I Need a Day Off!!

Hi Friends!

Well, we made it through Halloween week last week.  High fives to all of us.  Our craziness started on Monday when we had to decorate our pumpkin for the pumpkin decorating contest.

My kids decided they wanted to make a pirate, and our local baseball team just came off their best season in 20+ years, so we decided to make him a Pittsburgh Pirate.  He came out rather cute.  Unfortunately, we did not "win" the contest, but the school did raise over $600.00 to buy pies to donate to the food bank for Thanksgiving, so I guess we're all winners!  At least that is the pep talk I gave my dejected kiddos.

Plus, when we perform service for others, we don't expect a reward.  Did Jesus get a reward for everything he did for others?  I think about that time, they went into Charlie Brown mode.  You know, all they heard me saying was wah-wah-wah-wah----wah, wah.

Do you young teachers even get that reference?  My teaching partner is 25.  She doesn't always get my dated jokes.  But I do think Charlie Brown is timeless, so we should be okay.  If you don't get it, Google it and watch a YouTube clip.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand -- here's a group shot of half my class posing with their creation.  Look how happy they are.  That's because they just had "the best day ever!"  It might be because they managed to stretch a 10 minute project into 90 minutes.  I think they are secretly high-fiving each other behind their backs.

Ha, ha, seems like a waste to post a group photo when all their faces are blanked out, but I went through the work so I'm posting it!

Things calmed down for a few days after that, then Thursday hit.  Halloween party - bam!  Pep rally assembly - bam!  Trick-or-treating Thursday night - bam!  Friday was more or less a lost cause.  The first 80 minutes were awesome because we were at mass, but it was all downhill from there.  I was never so glad to see a week end.

And this week -- well, this week we are good up until Thursday.  Thursday, I will teach all day, then we will have parent/teacher conferences from 5:00-8:00.

Which really means from 5:00 until 9:00 or so.

Then we get to come back to school the next day, teach for a three-quarter day, and go home early?

Ha, ha, ha, ha.  Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha.  Good one.

No, we get to have more conferences from 12:30 until 3:00.

Now, Thursday evening, I am booked solid with maybe 10 minutes to run to the bathroom around 7:00, unless someone pops in and says, "I didn't schedule a conference, but since you're free right now. . ."

Friday afternoon, I have long periods of open time, with just a few conferences intermittently in between.

And Monday, we finally have a day off.  I will need a break after the parent conference marathon on Thursday and Friday.

So on Friday, I will use my new Veteran's Day resource with my kiddos.

  There's a lot to do in this package, and it should take pretty much all morning.  

Since I've made this preview, I've added a few more components to the resource.  I've added a wreath craft and form to send home for families to fill out and send in with a photo of their Veteran for a hall display.

I've also added three little foldable books to use as a follow-up in small groups.  The books use the same pictures but the text gets increasingly more complex.  There is also a follow-up ABC activity to do that can be used with guidance or independently, depending on your children's abilities.

If you're interested in purchasing this resource, click on the picture of the cover and visit my store!   50% of the proceeds will be donated to the Fisher House Foundation, which builds "homes away from home" near military hospitals for family members to stay at for free while their loved ones in the military undergo surgery and/or recover from injuries.

I have second-hand experience with this organization.  A family I know from when my son was in boot camp got the call all parents dread.  Their son had been hurt during knife drills.  He sliced his thumb down to the bone and would need surgery.  The father jumped in the car and started driving, not thinking twice about where he would be staying.  He figured he would work it out on his 10 hour drive to be with his son at Camp Lejeune.

In the meantime, when the hospital personnel learned he was on his way, they contacted the local Fisher House and made arrangements for his stay.  He said it was such a relief to know he would have a place to stay.  And what a place it is!  Here are some pictures he posted.

After his son was operated on, he came back to Fisher House to be with his dad while he began his recovery.  All of this at no charge to the family.  Now, that's a cause worth supporting.  By the way, the surgery was successful, although he may not regain 100% mobility in his thumb.  

Next, some really exciting news! I'm going to be taking part in a very special event that will run from this Friday through Monday!  You won't want to miss this!

And finally, be sure to check out Teacher's Toolkit Facebook freebie.  It's really cute!  It would be fun to put at a center or in a finished work early box.  Just click on the picture below to visit her page.

If you haven't visit Primary Paradise to get her top five downloads, you can click on the picture below to get there.

Have a great week!