Second full day out and I'm enjoying it so much. I love what I do, but there is just nothing like having time off. My internal clock is still on work schedule since I woke up before 6 a.m. I'm heading out soon to do some last minute shopping. I only found 10 books on my list for my new program starting in January, so I may be heading to the book store, too. I'm posting a picture of the little gift baskets I made for some co-workers. There are packages of various flavored microwave popcorn wrapped to look like snowmen (thanks Pinterest) and a bag of ingredients to make oven s'mores. I've decided to make more of these and include some homemade hot chocolate mix in little envelopes (Pinterest again).

Here is the video from the snowglobe door. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk6gXaZ4bag

The first semester is almost over! To celebrate the Christmas season and the end of the first half of the year our school has a door decorating contest. Teachers are in one category and the rest of us are in another. Students decorate the teachers' doors during an assigned period and office aides/students/staff decorate the rest.The contest goes from Pre-K through 12th grade since our school is so small. I couldn't post all of the doors so I chose a few that were clever and unique. One is attached to a motor for moving parts, I'll try to get the video up for that one. Our superintendent's office even decorated a door. I didn't get a picture of that one yet. As soon as I do I'll post it, too. People from the community judge the doors and there is a small prize for all the winners. The theme this year: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

 One of the mathematics doors

 Another mathematics door. She took the regular door off the hinges, removed the knob and attached all to a wooden frame. The snowman is 3-D made of chicken wire. This is so cute and creative!

 My door. It is a little bit 3-D. Drew/shaded in all the characters with chalk. The gingerbread house has real candy on it. I decorate cakes/cookies and teach classes in this so we had to throw something in it to reflect that.

 This is the h.s. principal's secretary's door. It says 'Dreamin of a white Christmas'. It was a take on I Dream of Jeannie but they couldn't figure out how to make the eyes blink. There are beautiful snowflakes hanging all around the front window and door that didn't get in the picture.

 Though simple, this door is very creative because the phrase "Oh the weather outside is frightful, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!". This is a lower elementary class door. There are ghosts behind the snowflakes!

 Personal Finance door. Instead of a piggy bank it's a snow bank. It is snowing money and it's flowing into the snow bank w/Snoopy!

EOI Re-tests

We are about to wrap up our first week of EOI re-takes. What a week it has been! We had to begin Monday morning which was our first day back from Thanksgiving Break. There were major computer issues so we were over an hour behind schedule for the first session. Once we go going however, everything ran smoothly. Tuesday's tests rocked along like a dream. Today we were back to square one with issues. We didn't have two testing sessions today due to the first session getting a late start and students working so thoroughly. We just ran out of time. Even with all these problems we managed to knock out four tests in three days. We will try another session tomorrow and then save the rest for next week. Most of the students were troopers and just hung in patiently even with all the problems. Tomorrow I am going to yet another meeting on the dreaded common core! (I say that in jest).