SNOW!

We are having some major snow flurries right now...pictures to come!

Here we are (again)

Yes folks, that is right...another News Register (local newspaper) article about one of my students in my classroom!  The fall of 2009 was good for us!  With this kind of coverage I should look into some hair/make-up each morning for all my students!  HA!

December 2008

Last December we (in the PacNW) were hit with a ton of snow.  It covered the ground.  Filled the streets.  Blanketed the trees and shrubs.  We were in a winter-wonderland for 2 solid weeks.  Some really hated it.  Some love it.  I am in the "loved it" category.  Here is why. We all slowed down last year.  We had to.  Driving was almost impossible.  Going outside had to be planned (mittens, hat, scarf, jacket, boots).  The everyday noise outside was reduced dramatically.  Watching the snow fall silently was peaceful and sweet.  The Christmas spirit was easy to catch and easier to pass along.  The five snow days we had to make up in June were not a problem for me at all.  It was easy. 

This year? 
No snow.

Christmas spirit? 
No comment.

Reaidng my blog posts from last December and seeing those pictures brought back some of that spirit of fun and excitement. 

Think snow.

Why is it...

that when I am up late watching TV


...I find the commercials witty and great to watch?

...I find blogs that can make me laugh and cry?

...I read blogs that I will soon forget about and even sooner forget how I got to that blog?

...I find some random movie/show that I HAVE to finish watching no matter what time it is? (ie Xanadu)

...when I reply on friends' blogs, I think they think I am crazy for being up so late.

...I reply on random blogs and feel weird about it.

...I get soooo thirsty and wonder why I am not thirsty when I sleep?

that when I am on Winter Break

...I feel so completely disconnected from my classroom?

...I am happy to not leave my house for days on end?

…I think of about a million things I want to do?

And why is it that I can't find the spellcheck on my blog?  I never feel more complete then when I am hugging my boys?  That seeing my boys smile and looking into their eyes can make me tear up with joy?  That watching TV that has food (that I think is gross) will make me gag?  And why is that that thoughts in my head always seem more profound and deep while they are in my head and seem to get lost in some sort of typing-translation?  I think it is time for me to go to bed.

Merry, Merry Christmas

It has been a fabulous day filled with love, laughs, naps and toooooo much food and drink!  My Aunt Vicki and her two girls came up for the day and we have been talking non-stop and laughing since they arrived!  My mom (as usual) has made some yummy food and Carlos has been mixing up the drinks.  All the kids got some great and thoughtful presents from family and friends.  A very special shout-out to my sister who gave me a great Starbuck's cold drink cup!  So cool.  All in all it has been a great Christmas day.  Hope you and your family have enjoyed your time relaxing and spending time with your friends and family. 

Anna and Tramaine coming in...all smiles!

Check out the look on my brother's face!  What the heck is he thinking?

Here are my cousins enjoying my mom's tasty breakfast!

Cole and Zac enjoying some play time...with a gun.  (Nerf)

After eating, after playing, after opening presents...just the two cousins chill'in. 

Merry Christmas!

*A HUGE thanks to Ethel for all the pictures!*

OSU

I took all the kids to the OSU bookstore down in Corvallis. We had a great time! We shopped a bit and then walked out in the MU quad and asked them (made them) to pose for some pictures. They were so great and I was happy to get some great shots. They loved watching Zac and making sure he was involved in everything they did. Such a great big brother and Taylor and Cole are awesome cousins!

I love these three shots. Zac wanted to do nothing but sit on the steps. I was very content to let him and watch as they interacted so lovingly. Taylor and Cole started to clapp and sing and Zac joined right in...notice the look on his face. Pure love and joy for his cousin!

I am not sure if he could be any cuter! 

My boys on the steps of the MU. 

What trip to Corvallis would be complete without hitting the American Dream Pizza, Co? 

Then we went make a very short visit to Audrey and her baby Powel.  So cute and they have the best play room for the boys.  After a very quick catching-up we went to our 4th stop of the day...my Aunt's house across the great city of Albany.  We didn't stay long because we will see her all day on Christmas and we needed to make our final stop fairly early.  We met up with Beth and Brian and their kids at an Albany hotel for some good conversationi and swimming.  What a fun and very busy day! 

