Mrs. Zehr

This past Friday was my first day of school. Thursday night we had a "Meet your teacher" night and I was able to meet most of my students and their parents. Friday was really relaxed with "get to know you" activities as well as covering rules and procedures. I've got a pretty good group of kids. They seem excited to start school and about be in my class. :) While I was going over some procedures and talking about the year one boy said aloud to himself, "This class is so cool!" I'm hoping he still thinks that this week when we actually have to start doing work! :) During recess I went to the office to check my mailbox and there were flowers waiting for me from Aaron. He has been such a good support during this few weeks as I've scrambled around getting things ready.

Here is the final product:
This is my bulletin board in the hallway

The reading corner

The front of the room





Also, for those of you who might be wondering..we did end up finding a place to move to. We are going to be moving into our church parsonage. We will be moving sometime in early October.

2nd Annual Youth Group Olympics

I've looked forward to this event all summer. It's a fun Saturday filled with competition, random events, and cardboard contraptions, er...boats. The students do some events as teams and some as individuals. Points are kept and then the top three are awarded medals and prizes at the end of the day. Below are the events and pictures of the winners of each event.

Event #1: Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt was similar to the Amazing Race on CBS. I had clues hidden throughout the church. I gave each team their first clue, which was a riddle that would lead them to the second clue, and so on. Halfway through the race they faced a roadblock. They had to either sing the alphabet song backwards or untie and wear a frozen t-shirt.



Event #2: Ski-ball

Not too much to explain in this event. We had lunch at Gatti's Pizza and while we were there each student played a game of ski-ball. They got points for the olympics based on their ski-ball score.






Event #3: Watermelon Seed Spitting

Each student was given 10 seeds to spit. They could either earn points by spitting the seeds the farthest or by landing them in targets placed on the ground. The top 3 spits were all by the same student. Needless to say, he easily won the event.


Event #4: Food Sculpture Building

Teams were given marshmallows, M&Ms, mini pretzel sticks, Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel, and 30 minutes to come up with a sculpture. The categories were tallest, most creative, and best representation of another object.

Event #5: Cardboard Boat Race

Teams were given 5 cardboard boxes and one roll of duct tape. With those they fashioned a boat to be manned by one person on their team. Points were awarded for top 3 places in the race, best design, most creative name, and whether or not their boat held together during the race.

And the champions were....(drum roll please)

Here are a few video clips as well for your viewing pleasure.

Family Visits

Over the past week Megan and I were fortunate to have family visiting us. My Grandpa and Grandma Rocke were the first ones to come. They had visited us in Vincennes before but were yet to see our house. While they were here we played many games, went to the local farmers market, went to the old Catholic church, and took a paddle-boat ride around the lake. We weren't able to take them by Megan's school because the hallways were being waxed. It was great to have them here for a quick visit.

That weekend Megan's brother Lee and his wife Becca came down from Warsaw. They got here late Thursday night and then it was off to Megan's classroom for a workday on Friday. All 4 of us were able to work on bulletin boards, move desks and other furniture, and begin getting the room set for students. Megan's brother is a teacher as well, so it was good to have his input. We spent Saturday walking around downtown as it was the annual Watermelon Festival. That afternoon we spent some time on the links. After church Sunday morning and a quick fix on the exhaust on their car they were on their way home.

It was great to spend some quality time with family members we don't get to see enough.

On a sadder note, we found out this week that we will need to move out of our house in the next month. We aren't sure were we'll move to but are trusting God will open a door (preferably a house door, not an apartment) for us. We would appreciate your prayers during this crazy time.