Monhegan Madness

Happy Peanut Butter Day!

2012-01-24T09:34:00.001-08:00

Today, January 24th, is national peanut butter Day! Now this is MY kind of holiday! There is nothing like the sweet, sticky deliciousness that is peanut butter.

So how did we celebrate national peanut butter day?

By sharing our love of peanut butter with some of our favorite birdie friends.

Okay, I have a confession, this is not peanut butter... it's almond butter and it has been expired for two years! But when you live on an island and you need to clean out your pantry... two year expired almond butter will just have to do. I don't think the kids or birds will notice!

Time to get sticky!

mmmm.... fishing for peanut butter!

rollllll.

Miss M wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty!

Millie wanted to try and make sure the birdies would like it!

Careful not to drop them!

The peanut butter was kind of dripping everywhere!

Where to hang them???

Big decisions!

It is nice to have tall friends!

Happy Peanut Butter Day to All!

First BINGO of 2012

2012-01-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

We were excited for our first BINGO night of the new year! It can get a little dreary around these parts in the winter... so community nights at school are especially important during the slow moving month of January!

Whipping up some super yummy brownies for the event!

The dynamic baking pair of Quinn and Margaret! They would be a pretty funny cooking show!

Extra fudge? Yes please!

Taste testing is always the most important step!

Time to play!

Dalton with the opening remarks and a few wee ones who were particularly excited about this months prize selection!

Mr. B helping to give out BINGO chips.

Margaret's time to call numbers.

Good turn out.

The theme for this month's prizes was "things to entertain you on Monhegan in the dead of winter!" You have no idea how handy these prizes can be :)

The champ prize was pretty fitting for the theme!

Mr. B showcasing one of the fabulous prizes!

Big winner, Stewie, with some sweet shades and stick-on mustaches!

Classic.

Gina with a mini version of the champion prize!

Quinn checking out Chris's cards! She was a TWO-TIME winner!

Margaret helped to hand out prizes!

Apparently we were keeping Quinn up.

Happy BINGO players.

Showing off their prizes... what a goooood lookin' family!

Dalton... this is your future.

Billy B. is that a WHITE stick on mustache!!??? Cool.

Time for the final round!

Oh man, LOTS of cards to check... who will be named champ?

According to Margaret's story she wrote in writing center that morning, her Mama was going to be named January BINGO champ...

AND she was right!!! We had a THREE-WAY TIE for our January Champ...

Jenn, Gina, and Mary! Way to go ladies!!!!

Starting to get silly!

Tara thought she would clean up her teeth with her new gigantic tooth brush she won!

Millie sporting a new mustache.

Favorite photo of the night!

See... these prizes really ARE entertaining!

Hmm?

Happy Static-Electricity Day!

2012-01-10T09:49:00.001-08:00

Oh sorry, did you not know that there was such a important holiday as "Static-Electricity Day?" I have this fabulous calendar at school that lets me know of such days and I have decided to let the kids in on the fun as well.

Back when I first started teaching on Monhegan we had a time every morning for a little "morning project" that gave the kids a bit of time to get into the school day, laugh a little, and do something as a big group. As the kids have gotten older and our school has gotten smaller I have moved away from such activities and gotten straight to work when we start our day at school.

Now with Margaret coming in the mornings I feel like it is important to build in this time once again, not just because it is a fun way to start the day but it is a time to work in some classroom community building!

Our morning project usually only lasts about 10 minutes and focuses on whatever random holiday may calendar tells me about! On "Static-Electricity Day" we watched a short little video from Bill Nye - the Science Guy explaining exactly what static-electricity is!

Then it was time for us to try and make our own static-electricity!

Good thing I had a stash of balloons in the back closet!

Time to make some charged ions!

Hey look! It works!

Millie was kind of confused with all the balloon rubbing!

Of course, Quinn was the one who was most into this morning project!

Another holiday we celebrated during morning project was "National Egyptian Pyramid Day!" Who knew!?

After we talked a little bit about what the Egyptian pyramids were we got a chance to try and build our own! We had a little pyramid building contest.

