Sewing Clinic!

Today I had the pleasure of taking Holly to a 4-H sewing clinic sponsored by the University of Illinois Extension.  Holly is signed up for Sewing 1, where her ultimate "project" will be either a pair of pajama pants, a skirt, a pair of shorts, or a 9-patch pillow.  I think she's leaning toward a pair of pajama pants as of right now.

First, the girls were given an introduction to the project judging day (which happens in July, a month or so before the actual fair), and were told what to expect at the "fashion revue", which is a fashion show in the afternoon, where they display their projects for an audience.

Learning the parts of a sewing machine...

Practicing sewing a straight line, turning, and sewing a curved line...

Then the girls split into groups and worked their way around 5 stations where they learned the different aspects of sewing and clothing construction.

Learning to cut out a pattern...

Taking measurements to correctly size a garment...

At the end of the stations, the girls then selected material and made a drawstring bag.  Holly loved every part of the day!

Working on the drawstring bag...

We both learned so much!  I can't wait for spring break when we have hours on end to play around with patterns, fabric, and the sewing machine!

Snow Day!

Last week at this time we were gearing up for what I feel was one of the best Super Bowls of ALL TIME!  I thought the halftime show was absolutely fantastic!  We stayed home that night and listened to the wind howl and the snow blow.  And then the MOST wonderful thing that could happen to a teacher on a Sunday night actually happened: school was cancelled the next day due to the weather!  (Actually, I was a little bummed because I am really looking forward to a nice long summer vacation.  Every day we are off in February equals a day we are NOT off in June...)

Anyway, the next morning dawned bright and beautiful...


unless you were a farm kid.

Yep, we were summoned out of our nice warm beds to shovel the feed bunks.

Only the bunks that had an easterly exposure had to be shoveled, and that was really only 2 1/2 feed yards worth.  (One feed lot is a little ways down the road, so the kids and I had to walk a bit.  My mitten got in the way, but I wish you could see my beautiful view of the quiet road and the fresh snow; it was magical!)

I felt bad for the cows (and I don't remember this from my shoveling days as a kid...) because as soon as we got the snow out of the bunks, the cattle were right up behind us licking up what was laying at the bottom, they were HUNGRY!

Breakfast for the cattle was a little late that morning, but as soon as the guys got the drives plowed and the snow scraped away from the bunks (what we had shoveled out), they started filling the feed wagon and by late morning, everybody was back at the bunk for seconds!

Lately...

I set a goal of three posts per month for the bloggity blog.  Only 2 made it to January, but I'm going to work really hard on 4 for February.  That'll make up for it, right?

I've been accomplishing lots in place of the blog, if that's worth anything...

PHS hosted the 2nd annual Fresh-Soph Academic Bowl Invitational Tournament on the 22nd of January, and it was another great success!  Pec came in 2nd, which I am proud of, but I would have been more comfortable if we would have placed a little more mid-land.  Last year we were 4th out of 8th, which I felt good about.  2nd out of 10 this year was a little too, "Thanks for coming and letting us beat the pants off you."  We've just kind of lucked out with a strong team this year!  You just never know who knows what out there...

Anyway, after everyone left and the school was put back in order, I was tidying up my room and getting ready for the next day.  As I went to write the next day's "problem of the day" on the board, I saw this and had to chuckle:


How true, how true.  Gotta love nerdy kids!

In other news, I'm teaching a computer programming class this semester.  More like: I'm learning computer programming a little bit at a time and trying to teach the students what I know, but really they just take my nugget of information and run at lightening speed, looking up other stuff on the internet and using my one little resource book.  Last week I put them to work designing new name plates for the teachers' doors.  They learned to use a "for" loop to draw patterns.  The students each picked a name out of my Scooby Doo bucket, some swapped with other kids if they had a special relationship with a teacher.  EACH and EVERY one of the kids took so much ownership and FAR exceeded what I expected out of them.  I finally finished laminating them last Friday afternoon and the kids will hand-deliver them on Monday.  They are really looking forward to sharing their hard work!  I CANNOT begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying this class and group of kids!

Hope all is well!  What's new with you!?!?!