It has been awhile...

     

So...what have I been doing? NOT thinking about work....

In the time that I have been off-track (being on C track means that I have a break from Thanksgiving through New Years), I have been BUSY! Most of my busy-ness has not been work related!

Here are some of the things that I did while I was on vacation...

1) I did complete my trade days assignment. I got to work in a special education kindergarten classroom...and I LOVED every minute of it! Maybe it was knowing that some of these kiddos would be mine next year...or that we got to do crafts all week...but we had a GREAT time! One of my favorite projects...

These snowmen were SO cute...and worked on so many skills! They had  to write their name, choose their snowman's accessories, and some worked on cutting. One of the best parts of these activities is the ability to individualize the work that they do. One of the students in this class is blind...so his snowman words a little different. He is working on braille, so we had to build his name using braille (the letters were only for the teachers).

 2) The day after I finished my trade days assignment, my family and I headed to Minnesota to celebrate the holidays with family. It was crazy busy! We stayed for 10 days, and we fit in so much in those 10 days that we sometimes feel we need a vacation from our vacation. On this vacation, we introduced the Elf on the Shelf for my 5 and 7 year old boys. THEY LOVED HIM! We actually have TWO elves--Cliff and Ben! We decided to do two elves because we split the time between the grandmas....and since you cannot touch your elf (a rule my 7 year old took very seriously), we needed 2 elves.

Why did I discuss the Elf on the Shelf here?? I am really thinking about introducing the Elf on the Shelf to my classroom when I switch calendars (within the next 2 years!) My elf will be used in the classroom to introduce our daily art project, cooking activity or other FUN event for the day...because I can tell you...I am SCARED when my class goes modified traditional...

 3) We baked cookies...well we decorated cookies and cake pops for Christmas...here are the CUTE cake pops that I did...after everyone went to bed...

4) Finally...my favorite gift...I got an EYE-FI connector for my camera...if you haven't seen/heard of it...it is very COOL!

This very cool device links your digital camera (mine is a digital SLR) Once you take a picture, it saves your picture automatically to your computer...and will also put it online...very cool! I am excited to use it...both for my classroom and for personal use!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far! 

12 in '12

I thought I would join up too...something to keep my blog up to date...so here is my 12 in '12.

http://www.ateenytinyteacher.com/

12.  Favorite movie you watched

This is only easy for me because I haven't watched many movies this year. Between raising two boys and working, movies seem to be the last thing that I get to do...so I would say it is between two movies...Hunger Games and The Rise of the Guardians....and my favorite would have to be Guardians!

I love the story...and I love the effects! It is a wonderful movie! If you haven't seen it, I would definitely recommend it!

11.  Favorite TV Series

This one is actually hard  for me. I have a whole line up of shows that I watch...so my favorite show varies depending on the day...I would have to say that my very favorite show...is Law and Order: SVU...I could watch those marathon's all weekend...and that is what I watch on Netflix when I work out....

10.  Favorite Restaurant

I am so boring. I don't really think I have a favorite restaurant. Our family favorite is Red Robin...YUM!

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9.  Favorite new thing you tried

I haven't tried very much this year. I can say that I went on my first Disney Cruise...that was AWESOME! I don't know if I would say that it was a favorite thing I tried...but it was so much fun! And...as a family...we cannot wait to do another one!

8.  Favorite gift you received

I don't really receive a lot of gifts...and honestly...I don't  really mind. My house is cluttered enough as it is! 

With that said...I would have to say my favorite gift is a gift I gave myself...moving to a new school! It was a lot of work getting everything packed, cleaned and unpacked...but it has been worth it! I love everything about my new school...the people that I work with, the students that I am with...everything!

7.  Favorite thing you pinned

A pretty simple picture that I pinned...but the reason that it is my favorite is that I have made these bottles for my students...and they LOVE them! I use them all of the time...my kids use them to calm down, look at...we talk about color mixing, etc. 

And just to let people know...I have pinned 876 pins and 307 likes! WOW! I am crazy! I can also say that I have a lot of favorite pins...depending on the board...LOL...

6.  Favorite blog post

I don't know if I have a favorite blog post...maybe it is because I have just started...but no favorite blog post yet...

5.  Favorite accomplishment

This is hard too! I don't know if I have had very many accomplishments this year...sometimes I think that my greatest accomplishment is that I get up each morning and can still smile when I get to work!

4.  Favorite picture

This is a picture we took sitting outside in our backyard. I believe it was October or November already...beautiful weather...

3.  Favorite memory

I would have to say my favorite memory of this year was the Disney cruise that we went on! It was awesome! The entire family had a great time on our cruise. We also did a family cruise to South Dakota...a lot of fun visiting Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and all of the other sites!

2.  Goal for 2013

I am kind of excited for 2013! I have a birthday to bring it in (I am a New Year's Baby, after all!) So, to celebrate, we are going to the Rose Parade...I am so excited! But, I digress...that is not my goal! My goal is to spend more time with my family...Isn't that every teacher's goal!

1.  One little word (ala Farley)

Rested! Why RESTED?? I am Off-track...at least that can be my One little word until I go back to work in January...LOL...

And that's my 12 in 12. I hope I didn't bore you too much!

It has been a LONG time!!

Sorry for the delay! It has been a crazy few weeks...or months...haha...but while most teachers are preparing for the holiday season, my students went off track from Thanksgiving through New Years. The only good thing for you (and for me) is that I get to catch up on some of the things that we have done...and prepare for some of the things that we have coming up.

In the time since I have posted last (before Halloween, I believe), we were pretty busy! We celebrated Halloween with pumpkin activities. We celebrated Veteran's Day with some activities and a few veterans came to our school. We talked a little turkey talk before going on vacation! I will do a photo dump here of all of the different things that we did before we went off track...It will be fun to show in pictures!

So first...Halloween!

Here are some of the crafts that we did.

Our circle pumpkin. 

We did some fine motor activities.
We got to string beads and make a necklace!

Our pumpkin day activities...

We gutted a pumpkin...my students  LOVED the
feel of the insides of the pumpkin.

In learning about our pumpkin, we talked about the size,
the feel of the pumpkin, how tall and round it is (using string
and cubes to measure the pumpkin). 

Our carved pumpkin. Pretty generic face, but my students
enjoyed telling me the shapes for the parts of the face.

Some other activities we did on Halloween...

We did a spooky graphing page!

We practiced counting skills...putting pumpkin pompoms
on a vine...

 Our Thanksgiving turkey page...We used Q-tips to decorate the turkeys. I then cut them out and mounted them! Very cute!

For Veteran's Day...A cute poem, with their hand prints attached!

So, a busy few months! A lot of crafts and activity happening!

I know that I still need to review the other sections of the curriculum that I use...BASICS2...hopefully later in the week...