I won most "colorful pyramid".

Quinn got the "most symetrical pyramid" award!

We obviously gave Dalton the "highest pyramid" title.

And Margaret won "most creative pyramid!"

The most random holiday we have "celebrated" was "National Jump in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend Day!" We were a little surprised that this holiday fell in the middle of winter since most of our puddles are now patches of ice! We decided to honor this day by making comics of ourselves jumping in puddles and splashing our friends! Quinn's comic not only involved splashing a friend using a puddle, but also using a super soaker!

I had fun making my comic about splashing Quinn!

In Margaret's comic she splashes her teacher! So cute!

Celebrating these silly holidays have been a super fun way to spend a little extra time as a class and to start the day with a little extra fun on this extra dark and chilly mornings!

Louise Nevelson Art - Phase 1

2012-01-10T05:33:00.000-08:00

First art class of 2012 started off BIG... like 3-D BIG! Donna came in with a super fun art assignment for the boys. She talked to them about the famous abstract artist Louise Nevelson! This woman was AWESOME! She did some crazy abstract sculptures that really push the boundries of the age old quesiton of "What IS art!?"

Donna brought in lots of different sized boxes to create a base for their sculptures...

Some of the boxes she brought already had lots of different shapes and sections within them... but the boys assignment was to create an original structure.

Off to work they went. The cool thing about this assignment was D & Q had seen some of Louise Nevelson's work up close and personal a couple years back during a field trip to the Farnsworth!

Quinn was taking his assignment very seriously... look at all of those unique sections!

Now that the structures are built the next step will be to find materials to place in their structures to create their final sculptures... their last step will be to paint the sculptures! What a wacky and fun art assignment this will be! Stay tuned!

New Year's Resolution's

2012-01-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 Blogger Friends! We were happy to get back into action last week after a wonderful two week vacation! The kids came back with tales of a wonderful holiday and had all their new Christmas clothes and toys to show off! I like this time of year at school because we usually get into a pretty regular routine with a few less interuptions than in the Fall! On our first day back I wanted to do a fun activity with everyone to celebrate the new year and to give us a chance to chit-chat about our vacations. So this is what we did...

We talked about New Years and how different people around the world celebrate the new year.

We also talked about New Year's Resolutions and what a resolution is and why people make them.

Then we brainstormed our own resolutions and picked our top resolution we want to try and stick to for 2012. I don't know what it is, but I have always LOVED resolutions. Too bad I like making them more than I often like keeping them!

Once we picked our resolutions we created little New Year's masks of ourselves... that was the fun part.

We attached speech bubbles to our masks saying what our resolution is for the year!

I love how creative Miss M's mask is!

Dalton's resolution is all about his teeth!

Finish products! They are now hanging in our school door window, reminding us everyday of our goals!

Bring it on 2012! It's gonna be a BIG year!

PRESENTING... THE MONHEGAN SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FILM! Law and Order SIU - A Christmas Mystery!

2012-01-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

I am SO pleased to finally share with you all our FABULOUS, AMAZING, AWARD WINNING Christmas Film! We worked for a month on this film and finally got to show it at the big holiday party right before Christmas break. It is the first time anyone on island could remember not having a Christmas play... but a movie instead, and I think everyone was impressed with the final product! We got LOTS of laughs and I have to say it was SO fun being able to involve community members in the movie! Thank you to everyone who took part and for all the community who came out for the premiere! It was quite a treat to not have to be completely stressed out the night of the Christmas party, worrying about the play and remember all our lines, instead I just got to sit back and enjoy the film with everyone else...

So, without further adieu...

The Monhegan School Player's 2011 Christmas Film:

Law and Order SIU - A Christmas Mystery!

Make sure to leave us a comment and tell us what you thought!!!!

Monhegan School's Christmas Morning

2011-12-30T13:40:00.001-08:00

It is our tradition to have a big holiday celebration on the last day of school before Christmas break! We only have school in the morning because we take the afternoon to rest up for the Holiday play and party which always happens the night before break...

