How I survived the last week...

I hope everyone survived those last few days of school, and you are already enjoying the first few days of your holidays.

To say last week was a little crazy, would be an understatement! I don't think I even got a chance to sit down! The week started with our cocoa in a bag fundraising sale. In an attempt to raise money for our Brick by Brick campaign to build a school, we made our Rudolph and Santa cocoa bags.  I set up an assembly line production and we were able to get quite a few made in a short period of time. The kids loved making them and I think they turned out adorable!

Before we even held our sale, I had staff members placing orders, so we were already ahead of the game. The students even managed to get the majority of the supplies donated from some local businesses, so we were hardly any money out of pocket.

This sale ended up being far more successful than I could have predicted. We actually sold out the first day, so we decided to make more and sell for a second day. In the end, we made over 200 bags and  I very proudly wrote a deposit for over $325!! Every staff member I passed in the hall was telling  me how impressed they were with how much money my homeroom had managed to raise! Definitely a good feeling! I'm pretty sure we are going to win the prize for most money raised as a class, and the kids are super excited.

However, no matter how fun it was to make the bags and to make the most money, I still want my students to be aware of why we are doing what we are doing. There are far too many children that do not have the opportunity to go to school, and our main goal is to give all children the chance for an education. I want to make each of my students aware that they have made a difference in the life of another child in this world and they should be very proud of that fact.

The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.

 – Kalu Kalu

 



Now that the craziness of the sale is over, we put or focus on getting our holiday baking done. As a culminating activity to multiplying and dividing fractions, I told the students we would be making cookies. Before they were able to make the cookies, they had to show me that they could increase and decrease the recipe correctly using what they learned about multiplying fractions.

To make this activity a little more manageable, I split the process over a few days. Day 1 - we made the dough, day 2 - we baked, and day 3 - we decorated! It was a great way to end the week and the cookies looked great. I think I might have a future "cake boss" in my class!

 

...and that folks, is how I survived the last week of school.

Enjoy your holidays and Merry Christmas!

Kim