Battle of the Books

McKay participated in his school's battle of the books this year. He, and his team members, read a list of books throughout the year and then they had to answer questions about and identify the author of each book. His original team fizzled out, but he was paired with some other kids (whose teams had also fizzled out) and they ended up doing really well! They came in second place for the whole school!

Here is McKay and his team during their last school battle. They battled in front of all of the fifth and sixth grades.

Here is his team with their trophies.

Since they came in second, they were able to go to the district level of battle of the books. They battled with kids from other schools in the district. The competition was a lot tougher!

Here is McKay with his school librarian, Mrs. Christofferson. She was in charge of the school battle of the books and helped on the district level. McKay is also currently working with her as an aide for service club. She is an amazing librarian. She makes it a point to learn all of the kids' names at the school. (I was amazed that she knew my kids' names at this last fall's book fair--we were so new to the school!) McKay had a great time doing battle of the books and we are super proud of him!

Die Hard Basketball Boys

Josh and Jaxon L.O.V.E. to play basketball. Heaven forbid if they go outside when it is nice so they can play. No, they waited for a snowstorm. They didn't like the fact that the snow was flying in their eyes, so they put on some safety goggles so the snow couldn't get in their eyes and therefore they could see the hoop.

It was quite the sight to see the two of them out shooting hoops. Funny boys.

NOVA

McKay graduated from his school's NOVA program this month. NOVA stands for: Nurturing Opportunities Values Accountability. It reminded me a lot of the DARE program that I had when I was in school and teaching. An officer came to the school every Wednesday to talk to the sixth graders and teach them about being good citizens and making good choices.

Here is McKay with his class during the program.

McKay graduating and receiving his NOVA card from Officer Smith.

McKay and his card of completion. Way to go!

On a side note, I sat next to a friend of mine during the program and she gave me a fantastic recipe for a single serving chocolate cake that you make in your microwave. I thought I would share it:

Big Mug Cake
4 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Mix together in a larger microwavable mug and then add:
1 Tbsp oil (or applesauce)
4 Tbsp milk
dash of vanilla

Microwave for 1 minute. Enjoy warm with a nice scoop of ice cream.

Thanks Kim!

One of These Things is Not Like The Other

Jeremy gave all the boys, including himself, a haircut over the weekend. Guess which hair belongs to Jeremy:

hehehe!

Puppet Shows 2012

It was puppet show time again last month. Only this year, it leaked into March. If you didn't know, February is Dental Health Awareness Month. The Provo District of the Utah Dental Alliance puts on puppet shows throughout the month at elementary schools all over the valley. This is my fourth year doing the puppet show and did six shows this year at: Odyssey Charter School, Freedom Elementary, Alpine Elementary, Traverse Mountain, Renaissance Charter School, and Meadow Elementary.
I mostly played the first three puppets on the left above: Dr. Fossilrock (a paleontologist), Dr. Molar (the dentist) and Billy the Cavity. But I also played Dudley (the green dinosaur) this year. I meant to take my camera every time I went to a show, but constantly forgot until today, my last show.

Today we had to do our show in an unconventional manner. Usually we are up on a stage in the gym standing in front of a black curtain so we blend into the background more (that is why we were black) and the puppets are the main focus. But today we did it in the library. It was different, but it worked out. Sharon Weist (on the far right) is in charge of the shows each year and does a fantastic job. She has been doing this for about 15 years! In fact, I remember when I was doing my student teaching, they came to my school and did the puppet show.
The puppets teach the kids all about taking good care of your teeth and what happens when you don't. So as Dr. Molar would tell you: Make sure you brush your teeth at least two times a day and be sure to floss at least once a day. Also, be sure to visit your dentist twice each year!

Finally!

The boys (especially the big ones) have been waiting for the snow to come. It has been an unusual dry and warmer than normal winter. Every time it has snowed, it has melted before the boys got home from school so they have never gotten a chance to play in it. This last week we finally got some snow that stuck around for a couple of days. The wind did howl and blow the snow into big snowdrifts, but they still got to play:

The snow blew into the waterfall and filled it up. You couldn't even tell where it was. Here is Josh doing I am not sure what. But I do know that he should have had some snow pants on because he came in soaked!

Kayden has decided that he likes to eat snow. We had to have a talk about dirty snow and yellow snow.

Here is Jaxon and his buddy Bennett from next door. We decided to turn on the waterfall to see what would happen. It took a long time for the water to find it's way through the snow. Really it turned into a slushy mess, so we turned it off.

In all the kids had a great time. They climbed into the snowdrifts and found that the snow went all the way up their legs. They are a funny bunch of boys.

Now that they have had their chance to play in the snow, I am ready for spring!