Gingerbread People

Because these are just too cute:

This is one of the fun-nest activities I do all year. And I do it every year. {{See Here}}

I just use a people die cut and brown construction paper. I send home baggies if they want to bring in their own stuff - this year some kids brought in marshmallows, lids, cupcake liners (never thought of that!), yarn, string. {But NO glitter! I am just not a glitter girl.} I put out my tub of scrap paper; I have some yarn I'll cute for them; I have some sequins I let them dig through. It is so much fun! 

And this year, I'm going to have them write about it. Monday, they are going to describe their gingerbread person. Ooh, ooh, and I just thought of this as I was typing this. LOL Then I'll have them read their description and see if we can figure out which one is theirs. Oh, I am sooo good! 

What's the fun-nest thing you do all year? Is it at this time of year?

Saturday Mish Mash

Happy Saturday morning! It is so much more pleasant here than it was last Saturday. So we're heading out for some shopping this morning. 

But First! 

Don't ya hate it when you have to say, "Oh, Pooh!" Like this:

 Can't see what I mean? Try this:

Yup, that's my room and Thursday night I was sitting in a student's chair while a friend of mine presented an in-service, and I realized - yuck, all this stuff on my cart is blocking about 4 students' view to the SmartBoard. Ahem. I guess that's why their desks are always being scooted here and there. I'll be thinking how to fix this little problem over break.

And this - 

I saw this idea on another blogger's site, and my first thought was Oh Brother, who needs a checklist for every week?!? But guess what happened that very next Monday? You probably have. In the middle of teaching, I realized I had forgotten to do this, and forgotten to do that. Blah! So I typed up a list. Can you tell by my list all the things I have subsequently forgotten? So I'm going to pretty this up over break so I'll have me a nice little - "Don't Forget Me" list. {By the way, it really did help me stay organized on Friday!}

And finally, these are the parent gifts {part 1} we made this year:

The little circles are supposed to make a tree. {I pretty much borrowed this from First Grade Parade.}Some of them did a little better than others with that concept. 

Where are you on parent gifts? Last year, I realized/ came up with the idea that I needed to have 2 parent gifts because a heck of a lot of my kids don't have both parents in the same house. This year, I've about decided not to do gifts next year. I have one kid living in a foster home and another with grandma {but that's fluid} - and I'm thinking that maybe I've caused unintentional hurt there. So I told my husband, I think next year, I'll have them make an ornament that they can hang on the tree in whatever house they live in and then maybe paint a picture or something - and not really call it a present, but they can sure give it to whomever they wish. Quite frankly, it would be less stressful for me - and give me more time for some of the other things I'd like to do - like Christmas around the World learning. 

I have another cool thing to show you... but I'm waiting til later. Ha! Sorry, it's like a soap opera, you'll have to tune in tomorrow. 

Have a terrific Saturday! I plan to NOT think about school at all.

Normal

Yesterday was a normal day in my class, thank heavens. None of my kids mentioned the tragedy and our principal told us not to bring it up. We had a good day and I was glad. 

I also want to say Thank You to all the kind teachers out there who posted poems and ideas for this terrible situation. Thanks for helping me. 

Sometimes when these terrible things happen far away, I feel like I don't know what to do. I send up prayers but I want to do more. Mrs. Bartel is going to do a RACK - Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. So I'm thinking, what can I do to uplift a fellow teacher? I've got 4 days at my school - I bet I can think of something.  What about you? 

{I wanted to say thank you to Ruby Slippers Blog Designs for the cute Christmas blinkie. It was a freebie on her page. I found her blog from Mrs. Bartel who just got an update on her blog - you ought to check it out.}