Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

                    

Yesterday morning, we loaded the majority of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades on to a bus, and took them to see Frozen.  The newest Disney classic, that up until a couple of weeks ago I had never heard of.  The title of today's post is a song featured in the movie...and is the connection to today's post.

It was kinda funny, because when I arrived at school yesterday morning it was 62 degrees outside.  By the time we loaded the buses, the temperature had already dropped to around 45 degrees.  By the time we got to the movie theater, the temps were in to the 30s.  It had gotten "frozen" pretty quickly.  

But, that didn't stop us all from enjoying the movie.  All of the kids loaded in to the theater, and my seat had been saved by some of the 5th graders that I taught last year.  Let me say, that was one of the most heartwarming gestures of the year.  Since my kids from last year have moved on, I haven't really gotten to see much of them.  I have seen them occasionally in the hallways, but that's about it.  I've seen some stuff that they've written or heard some of the things they've said about their new teachers being "the best teacher in the world" and I will admit, it's hurt.  Knowing how quickly that position can be filled, as they said the same thing about me last year, made me a little sad. But, to walk in to that theater, and here that call of my name that I've missed so much from them, it really warmed my heart.  As much as I wanted to sit with my own class, there was no way I was turning down my kids from last year.  It really meant a lot to me, and I was going to make them happy by sitting with them.

They had me sit right in the middle of the row.  There was some moving and rearranging done so that the kids that were in my class last year got the seats closest to me.  And they all thanked me for agreeing to sit with them.  I thanked them for asking me to sit with them.  Then one of my sweet boys from last year said the words I've been wanting to hear all year "We miss you".  Awwww...such sweetness.

Then, the movie began.  

I will say right now that Frozen is one of the best Disney movies I've seen since The Lion King.  It was heartwarming, funny, sad, and had a story line that had us guessing the entire way through.  The characters were AWESOME, the music was AWESOME, and I haven't enjoyed a movie that much in a very long time.  In fact, I liked it so much I totally plan on taking Jelly to see it because I think she'd love it.

The entire day was full of fun.  Before school even started, my team all exchanged gifts.  I had bought my team mates a box of chocolates each.  I received some body scrub and lotion from our sweet, newest addition to the team.  She has such a sweet, kind heart.. and even apologized that it wasn't more.  Little does she know how much I enjoy stuff like that, so that I can relax and make myself smell good in the process.  I received a Kohls gift card from my Mama Bear teammate.  She made me promise to only use it for myself, and not to buy stuff for other people.  That's her, through and through.  She wants US to enjoy the gift she gets for us.  And she sure does know that a gift card is the perfect gift for me, because I will wait until after Christmas to use it.  HA!  From my mentor/ Papa Bear teammate I received a coffee mug.  Not just any coffee mug...THIS coffee mug...

                             

She knows me all too well!!  I am a HUGE collector of anything zebra striped, and I will admit that a lump formed in my throat when I saw this beauty come out of the gift bag.  As soon as I got home last night, I cleaned it out and filled it with coffee.  And I did the same thing this morning.  I have a feeling it will be the most used coffee mug in my house over Christmas break.  

Here's a picture of the awesome gifts I received throughout the day...

A snowman coffee mug full of candy is missing from the picture because I left it at school.  I plan on using that coffee mug while at school. Also, a calendar and a candle warmer bar is missing that our awesome Title 1 Math teacher got for me, because...again...gonna use them at school.  And a beautiful ornament to hang on the tree is missing, because some silly person ran off and left it sitting on my desk.  I was so worried about it getting broken, I wanted it to be hand carried home.  Yet, once my hands were all full of the bags that had to come home, I ran off and left the ornament. BOO!!

My students had decided a few weeks ago that they wanted to do a Secret Santa gift exchange.  To make sure that I had parental support, I sent home permission slips for the kids to participate.  Unfortunately, I only received 13 permission slips back.  But, I decided to go ahead and let those 13 do it.  I was very surprised at the gifts that the kids brought in throughout the week to give to a classmate.

We decided to do the gift exchange before starting the party.  Even though only 13 students were participating, all of the class wanted to help guess who had bought the gifts.  I selected a student to start, he opened his gift, and then had to guess who bought it.  The person that actually bought it then stood up.  And then that was the person to open the next gift.  I was very impressed with the gifts and the courtesy and the appreciation shown by my students.  

Some of the gifts received included a stocking full of snacks and candy, a pillow pet, a model car set, a ceramic painting set, puzzles, giant bags of chips, candy, stuffed animals, and there was a lot more but I can't remember all of them.  I received the Russell Stover chocolates from my Secret Santa.  I bought a calendar, some candy, a lip gloss, and put it all in a Tinkerbell tote bag for the student I selected.  And of course, I forgot to take pictures.  I'm so bad about that.

The kids all had a great time, and then it was the time they'd all been waiting for... FOOD TIME!!  The kids handed out chips and cookies and candies and soda.  They all sat together and ate and drank and laughed and had a good time.  After a while I put on the movie they had all voted to watch - The Grinch.  

For the rest of the afternoon, the kids lazed around the classroom in their pajamas watching the movie.  Some had brought blankets, some used the bean bags I have in the classroom, some just used their coats as pillows.  During the middle of the movie, I made the students hot chocolate to enjoy while they were watching the movie.  

When the end of the day came, I gave them all a talk about how much I wanted them to enjoy their time off, how I hoped they enjoy their Christmas, and how I'll be thinking of them while we're gone. I then stood at the door and gave each one a big hug as they left.

Once the classroom was empty, I packed up the mounds of stuff I had to bring home, and we were out the door a little after 4PM.  Which is some kind of record, because I don't think I've left before 4:30PM since August.

When we got home, I grabbed a cup of coffee, sat in my chair with my crocheting, and relaxed until dinner time.  Shortly after dinner, I feel asleep.  I was exhausted.  And I slept pretty much all night up until 2AM on my chair.  Then, I got up, went to bed, and stayed there until 8AM.  I must have needed the sleep.. HA!!

Today, I am going to spend some time wrapping, crocheting a gift I'm trying to finish, do some laundry, and just enjoy the day.  I have two weeks off, but I know that a lot of that time will be spent in crazy mode, so I need to pace myself.  

Alright, I need to start doing something productive. 

Have an awesome Saturday, everyone!!