How Life Has Changed

My, oh my, how life has changed! 

I read back through all my posts from LAST summer while my 2 month old baby girl quietly naps beside me. 

My, oh my, how life has changed! 

I had created an entire list of things I wanted to accomplish, places I wanted to go, progress I wanted to make in my classroom.  This summer has been a drastic turn around from all of my adventures just 12 months ago.  This summer, actually my FIRST day of summer, I gave birth to baby June, and I couldn't feel more blessed. 

We've spent an amazing 2 months at home together-- nowhere to go-- nothing to do.  Looking back at all that I did last summer, one would automatically assume how bored I must be.  But alas, I am loving every minute of this slower pace. 

The days are slowly creeping up on me for when I have to make my debut back at work.  I am excited to get back, because I love what I do-- and I hope you can tell that from looking back at this blog.  However, I will miss these quiet days at home, just loving on my baby girl. 

100th Day, Hooray!

It's hard to believe that the 100th day of school was over 60 school days ago--and that we only have less than 20 days left! 

Either way, I still wanted to share with you the excitement we experienced on the 100th day of school!

The children were very engaged in creating a 100th day crown that truly challenged their mathematical thinking. We had pre-made the base and stapled 10 strips to the base. Each strip was a different color. For each strip, I gave the children a task. This really challenged their oral listening skills, too!

Austin is writing the numerals from 1-10 on the green strip.

Abby is writing her name 10 times on the light blue strip!

Here is a completed crown! 10 items on each one of the 10 strips means-- 100!

Audrey is sporting her 100th Day Crown!

Now, what would a special day be like in Mrs. Lochel's class without a snack to compliment it??  That would be unheard of!  So, we soon got to work on a 100 piece snack-- here are the options and a blank 100 grid.

Giovanna got started with 10 marshmellows and 10 M & M's.

Nathan continued on with Cheez-Its and Goldfish.



Kailyn added pretzels and chocolate covered raisins.

10 pieces of 10 different snack items means--100!

We ate a handful and packed the rest up to take home.  It sure was interesting to see just what a 100 piece snack looked like!  

Picked a Strawberry

We are so lucky to look across the street from our school and find one of our town's strawberry fields.  On Friday, we took a tractor ride across the street to do some strawberry picking!  We've been learning in class about life cycles of plants and animals so this was the perfect trip to see what some plants can produce.  These plants produce something red, sweet, and juicy!

We've also been singing this song all week to the tune of "Clementine"--

Picked a strawberry, picked a strawberry,

that was growing in the sun.

Then I washed it, and I ate it.

And I picked another one!

And, speaking of eating one, the man in charge told the children that they could certainly give some strawberries a taste test before putting them in their containers to take home.  Here is a picture of Megan and Austin--see, Megan has already given that strawberry a little taste!

The sun stayed behind the clouds for us on Friday morning and the cool breeze was so nice.  The children definitely had fun picking and eating and picking and eating!

When our tummies and containers were full of strawberries, we headed back to school.  What a great experience we had!