Happiness is: blundered imp-cakes, chocolate, and singing in the choir

 according to Charlie Brown, "Happiness is singing in the choir." and, since my goal for my students was for them to begin to correlate learning with fun and excitement (I sensed a great lack of this), then if singing in the choir= happiness, PARTY while singing in the choir must= double dose of happiness, right? Well :)


...So, I decided to have a Christmas Kickoff Party for my Jr High/High School kids in choir in Wednesday, our first real day of choir, since Monday was a half-day. 

I found these and just HAD to try them out...aren't they
terrific?

However...*clears throat* pictures online aren't always as easy as they appear...I know this! "How," you might ask? Well, this next picture says it all...

The dreadful imp-cakes...poo!

...Yep, that's correct. Instead of cute little reindeer, I ended up with red-eyed, horned, imps due to a mistake of my own. (bought small pretzels rather than large, the wrong candy, and forgot to use marshmallows for the eyes.) Since this was not what I wanted to communicate during our first choir practice, I improvised and came up with...

...Ta-Da! Smiley cupcakes! :)They weren't the Christmasy affect I was hoping for, but at least they don't look like I stole an orc from Lord of the Rings and made him pose for my cupcake design. :) And, they tasted great.(Which, I suppose, was the prime objective.) 

Here's a glimpse of my choir kiddos...all 17 of them. :) I wasn't quite sure what to expect since there was just an ensemble last year, but I am really excited! We had a blast playing random games! One was where everyone goes around the room humming different Christmas songs/carols, and has to find other people humming the same one. They kept me hopping for the 65 minute class... and by the end, I felt something like this...

But, I figure, if it helped the kids realize:

1) learning and fun can go together

2) choir is not scary- it's singing: and supposed to be fun!

3) learning more about music can be a blast, too...

...then I will have succeeded...even if it took imp-looking

chocolate cupcakes, oreo's, fizzing drinks, candy, games,

Christmas decor and music to do it! 

Our next choir is on Wednesday, so I'm hoping for a great 

rehearsal! 

If you run out of things to pray for,

I could use a few extra :)

Well, here's to a terrific labor day weekend...

and an apology for such a lengthy post. :)

(but, I must admit, I sort of use this for a journal to help me 

remember things, so I'm sort of not as sorry as I sounded:) 

...all in a day's work...

I'm sure you must be wondering at my absence of writing the past week or so...

However, I am writing now as a survivor of my very first week of school

as a full-time teacher of Jr. High classes, Elementary Music,

 Jr/High Choir, and 12 private students (music classes and

lessons begin this coming week). 

(HOORAY, everyone!)

WHEW, and what

a week it has been indeed! 

It was something like this...

But, I must say, that the classes I had anticipated

as being the most difficult, are in fact my absolute favorites! 

While Jr. High (7-8th) classes are very different from anything

I've ever taught, I'm really enjoying the experience! So thankful for a 

genuinely terrific group of kids to teach- makes my job

a lot easier. :) 

There were several times this week when I began to feel like this...

...but then I remembered, 

All in all, it was a good week. I entered this 

school year with a plethora of different feelings

about the year, but I already feel as if I've learned 

more than the students! Guess that's good, right?

To shorten this, I'll just share the highlights from this week

to give you an idea of what I've been up to! 

Welcome to my 7-8th Homeroom

where I teach 7th grade Math, NC State History,

and Jr. High Bible Monday-Thursday. (We get

Fridays off...beautiful thing, isn't it?!) 

I do not have 'before' and 'after' pictures of this room...

because...because. :) Let's just say, 

it got a face lift, and my goal was to 'fun-ize' and color it, 

so this is what I came up with...

Our "News Flash" (aka, Current Event) section

with magazines, articles, etc. and the bulletin

board of the month... 

"The Value of an Idea is in Using it."

The little blue hands have words such as

'design,' 'create,' 'inspire,' 'invent,' etc. on them. 

View of my desk and student work display area. 

I never really thought I wanted to be a teacher...

even in college. But suddenly, I can't imagine doing

anything else! Even after days like Wednesday.

(Wednesday was something like Garfield's Monday,

except intensified x 1,000,000. 

But hey, at least

I'm alive to tell about it. :) 

More pictures about activities of the past few weeks 

are soon to come...but first, sleep.

So very invigorated about a long weekend...

No school until from Friday to Monday for me. 

Oh, yes, please! 

Until after zzzzzzzzzz...