Looking 100 Years Old...

We celebrated 100 days of school today, and Kristi had the great idea of having our kiddos dress up. I told her it would mean that we would have to dress up too... She wasn't crazy about the idea, but when our principal suggested pajamas, robes, and curlers we went for it!

 

I mean who can say no to wearing slippers and jammies to school?

 

 

Well, what do you think?

 

Please don't say we look 100 years old.

 

Kristi wasn't too happy that I had the morning off for my son's doctor's appointment. We had a lot of subs in the building and she said they were all looking at her like she was crazy as she hobbled down the hall in the morning before school.

 

I threatened my 13-year-old son that I was going to wear this "get-up" to the doctor's office. He looked at me with a horrified expression and said, "I am NOT sitting by you!" LOL!

 

I made it at lunch time and just being here for 1/2 day has worn me out. I feel like I could be 100 years old! :-)

 

 

Here's my kiddos. They were so cute! Check out my girl in the orange shirt. Her glasses were hilarious (I tried to let you see part of them). You can't see it, but the boy in the hat (second row) even had age spots on his arms! Also the boy in the blue shirt on the second row holding a $1...what is up with that?

The girls were especially cute...

It was a fun day, but I'm exhausted! I like my routine too much!!! ;-)

Have a great rest of the week!

Crystal

100th Day Fun!!

We will be celebrating the 100th day on Wednesday this coming week.  The kids are so excited and keep asking what all we will be doing to celebrate the 100th day.  Our Kindergarten teachers do such a great job with celebrating the 100th day that when the kids get to us, they are very excited for it and always want to know what we will be doing in 1st grade for the 100th day. 

So, this year we found something new that we could do to celebrate.  We found the following at Mrs. Jumps Class:

http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-for-100th-day.html?m=1

 

When we told our students about it, they were so excited!  It will be fun to see how they dress.  We will post pictures of them sometime next week.  So, come check them out! 

 

Hope you have a great weekend!  Kristi

Snowman Pictures Have Arrived!!

Sorry, that we didn't get this posted earlier, but we were having troubles getting the pictures to upload. 

Here they are.....the variety of snowmen :-).  It is funny how the same directions were given and how different they can come out in the end.  LOL!  Anyways, we thought they were pretty cute and the kids had a great time making them. 

Hope all of you have had a great week!  Kristi

Cottonball Snowman Craft!

Well, we went back to school for in service day on Wednesday and then kids on Thursday and Friday.  All I can say is that I can really tell that during Christmas break I was extremely LAZY!!  I knew on Wednesday that it was going to be hard for me because I was so tired after the day.  Therefore, by Friday I was really dragging. 

I definitely needed to get back into a routine and was glad that I had just 3 days of the normal routine.  Hopefully, next week I won't be as tired since I have been broken back in.  :-)  I will have to remember this during Spring Break and try to stay more active so I am not so tired when I go back LOL!

Crystal and I decided that we needed to change our bulletin board outside our rooms as soon as we could since we had reindeer on them.  So, we found this cute cotton ball snowman craft and decided to combine our classes and do it as a fun activity Friday afternoon. We found this craft idea at the following and tweaked it a little bit:

http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/2011/01/s-is-for-cottonball-snowman.html

We ended up running out of time and not everyone finished it.  As soon as we have them all up, I will post a picture of it.  We did have a few finish and realized that we definitely have a variety of snowman and not one of them looks the same.  LOL! 

I know that many of you don't go back to school until the 7th, so I hope you have a great first day back!  Kristi

12 Days of Christmas Fun

I saw a fun idea on Pinterest to do the 12 Days of Christmas for your husband and decided to go for it - not only for my hubby, but also my kids. It has been a lot of fun!

The first thing I had to do was convince my husband to participate and open the presents. He is very "strict" about not opening any presents until Christmas Day. Believe me, this was a source of contention when we first got married. I was the baby of five kids and we would always convince my dad to let us open our presents early! As a newlywed, it was really hard for me to wait! LOL!

Hubby has softened up and now allows our kids to open one present on Christmas Eve (pajamas).

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to share the gifts I gave if you are in need of any ideas...

For Hubby:

Day 1 - Fusion Shaving Gel (I really like the smell of it - it is kind of an inside joke)
Day 2 - Pack of 2 of his favorite pens
Day 3 - Pack of 3 Chap-sticks
Day 4 - Pack of Undies
Day 5 - 5 Packs of Tic-Tacs
Day 6 - Pack of 6 of his favorite candy bar
Day 7 - 7 is the number of perfection, so I gave him 7 reasons he is the "perfect" man for me!
Day 8 – 8 coupons for some of his favorite treats that I make
Day 9 – Pack of 9 Krispy Kreme donuts
Day 10 - 10 homemade chocolate chip cookies
Day 11 - Package of 11 screws
Day 12 - Pack of socks

For Kids (11 year old daughter and 13 year old son):

Day 1 – Journal to write letters back and forth to us...my daughter has affectionately termed these the "LTFMD" for Letters To/From Mom and Dad. See the rules below:

 

The journals are something I have wanted to start for awhile...something that I can use to tell them things I want them to know or remember should something happen to their father and/or me. I explained it in the first letter I wrote to them. The gift had my daughter in tears. We have already had fun writing back and forth - even my son! His is plain black.

