It's Tuesday of the last week of school before the Winter holidays.

'Nuff said!

Thought I'd share some of the fun quotes I've been seeing on pinterest lately.

It's about all my brain is capable of doing right now. Click. Copy. Click. Paste. Link. Repeat!

This. Is. So. True!

Cheers!

Olwyn

I know that I am not the only one feeling like this!!! 

Last week was totally cray-cray and, somehow, I doubt that this upcoming week will be any different.

The only big difference is that I am down 3 kids as some have gone on vacation early. 

Somehow, 19 kids with holiday-itis is infinitely better than 22 with the same affliction!!!

So, good luck to all the teachers out there trying to get through the last week of school before winter holidays. May you all be blessed with lots of fun activities and infinite patience!!!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Currently....December!

It is totally cray-cray that it is December already! 

Even crazier is that we have only had 50 days of school thus far because of the strike in September. The late start has made this year feel like it is flying by!!!!

I am linking up again with Farley for this month's Currently. 

listening... do you know Matt Hires? I found his music on youtube through this video from soul pancake.

and have subsequently bought both of his albums. Love!

loving...if you had asked me a year ago if I would ever enjoy reading a digital book, I would have said NO!!!! I love the feeling of paper in my hands, the slight cracking of the spine as I read further into the book, the ability to pick up the same book and reread it again. I love having books in my home and my classroom. So, colour me surprised that the thing I use my new iPad mini for the most is reading!!! I just go online to the public library and borrow a book to read. So easy! So simple! And I don't have to take off my pajama's to do it!

thinking...pretty self explanatory. I never write them until the weekend before they are due since I know that they will already be two weeks out of date by the time the parents get them AND a month out of date before we meet for conferences! A lot of things can change with a grade 1 or 2 in two weeks to a month!! So that gives me two days to churn them out. I know that they'll get done. But, just like exercising, it is the getting started that is the hardest part!

wanting...Only 10 days until I get to hug my baby girl again! Not that I am counting or anything....

needing...I don't know about you but when my shoes start to get old, my feet hurt. Really hurt! Yesterday's treadmill workout was painful in more ways than one. I will be taking a break from report cards later today to go and buy myself a new pair of runners so that I won't miss my workout tomorrow!

giving...this year I got the best present EVER from my class and their families. Check it out!

It is the cutest, sweetest advent calendar I have ever seen! Each student brought a toilet paper roll to our class parent and she created this! (Just by looking at this, you'll probably figure out that she is a pretty awesome class parent!!!) I'm so lucky to have her!

Each toilet paper roll has a sweet little note or card from the student plus a bag of tea. Apparently, there is a little something in the attic as well but I won't be opening that until Christmas Day! 

It is such a wonderful gift! And I love that I get to enjoy it every day until Christmas! The kids love to see me open the roll each day and read out the message. I love it! So, thank you, thank you, thank you to my wonderful class for this lovely gift!

Now, I think I have procrastinated enough. Off to write report cards now!!!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Sunday Scoop - November 16

I am linking up with Teaching Trio for another Sunday Scoop...

Does it seem weird that it is only the middle of November and many of my items have to do with Christmas? Well, not to me. You see I have been doing Organized Christmas through the blog Organized Home for about four years now. They start sending emails in the last week of October with tasks to do. If I follow it (some years I do better at this than others!) I will have everything done for Christmas by the first week in December and can then sit back, sip my eggnog and enjoy the holiday season. Since I started doing this my holidays have gotten so much better! No more shopping at the last minute. No more wrapping gifts the night before! No more being stressed out!!! It is wonderful!

So, back to my Sunday Scoop...

3 things I have to do...

1. Well, I will admit that Christmas cards are not really a HAVE to do but, for me, they are pretty important. I need to get them all done in the next week so that I can mail them out in the last week of November or first week in December. And with my carpal tunnel, I have to start way early so that I can write them a few at a time and not have my hand go numb!
2. Only 30 days until my daughter is home for the holidays!!! I just need to book the ticket!
3. I brought all the math home with me last weekend, too. Did I get any of it marked? NO!!! Luckily, this past week was a three day week (what with the four day weekend around Remembrance Day) and we only did math two times. I have to do it this weekend so that I can see where the students are getting stumped and create my mini-lessons to hit the different areas that need work. 

2 things I hope to do...

1. I know that I will buy very little at any craft fairs simply because I already know what most people are getting BUT I do love seeing the creativity that is out there. And, I need some more crocheted dish cloths which I get at one particular craft fair each year. I am hoping to go to Dunbar's craft fair next Saturday. 
2. And on the handmade note...I have started a project that I am hoping to have done by Christmas. If not, it will turn into a birthday present for the new year. I would tell you more about it but the person it is for reads this blog so you'll just have to wait and see!

