c-cold as ice

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Mostly cloudy. Scattered snow showers until midday...then snow showers in the afternoon. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Highs around 15. Southwest winds around 10 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 9 below to 19 below zero until midday.

I'm hoping you'll recognize the title of this entry as a line from Paula Abdul's "Coldhearted". (actually, if you did recognize that, you may be as pathetic as I am for thinking of it.)

So, I am imagining we will have school tomorrow, despite those incredibly bitter wind chills... and I trust the forecast, because I stole it from my ever-reliable favorite, www.wunderground.com The guy who began the website once guest-lectured at a weather class I was forced to take in college; his lecture actually kept me interested. Anyhow, it's always up-to-speed, and it gives the viewer an hour by hour preview-- like what to expect at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., etc. Hmm... I used to make fun of my father for watching the Weather Channel so frequently ("local on the 'dar," he'd shout as the local forecast minute approached), but really, am I much better?

first grade research!

Using encyclopedias, maps, atlases, and dictionaries-- They love it! And until all of the pages of their "research books" are complete, they keep them in their inquiry folders. I love teaching first grade... giving them their first glimpse of the world beyond our small town.

Just another photo from last night... It's still refreshing outside today, but not snowing, which makes it less appealing.

I'm suffering from a pukey feeling, which has me worried that the flu circling around has finally reached me? Fingers are crossed...

up north

Today I stayed late at school to get a lot of work completed, because for some reason, I was motivated. This does not always happen, especially at the end of the school day. Another thing that was a *tiny* bit out of the ordinary was that I was quite cheerful throughout the day, even at moments of sheer exasperation.

And, oddly enough, I truly think that my positive attitude was due to the winter wonderland we could view through the windows. The snow never stopped falling, and I still haven't grown tired of watching it fall. It's that fabulous sticky snow that coats the tree branches and piles high on the bushes. And it must be great packing snow, because I witnessed two enormous snowballs being rolled by a mass of children out at recess. I love that they willingly push snow around for twenty minutes without getting bored!

I even stepped outside upon my arrival home. I let Cosmo out and followed with my camera-- no coat, but I didn't even feel chilled.

"fancy" word wall additions

My first graders are quite bright, and they impressed me once again this morning. First of all, during "blending time", one of the words was "pollute", so we discussed some causes of pollution, which led to a brief chat about the invention of hybrid cars and how they work.

Then, best of all--

For my word wall, we use three different colors... black for regular common words, red for words that cannot be sounded out, and purple for "fancy" words. For example, we have "epiphany", "homophone", and "vertical" in purple.

Today, we added "African American", "Caucasian", and "Native American". We read a story about an African American sailor, and none of my students knew what "African American" meant. So, we had a fabulous conversation about those words-- We talked about how even though we say "black people" and "white people", those aren't really the colors of our skin, which led to Allie asking what "white people" are called (hence the addition of "caucasian" to the board!). Then we talked about how people's ancestors came from other parts of the world. I reminded them that white people haven't always been in the United States, and I asked if they knew who was here before us-- and, predictably, they answered "Indians!" So, I told them that Indians are actually people who were born in India, which led to the addition of "Native American". The most amusing part is that under all of the new word wall words, I have their "meanings" in parentheses-- "black person", "white person", and "Indian". Keep in mind this is rural northern Michigan!

Just a cute little Christmas kitty...

Zoey utilizes one of our favorite packagings for under the tree-- yet another hideously festive element of the holiday. We aim to please, with interesting decorations and wrapping styles, as mentioned in a previous post with the elephant wrapping paper.




Tonight I found a true bargain-- a cardinal (much like the one featured here with Bryce) for only 50 cents at Rite Aid! Truly a Christmas miracle...

hidden treasure

For some reason, on Christmas morning, my dad felt the need to help the cats retrieve *a* toy from under the stove... Armed with the yardstick, he reached back and found one thing after another. It was a cat's dream. Here is the collection (the hideous item in the middle is some sort of stuffed mouse):

(Don't worry-- For those of you planning a visit, we will clean under the stove a bit more frequently!)