mention being hormonal, I finally caught a little bit of a break. There was a situation about getting planners signed by parents each night. A mother of one of my students heard that I was being a little harassed by some of the parents and wrote me the following note:

" I'm signing both the planner and the reading minutes because I think you're doing a great job and teaching my son about responsibility and getting things signed is teaching him to finally take care of his crap! AND that if he forgets, he can't enjoy the fun life! You're doing a great job and I think parents need to grow up! It's your classroom and you're the teacher and they're not! Keep up the good job! Love Jen. PS I think you have the hardest job in the world and how you give up your time every day to teach my son and a bunch of children how to be responsible is crazy amazing. Please don't ever change!"

I know that is not much, but for any of you who have kids going to school who are reading this...that made my day 100% better. I photocopied it and put it in my "Good Feelings" folder in my filing cabinet (yes I have a folder full of those things...many teachers do).

So keep in mind that sometimes people are having a tough time and one little thing that you say or one note that you decide to write can really make a difference.

The Bend in the Road

The Bend in the Road

Submitted by: jdr

Author: Helen Steiner Rice

Sometimes we come to life's crossroads
And we view what we think is the end.
But God has a much wider vision
And he knows that it's only a bend-

The road will go on and get smoother
And after we've stopped for a rest,
The path that lies hidden beyond us
Is often the path that is best.

So rest and relax and grow stronger,
Let go and let God share your load
And have faith in a brighter tomorrow-
You've just come to a bend in the road.

Thanks for sending this to me Mom. Love you.

Thoughts

When by my solitary hearth I sit,
And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom;
When no fair dreams before my 'mind's eye' flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!

John Keats

Never speak out of anger,
Never act out of fear,
Never choose from impatience,
But wait... and peace will appear.

Guy Finley

Thanksgiving

I set the table. : )

Kayleb made his first pies. Mmmmmm.

We sat and ate and talked and laughed.

I beat both my parents at Shanghei!!!!!

The next morning, Mom and Kathy and I went for pedi's and mani's.

Stacey and I got ready for a date, went to dinner with the family and then Stacey, Dan, and I went out to a movie.

Saturday, we all headed up to Leslie's to play in the snow.

I borrowed a lot of snow gear and looked like a big, blue snowman.

Stacey protects her camera with a sky mask.

The kids ride the hood/sled and get snow in the face.

For some reason, I really thought that I could sit backward and take some pictures of the kids. I ended up holding on for dear life...and eventually asked him to stop so I could just turn around and hold on.

Stacey's action shots:

I stayed at Leslie and Gary's that night and was driven to the airport the next morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for all of the fun and all of the love!
Kiss!