Feelin' the Love!

Yesterday was rough...today was TOUGH!

As in L.O.T.S. to do & little time; however, I managed to squeeze it all in.

Well, there's this *little* thing going on, the Winter Olympics, that has my class completely excited for book publishing & drawing!  Yay for that, but it's been tough to fit in winter games, complete hibernation/bears, 100th day, & Valentine's Day...all in one week.

Well, we learned some things about Russia (and being the book worm I am) my teammate showed me an amazing lesson on matryoshka/nesting dolls.  We used this book:

And a set of The Giant Turnip nesting dolls, to recall the story's characters.  Then, we copied a page of nesting dolls & asked the Kinders to recall any story from the year & make their own set of 5 or 6 nesting dolls on LGL paper.  Oh.My.Word. - they were so cute!  I had MANY Goldilocks and the Three Bears (we just read many versions of this for our hibernation unit) - but a few were pretty creative, remembering stories from the beginning of the year:

1. Pete the Cat
2. Stop That Pickle!
3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

The kiddos finished these up for morning work today.

Just as we were about to start "Good Things" & "Calendar" a former parent stood outside my door and waved me over.  I told her to come in & she nodded no - then beckoned me over again.  I walked to my door and she handed me 2 gifts, saying: "Tiago & Paulo were writing valentines last night & wanted to give their favorite teacher a special gift.  They both wrote a list & Miss King was both of their #1 - so you got both gifts from my boys.  You are a special teacher & my boys BOTH think the world of you.  Thank you for making 1st & Kinder so great for them!"

WHAT?!

I started crying...I hugged the mom & told her she just made my day.  Heck, she made my week!!!  Here's a photo of my presents:

This was a great family I got the privilege of teaching the oldest boy in 1st grade & then his younger brother last year in Kindergarten!  I love having siblings...especially when they're such great families that you connect with.

We did our normal Th. routine until lunch.  Then we had to kick it into high gear - we graphed Valentine conversation hearts with our 5th grade buddies, estimated candy hearts, went on a scavenger hunt, had a party, counted the actual amount of candy hearts, wrote about the sweetheart snatcher, & cleaned up before going home!  PHEW...

Today I was feeling loved & brought back Abby's Sweetheart Snatcher pack.  I must say, ENTHUSIASM & EXCITEMENT are too tame to describe how pumped my Kinders were to go on a scavenger hunt, to find clues for who stole our candy hearts!  They went so far as to blame my para & a parent volunteer - stealing candy ain't no joke in Room #3, I guess!!!

Here's what 1 Kinder had to say:

Mrs. Dion is psycho.  WHAT?!  LOL - she got a kick out of this!!!

I set mine up with a "person" as the snatcher - my P.E. teacher, Lori Dion, is more than willing to take the blame!!  The kids loved it.

Yesterday, my teammate (the same one who had the *above mentioned matryoshka doll lesson idea*) gave me this:

Just cause she knows I love Butterfinger candy bars!

Happy *FAKE* Valentine's Day {we celebrated early, because my Zone doesn't realize that making a PD day on 2/14 is a BIG DEAL in elementary school}!

Miss Kristan King