The last few years we have kicked off our holiday party with a BIG breakfast! Students and their families are invited! This year our guidance councilor, Jean, was here for the event as well!

Angela and the boys played a round of Rummy before breakfast we served!

Cheers to a happy holiday!

MMMM! Delicious breakfast!

And I almost ate it all!

After breakfast it was time to open gifts! Not many schools have the tradition of getting presents for all the teachers AND students!

Margaret gave out her presents first!

I got BEAUTIFUL handmade ornaments for my tree! There was an ornament for each member of our school family... even Millie! It was the bestest gift I could ask for!

Daltini got a new puzzle! He looooves puzzles!

The boys gave Margaret her present... first she had to figure out what it spelled...

Then she opened them! PET ROCKS! It was a Millie pet rock!

Look at all those amazing pets!

And if you flip them over... you have MARGARET! Such creative gifts!

Jean opening her gift from the boys... a beautiful handprinted pillow!

And a lovely box from all the school with the kids pictures on it!

Donna's gorgeous pillow from the boys!

Dalton's pillow to me (the #1 in the WORLD, might I add!)

And Quinn's beautiful pillow for me. Have I mentioned I am the luckiest teacher ever!?

The kids opening their gifts from me... new MONHEGAN SCHOOL SWEATSHIRTS!

Ooo la la!

Hats and mittens from Donna! She's the best!

Looking wicked sharp.

New game for the whole school from Santa! That Santa... he is too much!

And another gift from Santa... another new puzzle! We are going to be BUSY this winter!

All of us in our new school sweatshirts!

The backs have our "class number" on it.

Margaret's back is my favorite!

Names of the sleeves... they are pretty sweet if I do say so myself!

After presents we moved on to gingerbread houses!

Any project that involve sugar and messes have our name on it!

So grateful Donna stuck around to help with this project! We needed all the hands we could get!

Quinn was not enjoying this morning at all!

Margaret worked hard on her house... it was a piece of art!

Dalton just put as much frosting as possible on his!

Love the little people... Quinn said this was Millie and I on the top of his house :)

Quinn and Donna trying to fix my house. I was having lots of issues.

This makes me feel ill just looking at it.

Dalton's finished product.

Scout kept eyeing the houses.

Quinn being Quinn!

Proud of his masterpiece.

Teacher's house.... it was a joint effort!

Margaret with her perfect little house.

Gingerbread house village!

We ended the day playing our new school game!

I love this picture AND this game!

And a quick game of Rudolph Monopoly to end the morning! A perfect holiday morning of fun and celebration!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!!!!!

Virtual Secret Santa!

2011-12-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

The Inter-Island Student Council had the BEST idea EVER... have an Inter-Island Secret Santa to celebrate the holidays across our island schools! YES! I couldn't have been MORE on board for this idea! SOOO FUN! When the Student Council met to talk about the rules and plan for the project they decided that we would do the Secret Santa by islands so each school would get the name of another school and have to put together a package to send with lots of goodies and surprises! The catch was, the packages could not cost the schools more than FIVE dollars! That meant all of the goodies and surprises had to be handmade and crafted... ALL THE MORE FUN, if you ask me!

The teachers pulled the school names so the students would not know who got who. I told my kids who we got and we went straight to work! Monhegan got Islesford School (the largest of the TLC schools) so we had a lot of goodies to make.

We spent some time initially brainstorming what we could make for the kids and teachers on Islesford that would not cost a lot and would be fun for them to receive! Dalton came up with the idea of making and decorating paper airplanes for all 12 students on Islesford! Lots of folding for Dalton!

We also came up with the idea of making pet rocks! We had done some sluething and had found out what every Islesford student's favorite animal was... so it was fun making personalized pet rocks for them all!

We also made a DANCE PARTY CD for the whole school because we KNOW how much Islesford loves a good dance party. Lastly, we make little mini sugar cookies for all of the kids and teachers!

Time to pack up our gift box!

We had an assembly line going to back this monsterous box of goodies!

Individual cups of cookies! YAY!

Paper airplanes on top!

Margaret rolling out paper for wrapping!