 

Day 2 – Pair of gloves
Day 3 – Pack of 3 Chap-sticks
Day 4 – Package of Snack Pack Pudding*
Day 5 – Gum or undies
Day 6 – Pack of 6 of their favorite candy bar
Day 7 – Gum or undies
Day 8 – Pack of socks
Day 9 – Pencils (10 pack, I took one out!)
Day 10 – Package of Capri-Sun*
Day 11 – 11 homemade chocolate chip cookies
Day 12 – 12 pack of their favorite pop*

***You have to understand that my kids don’t get that sort of thing very often, so they love it! It is even a tradition that I buy their favorite “sugary” cereal and wrap it up for one of their presents to open on Christmas Day because I won’t buy any cereal with more than 10 g of sugar. I’m such a mean mom! LOL!

And guess what? Hubby got in on the fun! He got pretty creative.

Day 1 – candle

Day 2 – pair of socks
Day 3 – 3 skirt hangers (Woohoo! I really wanted these - seriously!)
Day 4 – 4 new washcloths (remember I said I wouldn’t discuss the condition of our old ones…)
Day 5 – Post-it note flags (pack of 5)
Day 6 – pack of socks
Day 7 – coupon for something sweet
Day 8 – pack of Sharpies
Day 9 – “9 Verses That Bring My Wife to Mind”
Day 10 – decorative binder clips
Day 11 – “11 Things that Make My Wife Special to Me”
Day 12 -  TBA...

Merry Christmas!

Crystal

Christmas Activities in Pictures

Our words are still few as we think of Sandy Hook Elementary, but we wanted to share a few pictures or our last two days of activities.

 

Yesterday was our first day of break! :-)

 

Thinking of you that are still working. :-(

 

Decorating gift bags for our parent gifts...

Reading to Someone from the other first grade class...

Working together on a couple of Christmas worksheets...

Christmas gifts for mom and dad...

We bought the foam snowflakes on clearance last year, added their "sticky pictures" from the company that takes our school pictures, and of course, GLITTER!

Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. May the Lord give grace to help the families, friends, school, and community at this time.

Kristi and Crystal
 

Teddy Bears and CHAOS!

So here I sit...waiting...

...for the Christmas program...

And it dawned on me that I should have been taking pictures of some of the things that have contributed to our CHAOS around here, but I neglected to snap any shots. So let me just tell you what I should have captured (as if it is not permanently etched into my mind).

1. Christmas Around the World trip to Mexico with a pinata.

What were we thinking?

You have to know Kristi and I really like routine and structure. These fun things throw us off a bit. Not to mention as you listen to the kids comment about not getting enough candy or why this person got this many pieces or how it wasn't fair that the pinata broke when it did... Well, you get the idea. We ask ourselves why do we do anything fun when they don't appreciate it...

Here's why...At the end of the day, one of my sweeties said, "Thank you for letting us hit the pinata today."

Okay, it was only one out of 38 (between our two classes), but it was one!

2. Christmas Around the World trip to France with shoes kicked off to receive treats.

Okay, so I am glad I missed this one (had a sub). Apparently, both of our classrooms really STUNK during that time... Ha ha!

3. Program Practice Day 1

First time for us traveling to another building for the program. It is a little difficult to lay out clear expectations when I wasn't sure of them myself! Add to that, Kristi had an emergency and had to leave before the practice. A wonderful Title Aide (retired teacher) took her place and we muddled through.

4. Program Practice Day 2

Better right? Well, maybe as far as the kids go...

I definitely made my expectations more clear and we remembered to take off our coats before sitting down so we didn't think we had to have that exact same seat after singing.

Kristi was still gone, so I was trying to tell her sub and helpers what we were supposed to do and where the kids were supposed to be. All the while, prodding one of my little ones to finish the math that should have been done before we ever went to practice.

5. Teddy Bears, Teddy Bears

For one of our songs, the kids are supposed to have teddy bears.

It is the first song.

That is important for you to understand the chaos.

So the kids brought these bears from home the whole week and we had to remind them everyday to keep them in their backpack and not at their desk pretending to be their "Furry Friend" (a reward they can choose).

Here is the fun part...after the first song, Kristi and I have to walk across the stage to pick up the bears.

Ugh! I do not want to walk across the stage in front of all those parents!

Anyway, the first day of practice, we took our library totes thinking they were plenty big. As I walk across the stage, collecting 19 teddy bears (you know how kids are...some of these bears are huge because--of course--who ever has the biggest teaddy bear wins, right?) my tote fills up and kids are now throwing their bears on the top of the stack which is so high I had to literally hold it to the side to see where I was walking. My principal even worried I would fall down the steps...

