That Last Week of Mayhem

Ok so I FINALLY made it to the end of the week before Christmas break. Phew! The last week before a break seems to be the most grueling week of a teacher's existence. We had a great week surprisingly even though my students seem to have forgotten how to do math problems. Geez. Nonsense I tell you. This week we had a blast. I have the most wonderful aunt and mother a teacher could ask for. First off, my aunt comes daily to help me out in math and reading. Kudos for her to put up with fourth graders for free :) My aunt and mother made gingerbread cookies for my class and brought icing and red hots to decorate with. Below are some pictorials:

That would be my lovely mother in the background. 

During our decorating we had a "guest" British accent student from my class do our read-aloud. The Gingerbread Baby. She did a superb job. Look here:

Yesterday before our Christmas party we completed our Pay it Forward for the season. Our fourth grade team decided to take our gift cards that were donated to us (from McKay's books) and we spent them on books for the children at TC Thompson's Children's Hospital in Chattanooga, TN. My kids also brought in books to donate that were gently used. My students wrapped all the presents and even made cards to go on each. The whole point was that my kids would see the reason for the season is more about giving than receiving.

They also purchased goodies to go inside stocking for the kids and my dad helped them deliver the sack of goodies. My aunt and mother also cooked a nice Christmas lunch for the students for out half day yesterday. They had chicken and dressing, macaroni, mashed potatoes, and rolls (oh let's not forget the red velvet cake). After we were stuffed, we sent the kids on their merry way.