1 thing I'm happy to do...
1. My mother started making a special Christmas cookie sometime in my childhood. Can't remember a Christmas without them. The cool thing about them is that they hang on the tree! Now that my mother is unable to do things like follow a recipe, I have taken on the task. I make a double batch of dough every other year and then freeze half of it. I will be making the dough this week. The cookies turn out better if the dough is refrigerated for at least a couple of days before baking. I'll be sure to post the recipe when it is cookie baking time!

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Craftworks

I wanted to do a shout out for a fabulous organization here in town. If you are needing some great gift ideas for the holidays, look no further!!!!

Have you ever heard of Craftworks? It is an organization that offers adults with disabilities the opportunity to create wonderful handmade items. 

Oh, and I should say upfront, that I am in no way connected to this organization and have not been given any sort of remuneration for this post. I just love their stuff! 

The ornaments are my favourite! I especially love the Richard Scarry ornaments from my childhood. They bring back such good memories. (I learned to read with his books. Check out the link to one of my all time fave books!) And the newer First Nations ornaments are pretty spectacular with all of the detail in them. 

Check it out!

I meant to get this post written while Circle Craft was still on because they had a booth there but, alas, the week got away from me!!

But, wait! You can still get these items at a sale near you! (I always wanted to sound like an infomercial!!!!)

They will be at Candytown on the 22nd. So, mark it down on your calendar and get yourself down to Yaletown for Candyland next weekend!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Lest We Forget

We spent a lot of time this past week talking about peace and Remembrance Day. I wanted to share with you today, on Remembrance Day, some of the wonderful ideas our class came up with.

First, here are some examples of the PEACE acrostic poem that we wrote with our big buddies.

I love the last one where A stands for active helping. Now wouldn't this world become 150% better if every single person became an active helper?!?!

And here are the poppies we made in Community Arts & Crafts...

We did some activities before making these poppies. It was a two day process with all 92 students in our community. 

On day one, we read Todd Parr's book called The Peace Book ( I got smart about reading a book to 92 students at once and photographed all the images so that I could put the book on the smartboard!) and then we brainstormed all the many things that peace can be before doing our own writing. We made the poppies on day two and added our writing to them. I am hoping that they are gracing front doors and refrigerators all through our school neighbourhood!

Here's the book we read. If you haven't read it, you need to. In fact, you can't really go wrong reading any of Todd Parr's books. He is awesome!!! You can check out his website here. And to find out more about the book you can click on the picture of it below...

I am always humbled by the ideas that children can come up with for these types of activities. Sometimes I think that if all the adults in the world would follow the advice of children, we would have a much happier and peaceful world!

Here are some of their thoughts...

Peace is...

• being kind
• having food
• wishing on a sun
• helping people
• having toys
• skating
• having fun with friends
• sleeping
• school
• wonderful
• recycling
• having dreams
• planting trees
• reading to myself
• watching birds fly in the sky
• playing with my dog
• sharing
• hugging
• spreading love
• having a house
• learning
• being me

And I have to share one of the Peace is... pieces in its entirety. This kid gets it big time!!!!

Can you read them all?

It says Peace is...

• giving love to someone you love
• saying something nice to someone
• being free
• having a family
• being a kind person
• being a nice expecter
• having a home
• being a great friend
• taking good care
• giving a present to someone
• a grateful world
• giving cards
• eating food

My favourite one? Being a nice expecter. When I asked her what she meant she said it meant expecting nice things all the time. As in, having a positive attitude, looking at the bright side, having a half full glass etc. I just love how she put it. Be a nice expecter. That's something I can totally get behind!

I hope that you find some inspiration in the words of these young people. Their wisdom far exceeds the amount of credit given to them. 

Wishing you a peaceful and gratitude filled day.

Cheers!

Olwyn 

Look what they made!!!!

There are times in our room when one or two children finish ahead of the other and they get to choose a Quiet Time Centre to go to for a few minutes. These centres are reading, writing, drawing or math tubs.

This year I have some die hard math tub kids. They are so into building and constructing. 

A huge favourite is building those long domino chains where you can knock over the first one and they all fall down in sequence. 

But this class is not about the boring, basic domino line. No way, no how! They are all about creativity. Check it out...

And notice that they don't just do this with dominoes. They have discovered that you can do the same things with our sorting squares as well. How cool is that!

Some of the kids just want to do good old fashioned building and balancing. Look at these...

And, then, there are the kids who just explore the manipulative and come up with a cool design like this one...

I love to see all of the ideas that they can come up with using very basic math manipulatives. 

So great to see creativity, problem solving and fun in action!!!!

Cheers!

Olwyn