Happy Holidays

It's here! It's here! Christmas break! Half of our 4th grade year is over. We had a very busy day today during our last day before break. We started off our day with a morning sing along in the gym. When we got into the gym, we saw that it was decorated with lights strung across the ceiling and the stage was decorated and lit up. I was invited up to the stage to participate and lead the school along with Mrs. Ogborn, Mr. Michel, and Mrs. Grabner in a schoolwide Christmas macarena. I've got some great moves. I'm not very good at stage diving as we would all find out.
We then went to Mrs. Robben's room and read some Christmas stories with a first grade classroom. During that time, we practiced our technical reading and writing by creating a life saver train because they had just read The Polar Express. After we were finished with that, we read Christmas stories to each other and made hot chocolate. It was fun to share the spirit of the holidays with a younger group.
For lunch, we all (yes, even me) ate in the gym. I sat with all the girls for a little while, and can those girls talk. Whoa! I then moved over to sit with the boys.
In the afternoon, we were treated to a puppet show put on by our specials teachers from the building. I then participated in the Heusner staff adaption of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I had the honor of being the partridge in the pear tree. It was fun. But the narrator read so fast it was hard to keep up. I think she did that on purpose. I worked up a sweat.
Finally, came our Christmas party. Now, our parties aren't anything special. They are actually quite relaxing and enjoyable. I made a classroom CD for each student which included their favorite songs and some music we listen to often in class. We played the class CD, unwrapped gifts and goodie bags and talked with our friends. Now that the day is over, we are all ready for our long awaited winter break. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope you are refreshed when we return after the break!

Happy Holidays!

Substitutes and Incredible Reindeer

This week was very busy. Our classroom had a substitute two days this week. On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to go to a workshop on using blogs in the classroom, which I think we do rather well. I got a lot of great ideas and helpful hints to make blogging more effective in class. It was equally enjoyable knowing that our class was being respectful and working hard for the sub. I just love getting rave reviews from substitutes, it makes me so proud. *Tear* The next day, we had Miss Donahey, a student teacher in our building, as a "sub". I say "sub" because although I was still in and out of class, Miss Donahey wanted to see what it would be like to sub in a classroom, since she will have to start doing it in January.

Last month we performed our Integrated program in front of the whole school, this month it was the second graders turn to perform. Their program had a Christmas theme in which a special group of reindeer superheroes save the day. It was quite comical and it always amazes me how some of those younger kids get in to it. I enjoy watching them perform. My favorite part was the scientist and the newscaster with him. "

"I think that the deadly meteor is going to fall to Earth...TONIGHT!"

Good job second grade, we enjoyed the program.

BRRRRRRRRR!!

Man, was this week of school a weird one as far as our weather was concerned. At the first of the week, it was nice and warm with temperatures around 70 degress. We enjoyed those beautiful days outside at recess. Thank goodness we did though because two days later, the temperature dropped to about 30 degrees. Cold, cold, cold. So cold in fact, that we decided to stay inside for recess. It was alright though, staying inside is fun, at least for a slight change. We got to get out some of the games in the cabinet and play. I, Mr. Boyer, cleaned house in a nice game of WAR with Pedro and Chase. I think they let me win. They didn't want to hurt my feelings. How nice of them. There was a competitive and VERY LOUD game of Twister, which I eventually had to put a stop to because of the noisiness. Harry Potter UNO was also a hot game to play. Our classroom LEGO set also got a lot of use during our recesses. I think I could possibly play with LEGOs all day long. They are so much fun.
Well, I have a feeling our nice days are gone for a while. We'll just have to get ready to bundle ourselves up in coats and deal with the chill, while out at recess. I don't think we could take having a recess indoors every day. We'd all go crazy.