Stickers are obviously a must! We sent off our package and then waited anxiously for ours!

A few days later all the island packages had been received and it was time for our VIRTUAL Secret Santa PARTY via the Tanberg!

We pulled names and each school got to open their packages! Matinicus was up first!

Cliff's turn! These kids were PUMPED to open their gift!

And then Islesford's turn. I think we were more excited for Islesford to open their gift then we were to open our own!

The Isle Au Haut boys opening their awesome gift package!

Monhegan's turn to open!!!!!

Our package was from Cliff and we were SO excited!

Even Millie enjoyed our Christmas package!

We then had Mr. President (Daltini) read some holiday riddles for the group!

And of course we ended our party with...

Some holiday dancing!

Jingle bell rock!

Even our friends from the Island Institute joined us for some Christmas fun!

Bust a holiday move!!

After our super fun party it was time to enjoy a homemade cookie from our secret santa, Cliff Island!

So much fun! Happy Holidays TLC! We love you all!

Tree Hunting and Holiday Decorating!

2011-12-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

With Christmas getting closer and closer it was time for the Monhegan School to take the yearly pilgrimage out to find our Charlie Brown tree!

Off we go... hunting for trees!

The kids picked which trail they wanted to go on to find our tree. They have quite a bit of experience with tree hunting!

It didn't take long to find our beautiful little tree!

The boys working together...

I don't think our tree was very heavy!

The kindergartner taking a turn hauling it back to school.

Tree trimming time.

Millie protecting Quinn and the tree!

Aw, she looks good!

Time to break out the Christmas decorations!

Decorating some pine cones for our tree!

Margaret loved the tree decorating!

Dalton was in charge of lights... he looks confused by this assignment!

Quinn putting up the garland!

The tree is looking better and better!

Haul out the holly....

More decoration making!

Okay, enough with the photos... I get it!

Christopher Columbus Trial!

2011-12-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

To end our Social Studies unit about Early American Explorers we participated in a super-fun and interesting mock trial where we put Christopher Columbus (and others) on trial for the tragic crimes that were committed over 500 years ago to the Taino people. We joined up with our TLC classmates on Islesford for this project which, of course, meant lots of technology!

The boys were partnered up with students on Islesford and assigned different groups of people who they were to represent/defend at the trail. Quinn and his partner were given quite the tough assignment... they were to represent Mr. Christopher Columbus and try to prove that it was not ALL his fault for the crimes that were committed against the Taino people.

Dalton and his partner were asked to represent Columbus's men. These were the men who actually physically committed many of the crimes against the Tainos... yet it was Dalton's job to try and explain why they should not be held entirely responsible for their actions.

The other people who were to go on trial were The King and Queen of Spain, The System of Empire, AND the Tainos themselves! The students had to develop opening statements to explain why their defendants were being wrongly accused and then had to develop questions for witnesses they wanted to call to the stand during the trial to further prove their defendants innocence!

On the day of the trial we met with Islesford via Tanberg... Ms. Eysnogle and I were the honorary Judges who ran the trail and the students were the representing attorneys for the different people being prosecuted.

The Monhegan Attorneys dressed up for the trail.

Even Millie was dressed for the trial!

Quinn was up first to give his opening statements. He talked about how Christopher Columbus was just doing what the King and Queen of Spain had told him to do... find new land and bring back gold! He had a lot of strong points about how Columbus did not actually physically commit many of the crimes against the Taino people... he just gave the orders. He also discussed how it was because of the System of Empire and the explorer's who had gone before him that he felt it was okay to treat the Taino's the way he did, because he did not know any better.

Quinn virtually called the Tainos to the stand... Ms. Eysnogle represented the Tainos well.

Some of Islesford students representing the King and Queen of Spain.

And then some of the other students representing the Taino people.

Prosecutor Daltini makes his open remarks... he was pretty stinkin' convincing right off the bat!

He talked about how Columbus's men were just "pawns" in the event that Columbus used to get what he wanted. Columbus threatened his men with their lives if he did not follow his orders. Most of Columbus's men were just trying to survive and make money for their families and did what Columbus told them because they were afraid for their own lives. I see a future in law and debate for D. Burroughs, Representative at Large!

