day 373

My students have been working on earning popcorn and a movie for a couple of weeks. They finally earned enough points for it so we watched Monsters, Inc. this afternoon. I really enjoyed hearing their laughter and sharing that experience with them. :)

day 372

We had another yoga session with one of our parents today. It's so cute to watch.

day 352

Today is the last day of school before our winter break. We had Pajama Day (which always gets the kids wound up) so to try and end the day on a calm note, the mother of one of my students came in to do yoga with us. This is the second time she's come in and the kids did such a great job.

day 351

We put on a winter celebration this evening at school. The kids sang holiday songs, Amber's class played the recorder and Jody's class recited a poem. It was a lot of fun and a HUGE success.

day 350

Jim came in today to share some stories with our kids. It was a little strange to listen to him anywhere other than the Clear View auditorium but I loved hearing the reactions of the kids listening to him for the first time. As we walked back to class, one of my boys exclaimed, "That was so awesome! I loved every single story!"

Thank you so much Jim! It's so great to have you on campus - we really miss you!

day 348

We had a magic show this morning during our assembly. This isn't a terrific photo but it totally cracked me up that Amber was shooting me while I took pictures myself. We share a little joke about this because she doesn't really like having her picture taken and I'm always showing up with a camera in hand. Here's the shot I got of her right after I caught her...

day 343

Not much in terms of a photo but this provided me with a very warm heart today and I wanted to remember it...

day 336

While we were at the park yesterday, we befriended a little guy named Tyler. We set him up on the spinning disk and the kids turned him around and around for the longest time. It was really cute to see them watch over him and soak in his delight.

day 335

day 324

We had another swap meet in class today. The kids bring in things that they don't want anymore and sell them to one another, using our classroom money. It's a lot of fun to watch the kids negotiate with each other and to see their excitement when they buy things they really love.

day 322

Our little mouse, Snowflake, isn't looking so good. I think she may have had several seizures today - at least that's what it looked like - and she's just not being herself. The kids are very worried about her and kept a close eye on her all day. Ugh. This is the part of having pets that I just never get used to and it's even harder when you have a classroom full of little ones...

day 320

We read the story Frederick by Lio Lionni today. In the back of the book there were some directions for making paper cut-out mice (like in the story) so the kids begged me to make them. I caved in - the results were pretty darn cute. :)

day 317

I let the kids hold our pet toads this afternoon. They were so funny about touching them and were worried that they'd bite. These are the classroom moments that are so much fun to capture.

day 316

We made a list of family members who are in the military and wrote them letters of support and thanks in honor of Veterans Day. Love this one!

day 309

We went to the San Diego Air and Space Museum today so that we could check out the da Vinci Experience - in honor of our namesake, of course. After the visit, we headed over to the Pepper Grove Playground to have lunch and run off the kids' energy a bit. The Museum of Man's tower peeked at us through the trees and made for a beautiful backdrop.

day 308

I discovered that it is really difficult to photograph fish today. I just couldn't get the coloring/lighting right. This is Mr. D - he is so pretty and could make a terrific photo if I could just figure out the best way to capture him.

day 306

This is a bit of a cheat but the other shots I took today all had kids in them... we had a presentation from the Burn Institute and this is Firefighter Oscar. :)

day 303

Today, as a part of our Five Senses Fall Festival, I taught the kids to make these spider hats. I wish I could post the photos of the kids' smiling faces - even the 6th graders loved the hats!

day 302

This week was Red Ribbon Week, a time when we talk to the kids about saying no to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. We decorated the door with our anti-drugs - the things we like to do that keep us from getting involved with drugs. It was a theme that was used years ago that I always really liked. My kids are such great little artists! One of my girls suggested that we needed a sign so that the kindergartners wouldn't think we were saying all of these activities were drug-related. :)

day 300

I'm back from NY and back to work.

We received our pen pal letters today, from Carlisa's second graders. The kids were SO excited and wanted to read them out loud, have me read them out loud and talk about them incessantly. It was so much fun to see their excitement. :)