Chapter 16: Franklin's Finale

Well, we made it!  We have officially reached our half-way point in the school year.  I really can not believe how fast this semester has gone.  So many milestones and memories - I am blessed.

We spent this past week reviewing all of the elements we have learned since the first week of school.  In reviewing and discussing everything with the students, I realized just how much they have already learned!  My little darlings are getting smarter every day.  I am excited to see how much more growth and success they achieve by the end of May!

I know you are anxiously awaiting the Franklin update - so here you go!

I guess Franklin had a busy weekend at the North Pole, because when we got to school Monday he had dumped the books out of our Blue Book Bucket and was enjoying a nice warm bubble bath.

On Tuesday, Franklin barricaded our classroom door...
We had to climb through the yarn rope to get in.
When the kids walked in, they looked at me like "what is going on? how do I get in?!"  One of my friends decided to slide his little body underneath the rope!  They had fun with this!

Franklin brought "Magic Quiet Dust" from Santa on Wednesday.
(which consisted of glitter thrown all over the tables)
Our school also had a special visit from Santa on Wednesday, too!

Thursday was The Polar Express day!  We started our day by playing in classroom snow! (I simply used white shaving cream on the tables!)  We made snowmen and wrote our names and spelling words, all while giving our tables a good, deep cleaning.  After lunch we watched the movie, in our pj's, with the classroom chairs set up like a train.  I also served everyone a cup of hot chocolate (made in the crock-pot) with marshmallows!

Franklin decided that he would play "I Spy with My Little Eyes the Good Girls and Boys" on Thursday!

Friday was a 60% day for the students, and also the day of our Class Holiday Party!  So many fun things happened on Friday!  I don't know who had more fun - the teacher or the kids.  HA!
After our brunch, which was really lunch at breakfast time, we set up the classroom for our party!  The kids were munching away on a few snacks, including some reindeer cookies made by yours truly, when we received a special delivery.
Here's a picture of the reindeer cookies:

Two large bags from our Secret Pen Pal arrived just in time!  Each student got a letter and a wrapped box of fun toys.  The kids loved that special surprise!  I hope their Secret Pen Pal realizes how special my students felt when they opened their present - it was a moment of joy I will never forget.  :)

After the Secret Pen Pal presents were opened, I let them open their gifts from me.  They were so sweet and thankful for their gift.  "Mih Lemon, we love you.  You are the best teacher in the whole world!  You are just so awesome!"  I  so enjoyed watching them open presents and scream in excitement - that's what Christmas is all about.

Franklin really decided to go out with a "bang" on Friday...
(I have to give props to my Pop for this fantastic idea!)
Pop found a popcorn machine for a very reasonable price that he just insisted on me purchasing.  He told me to set the popcorn machine to a timer and have it go off one day, to make it like Franklin turned it on....
It was perfect!
I set the timer for 11:00am.  It went off a few minutes early, approx 10:45am, right in the middle of our party. As soon as it clicked on, PANIC struck.  The machine makes a loud humming noise when it's warming up, and the kids really freaked out...  A few of them walked closer to the machine to check it out.  After about 30 seconds, BAM!  Popcorn started flying everywhere...literally everywhere!  I thought they screamed when they opened presents, but no, this experience called for many screams and looks of shock and laughter.  They could not understand how Franklin turned that machine on - or if Santa knew what Franklin had done.
Here's Franklin before the explosion:

 And here he is after...

(there was popcorn all over the floor, too!)
"Oh my gaahhh, Mih Lemon, Franklin is real!!!!!!!  Aahh!!  How he do that?"

As busy and stressful and tiring as this past week has been, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to share this experience of Christmas magic with my sweet 1st graders.  Franklin has been such a wonderful addition to our classroom!  The innocence of a little mind wondering and imagining the magic of Santa and his elves is beyond amazing.  I pray for my students every day and night - and I have been saying extra prayers for them during this special Christmas season.  I pray especially for their health and happiness.  I hope they enjoy their Christmas and break from school as much as I plan to do - but I'm anxious to see them again soon!

I'll leave you in 2011 with this picture:
I had the students helping me clean the classroom before leaving school on Friday.  This little fellow wanted to clean the pig that we put our trash can in - so I let him go for it!  I turned around and found this...

Please keep in mind that he did this to himself!  HA!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from "Ms. Lemon's" 1st Grade Class!
See you in 2012!