Closing remarks from the group.

We then had the group take off their "prosecuting hats" and become the jury. They had to work together to assign percentages to each of the groups depending on how guilty they believed they were for the violent acts committed.

The reading of the final verdict! Pretty cool stuff! These kids took their assignments very seriously and I was super impressed how well they were able to articulate their ideas and represent their defendants! Job well done!

Special thanks to Ms. Eysnogle on Islesford for letting us take part in such a fun and engaging project!

December BINGO!

2011-12-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

It's not every year we have a December BINGO.... but we figure we better get in as much BINGO playing as possible and who doesn't love Holiday Themed BINGO nights... so it was a go.

Millie dressed up and looking her best.

Nancy Shrew... is that you?

Poor puppy... she does not look impressed.

The cookies were out... and looking delicious!

The "shaking up the punch" photo!

Prizes!

Aww, my little cuties!

Great team work in the kitchen!

Game one is ON! So cute.

Little Santa Puppy and her Ducky.

Two very famous BINGO players.

First big win of the night...

Full house.

We know if we make the sugar cookies, Lisa will come.

Winning ladies.

Finger lickin' good!

Big win for Tara!

Calling some numbers!

All is right in the universe! Billy B. won a round!

Collecting his prizes!

According to the pack row... there was a certain puppy with a case of real bad gas! Whoops.

Antlers!

Lots of team work going on for the last big round!

And the December BINGO champion is a second time member of the BINGO WALL OF FAME... Alice Boynton!!!

Trap Tree Tradition!

2011-12-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

You know it is the holidays when the Monhegan School starts calling the local fishermen to try and find enough traps to build our great, big, wonderful TRAP TREE!

We put up signs and they came...

Shermie was kind enough to let us use some of his traps for the tree this year.

The ever fabulous Angela helped us haul the traps up on her truck to the church lawn.

Them some traps.

Good things we have some strong students to lug these suckers. It's like trap day all over again!

Working on the base of the tree... pretty important to have a solid base!

Had to work together to get those traps up high!

Now talk about team work! This is impressive!

Securing the edges.

Hauling more traps! This was gonna be a big tree.

Getting higher.

Lots of great help from the community!

Trap climbers.

I was a supervisor.

Heave! Ho!

Almost done!

Last trap please!

Time to put the star on top!

We let Miss M. have the honor!

That's one fearless kindergartner!

School photo!

Island kids... they are pretty cute huh!?

Silly faces!

Opps, forgot the ever important brass fish!

There! Perfect!

Admiring their hard work! Next time to put up the lights!

And the final product! TA DA! Happy Holidays... Monhegan Style!

Cookie Time!

2011-12-17T03:08:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since we have made our "island famous" sugar cookies at school. But it wouldn't be the holidays without these DELICIOUS sugar-coma-inducing cookies! Especially since we had a December BINGO to prepare for!

Dalton and Margaret were quite the team! Dalton rolled and Margaret cut! Love the teamwork!

Miss M's favorite cutter!

Perfectly rolled and cut if I do say so myself.

Quinn came fresh off the boat, to help finish up the cookie process!

And a messy process it is!

Part 2 of Sugar Cookies... DECORATING!

This may have been Margaret's first experience decorating our famous sugar cookies.

She was a natural, of course.

Love the sprinkle technique shown here.

Load it with frosting!

Everyone hard at work.

More utter delicious mess! Good thing they call me Messy Jessie!

Taste-testing time!

Read that face.

Margaret trying to choose which one she wants to test!

This is what my heaven looks like. Can't wait for BINGO! Sugar-comas for ALL!

Project SCAM!

2011-12-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Our TLC classmates got together a week ago to share our science project that we worked on for our Mission SCAM (stars, comets, asteroids, and meteoroids) science unit!

Isle Au Haut was the host school during science for the past two weeks and came up with the brilliant project ideas for Mission SCAM!

Matinicus was the first to share their work with us! The younger boys taught us about the different types of stars there are in the solar system!