Here is  my favorite shot.  I got quite a few of them walking hand-in-hand back to the car.  They were laughing and trying to stay in somewhat of a line so I could get them all in the picture.  I had just said, "Please, don't turn around.  I like the pictures I am taking."  At that very moment Zac turned around and gave me this hilarious look!  We cracked up!  What a ham.

Reader's Theater

Here are kids from CJ's 4th grade class doing a Reader's Theater in Spanish! For those of you who don't know, he has been in a Dual Language class since Kinder. He does great and really enjoys learning...in English and Spanish. These kids have all been together since Kinder (and some before) and they are really good friends. I love seeing him doing this with some of his closest friends! Love these kids!

Thankful and Hopeful

I am so thankful for my wonderful boys and fabulous husband. I am also thankful I am a teacher...I do love it for many reasons:
-being around kids
-teaching
-my wonderful colleagues
...and of course CHRISTMAS VACATION! 

I am hopeful for a great two weeks with my family and friends.  Doing what we want, when we want and how we want to do it!  Bring it on two weeks! 

(Anna...I was going to blog this even before I read yours)

...and again we are in the paper!

So, I was featured in the local paper for writing a grant and implementing a PO system at our school.  Fun and a school-wide thing, but get this....

Here is one of my students featured for volunterring at our local community garden!  Way to go RoseLynn!
http://web.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=256000

Then we had an Artist in Residence come to our school and teach the whole entire school Chinese Brush Art.  It was such a great time and we all learned so much.  Guess what?  The local paper came and took pictures during my class's session!
http://web.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=256724

Finally, one of the educational assistants that come to my room daily and is the MOST FABULOUS ever was asked to talk about her life as a child in Ecuador AND (you guessed it) they came to take a picture of her while she was in my classroom!  (You can see my whiteboard in the background...a little TOO big if you ask me)
http://web.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=257041

All in all it has been great to have so much coverage, but I am looking forward to some time out of the spotlight!  HA!  My kids have been thrilled and we have multiply copies of the paper brought to us and we put them in our newsbook each time! 

What is next?  Not sure.  But we will be ready and smiling!

Post Office

I wrote a grant last fall with three other teachers, it was fun.  I have never been the lead grant writer on a team so it was nice to spearhead the whole project.  Also, three out of four us on the PO team were on maternity leave, so we had time to chat on the phone and bounce ideas off one another. 

The grant was to implement a post office within out school.  We went for the real street signs, post office area for gathering and sorting mail and of course each classroom had their own mailbox outside their room.  Upon my return from maternity leave, hitting the ground running and balancing work and home the PO did not make it off the ground last year.  We had planned for the spring, but it just didn't happen.  Then on the last day of school I ordered all the materials and spent all the grant money in about an hour and a half!  The easy part of done!  Fast-forward to August of this year and the PO committee met and with an agenda and some very organized teachers and extremely effecient team-work we got the bulk of the business done!  Yeah. 

PO area set: complete with sorting station, color-coded hanging baskets for the street names and a delivery tub!  Too cool.  (I had named the halls after the cougar habitat, but after a staff meeting at the end of the year last year, the staff from those halls came up with their own...and better names.  Really fun to get their input and buy-in and all their individual ideas!)  So, the street signs came in and went up, hanging from the end of the halls...looking reall official and cool. The individual mailboxes were hung outside the classrooms, the real mailbox was by the main office and two maps were made (for the office and the PO/letter carriers).  We were set AND before the first day of school!  Yeah.  The plan was to be up and running for the first day and we did it!  There were many other details that went on and it was very fun, overwhelming and exhausting, but well worth it.  And now, a few months later with the PO running smoothly and all the kinks ironed out, it is a really great and authentic way for parents, students and teachers to communicate with each other.  Fun. 

We did have the local newspaper run an article on us http://web.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=254615 and they then ran it in the associated press.  We went national in a few weeks and started to get letters from post-masters!  Our local post-master ordered us an official stamp to cancel letters with, complete with our cougar logo!  We are rocking and a rolling and loving it!  Thanks to the McMinnville Education Foundation for the grant money and all the hard work and dedication from our staff!  It has been a great experience.  I am glad we did it and I am more than happy it is up and running and I am oh-so thrilled that that amount of time and energy has been well spent.

