School Christmas Activities

Today was Polar Express Day at Indian Land Elementary. All students and teachers wore pajamas to school and participated in various activities related to the storybook. My class took time to discuss the story before we watched the movie together. After completing the movie, each child wrote a story about their trip on the Polar Express and what they would choose if they were given the 1st gift of Christmas. Their stories turned out super cute and very creative.

Erica and I showing off our pj's :-)

My kiddos glued to the movie

Later in the day, the kids performed a rehearsal of their Christmas concert, before heading home for a few hours before the real performance. I had about 14 of my 20 kids that came back for the concert in the evening to perform their "O Hanukkah" song for their parents and families.

ILE Teacher of the Month

I am super excited today!!!! This morning, I was named the ILE Teacher of the Month for all of my hard work and dedication to our school and my classroom. It was announced on the morning announcements, sent out in an e-mail and sent home in the parent weekly newsletter. I was very surprised and honored by this. Our school technology guru made a poster with my picture on it and posted it on the entrance door to the main hallway of the school. This was just the little boost I needed to encourage me to keep working as hard as I do!!

Erica's Birthday

Erica turned 29 this year and we took her out for a night on the town. We started with dinner at Charanda's and then headed to uptown Charlotte. Starting at Howl at the Moon in the EpiCenter and then heading to Dixie's Tavern, we enjoyed a night full of drinks and music.

Erica after they sang to her at dinner

Valerie and I

Aimee and I

All the girls (+1 random in the back)

ILE Staff Christmas Party

As part of my duties as Sunshine Chair for our school, I was put in charge of planning our school Christmas party. It wasn't too much trouble, since the country club house did most of the work. I picked the menu, bought/designed the table decorations, planned the gift exchange, got the dj/music, and did the set up/clean up. It turned out really nicely and everyone had a lot of fun!! (I know I had more fun than I needed to have on a school night!) Somedays, I want to quit teaching and take up party planning full time.

Erica, Brittany, and I

the dinning room

ribbons, floating candle holders, and snowflakes on tables

entry way into the club house

Tar Heel Game

Erica invited me to a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill basketball game to wrap up our Thanksgiving holiday. We sat in traffic for 5 hours on our way to the game and didn't end up arriving until half time. We were able to get back in half the time that it took us to get to the game. I enjoyed checking out the stadium, first visit so I had to take it all in. Here are a few pics.