Here is a comic made by one of the middle schoolers on Islesford, explaining the differences between comets and asteroids!

A very cool shadow box by one of the Islesford "middles".

And some AMAZING drawings by their "youngers"!

There were lots of movies about astroids!

The three stooges, oh I mean astronomers of Isle Au Haut... telling about about asteroids, meteors, and comets! So funny!

Dalton and Quinn's movie/comic for the project (this might be one of my favorite projects they have done for this unit! Just so funny and creative.)

Another fabulous mini-unit in our Inter-Island science class!

Holiday Movie Night

2011-12-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

That much popcorn can only mean one thing... another movie night at the Monhegan School!

This time around it was holiday themed! The girls came dressed for the occasion!

Popcorn was delicious!

And we watched not one, but TWO holiday films!!!

The early show was "The Year Without A Santa Clause!"

Millie liked all the extra time to snuggle with her favorite people.

Happy little holiday folks watching the movie.

The late film of the evening, was my personal favorite Christmas movie, "Elf!!"

More snuggling... Millie might have wanted some of that salty, buttery popcorn as well!

By the end of the two movies, Millie was wiped! But it was a fun evening nonetheless!

Student Council Holiday Meeting!

2011-12-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Student Council met last week to go over plans for our Inter-Island Christmas celebration!

President Daltini lead the meeting. The kids talked about the fund raiser they are planning for this month and how they were going to go about doing an Inter-Island Secret Santa swap! TOO COOL FOR INTER-ISLAND SCHOOL!

Pretty big turn out for student council meeting! We had all five schools present!

Student Council tradition to end with a dance party! YEAH!

Virtual dance parties ROCK!

Christmas Card!

2011-12-05T04:55:00.000-08:00

Five years ago, I thought it would be fun to send out a school Christmas card to the island community... I think the first year I ordered the cards... I ordered around 40ish and had plenty of leftovers to have for keepsakes. Every year it seems we have more and more Christmas cards to send to our extended school family! Just means we are extra lucky to have so many people who love and support our school. This year I ordered 75 cards and only got to keep one for myself!

75 cards means LOTS of addressing and envelope licking for these fellas! They have always been good at office work.

Island community list!

It is fun to see how our school has changed and grown from year to year! Here is our virtual card for all our blogging friends and family! Happy Holidays from the Monhegan School!

More Dry Pastels!

2011-12-05T04:04:00.000-08:00

The boys requested to have some more time with the dry pastels Donna introduced in art class a few weeks ago. She happily obiliged! Here is some of their newest work!

Quinn's Swirls!

Quinn's "Blue Dragon" (He is going to have a dragon series this year!)

Dalton's abstract!

And Dalton's torch!

Margaret the Explorer!

2011-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Like the boys, Margaret has been learning a lot about explorers. First of all, she learned what an explorer is... thank goodness for Dora the Explorer to help with such ideas. She also learned about the famous explorer, Christopher Columbus. It was interesting teaching a kindergartner about Columbus at the same time I am teaching my 6th and 8th grader about how Columbus massacred millions of Taino "indians" because they were not able to "produce" enough gold for him. I left that part of the story out for Miss M, but we did talk about some of the bad choices Columbus made, along with the brave and smart choices he made. Hopefully it was a good balance!

After lots of reading and talking it was time for some fun projects that had to do with explorers!

Like making explorer hats!

Margaret the Explorer indeed!

Margaret wrote that if she was an explorer... she would want to find gold like Columbus...

don't worry, I think she would go about it much more humanely!

I couldn't help but make one for myself!

Next project... making small explorer ships!

Using playdough to keep the sails up!

Three Ships... just like Columbus!

Ah hoy! Young Explorer!

Thankful!

2011-12-04T10:12:00.000-08:00

It has been extremely easy for me this year to come up with a list of things to be thankful for. Really, ever since I came to Monhegan my gratitude for life, people, animals, and just simple pleasures has grown and grown.

