Fly Like an Eagle...

Over Winter Break I fell in love with a little eagle family over on the Dick Pritchett website - a live Eagle Cam.  Eagles have always been special to me, maybe because they have been every mascot in the 4 schools I have worked at, or maybe it's because of what they represent, or specific facts about them, but I fell head over heels in love with them....

When I first tuned in the expectant parents were busy taking care of their two eggs, about to hatch at any moment... which I then learned "at any moment" was actually three days later on New Years Eve.   After investing days of tuning in, when school started back up I decided to bring them with me.

It was a very powerful motivator this past week in my classroom.  Students were trying to earn extra points in order to take a peek at the new eaglet.  We watched as a class as momma fed her baby some fish, they made inferences as to where dad was at the moment and why baby needed to snuggle up close to the parents.  

I wanted to share, just in case you didn't know about the website.  I'm hoping they leave the cameras on in the coming weeks to watch baby grow up.  If not, well there are other Eagle live cams out there.  :)  

I hope you have a wonderful night.

Memory Jars

I can't believe it's almost 2017.  A couple of days to go... I wanted to share a little project I created for my family.  We hosted Christmas and I made these memory jars for anyone that wanted one.  I cut out the numbers using my Silhouette and vinyl, and placed them on the outside of a mason jar ($1 at Michaels plus a teacher discount), then added a little ribbon on top.  We've done this in my little family for a couple of years - when big moments happen that I want to remember, I write them down on a small piece of paper, and then place inside.  On New Years eve we open the jar and reread the slips.  It's nice to remember those moments that are sometimes forgotten in the craziness of life.   

This time around my boys want to use their jars for coin collecting (since they have now learned that the Coinstar machines will turn their spare change into an Amazon gift card).  I'm also thinking of using a jar to have the kids place their New Year's resolutions in and then compare them at the end of the year.  Since I love the look of Mason jars, the more the merrier around here.

I hope you have a great day! 

Winter Party {TP challenge and Sugar Cube Missions}

What a party!  Yesterday was so much fun.  We had our Book Exchange in the morning, then finished up our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie with (crock pot) hot chocolate.  We had a couple of minutes before lunch, so I pulled out a quick time filler and the kids played the toilet paper snowman game.  Each group of 5 were given a roll of toilet paper, and only 10 minutes to create a snow person.  They got so into it, and took it very seriously.  Accessories were used, toilet paper was flying into designs, and the kids were showing some major teamwork.

After lunch we made our sugar cube missions.  I've done them in past years too - it's just my thing I love to do (instead of gingerbread houses).  We are right in the middle of studying about missions, and it just ties it all together.  I ask for sugar cube and white frosting donations, and from there the kids create their buildings.  They decorate them with our candy box candy, spice drops (for the bells), and lasagna noodles for the clay roofs.  At the very end the kids do an earthquake challenge, and walk their mission on an obstacle course.  If they can complete the walk without it falling down the mission would have withstood the natural disasters.  :P  The kids get a kick out of it.  

I love my home traditions, but also love the traditions that I have at school.  It means a lot to me to share these activities with the kids - to have fun with them after half of year of pushing them constantly.  I recently ran into one of my past students - that I had over 10 years ago - and she still remembered some of the fun moments.  It does make a difference. I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing break!