Mrs. Hannon's First Grade Fly on the Wall 

No, the birds and the bees are not a part of my curriculum thankfully, at least not in the way you might think. After our deer presentation, we had two additional visits from Hendricks County Parks. One lesson was on (my personal favorite of course) birds of prey.

We also learned about bees! These programs have been great. We are expecting one more program about Monarch butterflies.

Todd and Thomas demonstrated a bee dance, one of the ways bees communicate with each other.

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Nice job busy bees!

The week we practiced for our Mass was a challenging one. Surprisingly, the timing was such that we did not have any cancellations or two-hour delays. However, I must say that crossing from the school to the church to practice with 26 first graders was quite the challenge. The wind speed was enough to blow me away, let alone some of my tinier students, but we made it! They did a wonderful job and made me so proud, as they all do each and every year. I’m so glad the weather didn’t cause a cancellation after all of our hard work. We have another Mass later in the year, so if your child did not get to participate the first time, he or she will the next time. And hopefully, we won’t have such weather, but of course in Indiana you never know.

That is “Before Thanksgiving!” In November our soon-to-be student teacher came to teach a very creative lesson. She read a story and asked the students if they were turkeys and could disguise themselves, how would they disguise themselves. There were some great responses. Students wrote and crafted themselves as turkeys disguised as (here are a few examples)….football player, a puppy, a basketball player, a baseball player, a ninja, a teacher….

We also made a fun turkey craft. Here is Robbie using his turkey to act out the story he is reading.

Unfortunately (first time ever) I wasn’t able to attend the Christmas Concert due to Mr. Hannon’s surgery. He did, and is, doing well. I did get a few photos from rehearsals, and a parent sent me others.

Thanks to Mrs. Starkey and Dr. Mike for making it all possible. I so regret missing it!

We also took a field trip to The Benjamin Harrison Historical Site. We participated in a program where the first graders made a wooden soldier (Benjamin Harrison was very proud of his military career.) We toured the home and learned about life long ago, and we also listened to a great Christmas story, Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree. If you have never read it, check it out. The tree was the prop which came apart as they story was being told. The students had to try to remember the sequence of events in order to put the tree back together. I hope your wooden soldier will hang on your tree for years to come. It was a great place to visit. You and your family should consider going for a tour of the complete home. It’s amazing and informative!

An addition to my collection!

Just because….I want this outfit (well, I guess it wouldn’t be as cute on me).

We had a really fun Christmas party! Thanks to all of those who contributed or helped out in any way!

Opening gifts!

Special visitors…..

Prior to break we had a visit from this tall guy…when I say someone is tall, he’s tall! Myles Turner had been recovering from an injury to his thumb and said he would probably be back with the Pacers over Christmas break. You can tell how much I follow sports, so if anyone knows if he is back, you can let me know….or I could ask Mr. Hannon I suppose. Myles spoke to the students about the importance of following their teachers directions and working hard in school (thank you Myles)! He answered some questions of students. He shared how much he practices, and he told the students that they needed to think about how long the school day is, because that is about how much he practices every day.

Mrs. Bostrom likes to come and read to us, so she also visited the classroom and shared a Christmas story with us. We will have her back soon!

Advent and Christmas were wonderful! I just wish there were more days because there is never enough time to make all the ornaments and crafts I’d like to make!

 

We had a blast walking over to the rectory at Fr. Vince’s invitation to tour his beautifully decorated home. It was amazing! I want to hire him. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Wow! I also thought he was very brave to invite all the primary classes over..ha!

Are you ready? (This is by no means all that he has out.) Honestly, I couldn’t take pictures of everything.

This last one is my favorite! Thank you Fr. Vince (and do let me know if you want to do any moonlighting)!

Thank you again for your amazing kindness at Christmas. I received many wonderful surprises, and some donations SCRIPS. Most of that I put into JoAnn Fabrics cards. I have a longing to learn to quilt. I may not get to it until this summer, but it has been a goal of mine. It is a lost art, an ability my paternal grandmother was gifted with. Unfortunately, she made quilts for practical reasons, not for their art; they were used and worn out by my father and his six siblings, so I don’t have any of them.

I loved adding to my owl collection and ornaments.

This one actually came awhile prior to Christmas, but I need to share it. What a lot of work!

I have to say, one of the most unique gifts I received was a box of fortune cookies. I had no idea they were personalized! The first one I opened at school, and as it happens it benefited the students. I didn’t realize how personal they were at this point, but it was pretty amazing that we did NOT have homework that day, and while the recess wasn’t extra, it was later and a bit longer (unplanned)!

Then there was this one…..

How sweet! But it was only during Christmas break that I realized, yes, HOW very personal they were!

What a wonderful surprise! Wow!

In any event, thanks to one and all, even if I didn’t manage to get pictures of everything.

 

 

The holidays and back-to-school following the holidays have set me back! Unfortunately my blog is at the bottom of the list of priorities and something which isn’t required of me, but I do for fun! B.C. = before Christmas, and I have quite a bit to catch up with. The most important of these was my home visit with Chase. What is fun about visiting around Christmas is getting to see all the beautiful decorations (most of my families are ahead of me when it comes to that, even though I am an empty nester now.) I don’t think I will ever figure out why I am just as busy or how I managed to do it before I became an empty nester.

I had a LOVELY visit with Chase, his parents, and big sister Kaela. See Kaela’s visit from a few years ago here. (I literally just learned how to do that link…just haven’t taken the time to try it..easy.) When I visited Kaela (hasn’t she grown up), the family was in an apartment while their house was being built. This time I got to visit them in their “new” (to me) home. Chase showed me all over and I sat and visited, enjoying some cinnamon (or was it caramel) rolls.

Here is Kaela as she was in first grade. I remember very well what a little guy Chase was. He wasn’t in school yet, but he was preparing and shared with me some of his “school” work. I wish I had gotten his picture back then..:)

And here they/we are now.

I also got to look outside and see a deck Chase’s father was building (he can come to my house anytime). Chase showed me his room, and I got a second sort of visit with Kaela as well. I had such a wonderful visit, full of holiday spirit. Thank you for having me, and for your kindness and hugs!