More than anything, I am SO grateful for my job... the best job any teacher could every hope for, especially to start off their teaching career. Why do I love my job so much? Let's see.... creatively, freedom, community, collaboration, technology, ocean views, dog friendly, supportive and involved parents, Outer Island TLC, blogging, excitement, learning, expanding, challenging, art, Christmas Plays, developing curriculum, BINGO, never a dull moment, sweet one room school house, kids helping kids, multi-age classroom, seeing my students grow up, Truman Officer, field trips, island schools, Tanberg, having the time of my life, being excited to to go to work every day... and three other little reasons...

Margaret Ann... for making me laugh, for being such an exceptionally smart kindergartner, for loving to read and much as I do, for being sweet and kind, for always doing the "hardest work first", for loving your family so much, for looking up to your fellow students, for your creativity, for your excitement for BINGO and movie night, for trying so hard to be brave and independent, even when it is hard, for knowing how to "bust a move", for your patience and love for Millie, for hugs and high-fives, for being "silly" and loving school.

Quinn Alexander... for knowing when you are in trouble... just by my face, for making me laugh until my stomach hurts, for being so sweet and thoughtful, for making sound effects... even though I often make you stop, for your freckles and eye lashes, for you stories, for still trying to write your letters from the top down, for not giving up in math... even when it gets harder, for being so smart but so humble, for your amazing acting talents, for your natural humor, for loving me and Millie, for looking up to your brother and watching out for Margaret, for being my pal.

Dalton Lee... for your maturity and patience, for your independence and natural motivation, for always being willing to do what I ask... even when you don't want to because you know I need your help, for being a role model for Quinn and Margaret and the other island school kids, for being a little mini grown up but remembering how to be a kids now and then to, for looking out for me, for your appreciation for your school, family, and community, for your attitude about life, for you beautiful writing and impressive research skills, for helping with technology, for being a natural leader and amazing human being.

Lots to be thankful for this holiday season! Thank YOU ALL for reading!

Art, Art, We Love Art!

2011-12-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Another fun time in art class....

Lots happening on the art table this week!

Our assignment... fill the canvas.

It is amazing how freeing and gratifying art can be. I am just so appreciative to Donna and our school for making sure that art is such a comfortable and important aspect of our lives.

"Multi-media" waves by Jessie

"Checker Swirls" by Dalton

"A River Runs Through: It by Quinn

"Happy Chaos" by Donna!

YAY! ART!

Christmas Movie

2011-11-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, Christmas Play time. Man, our last Christmas Play together on Monhegan... soooo bitter sweet. As you probably remember, the Christmas Play and I have an off again, on again relationship. This year I felt pretty stinkin' good about the play because we were going to do something we have never attempted before... A CHRISTMAS MOVIE!!!!!

The idea was actually developed this summer. I remember being at my summer job talking to a bunch of community members about the last play of the year and wanted to make it really great and different. The idea of the movie came up and I latched on to it.

Next was trying to figure out what the movie would be about. We knew we wanted to try and involve community members in the movie and we knew we wanted to make it some kind of mystery. Anyone who knows me, understands my obsession with crime shows, such as Law and Order... so before we knew it our film was born... "Law and Order: Special Islanders Unit - A Christmas Mystery!"

The boys and I wrote the scenes and figured out the cast. Margaret told us she wanted to be a duck for the movie, so we quickly figured that in to the plot line (much easier than it seems really!) We have already filmed more than half the film and have cameos from several fabulous islanders who are natural born stars!

So... just to give you a sneak peak... here is the starring cast:

Margaret as "Captain Duck"

Quinn as "Alfred Spudnick"

Dalton as "Sherlock Bond"

And Jessie as "Nancy Shrew"

And our opening.... get ready to be impressed...

Don't worry, we will post the movie in it's entirety after our Island premiere on the 15th!

Explorer Videos!

2011-11-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

The boys have been working on Social Studies projects researching early explorers. They both choose two different explorers they wanted to research from different time periods and then developed questions they needed to answer for their research. Each of the boys are working with some of their TLC classmates to complete the research for one of their explorer's and then working on the other explorer project independently.

