Happy Thanksgiving

For the last many years, American Thanksgiving is the holiday that almost would have come and gone without me even realizing it had come and gone.  I did usually get a reminder from a phone call or e-mail.  I was still sometimes surprised to see it come up on Google or Facebook that morning.  My family didn't usually do much for Thanksgiving when I was growing up.  At some point Mother did start making a turkey meal.  Then there was the year that I found myself at home unexpectedly with my family over Thanksgiving recovering from a lengthy illness.

This year I could not miss Thanksgiving.  In fact I've been on count down for quite awhile.  No, I'm not that excited about the turkey.  This year it's first significant break in our school schedule since August.  You see I had a very short summer.  With only 6 1/2 weeks between school terms, Thanksgiving has been calling my name.  Next year I might start on a crusade to get Thanksgiving changed to October.  Grenada knew what they were doing when they put Thanksgiving in October.

Before vacation can start, course, there are certain school events to happen.  Today was the school Thanksgiving party, complete with Pilgrims, Indians, and turkeys.

And then there is one more reason why Thanksgiving is a bit more special this year.  We have an additional family member with us (not that he'll eat any turkey).

Sorry, no new pictures of Charles.  I just realized I don't have any pictures after the hospital pictures.  Guess I should have a chance to remedy that this weekend.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all.  If your Thanksgiving passed last month already, I'll wish you a Merry Christmas in advance.

My Cookie Is as Big as the World

As I prepared my classroom for another day, I breathed a sigh of relief that it is November and not September.  There are still crumbs on the floor and the usual snippets of paper, but the volume is decreasing.  I can see the floor at the end of the day.  They seem to grow and improve without me sometimes.  I really had little energy to put into teaching them to keep the floor clean but it has improved drastically nonetheless.

I've had my eyes fixed on Thanksgiving for quite awhile.  It's not so much about needing a break from school (though that will be welcome) as finally having a chance to put the rest of my chaotic life details in order.  Last week I realized at the end of the day that I had missed the inspection appointment for the car I am driving.  Then it also occurred to me that it was also the last day of the month.  I decided I should not risk driving it so my family did vehicle shuffles for a few days until we got it to the garage.  In the middle of the weekend I came home to find papers on my bed.  Papers for my expired licence.  Seems the papers never made it to me and though I noticed the upcoming expiration many months ago, I did not remember when I really needed to.  I've been driving with an expired licence since September.  Of course that won't wait until Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite things about first grade is the stories and comments I hear.  Their minds just don't have categories like ours do.  They also have so many areas that they just don't know anything about yet.  I've noticed that when describing size, they quickly turn to "it's as big as the world".

I felt it was time to change the bulletin board but I really didn't have time to do it.  At the suggestion of another teacher, I had the students make the board...

The big picture

 First grade details

 Remember what I said about categories?

 Boys.

A tornado?

 Use as many colors as possible.  (I did tell them to make the pictures colorful.)

Learning to write :)

I thought it was going to be a unusually warm day today.  The thermometer said 66 degrees.  Then I noticed it dropping rapidly and realized the cat had been sitting on the sensor.  I am thankful for the warmer weather even if it's not that warm.