Christmas Reflections

As I spent time this morning cleaning my room and making my Christmas thank-you list, I realized how blessed I was this Christmas! I got so many special things from so many special people in my life this year.

However, although it is nice to receive presents, and I am grateful for each one I received, sometimes it is easy to just get used to it.

Every year there are plenty of presents underneath our Christmas tree. I can't remember one year that I haven't gotten an overabundance of presents.

I am blessed with so much already, that at Christmas when I receive even more, I don't think I appreciate it as much as I should. Sometimes I feel like shouting - Please no more presents! I have too much already!! Every Christmas, this scene from Little House on the Prairie plays in my mind. The Ingalls didn't have much, and their Christmas presents didn't amount to much (in our eyes at least), but to them, they were overjoyed with the simple things they received. Sometimes I crave for those simple days gone by!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFrMLVcctvk&feature=related

What will I remember about this Christmas? Yes, I got some great presents, but what I will remember most is...

~Gathering around the table at my grandparent's house, hardly any elbow room, not enough seats to go around (not pictured: Alayna and I on a piano bench!), but enjoying a scrumptious Christmas Eve dinner together. Who knows how many more years ALL of us be together like this.

~Gathering around our dining room table on Christmas day playing Apples to Apples with my Nannie and Aunt Cheryl, laughing to the point of tears at times. It was the first year without my Pop-Pop. Last year we sang Christmas carols in his hospital room on Christmas Eve. Precious memories...

A time for tears and a time for laughter...

It is almost a guarantee that there will always be presents under the Christmas tree. However, sharing special moments with family may not always be a guarantee as time goes on. Family is what makes each Christmas the best Christmas ever!

Elementary Christmas Party

This was my 3rd year planning the games for the Elementary Christmas party. It's so much fun! As always, there was a competition between the Red team and the Green team.

Today we played a lot of fun games:

Candy Relay - Each team sat in a row of chairs. At the end of the row was a basket of candy. The person at the end would scoop out some candy with a spoon, and then they would pass the spoon to the person sitting next to them, and so on. The last person in the row would get up and run to the Christmas bag that was taped to the wall, and dump the candy in it. Everyone would slide down a chair, and the child who had dumped the candy in the bag would be the next one to scoop out more candy. Whichever team got the most candy in the bag when the Christmas music stopped was the winner.

Christmas Chaos - If you have ever played Fruit Basket Upset, this is the same idea just with Christmas names instead! Everyone sat in a circle in the room. I then labeled each of them either a star, tree, ornament or light. One chair was then taken away. A child stood in the middle of the circle, and called out a name or two. If your name was called, you had to get up and quickly scramble to another available seat. Whoever was left standing gave points to the other team. If you didn't feel like calling out specific names, you could just call out "Christmas Chaos!" and then everyone would have to get up and move to a new seat. Chaotic??? Oh, yeah!! :-)

Christmas Tree Creations - Each team got a certain amount of art supplies. They were then given 15 minutes to create a Christmas tree from the supplies they were given. As always, I am amazed to see how different Christmas trees can look even though both teams are given the same materials!

"Merry Christmas" Words - Both the girl and boy captain of each team were given a sheet of paper with the greeting "Merry Christmas" across the top. Each team was given 6 minutes to figure out how many words they could come up with that were inside that greeting. Was I ever shocked with how many words they found! If both teams had the same word, they had to cross it out and would not get any points. However, much to my amazement, both teams got over 20 words that the other team did not have! (And yes, spelling was checked for each word :-))

Christmas "Hang-Man" - Because hanging a man is just so gruesome, I changed it to a Christmas tree with 5 ornaments on it. Each team was given a certain amount of words with different point values based on the size of the word. If they said a letter that was not in the word, one of their ornaments would be knocked off the tree. Although there were times when all the ornaments were knocked off the tree, each team did a pretty good job at guessing the words!

