Pajama Day 2010!

Do you remember before Christmas we had a canned food drive? Well, one of the goals was to fill at least eight of these round bins. If we did, we earned a pajama day.

Well, we did. And...we did:

Best buds: Silver, Chloe, and Samuel

Table friends: Eden and Melany

Sweet little Jose

The "yellow table": Gage, Zack, Tristan, Lizbeth, and Ashley

What birthdays are like in our class:

Last Friday we celebrated Gage's birthday. I realized then that I hadn't written about out tradition of celebrating birthdays. It is one of my very favorite things we do in class. Here's how it goes:

• The birthday student sits in the center of the rug.

• Everyone else sits around the rug looking at the birthday student.

• As you know, our class mascot is the ever loving rubber ducky. I begin the celebration by holding the duck and telling one thing I like/love about the birthday student.

• Then, I give the duck a squeeze and pass it to the next person who says what they like about the birthday student...squeeze it...pass it on.

• OPTIONAL: if the birthday student has brought a treat for the class, they pass it out to their fellow classmate after receiving the comment.

• Once the duck makes it around the circle, I wipe off the germs with a Clorox wipe and give it to the birthday student.

• Next, The birthday student gets to stand on top of the table while we all sing Happy Birthday complete with the whole "cha cha cha".

Voila! That's how it happens. We all love it. And, it only takes about 15 minutes.

Something Fishy in Class Today!

I didn't even realize that these things were still around. Cute little Lizbeth brought the singing bass for show and tell. These things always make me smile.

Why we don't make snowflakes at school...

We're BAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK!

(We're just kidding with the frowns of course! We were just fooling!)

Patiently awaiting...

for a video to match these pictures:


Somebody? Anybody?

(hoping everyone is having a wonderful Christmas)

A Little Blast From the Past (well, TWO actually!)

One of my very favorite things in the whole wide world is having students from classes I've previously taught drop by my classroom. I had these two darling girls in my first grade class two years ago. Man, I miss these girls. They are twins. They made my life so rich when I got to spend 6 1/2 hours with them every day.

Yesterday I pulled Emily's top front tooth. I'm not sure how many of her teeth I've pulled but I know it's a substantial amount. I LOVE these two. I'm jealous of their third grade teacher! Maybe I'll have to teach fourth grade next year!

Well, little Emily got some new glasses. I asked her if I could try them on. When I did, I realized that I probably need glasses because I could see perfectly! We took the opportunity to be a little silly and try on those glasses.

See how cute they are?? Plus, they are super smart. I expect all of my little ducklings this year to come back and visit me when the year is through!

Mrs. Anderson wearing Emily's little glasses with toothless Emily.

Mrs. Anderson with Emily wearing her perfectly sized glasses.

I need some glasses like these...only bigger.

Mrs. Anderson with beautiful Lizzy...no glasses but still darling.

Crazy Mrs. Anderson with Lizzy in Emily's perfectly sized glasses.

I love these two little gals.