Around Here Week 14: 03/31-04/06

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 34+ hours (of 1000)
Up 11 hours this week thanks in large part to the real arrival of spring and fishing season. The kids are loving extra hours of daylight after school and getting to spend recess at school outside. We had spring sports in full swing this week with practices so our hours are naturally increasing which is so good for our minds and souls.

Reading the same books (still!) but receiving the most thoughtful surprise in the mail from my classroom fairy godmother, Ashley. She sent over a load of books that were on my teacher wishlist written by Latino authors to add to my library.  Did I read several pages of all of them because I just couldn't help myself? (obviously yes) and I can't wait to get my hands on them to properly read them this summer. The books include A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez, Yaqui Delgado wants to Kick your Ass by Meg Medina, and Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Peña. I think it is so very important to include books from diverse authors in all classrooms, but it is especially powerful in a small (mostly homogeneous) community school district like mine. Gosh, I have a lot to say about this topic - perhaps a whole blogpost for another day - but in the mean time, Ashley thank you so so much (muchísimas gracias) for bringing the whole world into my classroom.

Holding down the fort as B had a little man trip to Spruce Creek to fish from Wednesday morning until Friday afternoon. He had an awesome time reeling in monster native trout and spending time with his best friend. We held it together at home and was blessed to have our family lean in to help us get to all the places we needed to be at the right time (thank you Mum, Dad, and Garretsons!)

Caring for our little chickies who are growing like weeds. Gem has been so good about keeping up with refreshing their water and giving them new food when they push wood chips into their feeder. Rust likes to 'help' by keeping watch as we clean out their tote until he decides "too much poop!" and totally bails on the job - haha.

Testing positive for strep in our house. Violet had a throat culture on Friday, and yep! strep it was - so we had a round of antibiotics called in for her. With big families, there should just be enough rounds called in for all of us, right? Ya know it's coming! LOL

Soaking up the spring on mentor fishing day on Saturday. We had a beautiful day and the kids had the perfect spring day getting dirty and tired and soaking wet because no matter if the water is 20 degrees, you know they're still getting in somehow. Gemma accidentally slipped in pretty early on in the day (LOL her shocked face was adorable) and then from there, it was all about seeing how could stand in the longest and crossing the creek to get to the fallen tree, etc. We played with the Stankans and our Gilmore cousins well into the dark and still the kids were complaining about going home! Oh, spring, how much I truly adore your arrival.

Spring sporting with two baseball practices and the start of soccer practices. The girls' practices were cancelled on Monday due to rain and mud and cold - but we had our first practice with my four little U5 kids on Wednesday. They are cutie pies and there is a lot of hugging going on. Gem did great in her new U8 league and is learning a lot.

Teaching Spanish body parts in Spanish using Monsters (such a fun activity!) while Spanish 1 Honors started Somos Unit 8 and learning about food. Spanish 2 Honors learned all about the delicious Elote and celebrated the end of the food unit with a fiesta day. Spanish 2 Honors finished Fiesta Fatal and played a spirited game of trying to persuade one lucky 'quinceñera' of which chambelán she should choose (she couldn't see until after she picked A, B, or C). They closed out the week with a fiesta food day too. Spanish 3 Honors learned about casada lunch plates custom in Costa Rica, wrote out their predictions for the bird thief, and read up through Chapter 12 in Robo en la noche. I am so grateful for learning about Gimkit and Pear Deck this year - they have increased student engagement in so many ways and really amped up my use of technology in the classroom.  Big fan over here!

Chaperoning all the things. I spent the afternoon and evening with our Reading Competition team at their spring meet on Tuesday and then my Spanish Club students hosted a dance at the school on Friday night. We didn't have great attendance (bummer) but the kids that were there to play a game of Fort Knox had a blast. I got to play and learn a new game (like tag but with more rules). Definitely noticing though that the times they are a'changing and the kids are less interested in dancing and more likely to participate in a game-type event. It has me brainstorming for next year fundraisers.

Making Korean ground turkey over rice with broccoli, creamy crockpot chicken over noodles, cinnamon sprinkle toast, meatball sandwiches, and buffalo chicken dip (leftover from the dance).