Now we each have a huge round tote to carry--and after today's practice these are even borderline too small.

6. Grade Cards

Ummm...Who has time for that? ;-)



Okay, enough chaos for one day. Hope your days leading up to break are going better for you!

I'm off to gather teddy bears and hope that I don't end up falling on my face. At least the landing will be soft...

Crystal

P.S. Three more days for us!

Writer's Eye and Thanksgiving

 

So, I found this cute writer's eye that I have put up in my room.  I found it at: 

http://candauscrew.blogspot.com/2011/10/using-writers-eyes.html

 

 

 

I was wondering if anyone else uses something like this as well and how are you using it?  I know that Crystal was talking about making goals each week for the students and putting his/her name on a post it note by the one that they should be working on for the week.  I plan on doing this and was also curious how others may use it. 

 

 

Here are some more pictures of our turkeys that we made last week:

 

We have 2 days this week and then have our Thanksgiving break.  Our school has a neat Grandparent's day program on Tuesday.  The grandparents come into our rooms in the afternoon for a little while and then go to the gym where the students put on a Thanksgiving musical program.  It is a neat thing that we have done for years at our school.  How long do you have before your Thanksgiving break and what all do you do in your classroom for the holiday?

 

I will be looking forward to hearing some of your ideas on writer's eyes and to hear how you spend your days in the classroom before the holiday. 

 

Hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving break!  Kristi 



Our Talking Turkeys

 

Boy did that election wear me out!  LOL!  We did have a fun time with it.  It is funny how those little things can make you so tired.  Then to top it off, Crystal decided that we needed to get our bulletin board changed and paint turkeys....what???  I was already tired... granted the craft of the talking turkeys she found was very cute, but the thought of another project and a painting project at that made me even more tired.   

 

She found it at:  

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/244320348506340013/

I was actually able to talk her out of painting the entire thing (I think she was tired too after the election, so agreed with me about not using paint on all of it LOL!) and using crayons on some of the parts.  They turned out cute and the kids had fun doing them.  Sorry that the pics aren't too clear, I will try to get better ones to post this week.  Like I said, I was tired and took them and didn't really take a glance at them until I got home.  That's when I noticed that they are a little hard to see :-(.

 

 

 

Hope all of you have a great weekend!  I plan to get some much needed rest!  :-)  Kristi

Christopher Columbus Day!

We studied about Christopher Columbus this week.  This cute little craft idea was found on pinterest (I believe I spend way too much time on pinterest, I may need to start setting a timer when I get on it LOL!) and it took me to the following site:

http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/fall/columbus-day-craft.asp

The kiddos loved going around and saying the names of the three ships (Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria).  They thought they were really cool names and each one of them wanted to tell the names to me almost everyday this week!  :-)  I was glad that they were excited about it and could remember all of the names of the ships.  Check out some of the results of their work:

 

I just love it when the kids get so excited about learning stuff.  Christopher Columbus was a big hit with our kiddos.  I even had some that wrote 2 pages about him during the Daily 5 work on writing.  How Exciting!! 

 

 

Hope your week was good!  Kristi 

Johnny Appleseed Craft

We studied Johnny Appleseed this week and were very excited to do our first big art project of the year!    The kids were so excited when they were told that we would be doing an art project. 

We had a lot of little giggles in the classroom as they got their hands painted (they all thought they were a little ticklish LOL). 

This cute project was found at The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman http://jennwa.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-pre-school-apple-craft.html

The kids did a great job with it!  Check out the results:

 

 

Hope you have had a great week!  Kristi

 



Olivia the Pig Bulletin Board and Earth Day Writing Fun

This week, we read the story "Olivia" in our Treasures Reading Series.  The kids just loved Olivia so we decided that for our Extra Fun Thing this week, we would make these adorable Olivia pigs that I found on Pinterest here. The kids had a great time making them and we were so proud because as you can see below, our kids followed directions so well! LOL!!

We also talked about Earth Day and things we could do to help keep our Earth clean.  The students then wrote about what they could do to keep the Earth clean and made the Earth guy that I found on Pinterest  here.  Crystal was not too thrilled with the shirt part of it and all the folding and directions to be followed that had to occur to get the final product.  But in the end, we made it through and they turned out very cute.   Check them out!

I hope all of you have a great and restful weekend!!! 

Kristi

Dr. Seuss Fun!

DR. SEUSS
In honor of Dr. Seuss, our students had a fabulous time designing and painting a new hat for the cat in the hat!  Their imaginations ran wild and they were so excited to have the cat in the hat sporting his new hat!  Other activities throughout the day in our school included guest speakers and each child receiving a book.  We had a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss Day!  We hope all of you had as much fun as we did! 

Kristi