After all the games were over, they watched a short Christmas movie, had a gift exchange, and then ate a scrumptious lunch made by Mrs. Lytle.

What a fun, and yes, chaotic time it was! My clipboard was my trusted friend, keeping track of points and sometimes acting as a shield against these crazy kids! Well, okay, they weren't THAT bad. :-)

Thanks to Sarah A., we were able to capture many of the fun moments on camera. Seeing how I did a video slide show for the Kindergarten party, I simply HAD to do one for the Elementary party...to be fair, of course, right? ;-)

Enjoy!

Christmas Party at Teacher's House

I had soooo much fun today with my kiddos! After an early lunch (they were quite anxious to get going!), we headed to my house for our Christmas party. I had never attempted something like this at my house before, so I was slightly apprehensive, but no need to worry - everything went GREAT! They had so much fun rolling out the cookie dough, picking out their cookie cutter shapes, and then decorating them later. While the cookies were baking and cooling, they watched a short Christmas video. We also did our gift exchange. Instead of having mass chaos with wrapping paper flying everywhere, I decided to do it in an organized fashion. :-) Our recliner became the "present opening" seat. Everyone else sat on the floor while one child would open all their presents that the others had bought for them at the "store". This gave each child a chance to fully appreciate what they received, and to give a proper "thank you" to whomever had purchased it! However, when they opened the gift I gave them, I let them do it all at once, so wrapping paper was flying then. But at least it wasn't chaotic the WHOLE time!

Thanks to Andy who was there a little bit before leaving for work, I was able to get lots of pictures of our baking/decorating/present opening adventure today. Instead of posting a blog entry that would be a mile long filled with pictures, I decided to put together a video slide show. Oh what fun that was! I think I am addicted.... :-)

Enjoy!

Christmas Shopping

Today I took my kiddos Christmas shopping...

If you are envisioning this frazzled teacher pushing along a shopping cart making sure her 4 energetic students don't get lost in the rushing crowds of the crazy mall, you are QUITE mistaken. :-)

My first year teaching I did actually go Christmas shopping with my kiddos at a nearby dollar store, but I soon concluded that was not going to be an every year occurrence!

Now I bring the store to my students! I purchase some dollar items to add to our "store", and coupled with what already is in our "prize box", there ends up being quite the selection. For the past two months, my kiddos have been saving up their "treasure" specifically for this Christmas shopping extravaganza. (Treasure is something they can earn each day if they have followed the class rules, and haven't lost any smiley faces to Mr. Sad Bear -the behavior chart in the classroom. :-)) From saving up all their treasure these past two months, their glasses were almost overflowing with treasure today! They were so excited to finally be able to "buy" Christmas presents for their friends.

This afternoon I set up the "store" in the next room, and I took the children in one by one so they could purchase a gift for their 3 friends. If they had treasure left over, they were allowed to buy something for themselves. Surprisingly, all went rather well, and as I wrapped up each selected gift, they wrote out the name tags to put on top of each one.

I think what they enjoyed the most was the secrecy of it all. They did ask me if they were allowed to say, "I bought a present for each of my friends," to which I assured them that was okay because it was not giving any secrets away.

The presents piled high...

The presents now wait anxiously underneath my Christmas tree, and are greatly anticipating being ripped apart on Wednesday when my kiddos come over to my house for a Christmas party.

Christmas and the teacher's house all in the same week?! Yes, my kiddos are bursting with the excitement of it all. :-) Now I just have to prepare my house for 4 rambunctious kiddos!! If I survive it all, I will be sure to post pictures!

Christmas Fun with Friends

On Thursday, my Mom and I met up with friends to enjoy some Christmas fun in Lancaster. We met up at Shady Maple Smorgasbord (the best eating place ever!) and then headed off to Sight & Sound Theatres. We were actually able to see TWO shows in one day! One at the larger Millennium theatre, and one at the smaller Living Waters theatre. I have never been to two shows in one day, so that was fun!

