Smiles and Book Reviews

When we have journal time at school, I usually give my students a sentence starter or a writing prompt. One day last week, my grade 1's asked if they could write about whatever they wanted. I obliged. This kid wrote the following: "If I was a zombie I would eat all my friends and the girls. Then I would eat big people too. They would taste like meat." Oh how he makes me laugh.

Now on to book reviews of some of the books I've read in 2010.




Yikes. Wow. So good. I don't know what else to say about this book because I feel like anything I could say would just not be able to describe it. Read it.









I actually listened to this one as an audio book. It was really interesting and not at all what I expected. The narrator of the book (not the audio book) is a dog so the whole book is the dog's perspective of what's going on in his owners' lives. It was good.









One of the blurbs about this book said it was a love letter to reading. How true. This is a favourite of my mom's, so I had pretty high expectations going into it and it lived up to all of them. I was sad when it was over.










It took me a little while to get into this one, but when I did I really enjoyed it. It's from the perspective of an 11 year old girl who witnesses a man's dying breath. It's a quirky mystery. The end was kind of messily written--it's kinda like he ran out of steam--but I would still recommend it.










I listened to this one as an audio book too. Oh, it was so good. I listened to it in the car and when I was walking and it just totally invaded my life. I found myself thinking about the characters when I was at school and couldn't wait to go for a walk so I could listen to it.

If you haven't already, read it.

Weather woes

My favourite seasons are Autumn and Spring.

It was bad enough when we essentially skipped fall this year. It went straight from summer to winter. There were a few temperate days and just when the leaves were about to change colour (my favourite part), they all froze and dropped off their branches. Sure, it warmed up again for a little bit, but the chlorophyll process was halted and changed irreversibly.

But now we skipped Spring! We had like, a week of spring-like weather (and not even the good part--just the rainy part) and then it was winter again! And now it's Summer. What happened to our lovely, just a light sweater, no snow on the ground weather?

Stupid 30 degrees.

Oh, and if you want to sing the praises of the warm weather and condemn me for complaining about it, just come and live in my non-air conditioned apartment with ZERO air circulation and south facing windows.

No? No takers?

Good eats.

I got to my 50 pound goal a couple of weeks ago! I thought it would be a good time to share some of the foods that have helped me get here!

DELICIOUS Pork Kabobs. So much flavour and so juicy!

CheeCha Puffs are probably my favourite new discovery. They're like chips in a fun pretzel shape!

Best popsicles ever. I think it's funny that they advertise things like this as fat-free. Ya...it's fruit!

I love squash. Butternut, Zucchini, and Spaghetti!

If you haven't tried these yet, DO. They're like pop-tarts only better!

Napper Supreme

I had an incredibly lazy day today. Last weekend I was in Regina for a quiz meet. I got home late Sunday, semi-unpacked, did some laundry, taught for 3 days and left right after school on Wednesday. I took a few of my high school drama kids to Regina as observers at the Provincial Drama Festival.

It was a blast (and they were super appreciative) but it was EXHAUSTING. It was LATE nights and EARLY mornings and then we didn't get back until about 1:30 this morning. I tried to sleep in but I woke up around 9. I got up, moved to the couch, and fell back to sleep. I woke up around 11, had some coffee, and fell back to sleep. I woke up around 1, had some breakfast/lunch, and yep, fell back to sleep. Then I woke up and was up for awhile but eventually fell back to sleep.

So yep, 4 naps today. It's been a good day.

New Old!

Today I was super excited to wear my "new" jeans to school--they're actually old jeans from when I worked at GAP. They haven't fit me in about 3 years! And, if I do say so myself, (and obviously I am) my bum looked GREAT!

On another note, isn't it weird how you can get so tired of eating one thing and yet eat another all the time and never get sick of it? I LOVE green beans. I have been eating green beans 2 or 3 nights a week every week since September and even still, when they're cooking, I can't WAIT for them to be done so I can eat them!

That's all I've got for today. Have a great weekend!

I love the way his mind works!

I wish everyone could meet this kid. Lucas is one of my grade 1 students and he's just the coolest, most inquisitive kid I've ever met. His questions are SO funny, but he doesn't ask them to be funny! It's really just the way he thinks.

I was walking home from school today, listening to my iPod. Lucas saw me and came over to say hi. Here is our conversation:

Lucas-So, did you have lots of fun at school today, Miss Smith?
Me-I sure did, Lucas, did you?
L-Is that your iPod?
M-Yep.
L-Oh. What colour is it? Oh, it's blue?
M-Yep.
L-And do you just like it a lot?
M-I do like it a lot.
L-Oh. (taking it out of my hand and smelling it) What song are you listening to now?
M-I'm actually not listening to a song, I'm listening to a book!
L-How do you listen to a book on there?
M-Well, someone reads the book out loud and then they record it and I put it on my iPod!
L-Oh, how big is the book?
M-Well, it's about this big (holding up my fingers to show the novel thickness).
L-Oh, so that's probably 100 pages I bet.
M-Well, it's probably more like 300 pages.
L-Oh. So is your iPod really old already or is it new?
M-It's probably almost 2 years old.
L-Oh. Where did you get it?
M-I got it for a Christmas present.
L-From who?
M-From my mom and dad.
L-So, I bet it costed about a hundred dollars probably?
M-Well, I think it was more like about $150.
L-Oh. So, they put all their money together to buy it for you?
M-Ya, something like that.
L-So, what does your dad look like?
M-Well, he's pretty tall and he has short dark hair...
L-Is it blacker than yours is?
M-It is. And he has glasses.
L-What kind of glasses are they? Are they like yours?
M-Kind of, but his are glasses for boys.
L-Oh, so are they blue?
M-I think they're black.
L-Oh. So you got your iPod for a Christmas present?
M-Yep.
L-From your mom and dad?
M-Yep.
L-Where did they buy it from?
M-I think it was from Wal-Mart.
L-Which one? (Thinking hard) In Saskatoon?
M-Maybe. Or it might have been in Medicine Hat.
L-Oh. And it was 2 years ago?
M-Ya.
L-Oh. So are you going to have some supper now?
M-Yep.
L-Okay. Bye!

Seriously. Don't you just want to meet this kid?

What a day

I really could make a strong case for having just a half day of school on the first day back from a week off. At least for elementary students. Especially ones who are 6-8 years old in a classroom of 28.

THEY WERE NUTS TODAY!

I mean, they weren't BAD today, they were just nuts! Crazy! Overstimulated! Energetic! Loud. It was like they saved all their Easter candy and ate it ALL this morning.

Thank goodness we had Phys. Ed. this afternoon. I threw out a bunch of balls and hula hoops and just told them to go nuts. And they did!

And now I'm exhausted.