P52 / 21 / bittersweet

I only have one picture this week, because I went to the 8th grade dinner and awards ceremony with my camera but no memory card. Fail. It's ok, though, because this picture captures everyone's personality so perfectly!!

P52 / 21 / bittersweet

These are my precious eighth graders. I have had the privilege of teaching seven of them for all three years of middle school!! They've come a long way (and so have I) and now all of them are heading off to the wonderful world of high school. They bring joy to my life and challenge me to be a better teacher. I am so very proud of their accomplishments and growth, but so very sad that I no longer get to have them in class and see them everyday.

P52 / 20 / libero

Pictures for week 20 come from my trip with the eighth graders to Lugano, Switzerland. Read about our adventures here.

P52 / 20 / libero

P52 / 19 / crazy

It's been awhile since I've had time to post on here - I am three weeks behind!! This was my week just prior to leaving for Lugano - CRAZY. Pics for this week are courtesy of a last minute spirit day. I dressed as Miss Frizzle.

P52 / 19 / crazy

P52 / 17 / techno

This week I had the privilege of chaperoning a high school field trip to Winterthur, Switzerland. The destination: Technorama! An incredibly awesome hand-on science museum that I have fallen in love with! Here are few shots from the day.

a two hour drive // finally there!

the science of sound // catching lightning

colored light shadows // hanging out in the coriolis carousel

pi, anyone? // kaleidoscopic

P52 / 13 / work

During the last week of classes before Spring Break, I put my life science students to work dissecting owl pellets! Yummy!!

P52 / 13 / work

P52 / 12 / planning

This week during our study of polygons, I allowed my rambunctious sixth graders the opportunity to use Geoboards. This genius idea involves using rubberbands and pegboards to create shapes or designs. The downside is that students quickly turn the "geobands" into rubberband bullets. I gave them one warning speech about the dangers of doing this (ie, you give up your geoboard and get dot paper instead...boring!), and that was all it took. These pictures were taken after a quiz on Friday, when I gave the students time to simply "play" with the boards.

P52 / 12 / planning

P52 / 11 / green

This week I attended my very first St. Patrick's Day party. A couple from BFA hosted a green dinner, at which everything we consumed was green. The evening began with a walk around town where we found shamrocks with St. Patrick trivia written on them. Then, our meal was served in three courses:

• Course 1: Salad, cucumber dressing, broccoli, cucumbers. Pretty normal, until you add in the green cheese (Wasabi gouda! You have to see it to believe it.).
• Course 2: Here's where things start to get weird. Green noodles, Swedish meatballs in green sauce, and homemade sweet rolls with butter, both tinted the most magnificent shade of mint I have ever seen.
• Course 3: Green applesauce, green cottage cheese, and green lemon bars.

The beverage of choice was "pond water" - apfelschorle (bubbly apple juice) tinted green.

It was a fun evening spent with people I don't have the chance to spend nearly enough time with!

P52 / 11 / green

*TMI: I was concerned that there would be awkward ramifications of consuming so much food coloring, but today everything appears to be normal. Just thought you should know. :)



P52 / 10 / excitement

So, this post is almost a week late but that's what happens when life gets busy!

These shots are from our middle school activity day - we loaded the vans and headed off for a morning at the bowling alley. Watching these third culture kids attempt a rather American sport was fun to watch! And for whatever reason, I managed to score a 122 on my first game! Excitement abounded that day.

P52 / 10 / excitement

P52 / 09 / underneath

I made these tasty treats for a small group get together this week. They were polished off with minutes of the girls' arrival!

P52 / 09 / underneath

P52 / 07 / love

This week I received an outpouring of love from friends, colleagues, and parents of my students on Valentine's Day. Here's just a taste of all the goodies!

P52 / 07 / love

P52 / 04 / travel

This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Hannover, Germany with 9 other BFA staff members to attend the Association of German International Schools educators' conference. We took the train and spent about 7 hours traveling!

P52 / 04 / travel

#340: SADCC Day 7: the classic drape

I didn't have time for a solo shot today, so the scarf is a little hard to see. The classic drape works well with shorter, thinner scarves. Mine went perfectly with a collared shirt. This is my high school small group, minus one girl.

show&tell #340: SADCC Day 7: the classic drape

#334: small group christmas party

show&tell #334: small group christmas party

#321: dorm thanksgiving

Yes, celebrated a week early. Just as delicious.

show&tell #321: dorm thanksgiving

#316: seussical

The combined middle and high school musical was Seussical! The Cat in the Hat was played by an 8th grader!!

show&tell #316: seussical

#304: herbstmesse

The one night each year BFA descends upon Basel, Switzerland and takes over the bumper cars. Chaos ensues.

show&tell #304: herbstmesse

#298: flower power

Today a student had to make up his flower dissection quiz and I was impressed with how artistically he displayed his specimen.

show&tell #298: flower power

#295: brunch, anyone?

This weekend I'm a substitute mom at the middle school house, and I had the privilege of serving them a delicious brunch this morning. YUM.

show&tell #295:  brunch, anyone?

#294: friday lunch

A new middle school tradition is to have a special lunch on Fridays. We bring in meat & cheese, chips, desserts, etc. and buy delicious fresh bread from a local farmer. It's the highlihght of our week.

show&tell #295: friday lunch

#292: jupiter

Day two of presentations, day two of edible visual aids. Feast your eyes on the Jupiter cake.

show&tell #292: jupiter