No I didn't...Yes you did (Repeat 5 times)

Sometimes being a teacher also means I have to be a referee.  And sometimes those arguements are really hard to figure out.  Take today's example...

We are making a mural backdrop for our reader's theater performance coming up in a few days.  We have invited parents and other classrooms.  Every year I do this 2-3 times.  It is a big deal for me and especially for the kids.  We usually have a great time and acting in front of the class always brings out the best in the students.  They are always so awesome!  Anyway...today two students thought messing around with the mural would be funny, ie adding some poop to a drawn tutle.  Childish, rude and I didn't think funny even for 7-year olds.  (And I can laugh at some good poop humor, usually)  But this was just not cool.  But the part that got me the most was that they both lied to me.  To my face.  More than once.  Now I know most kids (and even some adults I know) will lie rather than be caught at whatever they did wrong.  I just don't get it.  Why lie?  I mean...I know why people lie...but...why?  It will always come back and bite you in the butt...and not when you are expecting it.  Karma always remembers and knows where to find you, no matter how young or old you are.  Anyway, after telling the kids exactly how I felt and my no tolerance policy about lying then walking them down to the office I calmed down just a bit.  And, by the end of the day all was right again with the world and we agreed that tomorrow would be better ( as per the great book, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse) but for the record I really, really, really hate the "No I didn't...Yes you did"

Breaking My Neck

I did break my neck.  I have never broken any other bone in my body before or since that one spring day in 8th grade.  Where did this come from?  A teacher friend broke her wrist last week during a routine fire drill.  Bummer, I know.  We started about bones we had broken and their stories.  Of course I had to open with, "I broke my neck once."  HA!  Sounds funny now too.  Anyway, I know you are dying to hear the story and of course I will tell it. 

I was int he 8th grade, in PE class and the teacher went down to hang the attendance slip.  Do you even remember when the attendance was hung outside the room?  Crazy.  Now we do attendance on the computer in about 2 seconds while in the classroom.  Much safer.  So, of course when the teacher went downstairs a few of us started doing flips...running as fast as we could, jumping on the vault and flipping over the horse.  What fun!  As I was telling this to my colleagues I was cracking up: #1 This was not just PE class, it was PE in the special gym for gymnastics.  It was a full gym with tons of gymnastics equipment...and super fun.  #2 I had to imagine doing these flips in my 8th grade body and mind!  Whew!  I know I can still run and jump on a vault...but go into a hand-stand and flip over?  Yikes!  So, back in time to 8th grade...I run.  I jump.  I go into a full hand-stand and then fail to flip over.  I land on my head on this side of the horse.  Apparently inches from the corner of the vault, but that was never really confirmed except by my 8th grade friends at the time.  I crumpled into a ball.  The kids gatherer around.  The teacher returned.  I was then instructed to walk to the guidance room and call  my mother.  Believe it or not?  Well, sad but true I did walk there with a friend and called my mom.  What happened after that was I went for x-rays and they found that my 7th vertabre almost pulled completely apart.  Break?  Well, the doctor did say that I did the most damage without really doing any real damage.  Scary.  three weeks in a full neck-brace, hating life, then a few more weeks in a smaller neck-brace.  Totally hated every second of it and remember throwing it in the garbage can! 

So, fast-forward a few decades and I still worry that the scar tissue will cause me some problem in the future, that something will cause it to "break" again or worse yet...I will have a desire to run and jump and do a flip off a vault!  HA! 

What have you broken lately?

Parade and a Christmas Tree

We went down to our local parade and watched Santa arrive on the firetruck.  It was fairly entertaining.  Of course Aunt Vicki was up for a visit.  We do love our Auntie visits, she is so fun and CJ loves (loves) playing games and hanging out with her.  Here are the boys and Auntie on a horse-drawn carriage ride.  Too fun! 

The next day we went to get our Christmas tree at a place where they have some fairly interesting statues.  Well, here Zac is checking out a small buffalo!  Not sure what he is hoping to find, but really?  Checking out the tail?  Ha!

 My boys!