We went to the Millennium theatre first and saw "Miracle of Christmas", which was about the Christmas story. My mom and I had actually seen this show twice already, but the Christmas story can never get old!

When the show was over and we stepped outside, we discovered that the world had turned a snowy white while we had been indoors! It almost felt "magical" to step out of the theatre and be greeted by the snow gently falling down around us! It definitely fit the Christmas spirit of the day! :-)

We had about 45 minutes or so till we had to be at our next show, so we decided to browse around one of Sight & Sound's gift shops nearby called "Noah's Landing". When Elizabeth and I had gone to Lancaster back in the summer, we had searched and searched for this place and never found it. While they had been shopping the day before, Elizabeth discovered where it was, so of course, I just had to go there to fulfill that "need" I had back in the summer!

Elizabeth and I always get together during the heat of summer, so it felt weird to see each other in cold weather...but a good weird :-)

We THOROUGHLY enjoyed the next show "Voices of Christmas" in the smaller theatre. We got to see where a lot of the Christmas traditions originated from, and even the history of some of the Christmas carols. I think my favorite part was when they talked about the history of the song "Silent Night", and all the actors/actresses on stage lit candles, and then had the audience join in singing "Silent Night" with them. They turned off all the lights in the theatre, and there was no background music. It was just all of our voices blending together in the flickering candlelight. I must admit, I got a bit choked up at that moment!

The show was such a mixture of songs, instruments, scenes, and costumes! However, for every Christmas song or Christmas tradition they mentioned, they would always show how it pointed back to Christ. Wow, I could probably go on and on with how much I enjoyed it! Sadly, its in its final season, and you only have till December 30 to go see it. Sooooo if you hurry, there might be tickets left! It is definitely a fun Christmas show for the whole family to go see! :-)

Needless to say, it was a definitely a fun day with friends as we enjoyed the Christmas season together!

Playing Ball with Daisy

Daisy LOVES her tennis balls! We have had so much fun playing ball with her. Watching her run after the balls and bring them back to us still amazes us quite a bit because Christy never saw the need to do such things! Give her a tennis ball and she would just tear it to shreds! Oh well :-) Daisy on the other hand is quite attached to them. So when I took her outside today, I thought I would snap some pictures of her and her beloved tennis balls. :-)

I want that ball...


I want that ball so badly I can almost taste it...(notice the tongue!)

See! I'll always bring it back to you!

If I can find it...

And if I don't have to travel too too far!

Pleeeeeease!! Throw it just one more time!!

Okay, I need to catch my breath for a bit.

Bible Verse Songs - Take 2

Last week I tried recording my kiddos singing some more Bible verses. Well, as I mentioned before that didn't go so well, so I thought I would give it another try today! Here they all are - complete with yawns, serious (concentrated) facial expressions, and, at times, "less-than-enthusiastic" voices! :-)

Proverbs 1:7

Psalm 118:24

Psalm 124:8

II Peter 3:18

It just cracks me up with how they keep repeating the phrase "but grow in grace..." in the II Peter 3:18 song. I ended up shutting off the camera and telling them the song was over so they would stop singing! Gotta love it! :-)

Study Buddy?

Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on income tax accounting homework when you have an adorable dog laying down at your feet?!

Little Sheep

So the other day we were talking about perhaps dressing up for Christmas, and I mentioned to my kiddos that I thought I had something in the closet they could use to dress up like sheep. Mention something like that, and do you think they are going to forget about it? Never! So this morning they asked me if I could get out the sheep costumes I had told them about. After rummaging around for a bit, I finally found them in the back of the closet. Were they ever thrilled to put on these sheep hats! They wore them upstairs for snack time and even during recess!

These sheep hats have been around our school for...well...forever! I decided to look through some old yearbooks to see if I could find any pictures, and I soon found this...

I would be the rather TALL sheep in the front. Yikes! This was from my 1st grade yearbook, so these sheep hats have been around for at least 18 years!!

