Teachable Thursdays

Sorry I missed all of you last night.  I had to bake a ton of cookies and if you've been following me you know that this requires great focus since I typically burn them.  I had one of you guys suggest getting a special type of pan, but I haven't gotten around to it.  So, instead, I decided not to blog and I had my husband set his phone timer.  What do you know I made 5 packages of cookies without messing up any of them - miracle!  Since I didn't blog yesterday, I am loaded with pictures and several funny stories.

First, my party was a hit!  We had sugar cookies for the kids to decorate and Grinch punch.  I have to say, I drank the Grinch punch and it was really good for being so simple.  I used Sprite and lime Sherbet.  We took the cups, put a scoop of sherbet in the cup, and added Sprite.  So simple for such a special drink.  After the kids finished their food items, I gave them their stockings.  The kids were extremely excited!  They kept their coloring books at school and took the rest of their stuff home.  To top it all off, I had all of their writing in the hallway before the parents came.  Here's a picture of one of my favorites.  If you like it, CLICK HERE to get it.

At the end of the day, when all the kids were gone, Disney decided to go a little overboard with his bad behavior.  Disney took streamers and ran them ALL over the room.  It was beautiful, but he was clearly trying to cause a problem.  Then, this morning a few little elves (1st grade teachers) joined him and helped him spray silly string all over my room.  At one point the rumor was it was elf throw up, but then we found the cans on the floor.  I'm not sure why Santa sent us such a hyperactive, goofy elf, but I had enough and insisted that today needed to be his last day.  Every first grader in the building knew he had gone too far this time.We left all of the silly string and streamers up until everyone had a chance to see and then we cleaned up towards the end of the day.  Disney has definitely kept us entertained over the last few weeks, but I will be thankful to have a little time to rest.  Up next - Larry the Leprechaun... oh, I'm going ahead and making a list now of what he is going to do.  Stay tuned!

After, Disney prepared the room, I decided that if I had gone this overboard, then I might as well go a little further.  A parent had sent in fake mustaches, so I thought it would fun to add some cute elf hats to the picture.  I saw a picture of one on Pinterest last week and thought it was great!  I started working on them and realized immediately they would be adorable, but time consuming.  The sweet speech teacher from across the hall came to say bye and ended up offering to help me.  I have to say, shout out to Christian because she saved my day (and got me home by 5:30).  I had already drawn all of the ears, so she started pulling out the cotton balls so they would go further and I started gluing the cotton to the bottom of the construction paper.  Yes, my kids could have done this, but I wanted them to have the hats in time for the 8:30 a.m. sing-a-long.  I had a feeling glue at 7:45 may not be dried by 8:30 if I didn't take care of it the night before.  Once I glued it on, I twisted the paper to make it like a hat.  I stapled it and added a piece of tape to make sure it would remain cone-shaped.  Christian then added a little more cotton to the back of the hats.  When we finished, we still had a few pieces of cotton left over, so we added cotton to the tops of the hats.  After that, we were done.  This morning, my kids picked up where we left of and cut their ears out.  Then, I attached their ears, gave them a mustache, and we were ready to go.  Here's a picture of one of my kids.  Typically, I won't use pictures, but this was too cute not to show you.  Since his mom works at my school, I asked her if I could pop it on here.  The hats turned out great!

Now, today not only did we have the sing-a-long and lunch in the classroom, but it was Polar Express/Pajama Day.  I'm not sure about you guys, but in first grade teachers always participate.  I have a pair of pajama pants I love, but I didn't have a shirt to go with them, so I got home last night and convinced my amazing husband to go with me to Old Navy.  I picked up this great pair of pajama pants for $8.  I know it's silly I'm posting about them, but really $8.  It's too good not to tell all of my fellow Polar Express/Pajama Day followers.  I also LOVE these green apple carbonated drinks.  I can't help but get one every time I go.  If you like sour, odd drinks, this is the drink for you :)  

Polar Express/Pajama Day was a ton of fun.  We ended up watching, drinking chocolate milk, and eating popcorn.  We used to do hot chocolate, but it always took awhile to get it to everyone.  Plus, it never failed that someone ended up unhappy with the temperature.  Last year we all switched to chocolate milk and it's been much easier.  

So, that's been my last two days.  I still feel that everything last week was extremely tragic, but I already see a little piece of good that has come.  I have watched parents jump to do anything possible for their kids this week and I've seen the same from teachers.  Personally, this has been one of my favorite weeks I've ever taught.  It's like I realize every second counts and I want to make sure to fill my kids' days with the best memories possible.  Weeks like this remind me I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm doing exactly what I was born to do.  

Have a great day tomorrow!