A Note From My Desk: A Small Classroom Business

I was very fortunate for years to work in a system that gave us money for Community Instruction. With all the budget cuts, the money is 1/4 what it was several years ago. Also my class is 1/4 larger. We have made little crafts throughout the year and sold them to staff and family to fund some community outings. Scrapbook tools work awesome for the kids. For Valentines Day we sold carnations for $1.00 each. The kids cut tags, rubber stamped them, and glued little hearts to them.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will work with each other using soft voices.
• Students will follow directions.
• Students will sort items according to color.
• Students will demonstrate fine motor skills by gluing and rubber stamping.
• Students will measure ribbon and tie it on tags and flowers.
• Students will communicate with peers when taking orders and handing out flowers.

The sale was a huge success. We plan to do it again next year. In the very near future, we will take the kiddos to Ci Ci's Pizza for a community outing.

350 Carnations came in that teeny tiny box. The students trimmed the stems, and the adults fluffed the petals.

These tags look so pretty and colorful. I'm so thankful we did this community job. Here are some links about community based instruction for your reading pleasure.

Link I
Link II
Link III
LinkIV

Hooked on Amazon

I am hooked on Amazon. I live in a moderately sized town; however we do not have a good bookstore. We have a small, very small Walden's bookstore. They only have the latest novels and magazines. (The magazines that are surviving the economy that is...)
I'm taking on-line classes at Ballstate University so I also have to purchase textbooks for that purpose.
The answer to all my prayers and needs is Amazon. I am so HOOKED! A book is just a click, search and purchase away. About two days later, I have my beloved books sitting right there on my door step. I also like the Safari Book Shelf they offer for blogs. It's great.
Here's my recent purchase the above book which I am also Hooked on. Have a great weekend.
Honey and I are going to the Chicago Car Show for the night.

Please Read...I have to ask... Is anyone having trouble with pictures on a new post? I get all the data in computer lingo, but no picture until I post. I couldn't move my picture of the book to the bottom of my post today. Any help? Please :)

My Family of Fur

I don't have children of my own. I have a step son with my husband. Junior and he's multi handicapped.
Once my husband and I decided to get married we got a dear little puppy. He's the light of my life. Here's Bailey... He knows how to use his good looks to get his way. Baily needed a brother, so along came the "little man", Roscoe, six months later. Please don't tell him he's a little dog.Bailey is in the back ground. Do you see him? I know... I know what you are thinking. We thought the same thing. The boys needed a sister. They need a black sister. Introducing our princess, Alison.The whole fur family. They think they are a reversed Oreo cookie. See the resemblance?Roscoe, Alison, and Bailey.

Inspiring Ideas

Jeane Winter's from Inspiring Ideas is celebrating her one year anniversary. She recently designed a lovely set of home gifts for Hallmark. They are totally my style and would make great Mother's day gifts. In honor of her one year anniversary, she if have a fab giveaway. Please visit her blog and check out the giveaway. Here's a sneak peak of a few of her designs. Last week she was also featured on Today's Creative Blog and I fell in love with the Cup O' Joy print. It's darling.
Kimba from a Soft Place to Land is also giving away the Inspirational Home book. So please stop by and see her also.

One Blog... One Word and Reader At A Time

Suzie Harris at Bienvenue wrote about her thoughts at Blissdom '09. It really resonated with me. What I took from the post is, find your voice, find your brand, and be true to yourself. The rest will follow. Blogging takes time. I've tried for two years to maintain two blogs and it does not work for me. I thought I needed to keep my love for teaching separate from my love of home and family. I really hadn't thought about it until last nigh when I read Suzie's post. That said, I'm going to maintain my Cafe Class Blog. It's who I am. I am creative, I am a teacher, I love my kiddos(students). I must combine my passions into one effort. They really do go together. Although I don't have children, I work with children. I love my home, my honey, my pups, and I want to share about all of them. All of me. I'll be working on transferring my sidebar items from De-Ja Brew to this blog, my passions all combined. The title works for me... my love of coffee, my love for my classroom, and my love for a little "class" in my life.
Thank You Suzie!

All my best,
Trudi

Groundhog's Day

Well the famous groundhod saw his shadow today. According to ledgen we will have six more weeks of winter. Not surprising considering all the bad weather we have had up to this point.

Here's a link to an article and a fact sheet about Groundhogs. (Punxsutawney Phil)

http://www.joysikorski.com/how_to_draw_groundhog.html This is a really cute link on how to draw a simple groundhog. Really Really Cute! Also pictured below.

Happy six more weeks of winter!