Monday, May 31, 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Last Day of School Thoughts

Today was the last day of school. It was bittersweet. (Everyone says that.) We had a lot of fun and did some cleaning and talked about our favorite things and memories of first grade. I made a slideshow of pictures for the class and I am so blown away by their reaction to it. They loved it and it made them sad and hug me and say they would miss me. Some said they even cried when they watched it! I love that reaction from 6-7 year olds. I was surprised. I got so many big hugs and i love yous and smiles today. I'm going to miss them, but I'm very much ready for a break. While I was packing up some flash cards and charts today, I felt a strange feeling that I didn't feel last year. I felt comfortable knowing in August I would begin teaching the beginning of the curriculum and that I knew it really well. I felt like I was very comfortable in the cycle of year to year. I like that my job is predictable in that I will teach the same thing each year. I know that in August I'll get a group of kids who make letters backwards and who don't know subtraction facts and who can read slowly. They'll tell me that clouds are made of milk or cotton balls. At the end of the school year...those things won't be true. They'll form letters correctly and be able to smile at their handwriting on the first day of school. They'll take subtraction timed tests and they can (try to) read chapter books. They'll know that clouds are made of water. While my job is predictable in that way, it's also very unpredictable day to day. Every student is different. Every situation is different. I love first grade.

I don't love that I have to go to the high school graduation right now. UGH...I don't like graduation ceremonies for many reasons. I don't like to use the word boring very often, but I think it applies to graduations. Penny is coming home tomorrow morning! I'll be secretly thinking about her during the graduation to pass the time.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Habitats and some otter things

Today a student said, "Habitats!? I thought you said 'too many cats,' or 'lotsa hats.'"

And then another said, "Oh, Mrs. Johnston lo-o-o-o-o-o-oves otters."

Do you see how punny this post's title is now?

Only 6 and 1/2 more days with my precious class! It's bittersweet. Today I could not stop blubbering during our last chapel while a teacher prayed over the 4th graders and we sang for the last time together. It was too much emotion! I love hearing the kids praise God so sincerely. We are so blessed to be at a school where we can openly praise Him together.

And now.... a picture of Penny.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Student Quote

Last week, this boy in my class came in talking about a movie he had seen the night before. He went on and on and on about this movie! He said "I saw a movie where Indiana Jones was the president. It's awesome. It was on TNT and it had Indiana Jones as the president. I couldn't watch it all, so I had to record it. Indiana Jones was the president in this movie...."

(I personally can't imagine letting a 7 year old watch a movie like that, mostly because of the violence, but everyone's different.)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Little Penny

Penny is 2 months old today! We will be taking her home in 2 weeks. Today she was so cute and she's only 2 pounds. I'm not sure if you can see how small she is just from the pictures. She wanted to just sit or lay down and she wouldn't walk at all, or even stand. She was a little nervous and would tremble anytime she was moved to a new lap. We think she really liked us though! We heard her funny little "bark" and she stuck out her tongue a lot. Here are a few pictures from our visit:

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Foodsies

We had such a great weekend with our families. On Sunday, we went to church and Sunday School and then we went to Taylor's parents' house first for lunch and then to my parents' house for dinner. We were tired and stuffed from all of the food at the end of the day. We love living close to family! Here are the selections I made for the weekend...
This salad is so unbelievably delicious. It's from a family friend named Cassidy, so we call it Cassidy's Sweet Salad. Here's the recipe:
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine (I actually used just green leaf lettuce in this one...whatever you have is fine.)
Slivered Almonds
Fresh Shredded Parmesan
Bacon bits
Shredded Mozzarella
Dried Cranberries
Thinly sliced red onions
Dressing:
       3/4 cup sugar
       2 tsp dried mustard powder
       1/2 cup red wine vinegar
       1 cup canola oil

Make the dressing ahead of time and then add it just before serving. Or, serve it on the side. It gets wilted pretty quick.

Then....for my parents' house...I made this salad from allrecipes.com. Except, I made a huge oops and the salad turned out not so great! I think the salad probably is good, but we really wouldn't know. I forgot to add vinegar to the dressing. While we were eating it, my mom suggested that maybe it needed vinegar and offered to mix some in. I was positive that I followed the recipe and so we just kept eating it. I looked up the recipe when we got home and realized that I DID KNOW it needed vinegar because I remembered then that I even checked the kitchen to see if we had enough red wine vinegar for two salads. Have you ever done that? I completely and totally forgot something that I had just known a few hours before. Like when you ask what time it is and then you need to ask again in five minutes because you weren't listening to the answer. Ok, anyway...also I used feta cheese instead of bleu. Not because the flavors are the same, but because the textures are similar. Here's a picture of this adventure:
And for desserts, I made two very simple pies, both from allrecipes.com. A fresh strawberry pie
And this rich chocolate Oreo pie:

Thursday, May 06, 2010

More Student Writing about Moms

Moms are funny...
I love the illustration on this one:
Moms are pretty, too!
This mom has very, very dark hair...but her son thinks she is blonde?

Moms are good at everything...

Student Writing about Moms

Writing is my favorite part of first grade. They're figuring out how words they hear and say look on paper and they write the funniest and most truthful things. This week we prepared for Mother's Day by making books all about our moms. I picked out some of the cute or funny ones that the class wrote and took pictures. And...don't you love moms? They are so great.

Moms are the best cooks...

I love the veggies!

Moms like to do lots of mom things, like...
And, there's no way this mom is mean, by the way. (Also, this girl has just learned about parenthesis!)





Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Our New Car!

We bought our new CRV on Tuesday and took it out to drive on Grandview Drive. It's so fun! We love the space it offers and how it rides. It also smells so good right now. We found that it was so comfy to sit in the back and look at the trees and the river. I loved this day.