Our Second Week of School

Whew!  I survived our first full week!  Somehow, I missed getting pictures of student dino art that I had on display at last night's Back To School Night.  I'm kicking myself now, because they were very cute.  

Grumman and Fiona are still not "friends" by a long shot, but they were sharing space on my bed recently.  

So... I'm not a Dollar Tree shopper.  But I heard in a librarian group on Facebook that they had Berenstain Bears plush characters, and I've been thinking about taking a water aerobics class through parks and rec, so we gave it a try one day.  

We did find the bears, which made me happy.  And a couple plush dinos.  And Grumman's brand of treats.  And the pool noodle (I got purple).  And some books.  But... I was reminded how judgey I can be.  It felt like a Walmart/DMV/emergency room kind of vibe.  I live a sheltered, almost isolated, privileged life.  I'm thinking I might need to make an effort to be around real people more often.  

This week's book run reflects my current dream for next summer:  a road trip.  I'm thinking if I can get the girls into an adoptee summer camp in So Cal, we'll drive down, hitting a few points of interest on the way there.  They'll go to camp for 5 days while I wander around museums, zoos, etc.  Then on the drive back, we'll stop at some different landmarks.  It would be a massive field trip.  We're researching at this point.  I think it's a fabulous plan.  Paul is not as enthusiastic.  Hopefully, he'll come around if I keep talking about it.  

The library's current setup.  I'm sure it will change over the course of the year, just as it did last year.  

My example artwork (the red dino up on the white board) can just barely be seen here.  It's a project based on the book, If The Dinosaurs Came Back, which I read to the younger grades this week.  We drew a cityscape and then glued a colored dino on top.  

The metallic dino drawings on the right side of the white board were done by Hannah and Katie as examples, but we haven't done those in class yet.  

I added book bins this week.  So far I've got 2 in use, but I'm sure all 4 will be pressed into service soon enough.  This small bookcase will eventually house a shelf of early chapter books, but for the time being, it's displaying dinosaur books.  

Working on a test run of a future project:  

 Dinosaur Pasta Skeletons.  Once the glue is dry, I'll shake the excess brown craft sand off.  

Grumman and Jack are making the same face!  

Jack has been working hard all summer.  I'm proud of him.  He's thrashing his clothes, coming home filthy and tired, and for the most part, keeping a good attitude.  His boss changed his start time to align with our start of school, which is a huge blessing.  Much as I enjoy my job, I don't want to be there an hour before I have to, you know?  

And that's our week.  Feels a little sparse after all the amazing vacation pictures of the summer, but it is what it is.  I just need to get in the habit of photographing the ordinary again.