New post... finally!

It's been a few days, but we're back. 'Tis the season where one often needs to whisk away right after work to take care of seasonal tasks that need to be done before the 25th. As a result, I have been a little negligent with my blogging over the past few days - if it's any consolation, I feel guilty about it!

As it was the second-last day before the break, things are starting to 'wind down' as the kids begin to 'wind up' - this usually happens, as the students begin to get excited about the break, and the prospect of the whirlwind of family gatherings, presents, and other special activities that often happen during this time. I must say, though... the group of students that I have this year have been doing a superb job, and have been working hard at every task/assignment I have given them - I'm so proud of them!

Today, during Math, I didn't have the students work on their Number of the Day books. Instead, we played 'One False Move', a great online Math game that is helping to introduce the students to the idea of negative numbers, and how to order numbers from smallest to largest, or largest to smallest, that involve both positive and negative numbers. If you would like to play with your child at home, the link is: http://www.funbrain.com/ofm/index.html. After that, the children were working on finishing up their Andy Warhol-inspired Christmas/Winter pieces that they began the other day (I'm hoping for them to be finished tomorrow, so I can get them up on Artsonia for all of you to see and share over the holidays). Once students were finished this, they began to make cards for their parents or siblings - it really tugged at my heartstrings to read some of the messages of love and affection that students were putting into the card. I really do have a wonderful group of children in my class!

Speaking of tugging at heartstrings, while the children were working on their art and their cards, we were watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. I watch this every Christmas season - it is my favourite made-for-TV Christmas special ever, and I have fond memories of watching this with my family, every year, growing up. I love being able to share it with my students every year, and every year, they marvel at how that spindly, little tree, with a little love from the Peanuts gang, transforms into a beautiful Christmas tree. I also love how much they laugh at Snoopy's antics ;)