Happy Saturday! Happy Only Five More School Days Until Winter Break! Happy Merry Everything!
We got our act together and kept up with our tradition of decorating the tree/putting lights on the house/drinking wine/ordering pizza/and watching a Christmas movie last weekend.
Our Christmas tree is more of a . . . how do you say . . . um . . . well, it doesn’t exactly have a theme. It doesn’t have ribbons draped just so and the ornaments don’t match, and it could never be featured in a magazine, but it has a ton of meaning and lots of memories SO I LOVE IT.
Fa la la la la la la la LA!
My parents bought my siblings and I an ornament every single year of my life and on into my married life, and then Steve and I carried on the tradition, so we have a ton of ornaments that remind me of that one year I was in gymnastics, or those few years when Steve went skiing for work all the time, or even that one time we bought each other Starbucks coffee cup ornaments (although that could apply to every year since I feel like we’ve been drinking Starbucks every weekend forever now). In other words, our tree is a hodge podge.
And it makes me happy.
🙂
Look at this sweet little face.
I mean, come on.
This is her Please Don’t Leave Me and Go To School, What Will I Do All Day Without You face.
I usually say something along the lines of You will sleep on the couch, and on the tile, and on the other couch, and you will eat, and you will sun yourself in the backyard, and you will be living the life that I wish I had, which is sad because I love my job, and I am a productive member of society, and what is wrong with me, I must be tired, how many more hours until I get to go back to bed, you are so lucky to be a dog.
It rained this week.
This is a picture of the first and second graders getting caught in some rain on our way back from lunch. I’ve tried to describe the concept of an “outside” school more than once on my blog, but this picture kind of shows the downside of not having an indoor building with actual hallways.
It was only sprinkling when we took our kids to lunch.
And then it started pouring when we went to pick them up.
I told my kids we couldn’t run, that it was wet and dangerous, that we wouldn’t melt if we got rained on, we would all be fine, so let’s all walk in an orderly line . . .
And then it started hailing.
Which meant I started running like a crazy person and it was every man for himself. I mean. Come on.
My kids were FREAKING OUT and yelling IT’S SNOWING, IT’S SNOWING, IT’S SNOWING!
Among all of the chaos, it was actually quite magical.
I’m excited about this pack!! I know I’ve already said it a thousand times, but my kids LOVE using my Reader’s Theater during Centers. When I switch them out seasonally, they cheer.
They’re all Partner Plays. Which are perfect. Talk about having something perfect for Buddy Reading or Reading to Someone or Sit Down and Read, You Two, Now, Please, or whatever you want to call it, it works.
Until you have an odd number of kids or someone is absent or you have to be a kid’s partner when you really want to just put your feet up and breathe for a second.
SO!
I’m thinking I’ll just do a little mini pack of 5 plays for each level (Kinder Kids, Beginning Readers, and Advanced) and see how that goes in my class and I’ll get back to you!
But I’m excited to write some more plays! 🙂 BECAUSE I’M A PRODUCTIVE MEMBER OF SOCIETY.
🙂
Do I look like a Minion?
We met my parents at Disneyland last night (California Adventure to be more exact) for dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria. I have always wanted to go there (hello . . . wine at Disneyland!) and it did not disappoint. The food was DELICIOUS! We all ordered something different and we all liked it.
It was FREEZING (by California standards, at least) and it was windy, but we had a great time.
This is a picture of Steve and I on Toy Story. You aim at all of these targets and rack up points against the other person in your car.
Once again, our size differences are very notable when you look at our heads and our glasses.
Steve’s head looks particularly big here because he was bragging that he was going to beat the pants off me.
And he did.
But I’d like to say my accuracy is better than his so I did beat him in my own way.
We ended the night with Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Ghirardelli.
Yum yum yum!
As for this weekend, I am being observed on Monday (yes, this Monday, the Monday of the last week before Christmas vacation, before Santa comes, before I lose all of my hair from all of the talking) so I’ll be getting ready for that.
It sounds like so much fun, doesn’t it?
😉
I can't wait for your Readers Theater Plays for 3! My Firsties love these plays and beg for more- and aren't waiting too patiently for me to finish assembling the last set I bought 😉
You, my friend, win the bravery award for being observed the Monday before Christmas break! May the force and the humor you will need to rock it be with you. Reward yourself with Starbucks and extra-Murphie snuggle time afterwards!
~Jennifer
I love Wine Country Trattoria! The shrimp scampi…mmmmm…..
Our admin is notorious for doing observations the week before a long break….sometimes even the Friday before…….so that's fun. (Thankfully, I had my formal observation already, right before Thanksgiving break. See?) Love your blog!
We are tree twins! Hodgepodge lady over here – for sure!!!!
Happy almost Christmas break!!!!!
Love ya!
Those themed trees are pretty in their own way, but I'm with you – meaningful ornaments are much better!
Perhaps we'll get around to setting our tree up next weekend . . .
🙂 Amanda
http://secondgradesuccess.blogspot.com/
I teach at an outdoor school too! I agree – it is definitely a hard concept to explain to others. haha. Luckily, our walkways are right against our classrooms and have roofing over them, so that offers some protection from the rain. I can't imagine having to deal with hail! Wow! I'm in the middle of the Caribbean, so there's 0% chance of that happening here.
Good luck on your observation!
Kristi
Teaching in the Tropics