"I'm inferring..."

I love when little kids use big words. It's an added bonus when they even use it in the proper context. Throughout the year as I have been teaching different comprehension strategies, several "big" words kept popping up...prediction, connection, schema, mental image, stamina, etc. The new 1st grade word is "inference" (basically giving clues and facts to a prediction). The hysterical part is how much my students get into it. One of them even said "Mrs. Evans! It's like a math problem! Your schema + clues in the story = an inference!" They use it all day long now..."Mrs. Evans, I'm inferring that we are going to put a new poem in our journals because my schema tells me we do it every Tuesday, and I see the clue on my desk!" What a group worth teaching to, huh?

On one of our doors, we have started an "inferring challenge". I have put a bunch of riddles on the door, and they have to "infer" what animal is, and then tell me why. It has been simply precious to see what they have already put.

We won't reveal them all until the challenge is over!

"I'm inferring it is a platypus. Something tells me it is a platypus (I don't know what it is)"

"I'm inferring it is an octopus. I think it's a octopus because of my schema"

I wish I could post actual pictures of my kids...I captured them at random times throughout the day going over to that door to "make an inference". Love love love this job...

The beauty of Northern China...in winter.

This past weekend, Dave and I said goodbye to each other at 7:00am and didn't reunite until 6:00ish. I must say it was a bit wierd knowing that we were both in Shenyang, just doing different things. I was helping my good friend Julie with the "Treasure Island" play coming up this weekend while Dave explored the mountains with some friends. Little did he know that in February there would still be massive waterfalls that were frozen all the way through...how beautiful! A friend of his was able to capture the beauty that they saw on their hike...simply breathtaking.

As Josh would say... "Big Dave"

"Medium Dave"

"Little Dave" and HUGE waterfall!

While we do enjoy the winter, I am seriously looking for flowers to bloom and the green grass to come through the frozen ground.

It all goes downhill from here...

So I'm officially in my "hobby" groove. Buttons...check. Zippers...check. Thread...check. Sewing tools...check. Lots and lots of fabric...check. Looks like I'm ready to go! This past weekend, I searched through all of the piles of scraps searching for assorted fabrics I could use for future projects (shirts, skirts, bags, who knows?). For less than $15 dollars I got over 20 pieces of fabric to work with! Now I just have to choose one and go with it....that's the hardest part...so many to choose from.

I felt like it was one big joyous pile of leaves...I worked hard to get that all together!

My new little sewing area...and my organized fabrics.

Dave went out and helped me get a collapsable work table. It's just perfect!

Trying to scrunch/ruffle this fabric.....it's tricker than it looks.

Wish me luck with some more sewing endeavors! Thank you for all of you who have been cheering me on ;)