Absolute Genius!

So yesterday a student came in and brought me a "pancake on a stick." Now I get offered kid-food almost every single day, and while I almost always take it (I wouldn't want to hurt any feelings!) I do NOT always eat it (I'm sorry, but sometimes it is slightly questionable) However - this was... simply put... GENIUS. It was a sausage on a stick surrounded by a pancake (think corndog for breakfast). I don't know how they did it, but I could have eaten a bunch of them :)

Today the best part of my day was: "Ms. Frostman, you are the best teacher I've had in my whole life."

Yup. It just doesn't get better than that.

Off with the hair!!

Yup - I chopped it off!! (well, I didn't - the stylist did) It was getting tooooo long and was definitely long enough to donate so it was time! 12 inches later and I like it! It ended up a bit shorter than I had planned, but it still (barely) fits into a pony tail, so all is well :) One of the teachers at our school is out for several months to get treatment for breast cancer, so I am going to donate it in her name.
The new "do" is fitting for how things have been going for the past week. I made it through conferences and report cards and am starting to feel just a wee bit more confident that I CAN actually handle juggling the 327 balls in the air at the same time. There are certainly days (like Monday) where I want to just drop them all and go read a book... but most of the time I feel like I have most of them going the right directions! Tuesday I went to yoga (my teacher is back, so that is helping me feel more accountable for going every week) and as I was the only one who showed up, I got a private yoga lesson. It was really good, but on Wednesday I was really sore. Thursday I had a technology training after school, and Friday I chopped off the hair! Tonight I am going to go show off my hair and have dinner with friends :)
I am happy to report that, as insanely non-stop as it still is, I still really love teaching. We have started grouping kids for math and I have the high group which is a lot of fun. We do extra challenge problems, and brain teasers, and it is really fun to help them learn the THINKING skills that go with higher level math. We are studying the human body in science, and I love the random questions that the kids come up with. One of my kiddos is just obsessed with kidneys and it cracks me up since he wants to know how everything else is connected to kidneys. I have found that one of the down-sides of a small community is that other teachers have known these kids for a long time. While this can definitely be a good thing and give you great insight... sometimes the teachers have let a kid get away with something for so long, that it's really an uphill battle to try to hold that kid to higher expectations. But most of the time I feel like my students really enjoy the challenge of learning new things :)
It is also nice that Thanksgiving and Christmas break are not too far down the tunnel :) I'm going to head to the parents' for some Mommy-food and then stop by and see my Marci and the crew on the way back to EP.
Well it was suppose to snow today, but the sun is currently shining, so I'm off with the pooper for some fresh mountain air. Hope the day is bright in your corner of the world too :)

Happy Halloween

So for Halloween Estes Park closes off downtown for a big block party. I met some friends there and we enjoyed watching the kiddos, eating the free carmel apples and some candy, and seeing some very cute costumes. This one was my very favorite :)



Afterwards we went out for some dinner, dancing, and fun! :) The extra hour of sleep was also much appreciated. So Happy November! And a very happy birthday to my Stephnerninny!! Your card is in the mail :)

Snow Day! Snow Day! Snowy snowy snow day!!

Yay snow! Sorry for the lack of blogging... weeks full of getting report cards and ILPs ready has led up to a week of parent-teacher conferences. But now I have a whole day to do nothing but be lazy and enjoy the winter wonder land! :) YAY SNOW!!

I left school at 8:00 last night after my last conference and it was a bit of a scary drive home. Cujo doesn't have his winter tires on yet, and we only made it part of the way up the hill. I parked in a neighbor's (summer cabin) driveway and walked the rest of the way.


So far there is a little over a foot on the porch. Here's the unshoveled half :)


Sherlock LOVES being a mountain snow dog :)

Elk don't moo.

While driving home the other evening after going back to school for a couple of hours, I passed a heard of elk and said "Hi elk! Moooo!" and then I thought, "hang on... elk don't moo!"
I was a little tired :) Yes... I am silly :)
It's an awfully good thing I can laugh at myself.

Seriously Guys.... it's Sunday.

Will someone please tell these guys that you are suppose to sleep in on Sunday?!?

Squeaky-snorting and fighting can be saved for after 10am!

Snow! :)

Where did the mountain go?! :) It's under the snow clouds! I took this Thursday afternoon and, although some of it melted yesterday, it snowed a little more last night. I wasn't feeling quite ready for winter... but I do love snow!! Sherlock does too... he's a goofy snow-dog :) This morning he woke me up whining and when I got up I saw fresh bunny tracks on the porch!

So it has been a super-busy couple of weeks. The end of October is parent-teacher conferences, so that means a lot of extra meetings and such to make sure everything is on track at this point. My first official observation went really well! I designed a power-point jeopardy game for my students to review for the math test and the principal liked the engaging and inter-active style. yay me! :)

The kids are good... we are getting into the routine of things and I feel so good about the relationship I have with my class. My principal said "There is just this really good vibe in your room, and when you ask the kids to do something, they do it!" Unfortunately there is an awful bug (some say flu... I don't know if anyone has been diagnosed) going around and I have had to deal with some long absences... but so far I haven't gotten sick (*knock on wood*)

Right now I am getting ready to go hang out with my most favoritest Marci and her family who are up in Estes Park for the weekend!! It's so wonderful to see her and Nathan and little Alex!!!! I'm sure I'll have pictures to post soon :)