Finally the power is BACK!!!

Hello to all! The power has just been out for the past hour and a half. We lit candles everywhere and I am glad to say that not having electrical heating has really come in handy! We were nice and warm with the stoves as well as all of the candles! This week has gone by relatively fast. All of the teachers are in full motion trying to get last minute valentines gifts and crafts completed for the big day. I was fortunate enough to stop at the dollar store before leaving for my trip and brought many different valentines day goodies to give out at school. I can not wait to see the look on my girl's faces when they see the goodie bags I have created special for each one. I am also made homemade valentines day cards for each student as well. I will be eager to write and tell you how they liked everything as well as see the benefits of my hard work! :)
Yesterday went very well despite not feeling the greatest. The flu is going around school as well as coughs and colds. Everywhere I look someone either coughing or sniffling. I do not want to get sick considering my mother is coming to visit this weekend!!! I mentioned in my blog earlier this week that I was going to be making a birthday book with my students. Yesterday I read the book and we talked about several ideas. Today I handed out the blank paper and let them loose. Through this activity I learned several things about giving directions. I should have drawn lines on the page for them to write out their sentences. This would have allowed for the girls to know where to write as well as where to make their illustrations. Instead I had about five girls constantly tugging on my shirt asking is this right, where do I draw?!! Despite the far from perfect directions the girls got along very nicely and the book is so cute!! I have a few students to finish it tomorrow and then I will create the cover page over the weekend and have the secretary bind it on Monday. The class is so excited to see their hard work come to life and be able to check it out from the classroom library and show their families. Today I also taught a science lesson. This experiment consisted of blowing into a straw in order to see what various objects would move and which would stay still. I learned from teaching this lesson that I could use some practice on getting my students to think critically and make useful predictions and conclusions from their observations. I am hoping to come up with my own lesson that I can do with the entire class. This lesson was only with small groups.
In addition to the lessons I taught today, tonight I have created some valentine masterpieces! These I will be creating with my students tomorrow and I can not wait to see how excited they get! It will take a lot of patience and control of the group, but I know each valentine craft will turn out beautifully! What a great way to end the week! I will have plenty to share in my blog next week so stay tuned! Slan!