truly shocking photos...

Fr. Mike has been working hard this year with the two first grade classes on Mass behavior.  We have come a loooooong way and now every time we go to church we get Fr. Mike compliments for our improvement....and I don't know about you, but we live and die by Fr. Mike compliments!?!

It's been a bit of a challenge because we are in the temporary church until our beautiful St. Christopher's Church gets finished with all the repairs from "THE FIRE".

You have probably all seen pictures where you are to find "the mistakes".  You might not have to look as hard for "our mistakes" in our reenactment but I think you will enjoy it.

No...I did not give them all Benadryl before this picture.

Hands...get them where I can see them!

Legs...NO WAY

Feet...double NO WAY!

Every time I see this you can hear an audible loud gasp from my seat. 

"What?"

This has really happened...but not by Ben.

And...because we all know that girls are PERFECT...they are pretty darned shocked about the whole thing!

Note the rosary slash necklace on Ava...will have to check with Fr. Mike on that one.

But of course now we are all...

...perfectly behaved at Mass.  Although if you listen closely...there are still audible gasps coming from my chair occasionally.

Everyone of these pictures is a true reenactment of a "moment" that has occurred this year at one Mass or another.  The children depicted here were not the culprits...I am protecting their privacy (except for Case sitting forward with the chair tipped...he does that at least once a Mass!)

some more kiddos...

It was a good week in Room 7 and we are half way through the first quarter (or so says my calendar) although I find that very hard to believe.  We've even survived the first spelling test!  Here are some more of my kiddos up close and personal...

Sweet Andrew...I had his sister Julie and have known this kid since he was very little...I always gave him candy when he would come to visit but he hasn't gotten into my secret stash...yet.

Abby started the year with a cast and is now down to a splint which is or isn't on depending on the day...I think it's become more arm bling than anything else...or yeah, and she is the author and illustrator of the dinosaur party.

Tawawa is new to St. Chris this year and is a little dream student.  I l.o.v.e. her picture...especially that cute little nose!

I had Ethan's mom in first grade (whoa!) and I brought a very big smile to his face the other day when I told him he was waaaaaaay easier than his mom...sorry Melissa...but it is TRUE!

...and my redhead!  I always envisioned myself as having a little redhead of my own (and there were lots of redheads in my family) but alas...only a blonde...although my little girl has since "blessed" me with many shades of red (some on the color spectrum and some not on the color spectrum) since she discovered the magic of hair coloring.  I love Alli's shade of red.  

Stayed tuned for the final five!

cocktails and sierra mist...

Catchy title for a first grade blog...huh?  Well...you will see that it fits very nicely.  Mrs. Allspaw was working with one of my reading groups this morning and decided to "change it up" a little and do some writing.  When coaching the kids on how to handle the topic of a funny thing that may or may not have happened to the dinosaurs,  she encouraged the kids to have fun with it and go for the whimsical...I do love me some whimsical! 

Abby got right into the spirit of the assignment  and picked a dinosaur party theme complete with "funky" masks...

...and (I am convinced) a little cocktail sitting on the back on this particular party animal.

You've heard of product placement...Anna went for a little of that in her story...

...and away they go!

A good quickie blog for a Friday night...and now I'm off to see the Fever play some basketball!

weirdness...or trolls in room 7?

It's been weird in my room lately...the kids say my Promethean board has trolls in it (I think it has just taken on a life of it's own)...and then I discovered this picture on my camera...what the heck!  I didn't take this but there it was...my life in a nutshell.  A dollar, a diet coke and a Phonics reader...as I said weird.

Then during a "stirring" and powerful lesson on naming parts in sentences...I put Tawawa to sleep.  I was sooo envious...

To be fair...she had been in Boston for a four day wedding and was suffering jet lag...I was still envious.

...and then this.

...along with a text from her mother that said
"Yes my child came to school with one sock.  Don't judge:)"  Hello...have you met me?

i love my job...

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am ALWAYS saying...I love my job!  They also know that I say I can hardly wait every morning to get to school to see what the day will bring (I'm just not overly fond of the getting out of bed at 5 a.m. part)...and anyone that knows me also knows I enjoy the going home for a nap part!  And anyone that knows ANY elementary teacher knows that we get gifts...lots of gifts...gift cards, mugs, lotions, etc.  We also get many other tokens of affection from our kiddos.  Yesterday I received several of those tokens from two of my students. 

I adore this obviously lovingly hand-crafted card...

...and the heartfelt enclosed sentiments...it's what we educators live for.
 

Oh...and I also love the black rat from my other student!

Like I said...I love my job and can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring...

self portraits...and a random act of kindness

At the beginning of each year the kids get their own "homework" folder...or as stamped on the folder, THE TEACHER...PARENT COMMUNICATOR.  Who thinks of these fancy titles?  Anyway, as a first or second day activity I have the kids make self portraits to slide into the front of these folders (actually it's busy work to give me about 5 minutes to breathe by myself).  Sometimes these pictures are so "spot on" I can't help but admire their self awareness...I still am at the stick figure level.  See if YOU think they've captured their essence...

I love the glasses...and Elijah always is wearing that smile!

This is going to be one of my glamour girls...I think I have that shade of lipstick Nia (check out the hair accessories both in Nia's hair and in the pic).

Speaking of glamour...check out that curl.  She is such an "Ava".

If this isn't Dennis the Menace I don't know who is!
I'm showing my age here.

I love how Anna depicted her ponytail...and speaking of lipstick...whew...I think that's my Mom's shade...in the 50's.

I think Ray got her curls "just right"...and what a smile!

Case usually is bright eyed and bushy tailed...just like his picture (he's being shy here and as far as I can tell...there is not a shy bone in this boy's body).

...and now for our random act of kindness...meet Jackson.  Today after lunch recess, a lady who was enjoying the park with her two small children, approached the recess teacher and pointed Jackson out.  She said he was so sweet, patient and nice with her young son who was looking for someone to help him with some of the playground equipment.  She said, while she is always impressed with our children when she is at the park, Jackson really stood out as a special child.

I think he captured the hair-do.

Well done Mom and Dad Roesler...I always say that good children don't just happen.

introducing the new kids on the block...several times

Have been waiting to get all my blog waiver forms before I started posting new blogs...they have been arriving here and there.  My daughter Molly, the photog, was at school last week with her camera and I said..."let's go for it" even though I didn't have a couple of waivers back.  I had her take several pics...one with ALL the kids and one minus a couple...they got their own special pic all by themselves.

Here are 16 of the 19...on Picture Day...hence the colorful attire.

Then the last two waivers arrived...and here are the rest of the pictures!

Here are the other two with me... grinding my teeth together because I just realized one other child had left early for a doctor's appointment...oy vey! 

...and here they are...18 of the 19 hooligans...aren't they a pretty cute bunch?

...and here is the last hooligan of the bunch!