BUGZ

That was the title of Hannah's second grade play.  They were the cutest bunch of bugs ever!!  The music teacher did such a great job with simple costumes.

Some of the bugs spotted in the garden were...

army ants

roaches who of course sang, "La Cucaracha"

a bumblebee played by one of Hannah's BFFs, Bess

dragonflies

and our own little maggot played by none other than Miss Hannah.

Alien Heart

Hannah has been studying the human heart in her Target class.  She has learned the different parts and their functions.  To wrap up the unit, the students were assigned the task of creating an alien heart.  They were to use supplies they could find around the house.  The alien heart had the same basic parts as a human heart, but in different numbers.

I have a hard time with projects like these that are done at home because many come back with more than a little help from parents.  Hannah designed and created her own heart.  My part was to use the hot glue gun.

After Hannah drew her sketch, she went through the house to find items to represent each part.  The only items we purchased were purple tissue paper to fill up the lung and a bright colored sock to use as the chambers.  The lung is a recycled container cheese balls came in.  It was perfect because it gave a sturdy base and surface to attach the parts of the heart.

I was worried that Hannah's teacher wouldn't realize this was a totally student created project, but she came up to me at school the morning Hannah turned it in and told me how much she loved it.

Holiday Parties

The last day before Christmas Break the kids' school celebrates with class parties and Pajama Day! It is fun having all three of the kids at the same school this year. It will be the only year that happens. I am the room parent for both Aaron and Hannah's classes. Luckily the third graders don't party as often as the kindergartners so I haven't had any major scheduling conflicts. The good thing about P.K.'s non-traditional work schedule is it has allowed him to attend several morning functions at the school.

The older grades have a brunch for their holiday party. P.K. and I both popped into Rachel's classroom long enough to drop off our food contribution and some festive paper products. I helped serve the kids their yummy looking brunch which included a homemade blueberry French toast casserole that smelled WONDERFUL while P.K. snapped a few pictures.

This is Rachel with her teacher and a few of her peeps. Her teacher didn't wear her jammies. Party pooper!

Rachel's activities are a bit bitter sweet this year because I know there won't be such fun festivities once she starts middle school next year.

P.K. hung out with Rachel for a bit longer while I ran down to get brunch set up for Aaron's class. Notice the tray of pigs in a blanket. I made a double batch and the kids devoured them. Next year I'll have to remember to make even more of those.

P.K. snapped this picture of me in my jammies waiting for the kids to return to the classroom.

After they ate, they painted an ornament. This craft went over really well...

and their finished products were very creative. One of the grandparents gave me a generous gift card to use for items for the parties and activities with the class. I checked with Aaron's teacher and we decided it would be nice to use some of that money to purchase board games for the classroom. I wrapped them in multiple layers so all the kids were able to help open them.

Hannah's teacher has her class make gingerbread houses every year. That got me off the planning hook. I just had to show up and help set up.

Each parent was assigned an item to donate to be used in decorating the gingerbread houses. It was so much fun and I am sure that the kids ate as much of the sweets as they placed on their houses,

Hannah is hard at work.

The finished product.

Really?

Rachel brought home the following note from school today.

Dear Parents,

Due to economic times, we are requesting that you send in THREE stamps for your child's report card and other end-of-the-year information to be mailed to you. Please send in the stamps to your child's teacher as soon as possible. Do not place the stamps on any envelope. If you choose not to send int he stamps, you can pick up your child's report card (at name of school) June 1st through June 4th (Our summer hours are from 8:00-6:00 p.m. closing for lunch from 11:30 till 1:00 p.m. and CLOSED on FRIDAYS).
Thank you!

This is the same school that just raised over $20,000 for smart boards in the classrooms!

The Jungle Theme Continues

Weeks ago I offered to help out with the book fair at the kids' school. About a week ago I received an email asking for people to fill specific positions. The director of the media center coordinates the book fair, but she really needed someone to decorate. When I found out the theme was a safari, I had to jump on it. I already had the ideas and props from Hannah's birthday party.

I added a tent made from cardboard boxes, tablecloths and tulle. I stuffed a green shirt with a pillow and added a pith helmet from Hannah's party. If you look closely at the picture you may be able to see a bit of blond hair sticking out from under the hat. For Halloween 2007 Rachel decided she wanted to go as Hannah Montana. The only thing I had to buy her was a wig. Now I am happy to announce that it has been recycled. The entire library (I mean, Media Center) is painted in an ocean theme so ignore the dolphins floating above the jungle. My friend Becky said it is what the person in the tent is dreaming about.

The secretary saw me at the school again (I was there yesterday to chaperon Rachel's chorus field trip to sing at an assisted living facility) and said I was going to have to start charging the school since I was there as much as the paid staff. That is where I want to be. Volunteering at the kids' school and participating in their education. Being known by the staff so if problems do arise we already have a working relationship. The librarian (oops...media center director) told me that Rachel is really good at math. I thanked her and then my husband's genes.