December wrap up in photos

MP holiday party: A cookie swap at the Ale House proudly co-hosted by yours truly

a Pinterest DIY favor

Oreo-stuffed chocolate-chip cookies

batch number 2 baked with Becca for her work's cookie swap--view of the outside

view of the inside of the heavenly cookie

My 26th birthday: NYAJ and the Treat Cupcake Bar in Needham with a few of my favorite girls

Radio City Rockettes: The next morning, Momma, Sarah, and I ventured into the theater district for what has started to become a December tradition. My favorite scene by far is the toy soldiers routine.

Road trip: the Ugly American in Providence with Lynn and the boys


Ornament/Beer Yankee Swap party: North Pole cupcakes for the occasion

another Pinterest find

A festive "thank you": for the aides--from Pinterest of course.

Holidays Around the World unit: condensed into 3 days. Thank you teacher blogs and teacherspayteachers.com! We "traveled" to England and made greeting cards, Germany and decorated gingerbread men, Mexico and made poinsettias, Israel and enjoyed gelt and learned the traditions and foods of Hanukkah, France and made buche de Noel from Swiss Cake Rolls while awaiting Pere Noel's arrival and the gifts he left in our shoes, Italy and read about La Befana and learned the names of the many gift givers around the world. I'm excited to do more with this unit next year.





Treats for my kiddos:

reindeer food from Pinterest

Festive cupcakes for the MP staff on Spirit Day/Tacky Sweater Day


Holiday break: a jam-packed vacation that included but was not limited to....

Friday: RO and her husband visited while they were in town. That night we went to Randolph for a Hanukkah/Christmas gift exchange where I was generously gifted slippers, gloves, a fabulous red mixing bowl, Birchbox voucher, cupcake ornaments, socks, a gift card for dinner....

Saturday: For Christmas Eve we brought Chinese take out to Freetown and opened a turkey fryer--we can't wait to use it. [Dan popped the question, and Sarah said yes! Wedding planning here we come!]

Sunday: We opened each other's gifts here before heading out for the day.

I got cute undies and a heating blanket--delightful! One of the gifts for the hubs was a Pinterest DIY gift-noticing a theme here? 52 Things I Love About You




We then returned to Freetown for a feast with the Wedge clan and we opened a tailgating tent, clothes, earrings...

fried turkey in Freetown

Monday: We double dated to see Mission Impossible 4 whilst suffering a nasty stomach bug that I generously passed on to the hubs.

Tuesday: Picked up Leslie and her boyfriend at Logan, lunched, relaxed, and dined at the Fours with a few of the girls.

Wednesday: We started the day in Stoughton visiting an old roommate of ours from BC. We had lunch and played with her sweet baby Grace. Next we hit the city--starting at BC before heading to Fenway and Kenmore Square. We ventured to North Station to see Leslie's brother's new place, and then met Sarah at Sullivan Square to see her rock. We took Leslie and her boyfriend to Treat Cupcake Bar for dessert that night which proved all the more crucial as flank steak for dinner turned out to be a bust.

visiting Jen and her sweet baby

Linden Lane--one of my favorite places on BC's campus

Thursday: Relaxed around the house, picked up Mom and Leah from the T as they returned from Chicago, brought Leslie and her boyfriend to Logan for their departing flight after a less than thrilling experience in Logan's HOV lane. That night I met the hubs and friends of ours at the shooting range just in time for them to wrap up. Dinner and margs at Chilis!

Friday: Christmas Tree Shop with Mom--what's break without a stop there! Picked up goodies for our Favorite Things party in February. Excited!



Big things in 2012...I can feel it!

In wonder...

how fabulous teachers (who I have found primarily through Pinterest) do it all.

They create fabulous activities, centers, and unit plans, document the student work, post and share them in blogs daily, are already planning for January holidays all while profiting through teacherspayteachers--which I am in love with. (I may or may not have 57 items on my wish list... :) )

This week's classroom favorite was Holidays Around the World which is a unit I am currently in love with because of the wealth of cross-curricular, creative assignments. Kudos to Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants, Sarah at First Grader At Last, and Rebecca's awesome Christmas Around the World bundle... I hope to start the unit earlier next year to incorporate more of the read alouds and craftivities.


