A Little of This, and a Whole Lot of THAT! (catch up)

YAY!  I’m back.  It seems like forever since I’ve posted.  Let’s see, there was Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Las Vegas Tournament, Cyber Monday, Pizza, and a funeral for a dear friend’s dad.

So, I guess it really hasn’t been forever, just a very.long.two.weeks!

Let’s get down to business.  Christopher and I spent our Thanksgiving in Las Vegas for a Showcase Tournament.  My sweet hubby stayed back for work {he has a very big adventure in front of him...more on that later}  So, I was one of four parent chaperones on the trip.  They all nominated me to be “the boss” of eighteen 16/17 year old boys...on the strip.  Turned out, our boys were well behaved and had a great night out.

I’m linking up with 

for the When i was in....Linky Party.

This is my kindergarten picture.  Eons ago.  I adored my teacher, Mrs. Reising.  Good times were had!  We had a big read carpet where we would gather and she played the piano, we finger painted, and had a to-die-for home center.  Mrs. Reising, (I know you’re in heaven) THANK YOU!  I became a teacher because of you!!!

The week after Thanksgiving and before Advent and all things Christmas, I do a Pizza Unit.  I love pizza!  We had a great time this week.  All activities here (and then some) can be found in my unit.  We will be making our pizza on Monday.  I didn't think I would get the sub ever again if I put this on her plate on a Friday afternoon.

This little guy made his into a headband : )

I Have...Who Has (love these faces)

Smellykin is really not so smelly anymore...although I could (should) have tossed him out long ago, I really enjoy seeing the changes.  And still love hearing the kiddos describing Smellykin.  Here is his progress:

The week before Thanksgiving my high school and college roommate called with the news that her father had been put in hospice.  We immediately jumped in the car.  Growing up, this man was always around to drive us to the mall, to the movies, or would bring us pizza when we were cramming for exams.  My friend’s son and Christopher are also the same age, so he was like a second grandpa.  It was a hard day.

I explained to my kiddos that I would be out for the afternoon because I had to go to a funeral.  One little sweetie came up to me and this was our conversation: 

Sweetie: “Ms. Solano say it again, what is a funeral?”

Me: “When someone dies people gather at the church to celebrate that special person.”

Sweetie: “So will he ever come back?”

Me: “No honey, he’s in heaven with God watching over us now.”

Sweetie:...after a long pause with confusion in her voice... “Hmmm, that’s really not good.”  

She gently tapped my arm and skipped back to her table.

I love my kids!  I know I can always count on them to cheer me up and warm my heart.

I’ll be back next week (pinky promise) as our Elf will be making his debut in room 5.

Stone Soup

This past week was a wee bit crazy!  But we all had a blast and had some great learning moments!

Our classroom aid was out all week so I kept our centers pretty low key.  I managed two centers and the other eight were very independent.  I must say that my Littles are very good when it comes to showing responsibility.

Here is one of the new Lakeshore activities I purchased a few weeks ago.  

I whipped this little Word Family recording sheet to go along.

My proud little workers!

On the SmartBoard I put up....yep, you guessed it, Lakeshore activities.  They LOVE being able to work the SmartBoard independently!

Here is another one of the Lakeshore centers I found:

Stone Soup

This was our big activity of the week.  We read two different versions of the fable and compared them (I made a venn diagram, but forgot to take a picture).  After reading the story, we went outside and searched for a small smooth stone.  I had several families bring vegetables to add to our soup.  Before recess we worked together and added all of the yummy vegetables to the crockpot (they watched as I chopped).  We put the stone in and let the soup cook all morning. 

(yes, I washed the stone with hot soapy water before adding it)

 They ate it up! 

I even had a few of my Littles ask for seconds! 

Together we made this fun little craftivity.  I had the construction paper already pre-cut into small squares or rectangles.  I read the story again, and as a new item was “shared” we cut it out and added it to our pot. 

Next week is going to be very short and filled with lots of goodness.  Monday is our Primary Thanksgiving Feast.   And Wednesday is our Grandparent’s Day Celebration.  Each grade level will be performing as our visitors enjoy a catered breakfast.  

My Littles will be singing Albuquerque Turkey...A.DORABLE!