Five for Friday - February 6

This week was my first week back after my 6 week Winter break and I am so glad that it is Friday.  I am finally linking up with Kacey, after a very long time of not blogging.  

 

I finished a couple of knitting projects while I was on my break, it was so relaxing.

 A shawl

 

A cowl. 

 I gave both of these to two ladies that have chemo with my sister.  The ladies were watching me knit every week and I wanted them to have something to wrap up in.

 

 

I filled out and filed my retirement papers. This year I will be retiring.  I'm going to spend more time with hubby and the grand kids.  Plus, my sister is going to needs lots of help this next year.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  It is a huge step.  I love teaching and being with my babes, but my family needs me too.

 

 

Our brand new Kinder word wall.  We are loving it.  At first, I thought that having the words jumbled would drive me crazy, but I actually like it better - plus it looks so Disney.  The word cards are huge, so the kids can see them from anywhere in the room.

 

Our PTA pays for a program called "Art Smarts'.  I love this program.  Three times a year, our kids learn about the life of an artist and see slides of their work.  Then, a teacher comes to teach them an art lesson.  Every grade level, does a different project based on the artist that we are studying.

This time it was Georgia O'Keefe.  These are my TK's poppies.  I think that they did a great job.

 

Our school has the next two Mondays off, so hopefully I will be able to catch up on some school work.  If you want something for independent work for you kids that also reinforces what they have learned about Lincoln and Washington - you might want to check these small books out that I created last year.

These are half sheet books that have a fill in the fact sentence frame on each page.  It, also, has the missing words as word cards for a pocket chart.

Lincoln is here

Washington is here

If you have a three day weekend, I hope you have a relaxing weekend.

Five for Friday - July 18

It is Friday, ok, maybe Saturday morning, but woo hoo!!!!  This week was easier than last week - so I think it was a success.  I am linking with Kacey this week.

I, finally, took a picture of the Mickey board with the kids' pictures added.  We left some blank Mickeys, too.  I think this board turned out amazing for the first couple weeks of school.  I'm going to hate taking it down, but it needs to be replaced with student work.  I will leave the rosettes and just take down the Mickey heads.

I re-did my Center boards.  I made new leis, because I gave each of my babes' one at the end of the year.  I found the cutest center clip art from Krista Walden.  Since, I have an autistic child this year - I needed to make everything with visuals, plus it is just good practice.  I think she has about 6 or 7 different files, I probably should have bought the whole bundle.

This is the easiest way for me to control centers with my little people.  If the leis are gone, then they can't go to that center.  There is never any fighting.  You could always use plain ribbon, beads or yarn to make the necklaces.

I found this great sensory activity on Pinterest, that I knew would be perfect with my class.  You cook spaghetti noodles in kool-aid and it dyes the noodles.  

One package of spaghetti noodles, divided into 3 portions.

3 packets of Kool-aid or other drink, unsweetened

5 cups of water for each portion/

Put the water in a pot, add the drink packet and boil.  When it is boiling, add one spaghetti portion and cook until tender.  Drain, rinse with cool water.  Add noodles to a ziploc bag and repeat the process.  When finished with all three portions, add 1 tablespoon of oil to the ziploc bag and squish.

Put the noodles in a bowl and let them play.  Their hands will be a little slimy, but just wash with soap.

My kids loved it, except for one.  I think it was a texture thing. 

This week, was all about the Letter "A", so we made paper art apples for their ABC books. This was their first attempt with glue and they surprised me with their glue portion control.  Ok, it was more like shocked me.  They did a great job.

A year ago, a husband of  one of our Kinder teachers died while he was on duty.  It is sad.  She hasn't returned to work yet.  An apple tree was donated to the Kinder playground and we planted it.  We have loved and watered the tree.  It is a daily reminder to us, how special life is.

Today, when we watered the tree - we found 5 apples.  Yup, 5 of them.  The Kinder teachers were excited and sad at the same time.  A few of us shed tears.  Yes, it is only an apple tree -

 but it is a very special apple tree to us.

Five for Friday - July 11

I survived my first week of school, barely.  On Wednesday, I felt like I had been teaching for a month.  I am sooo glad that it is Friday.  I am linking up with Kacey this week, it has been forever since I have blogged.

My niece got married last weekend, so we flew into Colorado for a few days.  Our flight was delayed, so we got to Denver - 3 hours later than anticipated.  Then, we waited for 2 hours to get our rental car.  We arrived at our hotel at 3 in the morning, instead of 10 at night.  It was a really long day.

I am not happy with the airlines, but the rental car upgraded me from a compact car to a Suburban, which was great for running the bridal party around.  The hotel gave us a mini-suite, so my niece and the girls got ready for the ceremony in our room.  I loved our hotel.

It was a busy few days, which is probably why I am tired this week. My sister and I made the bouquets for the wedding.

I took a ton of pictures of the wedding, so this weekend I need to edit them all - after my naps.

I did a little make over on my tool box drawers.  We are going with a Disney theme in our classroom this year - of course Melonheadz had exactly what I needed.

My finished drawers.  I love the new look.

I found some inspiration for thank you notes from Learning in Wonderland.  They are adorable.  I like her idea of customizing them for her kiddos.

I have an autistic child in my class this year.  I had 4 different aides in 3 days, it was exhausting.  I, finally, found one that works well with my kiddo and the bonus - she brought me this jar of chocolate, today.  I think we are going to keep her.

Somehow, my desk became a total mess this week - but I do love the chocolate.  His ABA aide brought me M & Ms today, too.



Kid quote of the week - One of my kiddos from last year is in the Dual Immersion Kinder class this year.  He came up to me and said, "Mrs. Sasaki, the left side of my head thinks in Spanish, the right side of my head thinks in English and the middle part just plays video games.  Isn't that weird?" 

It took a lot not to laugh, he was so serious when he said it.  I love this age.

I hope everyone is still enjoying their summer vacation.  If you went to Vegas, I am super jealous.  Have a great weekend.  I have lots of projects to finish up this weekend, along with my naps.

Five for Friday - April 18

It is Friday, woo hoo.  I have been super busy at school and at home.  I finished the Yearbook, which consumed every waking hour.  I was so excited last Sunday when I finished that I took a 3 hour nap.

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday.

We celebrated the twins' first birthday party.  Everything was pink Minnie.

We did a triple party because their cousin was born on the same day, 3 hours earlier.

Aren't they adorable?  It is more a statement, than a question.

My oldest grand daughter with her sisters.  One of the girls looovvveeed the cake, the other one - not so much.

I took a day off and we went to Disneyland for the girls' actual birthday.  Mom, Dad, sister, grandpa and both grandmas.  We had a great time, but it was really hard getting up to go to school the next day.

The cute apple they had for Easter.  

My #2 grand daughter won an award in the County for one of her paintings.  I am super proud of her.

My ex-husband, #1 son, my hubby

My grand daughter

Her painting

We had an egg hunt at school today. 300 eggs, it was so much fun.

These are the bags that we made to collect all the eggs.

I decided to combine the egg hunt with a Mom's Day.  It was a great idea, because the Moms helped with the hunt.

We made placemats for our moms, made a bunny and a bunny book. 

We ate these yummy cupcakes.  It was such a great day.

Well, the countdown begins - 5 more days and I am on break for 5 wonderful weeks, sigh.

Happy Easter!