Back in the Swing of Things

The first week back to school after 17 days of Christmas bliss is.....

Well, I'll leave the blank for you to fill in.  All I know is that besides the getting up early part, I also had a hard time figuring out what to wear.  See I love warm cozy jammies, jeans, my Danskos, sweats and slippers.  Reading between the lines you can clearly see that *casual* is NOT part of our dress code.  Oh, and not being able to take a mid morning nap, aaaaaaannnd, an afternoon nap {I like to sleep}.

Anyway, I thought when the kiddos came in on Tuesday morning, it would be post Christmas mayhem.  Excited kids howling about what Santa brought.  But it wasn't.  Nothing.  Not even a hey guess what I got.  It was like they were in a drug induced coma.  The day was smooth sailing.  No arguing.  No running.  No shouting across the classroom.  My new student teacher thought she was in heaven.

Then came Wednesday {queue in the dramatic music}.  Holy moly, you would have thought it was Christmas morning all over again or a full moon.  Or that their parents gave them a double shot of espresso, and a hand full of chocolate covered cherries prior to them entering the classroom.  There was arguing.  There was running.  And yes, shouting, lots of shouting.  My new student teacher knew for sure she was no longer in heaven.  

Welcome to Kindergarten Ms. R!!!

The remaining three days were full of reminding.  Where the folders go, how to hang up a coat, that we don't lay on the tables, and for sure mom is not allowed to disguise a full on Coca~Cola in a princess water bottle!!!

We did get in some puffy painting (aka glue and shaving cream).  We didn't get them finished since some of my little artists used like 7 pounds of paint and glue so they needed extra dry time. 

They love this stuff.  It amazes me how many kiddos don't get to this kind of stuff at home.

Pictures of the finished masterpieces will come soon.

Of course we had to have some free time.  This little group built a skyscraper out of the waffle blocks.

This ever-so-cute bulletin board was provided by Pre-k and Kindergarten.  It is in the main hallway.

This is what a couple of my littles see when they look outside their windows on a winter day.

Top: snow covered mountain and a blue bird
Bottom: a fantastic snowman and a tee covered in snow

I found this on Shannon's Kindergarten Hoppenings blog.

LOVE her stuff and she offers it for free!

{Shout Out to Shannon}

The kids used these snowflake stir sticks as pointers.

I found them at Michael's on clearance.

We did some journaling.

I love this one.  Emile can have a snowball fight and catch snowflakes on his tongue.

I hope your first week back was a great one!  I can't wait to read all your blogs and see what you have been up to.