To Record or Not to Record

This morning I got out my camera so I could record my kiddos singing the days of the week, and a few Bible verse songs. So with lots of enthusiasm, they performed these tasks, and I happily recorded them all....or so I thought. When they gathered around me to watch the video clips, I discovered I had made a rather odd blunder. I thought I had pressed down the record button before they started, but, alas, when they finished their song and I pushed the button to stop the recording, it was then that I actually started recording! So instead of catching the performances, I got a lot of "behind the scenes" footage. It wasn't just for one song. It was for every-single-song! I seriously don't know what I was doing! I was rather disappointed I hadn't captured the songs, and I knew I wouldn't get my kiddos to do it all over again. However, I did get them to redo their "Days of the Week" song! Recognize the tune?? ;-) They were supposed to clap at certain parts, but instead some took the whole "sound effects" approach!

Christmas Decorating

This week the Kindergartners have been busy getting the classroom all decorated for Christmas. On Monday, they painted Christmas trees and ornaments...

Today they decorated their Christmas trees by gluing on the ornaments...

Here are a few of the finished trees...

On Wednesday and today, the kiddos worked together on coloring a Christmas Story poster. Although they had fun coloring it, by the end of today, their hands were getting quite tired! ;-)

The finished product looks great hanging on the wall in classroom!

So now the classroom is fully decorated for Christmas! It's amazing how many decorations you put up for one month of the year. ;-) Tis' the joy of the season!!

Meet Daisy

Let me introduce you to Daisy, our special house guest for a couple of weeks!



Isn't she adorable?!

Talk about a "deja vu" feeling! Daisy looks a lot like Christy, and some of the mannerisms are so similar. Tonight as we were sitting around the living room as a family, I had to remind myself that this was Daisy, not Christy! It feels like we have gone back in time when another dog was laying at our feet, content as could be. I had forgotten what it was like to have a dog around the house. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks!

And in case you are wondering if this dog will get spoiled, check out where she slept last night in my room...

Yes, I think she'll survive.....;-)

The Day before Thanksgiving

We read about the first Thanksgiving in Social Studies, and the kiddos got to color a picture of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving feast.

Then, they got to create their own turkeys by tracing their hand, and adding what features they wanted. It's amazing how unique turkeys can be! ;-)

We played some fun Thanksgiving games. The favorite was definitely "Feed the Pilgrims!" A bunch of turkeys were scattered all around the classroom. Each time a student read a word or identified a number correctly, they were allowed to go hunting for a turkey. They then had to give it to the Pilgrim who was trying to find food for his family for the Thanksgiving feast.

Do you think he has enough turkeys to feed his family??

My kiddos were quite happy with how many turkeys they found to help this poor Pilgrim out! :-)

We also played another Turkey game, where each turkey had different pictures on their feathers. The children would flip over a letter card, and they would have to figure out which picture started with that letter sound. They would then cover up the picture with that card. Whoever covered up all their turkey feather pictures first was the winner. It was quite fun! We also played a Thanksgiving picture domino game. If you go here you can find the Thanksgiving domino game that we played!

On Friday, the kiddos dressed up like Indians. Today they got to wear Pilgrim hats!

Towards the end of our fun day, my kiddos joined the rest of the Elementary students for a Thanksgiving brunch! What a feast! They had pancakes, cinnamon apples (to put on top of the pancakes), sausage, juice and hot chocolate! What a sticky, sweet, yummy treat it was! :-)

Our Thanksgiving Tree - Day #5

Today my kiddos were thankful for:

1. God
2. Food
3. Christmas Eve
4. Puzzles
5. Painting
6. Daddy
7. Mommy
8. Grammy
9. Coats
10. My castle
11. Birthdays
12. Horses
13. Cats
14. Toys

This Thanksgiving Tree has been so much fun! It has definitely taught my kiddos to think of things to be thankful for. Although, as you have probably noticed, some things have been repeated, and some things may have a "Huh?" attached to it, but that's okay! We are supposed to be thankful for EVERYTHING! Last night at church, I said that I was thankful for my "enthusiastic Kindergarten class", and indeed I am! They make teaching loads of fun. :-) If I am ever feeling low, their smiles and sweetness always brighten my day. Oh, to have the "carefree spirit" of a 5 year old! :-)

But just look how far this tree has come! From being bare and lonely, to being overflowing with bright and colorful leaves! And all this thankfulness from just 4 students....What a blessing!

