2013...Already..REALLY?!?

It seems like 2012 came and went in the blink of an eye.  It was such a tough year for my family for so many reasons...but we made it through!  We are so lucky that we have the family and friends that we do!  My husband found a job a week after being laid off from a job that he had been at for almost 20 years, my mom had a kidney transplant and my son's hair grew back after it fell out in February because of Alopecia.  With the loving support and prayers from friends all the hardships we faced turned out well! :)

This week was a pretty tough one for me.  I learned that a teacher I taught with my first 9 years of teaching passed away.  She was the sweetest, kindest, most patient woman that I knew.  She was always smiling and was so nice to everyone.  During her service I saw many of the people that I taught with in the beginning of my teaching career.  I realized how much I missed all of them. SO.MUCH!  They were like family to me. Maybe it was because I started teaching there when I didn't have kids and left that school after giving birth to two of my kids.  Maybe it was because we were a smaller school and had 3, 4 or 5 people on our team.  Or maybe it was because everyone geninuly cared for one another and looked out for one another.  I ran into both of the principal's I worked for.  It was nice to see them.  It's sad that someone's passing away is what brought us all back together again...for a couple hours this week.  Time goes by quickly...It did make me appreciate my teammates, past and present.  We are each other's family.

During the month of December, we did so many fun activities.  We were talking about story elements.  We read several different versions of The Gingerbread Man/Girl and compared the stories to one another.  We discussed where the stories took place, who the characters were, what the problem was and what the solution was.  At the end of the week we made a Gingerbread Girl.  The cooks put her in the oven and called us when the timer when off.  When we got back, she was gone.  They sprinkled flour on the floor and put tiny footprints in it.  There was a note left on the oven giving us clues as to where else she might be hiding.  We looked all over.  In one note she told us to write her letters and tell her why she should come back.  We wrote letters and put them in the office.  Our high potential teacher had one of her classes respond to the letter's pretending they were the GB girl.   It was so cute and the kids were so excited. 

 

 

We also made Gingerbread Houses.  It was a fun afternoon.  Many of our parents came to help out.  I really love this time of the year. 



We have been talking about compound words.   You can find an activity that I will be doing with my class on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

You can find it by clicking here...

 

Compound Words