Signs of Spring.... Uh.... Where?

I know I'm probably the 5937th person to say this in the past few weeks, but seriously... I'm so done with winter.  It's one thing when the winter drags on and on, and winter blues set in.  It's on a whole other level, though, when you have a full week of your curriculum called "Spring Has Sprung" and there are 5 inches of snow still on the ground and you can't go outside with your kids 3 out of the 5 days because of negative windchills.  As a teacher, this week kicked my butt.  I couldn't get excited about teaching my lessons because I have Double Winter Blues... regular blues because the winter's dragged on, plus some more blues because the parents all chuckle because I tell them that we're learning about the signs of spring!  What a joke!  I did try to make the most of it, though!

Highlights of the week:

• Playing with dirt! And mud! All my boys were loving it, and most of the girls did too! They loved discussing mud and puddles and experimenting with it themselves.  Especially proud moment when I asked the kids how mud is made, and one of our more dependent little boys was the first one to answer saying, "It's when the dirt mixes with the water!"  He was beaming!
• Eating dirt! Usually on Fridays, we try to make a special snack or have a food coordinating with what our theme is for the week.  Friday's treat was definitely one of the tastiest: chocolate pudding mud topped with some crumpled up Spring Oreo dirt and sour gummy worms crawling around! Definitely hit the spot for Miss Anne's chocoholic taste :)

Kid Quotable of the Week:

Anne: "What kind of things are in the dirt?"
Little Boy: "In the dirt.... like Joe Dirt?"
Anne: (extremely taken aback) "How do you know who Joe Dirt is?! What does he look like?"
Little Boy: "He looks like a girl. He has some long girl hair."