I have a long list of long term projects, centers, and units I would love to tackle over holiday break but I'll also be realistic in my goals to relax. enjoy. and blog.

Pinterest DIY gifts, handmade etsy gifts I'm psyched about, Hanukkah love, and recent baking creations will debut shortly!

Time to bake, wrap and package reindeer food!

Jumbled thoughts...

I would love to see a brain scan of my mind...not simply during the day but during the night too! I've woken up in the middle of the night the past few nights thinking about morning work and Literacy centers. I can't seem to shake this funk I'm in...eat, sleep, work--the classroom is all I'm thinking about, and boy can it be overwhelming and draining. (Is it dedication...or crazy?)

My mental to do list and jumbled thoughts are...in no particular order...

- tomorrow's faculty meeting
- presenting our school-wide mail system at said meeting
- our Thanksgiving potluck on Sunday (I get sucked in to Pinterest in my quest for new desserts..and then subsequently get overwhelmed by the options...ingredients..level of complexity given this weekend's packed schedule...)
- Reader's Workshop Professional Development day Friday in Middleboro
- sub plans to leave for Friday in the hope that the mild chaos that ensued last week when I was out does not repeat itself
- drafting the invitation for the school's faculty holiday party of which I am a co-committee chair
- my mother-in-law's birthday dinner here tomorrow night
- acclimating a new student to our class (after our previous new student left us after a mere 2 weeks...)
- report cards next week
- creating a literacy unit test from scratch
- completing homework for Tuesday's math class
- getting back in shape post Vegas

but alas... no matter the chaos and unpredictability of the workday...

It all comes down to this...

Vegas on 11/10/11

Rush. Rush. Rush.

Too many hours have been lost (productively though) on teacher blogs the past two weeks.

While it's been a blessing getting my hands on great task cards and seasonal projects and templates teachers are more than willing to share through their blogs, teacherspayteachers.com and teachersnotebook.com...it sure can become overwhelming.

We have 7845962 tasks and curriculum standards to creatively execute in a time span much shorter than we would like. Rush. Rush. Rush. Not a minute to waste! Sad really. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed and second-guessing the activities we've been doing, constantly contemplating if it is the best use of our time. With new books, resources, and ideas coming at us constantly, I feel as though I am tweeking, revamping, and reconsidering all aspects of our classroom and routine. Ready to feel confident again about my teaching. Less stressing and more enjoying.

The amount of professional development that has taken me from the classroom has been both a blessing and a curse. The new ideas, templates, and philosophies peak my interest and have me reconsider my classroom and curriculum, yet it takes me out of the classroom a great deal and stresses me to no end. What's the best approach? How can I make that happen in my classroom? Are they being challenged enough? What scaffolding will they need? Should I be doing this? or should I be doing that?

With a promise to post more about life outside the classroom soon, we're off to Vegas for Pat and Daniella's wedding in 6 hours!

Lost in the world of Pinterest....

Pinterest and seemingly endless links to more and more fabulous teacher blogs maximized my afternoon. (I was sure to step away from the computer periodically to ...on this gorgeous afternoon..)

Many that I have added to Google Reader..

I am in love with teaching my friends and



and

Now to organizing a folder worth of teacher freebies...

A Wish List of Sorts

Have parent-teacher conferences behind me...

Complete and submit two grants...

Put to use more of the many ideas we got from the Keys to Literacy workshops

Finish my summer read..and move onto my next book-- finally...

More time to relax and blog....

Put to use some of the many home/school/recipe Pinterest ideas I've recently pinned...

cute DIY gift

52 things I've learned in third grade, perhaps?



autumn sweets

To not spend another gorgeous weekend afternoon tearing down siding, collecting and dumping siding, and hang siding...

Apple picking in the crisp fall weather...

Here's to hoping we go this fall...

See all the girls together..[It's been awhile..too long..]