Pirate Garrett

Garrett enjoys dressing up in his pirate "costume." My mom bought him the accessory kit to go with his Halloween costume last year. Unfortunately, the shirt and pants no longer fit him, so when he dresses up he just wears the accessories!

First Day of School Pictures!

I'll write about the first day of school tomorrow - when I'm not so tired!

I think a bat flew in my house and bit Garrett

Calm down! NOT FOR REAL! He is suddenly obsessed with Batman, hence the title. He's actually obsessed with all superheros.

Jimmy bought this Lego set on vacation and Garrett bothered him daily until Jimmy opened the box and put the set together.

Here's Jimmy. You can see all of the Lego pieces on the table. The pieces are now sorted into the correct piles to assemble.

Garrett checks out the back of the box. He tells us that he wants ALL the other sets to finish his "collection." Once Garrett buys a toy that has other toys advertised on the back of the box he wants ALL of them!
Dad reads the instruction booklet and Garrett supervises.
My boys with the assembled Legos.

A closeup of the assembles Legos. The kit contained Robin and his car and The Penguin, his vehicle, and two tiny penguins. Garrett insists on calling Penguin Mr. Penguin, or Mr. Penguin Man.

My new haircut

Here is my new haircut. This picture was taken on my first day back to work.

The whole district meets at the high school for opening ceremonies (for lack of a better word) by the superintendent. We also always have a motivational speaker to kick off the school year. (He was really good this year!)

So, anyway, I spent a while on my new hairdo, actually put on make-up, and went to the high school. I was late due to the hair/makeup so I didn't get to chat with anyone.

After the speaker we all were told to go back to our campuses to continue with our staff development there.

Guess who was caught in a HUGE rainstorm?

If you guessed me, you would be correct.

New hairdo? totally flat and stringy.

Make-up? Smeared.

Note to self: buy an umbrella and carry it!

Personality Quiz

I found this on another teacher's blog. I thought it was interesting! (I like her site too. I like reading other teacher's blogs. If you know of any more please leave me a comment!)

You Are the Warrior

You feel that it's your role to defend and protect society. (Um . . . I do stand up for my children at school - does this count?) You'll fight for what's right, and you especially like fighting for the underdog. (See above comment.) You love getting things done, especially if it means working with your hands. (Once I am in the mood to work, I do like to make progress. However, I am often lazy and procrastinate often!) You also have a great mind for strategy... whether it's military strategy, legal strategy, or chess. (Um . . . not sure about this one at all. I do know that chess makes NO SENSE to me!) You love being challenged, and you love challenging others. You are eager to prove how powerful you are. (I like to be right . . . does that count? Hey! At least I admit it!) You are ready for a (literal or figurative) fight at any time. Maybe a little too ready. (Argue? Yes. Fistfight? Never in my life!)

I'm not sure if I agree with all of it. You can see my comments in pink italics. Maybe some of you who know me in real life can chime in on which lines you agree/disagree with!

To take the quiz yourself click on this link:

What Role Do You Play?

I work with the best teachers ever!

Here is a gift bag full of goodies that V brought me: Club crackers to ward off munchies during our planning period, a pretty pink mug for my water, a cool round hair brush, chocolate (yum!), Lysol spray and hand sanitizer. This is what E brought me: an adorable pen/note holder, two mini staplers (I'm famous for misplacing mine!), a note cube, a memo pad, hand sanitizer, and white out tape (we go through A LOT of this stuff!).
Thanks girls. I LOVED both goodie bags.

The two girls that I work with are amazing (and not just because they brought me great beginning of the year gifts)!

V and I have worked together for five years. She is the most organized person that I have EVER met. She is also a math whiz. She is busy with three beautiful children of her own but still finds time to get us organized for whatever is coming up. She is great with coming up with projects for all of our kids, but excels at working with gifted children.

E is new to our school. She was a first year teacher last year, however, if you walked into her room you would NEVER know it. She has reminded me what it is like to be a teacher who is excited about teaching and sees the students for who they really are. When you teach in a grade level with high stakes testing (and who doesn't these days??) it is easy to lose sight of what really matters. Working with E has allowed me to step back and see the big picture.

We are very close and work together extremely well. We complement each other. We can even complete each other's sentences. Somehow, I have the job as our spokesperson. (I don't know how that happened! <--- read with sarcasm!) V is our long range planner who keeps us organized, and E is our cheerleader who keeps us going, even when the going gets rough.

Girls, thank you for being you and making our grade level a great place to work!

I won a Pay It Forward Contest!!

So, I got an e-mail a while back from Clarabella at Living and Learning telling me I won her Pay It Forward contest! Fast forward a few days and guess what I saw on my porch the other day??

This box!
When I opened the box I found all sorts of goodies! There were some really cute flip flop candle holders and yummy pear votive candles to go in them. They have a new home on my dining room table. There was also a cute little journal, pen, and bookmarks that will be perfect for when I start back to school. The photo album will be great for showing off my vacation pictures. (I like to show my students places that I visit.) The kids also hit the jackpot! For Meagan there were sparkly pony tail holders. For Garrett there was a set of magnetic alphabet letters that we promptly put on the refrigerator. These will be perfect for quizzing him on his letters. He is already sorting them by color. The outside toys (airplanes, Frisbee, and chalk) will be great as soon as it stops raining. (We have had an unusual amount of rain around here lately.)

Thank you so much Clarabella! The prize box was just what I needed to cheer me up. (I'm a little sad about my summer ending.) The goodies for the kids were perfect for those I'm bored and I've played with everything in my room end of summer blues.

Stay tuned because I will be holding another contest of my own during September to keep the Pay It Forward game going!