Sunday, December 18, 2011

Now it finally hits me...

that Christmas is approaching....and rather quickly I might add.

It's different for everyone. For some, the feeling starts when they decorate their house with red and green. For others, the feeling begins after they start singing the music and buying gifts. I'm usually one of those people. Yet this year with us teaching straight until the day before Christmas Eve and having our Christmas party before the break just seemed to "postpone" the seasonal awareness in my head. I need to start getting to grips with the fact that next weekend, half of our team will be out of the country for the next 5 weeks!

Just last night we had our staff Christmas party. I remember last year when planning this thing, I was a bit nervous because it was my first "big" event to run with over 50 people. This year though felt so different. It was so much fun to throw as well as be a part of! I think that's always a good sign when one of the event planners can actually kick back and enjoy their own party.
This year the arrangement for tables and a few whole group activities were the same, but I thought I'd add a few new touches. I saw this adorable idea at a wedding before where a patterned cloth and empty picture frames were against an empty wall. People could just randomly go up throughout the evening and use it as a photobooth! It was a hit! We also had a few things for the kiddos as well: pipe cleaner christmas trees, paper candy canes, and coloring sheets for the little ones. Everyone looked so happy throughout the whole thing. What a memorable evening.

Unfortunately, in all the hustle and bustle of the night I forgot to get my camera out and actually document the evening. Luckily for some faithful friends, they helped the memory to live on. And now...I'm finally in that Christmas time mood!


So excited to enjoy a nice loooooonng break with my hubby ;) Philippines here we come!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

A few new classroom touches

For some reason, as I was perusing through my latest posts, I forgot to publish this one! This is a couple of weeks old, but it is just a few new things that I added to my classroom.

Remember that McDonald's word wall to inspire interesting words? Well, here it is! And the kids are actually "lovin' it".


IKEA may think these are hot pads, but Lauren Evans thinks they are mini cork boards for arranging classroom groups!


My kids love to recommend books to each other, so I adapted some ideas to work for them...in a more quiet and less interrupting way. This is inside of our little "book nook". Each week, I might put up a different series or couple books from the same author. Once the kids have time to go over and read each book, they move their face to yes or no (will they recommend it or not?)


"But Mrs. Evans, what about books that we read and just HAVE to tell our friends about?" So then this was created...


Hey if childish giggling and wriggling excitement comes from sharing book titles, I'm one happy teacher!


Wish me luck as I go into the last week before Christmas break...quite a busy one.