Lazy Days of Christmas

I know that the song lyrics are talking about summer, but lazy is where it's at here in Krazy Town.

Teachers, you know what I mean. The last week before Christmas break really takes it out of you, doesn't it? All that excitement, culminating in a fun party! (Can you smell the sarcasm from where you are sitting, LOL!)

I tried to keep my sanity by keeping the kids focused on work until the last day of the week. It was a half day for us, so we "partied" all morning. First we finished up some work. Then we colored Christmas cards to send to a local nursing home. Next we watched a video - "The Muppets Christmas Carol", one of my favorites. Then we ate, and then we got ready to go home. As the kids left, I handed them their presents from my partner teacher and me - a Jingle Spirit Stick, a Smencil, a candy cane, and a handful of candy, all tied up in a favor bag. They were thrilled.

Our gift from the district was to leave an hour after kids were dismissed. However, I still had some paperwork (Yay! Paperwork!) to finish before I could depart, so 3 of us went to lunch (yummm, caldo  de pollo!) and then came back to work. I was finished and out of there by 3:00.

Then I got a haircut and went home and collapsed. I slept 10 hours Friday night and took a 3 hour nap on Saturday. Saturday was pajama day, hence the lazy as in the title of this post.

However, this week is shaping up to be busy - birthday dinner for my roommate's Mom last night, Christmas dinner at our house tomorrow, Game Night with dear friends Wednesday, blogger meet-up (!!) Thursday, and Friday morning I wing my way to Alabama for my nephew's wedding on New Year's Eve.

I am working on a post to show you a project the kids did for common and proper nouns, but I'm too lazy to scan in the student work for pictures in the post.

Maybe later. After a nap.

Merry Christmas to all of you in Blogland.
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12 in '12

Miss Kindergarten and Teeny Tiny Teacher are hosting a fun linky party. We are supposed to tell you about 12 of our favorite things during the past year.


12. Favorite movie you watched:
True confession - I don't go to the movies much. During 2012, I saw Hunger Games and Skyfall. I loved the Hunger Games trilogy, but the movie? Not my vision of the book. As for "Skyfall," it was good, but Sean Connery will always be James Bond to me.


11. Favorite TV series:
Only one? That's tough. I don't know if I can pick between Castle, Amazing Race, The Good Wife, Project Runway, and Top Chef.

10. Favorite restaurant:
There are so many I like! I guess I will say P.F. Chang's. I always ask to go there for my birthday.

9. Favorite new thing you tried:
We finally got  a Trader Joes here and I tried the Speculoos Cookie Butter. Oh my heaven. Run and get you some!



7. Favorite thing you pinned:
This sideboard. Someday, I am doing the same thing to mine. Love it so much!



6. Favorite blog post:
This one about the Kray Kray in Hawaii. So much fun!

5. Best Accomplishment:
Changing jobs. Even though I loved teaching gifted students, I just couldn't deal with traveling between two schools.

4. Favorite picture:
This one, because it reminds me of our fabulous trip to Hawaii. This was taken from the balcony of our hotel room in Waikiki.



3. Favorite memory:
During our Hawaii trip, we took a tour to the top of Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii. With the wind chill, it was way below zero degrees at the summit. Mauna Kea is almost 14,000 feet above sea level. I took this picture there at sunset.



2. Goal for 2012:
Decide if I am really going to retire or not.

1. One Little Word:
Positive. It's been my word for three years, and I still haven't mastered it.

Make sure you check out all the other posts in the linky!

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December Currently

It must be a new month because Farley has posted the new Currently!

Here is mine:


In case you haven't visited my blog before to read about them, I have 2 golden retrievers named Lucy and Desi. They are best friends and love nothing more than playing a rousing game of bitey face. They are good sports, though, and take turns being winner and loser. Wish my fourth graders could do the same!

EDIT: I realized after posting this that we have 3 weeks before Christmas break. It must be wishful thinking on my part to think it's only 2! I know I am not the only teacher in the blogosphere ready for Christmas break. Yes, I know I had a week off at Thanksgiving. But I need some more time to rest up for the rush to state testing. Plus, I get to go to Alabama and see my nephew get married on New Year's Eve!

I am behind in my RtI paperwork and I got a big list of everything that's missing from the files on my kids yesterday. On the bright side, my principal did say that she thinks our grade level is the only one doing RtI correctly right now. 

I haven't done a class Christmas party in a while (it has been 7 years since I've been in a regular elementary classroom). I need to figure it out this week! I will probably provide cheap stockings from Dollar Tree for each kid and have the students bring in stocking stuffers (candy, pencils, stickers, etc.) to put in them. Then we'll do a pizza lunch with kids bringing their own drinks. Throw on a movie and I think we'll be set. Thank goodness we have early dismissal that day!

I posted about needing new shoes last month. I still haven't found any. Sad face.

I treat myself to Starbucks every couple of weeks on those mornings when it is soooo hard to get out of bed. It's my reward for getting up. I keep a gift card reloaded just for that reason. When I go at dark thirty, there is usually no one else in line. On the rare occasion that there is, I treat the car behind me. Gives me a good feeling that carries through the whole day! 

Make sure you go to Farley's blog and read everyone else who linked up. And don't forget the Rule of 3!



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