Almost Done!

The end is near!  Only three days left!  This past week has been a crazy whirlwind of activities!  Trying to get everything finished, cleaned up, and sorted out makes for a super busy time.  Add a classroom full of excited Kinders, and you have... well, you have a very long week!

Today actually began with a lovely concert performed by the high school choir.  We trooped up the hall and over to the high school cafeteria where the two dozen or so lovely teen girls sang a variety of songs for the elementary students.  There are real advantages to having a K - 12 building!

Despite the hecticness of our week, I was able to snap some pictures with my phone for this week's Five for Friday link up.

1.  Finger Paint!  This is something that can only be done once a year!  Don't get me wrong - we do lots of messy crafts - but I can only muster up the will to bring out finger paints once a year!  The Kinders had so much fun, I almost felt guilty for only doing this one time.  (But, if you had seen the tables - and their hands & arms - when they were finished, you'd understand!  lol)

 2. Laptops.  Our computer lab closed last week so our computer teacher/TIS can clean computers, etc. We have a set of laptops in the library that can be checked out for use in the classroom.  Yesterday was the first time we ever used them.  It was fun, but boy-oh-boy!  Many kids knew how to use a laptop, but logging in with their username & password was tricky!

3. Heifer International Read to Feed.  We had a wonderful celebration on Wednesday.  The high school cheerleaders and band welcomed the elementary students into the cafeteria, creating a party atmosphere.  Two TV stations (one from Chicago) were on hand to record the festivities.  A representative from the Indiana DOE, several state politicians, school board members, and a representative from Heifer International were present.  A slide show of the year's events was shown and a passing of the gifts ceremony was performed before presenting a check to Heifer International.  Our little school raised $13,337!!!  That's a lot of animals donated to needy families all over the world!  My Kinders really got into it, reading at home and at school (they earned $1.00 per book read).  My class earned $1,335!  We bought 2 trios of rabbits, 1 flock of chicks, 2 flocks of geese, 1 goat, 1 pig, 1 water buffalo, 1 cow, 1 hive of bees, and 1 llama!  It was an overwhelmingly wonderful program.  Not only did we get the opportunity to help people around the world, my students were motivated to practice their reading skills!  Thank you to the wonderful PTO moms who made this possible.

4.  Apples!  We have eighteen apple trees that are absolutely loaded with tiny apples!  Last year an early warm spring followed by a killing frost left us with a few skimpy apples.  This year it looks as if we will have a bumper crop!  But, given the fact that our trees are still pretty small, we will have to wait and see just how many apples we will get.

5.  Hubby on his 1948 Allis Chalmers tractor.  His father rebuilt this oldie and had it shipped out here from New York.  His dad has since passed away, but his gift is used daily to help keep our little "farm" running.  Here, he is towing a mower, but the tractor is mostly used to tow the manure spreader.  Given my germ-a-phobic, girly-girly-ish-ness, many of my friends are surprised to learn that I know how to drive a tractor (pulling a manure spreader)!  

Well, that's my five random things for the week.  Be sure to hop on over to Doodle Bugs for the linky party!