Thursday Thwarted and Good Friday Lunch Date!

Hey Yall! This past Thursday was a blur for us...with being out for Good Friday on Friday, we had a lot of testing to do and on the busiest day of the week with a "Water Safety" program added into our day so I tried...I really tried...to double up on some curriculum....we've missed so much this year... but my big babies were just so dang tired and excited that they weren't getting it!
I finally just said STOP and talked to them
...look chilren' I can tell you ain't following & look chilren' Mrs. Stew ain't cool with you jes sittin' dur not gettin' anything...let's just STOP and determine to give our best with this next week.
Yes, I used that crazy lil' accent. That is me.

Then because I was stressed thinking how terribly behind we were and how we need to keep on reading but knowing that to keep on reading meant that I would have to forfeit our poetry lesson and Read Aloud time, I had them quote my new metal sign to me:

KEEP CALM. AND TEACH ON.      


Ever have those moments?! I mean what's the point in reading about air pressure and local winds if they just aren't following you. Because they weren't and it was obvious and really part of the problem was probably me...because I really didn't want to be reading that boring 'ole stuff anyway...so what did we do..or I do...I kept calm and taught on...
With Poetry.
Shape Poetry!
 They all had to complete one on the Cross and what it meant to them and then they could do another one on whatever they imagined up!
And I had some creative and beautiful poems:

"What the Cross Means to Me" Shape Poems

Some of their words were phenomenal. I love how poetry brings out their passions. The top left one actually teared me up when I read it. It says "The cross was a hard part of my life, but Jesus took it like a knife. When it happened, I seemed to be sad, but when it happened Jesus seemed to not be mad. God had to look away and Jesus had to say God please forgive them of their sin and help them to be nice to their kinn. I will come up and return one day. And to me, He saved the day."
The bottom center one's last words say "God sent His one and only Son to die for everyone's sins no matter who they are or how bad their sins are, so we can all go to Heaven."
And the top left one just got super artsy and I loved it. She also made everything rhyme and didn't let the landscape format limit her. She simply turned it vertically and went to writing!

Below are some of the Shape poems they created. They all did such a great job...these "Wowed" me as The Wow Poem says..."Everyone has something that makes them say wow!"

The Face Poem and The Wow Poem

Lightning and Jesus

I love poetry and....
I love lunch dates with my first grade niece!
Since I was out on Friday and she wasn't I thought I'd surprise her by taking her lunch. We had Chick-fil-a and she couldn't believe I came to eat lunch with her. She really really wanted to sit at the "round tables" but they were all full so we sat with her class and she made me pinky promise that I'd come back so we could sit at the round tables together. (a very special treat when you have visitors!)

Ironically, the principal was my assistant principal in high school and he remembered me...it's not yet been 10 years people!
I was super impressed with the school's outward appearance. There were a ton of cute hallway displays with encouraging state test themes...her room was pretty blah. Her teacher is preggers for one and she came in as a new teacher in December so I guess she had some pretty darn good excuses. My sweet Gracie Girl is a talker and boy does she get in trouble. Her desk was all by its lonesome and facing the wall, but she didn't seem to mind. I ended up checking her out early because the teacher said they weren't really doing anything necessary...they had an egg hunt planned but the rain thwarted those plans!
We definitely made memories and I will do it again someday! Oh, and I couldn't not take a pic of the school lunches the kids were eating...does the taco look like a taco or a piece of the napkin?! Gotta love school lunches! It was the best school lunch ever!

I love the Junie B. painting and she is a Junie B. so I made her pose for me! 

Happy Easter and remember it's more about the Lamb, and less about the bunny!