Happy Saturday!!!
))
Meet Steve. He’s the guy in the middle with the Texas shirt. Also known as my husband. In the last few years, he has become very passionate about barbecuing and smoking meat. Stop reading now if you’re vegan or vegetarian. 😉 In September, he went to Georgia to take a BBQ class from Myron Mixon (he’s famous in that world, apparently) and he took a ton of notes and bought a new smoker, and now all he wants to do is cook.
So he took it upon himself to get a neighborhood block BBQ thing happening, invited all of the neighbors (and some that we only knew “a little bit”), got everyone to bring sides, tables, chairs, etc, and we had the BEST time!! The guys in the picture above are coworkers of his and came out to “learn all of his techniques” and hang with him before dinner was served. The guy on Steve’s left (Toby) and the guy on the far right (Dave) have worked with Steve for over 20 years. They’ve all kind of grown up together and I love their wives, too! 🙂
We ate at tables in the street and ATE AND ATE AND ATE. I’m telling you, there were about 20 of us and we could have fed all 917 kids at my school. Steve made brisket, ribs, chicken, and pulled pork. And then the neighbors brought potatoes, salad, ceviche, coleslaw, potato salad, rice and beans, etc etc etc.
We had the best time!! Murphie was in heaven with all of the dogs, kids, AND A BUNNY RABBIT. I was too busy socializing to take pictures, but Murphie was so so so sweet to this little pet bunny rabbit. It was so neat!
Anywho — if I look bigger and my clothes look too tight the next time you see me, it’s because Steve keeps feeding me in the name of practice.
Little Kinder Bears does it again!! Look at this adorable scarecrow!! I just love love love her stuff!!
Parent Conferences are coming up this week, and I wanted something new on the bulletin boards, AND I wanted ART. Call me crazy. (I am.) I wanted ART and I didn’t want to tie any writing to it whatsoever at all because we have been writing a lot, and I just wanted ART.
For the sake of ART.
I KNOW!
I have a friend who teaches at another school in my district (hey you!) who saw this on my Instagram and she emailed me to ask me how I fit it in.
It made me laugh!!
I replied something like . . . I MADE IT FIT. (And something about how my kids have a difficult time listening to me in the afternoons after lunch . . . )
I made it fit ON A TUESDAY of all things. Not Friday.
TUESDAY.
Because why not?! WHY NOT, I ASK YOU!
I have SEVERAL kids who 100% NEED (NEED NEED NEED) to work on fine motor skills, and cutting and gluing and drawing are really beneficial for them and, besides all that, listening to Kidz Bop while making a craft and adding personal details and whatever else you want to say is JUST FINE. My door was open, I didn’t care if someone walked in, THIS IS CALLED SCHOOL.
And since we don’t have Specials where my kids go to an Art Teacher and have Art, I am the Art Teacher and we had Art.
Do I sound fired up about this?
Because I’m not.
I’m just singing along to Kidz Bop while cutting and gluing and bopping my head. 🙂
We started Unit 3 in Benchmark Advance this week (I have no clue if I’m behind or ahead or right on pace) and it’s all about how plants and animals grow and change. We read about the lifecycle of a frog in the Mentor Read Aloud book or maybe it was our Sharing Reading Text . . . I’m new at this so I don’t know . . . and then we read about the lifecycle of a butterfly and my kids had a ton of background knowledge because they “grew butterflies” in kindergarten.
And they begged me to let them “grow butterflies” again. I used to “grow butterflies” before our kinder team started doing it.
Now I *think* I want to “grow a frog”!!! Because it’s NEW! I’ve never done it and neither have my kids!
IT’S NEW! And no one can say they’ve done it before unless they actually HAVE done it before because they have an overachieving mom or dad who is trying to show me up.!!!!! And the website said that it’s a perfect “winter” project and aren’t butterflies more of a spring thing, anyway? Didn’t Benchmark take into account that most of us would get to Unit 3 BEFORE spring? Or am I doing it all wrong? Do I have more time to accomplish these units than I think? Did I go way too fast in Units 1 and 2?
Hmmmm . . .
Well.
Anyway.
It said it could take 12 weeks to grow a frog.
TWELVE WEEKS?!
The last thing I need over Christmas break is having to remember to feed a tadpole or a beginning frog or what have you. I’m going to have a hard enough time remembering to shower over Christmas break.
Have you ever grown a frog? Can you tell me if I should do it or not?
LAY IT ON ME!
I need all the advice I can get!
We are going to the World Series!!!!
***FINALLY!!!!***
It seems like we always get to this point and then get eliminated right before BUT NOT THIS TIME!
I say “we” because if you didn’t know this fun little fact about me — I am a baseball player on the Dodgers team.
Okay, alright, no, I’m not, but it’s saying something when I am not a big sports fan AT ALL, and never played sports growing up, and don’t even understand football, but if the Dodgers are playing, I am watching!
