Hope

Winter is over and past.  At least it will be soon.  I cringed a bit when I saw there is snow in the forecast for Tuesday night.  The daffodils promise that summer is coming.  I doubt I have ever been so excited about green grass.

Yesterday I joined friends for a hike/walk along the Susquehanna River.  Of course the water looked cold and the trees were bare, but the feeling of warm sun on skin was lovely.

 By the time the sun went down and we started our picnic supper, we dug out sweatshirts and jackets.  We watched an eagle perched on a nearby tree.  After flying back and forth a few times, it flew away.

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On Friday we had our school spring program.  The students were hyper about the unusual day.  We did some work right away in the morning and then did a bit more before lunch.  The rest of the morning was program practice.  By afternoon I knew there was little hope of accomplishing anything that needed much concentration.  After Victory Drill and spelling were done, the class worked together to shake a jar of heavy cream to make butter.  They were fascinated!  I heard a few of them declare, "This is the best day ever."  I did not tell them my plans for the rest of the day.  After recess and story time, I took them back outside and set them loose with a large box of sidewalk chalk.  They would have enough required of them with all the practice and a program in one day.  For the rest of the day they made chalk pictures and played on the swings.  Plus it was the first lovely spring day warm enough that even I took off my sweater.

The program went well. Now there are six more weeks of school.  I'm not used to the school year ending so early, but a break will be welcome.   I think I'm going to miss my students.  That's a good thing.  And I'm getting excited about a chance to do things the second time.  Hopefully I have learned a few things to make the second year even better.

Ice Storm

"For everyone who is tired of all the snow, how about some ice instead?" ~front page of our local newspaper

Of course my local friends and family are welcome to read this, but I'm writing this thinking of my far away family and friends in a warmer place.

 The ice on the trees is beautiful but dangerous for the trees and the power lines.

Bamboo and ice do not mix so well.

 Brother sucking on an icicle.

It would have been dazzling if the sun had come out but alas, no sun, only fog.  Hopefully we can go back to school tomorrow.

In Case You Missed It...

...it's COLD and SNOWY!  For all the consoling comments last summer about having mild winters lately and not every winter being that bad, it's one of the coldest and quite snowy and icy as well.

This time, being at the north end of the county, meant less snow instead of the usual additional inches.  We got about 5 inches yesterday.

There is still ice on the inside corners of my bedroom windows.

May spring arrive quickly!

Winter Blues

I made promises to myself to not whine about winter.  Hopefully this will answer the question I've been asked for the last year and a half ("how are you going to make it through winter?") without being too whiny.

Winter has come.  It came a little earlier than I would have chosen.  I live in a warm house.  I teach in a warm school.  I even get to park my car in the garage.  Thus I am finding that the snow and ice are harder to take than the cold weather.  Driving in snow or ice (or any similarly nasty road condition) rates as one of my very least favorite activities.  On the positive side, the cold is not too bad.  If the heat stopped working, I'd probably change my mind instantly.  Oh, and I'm not very fond of recess duty these days.  Neither do I especially enjoy driving to and from work in the dark.  All in all I'm surviving and looking forward to spring.

Now, looking back over the last month...
The school Christmas program was a success -- not that I had much to do with it.  My job was crowd control.  I failed to take any pictures.

Then there was the equally successful Christmas party.  I was disappointed that I forgot my camera as I watched the students quietly listening to a Christmas story while relaxing on pillows in the Zimmerman's cozy basement.  I do not get to see the students in that mood very often.
And then the day was over and Christmas vacation arrived (not a day too soon).  Vacation days were filled with last minute shopping, food prep, cleaning, sewing and time with family and friends.

 Family Christmas.  The retro candy bars puzzle came together in about 24 hours despite 32 extra pieces.  Sorry to the next customer who must have come up 32 pieces short.

 It is beautiful even though I hate to drive through it.

This child has the monopoly on the Christmas pictures.  Too bad he didn't cooperate very well.  We love him anyway. :)

Happy New Year!

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.

Fall Field Trip

There is little explaining needed.  We took the afternoon to go to a local orchard where the students were treated to a hayride, caramel apple making, hay bale mazes, pumpkin picking, and a snack of pretzels and cider.  I was treated with having 4 moms along to help.  When things got a little crazy I just had to shout, "Find your mom."  I think I'll invite them to school everyday.  Just kidding, but it was nice for the afternoon.  The students were a little bit extra hyper.  Actually it was more than a little bit.  They behaved quite well in spite of their energy.  I enjoyed spending some time with them outside the classroom.  And now for a few pictures.

 They were so excited to pick their own apples.  We had little success in getting a picture of all of them at this point.

 So proud of his enormous, GREEN apple.

 I believe this was the most interesting pumpkin picked.

It seems this farmer is missing her eyes and her front teeth.

Now we are back to regular days in the classroom.  As a general rule, things keep getting better.  I'm so ready to have them reading more independently so they can solve some of their own problem.  If they forget what to do, I see many hands waving and needing me to remind them.  Hopefully it will not be long until they can reread the directions themselves and not need to wait for me.