Thursday, January 31, 2013

Favorites Party 2012

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We LOVE our annual Favorites party. So much so that we talk about doing it twice yearly. It's just too much fun to give/get gifts and get together as girls.  Courtney hosted and we had a nice dinner of homemade soups, a great kale salad, rolls, and I made an apple pastry for dessert.

This year I gave my favorite thing in the world: being cozy, which I represented in the form of kettle corn and target socks.
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Past Favorites:
2011
2010
2009

teen in town

 The last few documentations of having teen in town...
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Chungas for dinner and Jazz game with friends
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Girlfriend dinner at Sea Salt

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

NYE 2012 >>2013

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Dinner with 2 tables full of friends at Mazza. 
Went to the institute building to party with all the YSAs. The dancing was the tops!
Countdown at Melissa DeMaso's was a great way to send off 2012. 

Cabin Time

The days leading up to Christmas were spent with my entire family in a Midway cabin we had rented. The kids loved playing in the snow and the adult like chillin by the fire, prepping food, and watching football.

One night I read a Hans Christensen book called the Fir Tree to the kids. Which I now insist to read every year cause the message is so great.

Another night Saylor and Elise sang us a few songs they had written. It was so cute! Then all the nieces got up and did a cheer/dance thing that Egan had masterminded. Egan, Teen, and I have been the late night talent entertainment for our family for far too long, so we're glad to toss the reigns to the next generation of girls. Making us proud!


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Friday, January 25, 2013

sister snow hike

We took a snow hike in Park City where Egan likes to mountain bike in the summer. It was a great trail and the skies were blue. So refreshing. Our ankles were frozen to the bone by the time we were done.
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Thursday, January 24, 2013

January '13 classroom

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We had a few mini lessons on Wants vs Needs which I really enjoyed teaching. I had them fill out this little graphic organizer about their "Needs" and loved seeing what they came up with. It's an important lesson for all ages to think about.
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Another class book we made about Fish. I read them lots of informational books that I got from the library and they especially loved the ones about sharks. Ahhh! We filled out some graphic organizers throughout the unit so I could assess what they were learning.

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Each week I have a new "Totally Awesome Student" and I put this on their desk for Monday morning. They bring in a decorated poster with facts about them and we share that on Monday too. All week long they are my little helper, from passing out papers, to turning off the lights, to bringing the lunch basket down, or taking something to the office. They are my left-hand man. Easy for me to have one person doing all the jobs and they love it too. It's great to give one kid a lot of attention for a week too.
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My daily schedule and my math "I can" statement which I've loved posting each day cause the kids do so much better when they know what the objective of the lesson is. Plus, it keeps me on track.
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A great place value game I got off Teachers Pay Teachers that I used in a math center.

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A simple art center. I love my laundry line look cause it's so easy to change out art.

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On the left is the rough draft copy of our poem making and to the right is what I then typed up from their rough draft.
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I always get a kick out of these completed poems. I use a simple poem format and give the kids the "object", in this case we did "winter." I got them warmed up by creating a web about winter on the white board first and that really helped their little brains start thinking. The Q-tip snowflake was a pinterest find and I was blown away with how different they all turned out. 
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Our art teacher came in and did this snowflake project with us and the kids did a great job! They used tape to create the snowflake and water colored over it. The art teacher sprinkled a little salt over each piece which causes some chemical reaction and then we let it dry over night before pulling the tape off.

It was a great month and now I'm off-track and relaxing in the Pacific Northwest which is warmer and sunnier and easier air than Utah right now, so I'm happy.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

salt flat freeze

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We had a gap of time between things we were doing one day so we were like "adventurrrrrrre time!" Which meant we grabbed a cookie and drink from Harmon's and got in the car and drove west. We veered off towards the Saltair and couldn't resist some pictures of the freeze over everything. So cold---like me wearing 2 snow hats and Teen couldn't stop jumping and dashing. burr

treasure books

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book

My dad gave all the grand kids secret treasure books for Christmas. He had made them out of my aunt Carla's old books. Inside were old stamps, coins, and pins. The kids loved it (every dream coming true right?) and I was left wondering "where's mine?"