How many leaves in total, you may ask? I have no idea....every time I try to count them, I get all jumbled up. Feel free to try to figure it out and let me know! :-)

Our Thanksgiving Tree - Day #4

Today my kiddos were thankful for:

1. Thanksgiving
2. teachers
3. Juliana
4. turkey
5. family
6. Kindergarten
7. Thanksgiving tree
8. Mom
9. Phonics class

Our Thanksgiving Tree - Day #3

Today my kiddos were thankful for:

1. family
2. house
3. turkey
4. Thanksgiving
5. Juliana
6. phonics
7. everybody
8. Aidan
9. my birthday
10. writing letters
11. school work
12. our classroom
13. Grace
14. my room
15. cats
16. American flag
17. play kitchen
18. friends
19. swings
20. puppies
21. Fall
22. letters

Don't my kiddos look adorable in their Indian costumes? :-) They were soooooo excited to dress up like Indians today in honor of the Indians who helped the Pilgrims find food that first Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving Tree - Day #2

Today my kiddos were thankful for:

1. Field trips
2. Jesus
3. Classroom
4. Christmas
5. Miss Follett
6. Reading
7. Leah
8. Numbers
9. Letters
10. Friends
11. Carpet
12. Books

Roadside America & McDonalds

What a FUN day it has been! The children have been SOOOO excited about this field trip ever since they heard about it a few weeks ago. It has been the talk of the classroom! It was a great way to finish up our community helper section in Social Studies and introduce our next section - learning about our country!

We actually all fit inside one vehicle for this field trip, which was a lot of fun! They were definitely a hyper bunch of kiddos on the way to Roadside America. When we were about 5 minutes away, I told them we would play the "Quiet Game", and when we parked at Roadside America, then they could give a big cheer! The few minutes of "silence" were definitely enjoyed by Alison (Leah's Mommy) and me!

Roadside America may not look like much from the front, but when you enter the room, it's quite amazing!

The children had so much fun pushing buttons - watching trains, trolleys, windmills, cable cars, oil wells, circus parades, and steam rollers move around!

There were 3 different levels, so you got a different view from each level. Of course, they thoroughly enjoyed being at the top level!

If you look real close at the following picture, you'll see the kiddos across the room enjoying being at the top level!

The highlight of Roadside America was definitely watching the "night time scene". All the main lights slowly dim - like the sun is setting - until it is all dark, except for the lights in the buildings and trains. They then light up the American flag and Statue of Liberty, and play the song "God Bless America." They all seemed to thoroughly enjoy it!

~Miss Follett with her Foursome~

It's tradition...unless it is raining, you simply have to get a picture in front of the Amish farmers when visiting Roadside America! It was rather blustery out today, but I still was determined to get that picture before we left! ;-)

We then headed off to McDonald's for lunch! The children were excited to be there, but at this point they just wanted to quickly eat their meal so they could play, and weren't too interested in smiling for "camera-happy" me! Oh well! :P

Surprisingly, although it was lunchtime, we pretty much had the place to ourselves! The few children that were there quickly became friends with my kiddos and made play time even more fun! The blue twisty slide was definitely the hit!

Way up high, having fun :-)

Before we headed back to school, they got to enjoy an ice cream cone!

I think my kiddos would be thrilled if we could just move Roadside America and McDonald's play area into our classroom. ;-) They definitely seemed to have a great time!!