And there is this stupid dumb thing going on in California right now where you have to have Spectrum cable in order to watch the Dodgers, otherwise you cannot. And we have Direct TV. When we tried to switch to Spectrum (in order to watch the Dodgers), it was a whole big thing, and then they turned off our internet (THE HORROR) by mistake, and one thing led to another, and to make a long story as short as possible, we still have Direct TV and we never get to watch the Dodgers ever.
But we get to if they’re playing in any championship series because they’re on regular TV so it has been FUN!
It has also been a little bit stressful just because I am not a calm watcher, and I pace, and stand up, and yell at my guys, but still.
SO MUCH FUN!!!
GO DODGERS!
PS Steve says I have been ruthless because I didn’t care how bad we made the Cubs look (we almost swept them, and we won Game Five 11-1) but I just reminded him that the Cubs eliminated us this time last year to go on to win the World Series and they didn’t care about leaving us in the dust at all.
SO THERE.
🙂
Woohoo! I finished up Just Add Watercolor for the Alphabet!
I have a couple of students who are still mastering their letters and sounds, and I needed to differentiate for them in this center. Sight Words or words with short vowels or blends became “just painting” for them, and they couldn’t read the words they were painting, and I wanted them to be able to paint AND LEARN.
Hooray!
And that’s about it for me!
My sister is getting married today so I am off to do all kinds of fun wedding stuff!!!!
🙂 Have a great weekend!
Terri H says
I did Grow a Frog but I just did it at home with my granddaughter. It was exciting. I’m pretty sure they are African Dwarf frogs and they live in water their entire life. They get about as big as a half dollar. Easy to care for. We had ours for about a year (I think) but somehow it got out of its tank and we found it a LONG time later in the back of a closet…well preserved. (poor thing). They can go a day or two without food in case you forget to feed them. I’d say go for it.
Tammy longoria says
Make sure to use a bubbler! So important all my tadpoles made it
Lisa Ellis says
Check if the frog in the kit is an aquatic frog – if so, it will need to always be cared for like a fish in add n aquarium. My class did this, and our frog got huge and lived several years. I have also had kits with frogs that are not aquatic – but often they recommend that you don’t let them go free because they aren’t a native species….I live in Michigan though. I have loved all my frog experiences – just plan for what you are raising!!!
lorena says
Let’s go Dodgers!!!
Carla says
I love the Dodgers too! Growing up they came to my town for Spring Training. Have many memories going to games.
Carla
Vero Beach,FL
Rita says
I didn’t think I could love you more!!! GO DODGERS! I bleed blue!!!
michelle says
I grew a frog once. However, the frogs they send aren’t usually native to your area so you just can’t release it. So my dad ended up having a frog pet with his fish. They stink.
Sharon says
I once had an eager student teacher collect tadpoles at our local pond for the frog life cycle unit she was teaching. Unbeknownst to her or me, she had collected bullfrog tadpoles… which are huge… and take for ever to evolve into frogs. And they were also kind of scary looking because they were so big. Many weeks later when the tadpoles were slowly starting to develop legs, we came to terms with the fact that they would not become frogs before the end of the year. Around that time we also found out that our city does not permit the removal of tadpoles from their environment; so we quietly returned them to their pond.
Odie says
Kristin…. I have to say you crack me up overtime I read your stories. You made me hungry talking about Steve’s great BBQ. What a fun idea to have an impromptu block party. In my district, we do the butterflies in PK, but I have never heard of anyone growing frogs. I hope you try it and write all about the adventures.
While reading your blog today I must vehemently disagree about one thing…..one very CRITICAL, IMPORTANT thing…. all I have to say is……. , GO ASTROS!!!!! ;o) It should be an interesting series and some really great baseball to watch . We have a terrific player on out team that you can identify with. A teeny, tiny player (in comparison to the other players). He is #27, Jose Altuve. Keep an eye out for him, all 5′ 6″ of him, and an excellent player. Thanks for another great read. You keep me smiling. Have a great week.
Odie
An SLP from Texas
Odie says
Hi Kristin….You made me hungry talking about all of the BBQ that Steve made. Must have been fun having that impromptu block party. I agree with the others, you definitely need to get the frog project going. In my district, we have the butterflies at our PK campus. I don’t think anyone is doing the frogs. As usual you keep me chuckling talking about frogs and art. However, I must vehemently disagree about one thing….. ummm….I will be root-root-rooting for the ASTROS!! I feel this is definitely our year. There is even a player who has something in common with you and you need to check him out. He is our 5’6″ “teeny, tiny player” ( compared to the other players). He is #27, Jose Altuve and is a fantastic player. Keep an eye out for him.
GO ‘Stros!!!
Odie
An SLP in TEXAS
Kimberly says
I am a Cubs fan, so much so that my daughter is named after them. I am rooting for the Dodgers. I felt bad at the beginning of the season when they got their rings and stuff in front of the Dodgers. I felt like it was rubbing it in their faces. Good luck Dodgers!
I enjoy your blog! Thank you