Both boys ended up making movies about their explorers. We are HUGE fans of Imovie here at the Monhegan School! There is just so much you can do!

Quinn helped Dalton with his movie about Marco Polo. They look pretty spiffy, don't they!

Can you tell how much fun we get to have, all the time, at my school. Pictures like these make me really sad to think I would get to see these goofy faces every day next year. I make them promise me all the time that we can be friends from ever and that the will invite me to their weddings, that is normal, right!?

Here is Dalton's finished movie which he created with his buddy, Dylan, from Matinicus! Dylan is a mastermind when it comes to video editing!

And Quinn's video about the explorer, Alfonso de Albuquerque!

I know, I know... what a boring way to learn about early explorers.

No. Fun. At. All.

Millie's First Birthday

2011-11-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

Millie's first birthday was Monday, so we knew we had to celebrate BIG! I was inshore for the weekend, so I could pick up supplies for the par-tay!

The day of, Millie had to rest up for the event while we got some work done.

At the end of the afternoon we set up.

I made Millie a dog bday cake! Ingredients include: wheat flour, eggs, beef flavored baby food, and beef jerky! Frosted with liverwurst and cream cheese! Dissssgusting!

We had to supply some people cake as well! This looks a bit more appetizing!

The birthday girl was ready!

Aw, a gift from her boyfriend.

She loves unwrapping!

Scout was intrigued by the smells coming from the cake!

Another present! One lucky dog!

For the last half-hour of school we invited the community to take a birthday dog walk! I was super impressed by the turn out!

Millie wanted to lead the way!

The dogs were pumped.

Who wouldn't want to spend their bday in the woods?

We had quite the trail of people!

They keep going and going!

When we got to the ball field, the dogs went wild!

Billy and Victor! Millie should feel VERY special that she got these fellas to take a walk in the woods :)

The doggy onlookers!

Pure birthday joy.

Wrestling.

I think she was happy!

Back at school it was time for cake!

The dogs totally approved of the doggy cake.

And I think the people cake was pretty good too!

The boys passed out treats.

More cake please!?

Happy 1st Birthday Millie! Thanks to all who came and celebrated with us! So fun.

Dry Pastels!!!!

2011-11-14T10:46:00.003-08:00

Another week at the Monhegan School... another fabulous art class with THEE Donga Cundy!

This week's medium... dry pastels. They are like a mix between craypas and chalk and the effect is fabulous.

Perfect for swirling and smooshing. (I love the word smooshing...even if it is not technically a word!)

Beautiful, soft colors. Very calming.

And they are super messy, which makes them all the more fun!

It was a pretty quiet art class, which is a good sign. Means everyone was into it.

Artful mess.

More swirls.

And smooshing.

Final products: Quinn's "Sunset Garden."

Quinn's "Summer Wave."

Dalton's "Abstract Swirls"

Dalton's "Wave Crash."

Dalton's "Color Ying-Yang"

And Donna's masterpiece!

Student Council

2011-11-14T10:46:00.001-08:00

We had our first Student Council Meeting with our newly elected officers last week while Anne was out visiting. Pretty exciting.

On the day before the meeting we had a meeting with Dalton, the student council president, and Emma, the VP to discuss the agenda for the meeting. Dylan, the Matinicus Rep. also joined us. We were very productive and set a great agenda for our first meeting!

I really like the "name cards" the Matinicus officers had.

On the day of our big meeting we had a jam-packed agenda which included:

- Going over group norms

- Virtual swearing in all student council members... this was funny.

- Discussion about Spring Field Trip

- Discussion about Charitable Fundraiser

- New business

- End with dance party!

As President, Dalton had to facilitate the meeting! He was awesome. But I felt bad since his stinking teacher kept butting in. She obviously has trouble letting go of control!

We decided it would only make sense to end each meeting with a collaborative dance off. Each meeting we would end with a different song. This week's theme song was "Staying Alive!"

It was a great meeting. Our student council rocks!

Inter-Island Science Meeting: Solar System Models!

2011-11-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

While studying the Solar System this trimester we have been doing short two week projects with our TLC classmates. Every two weeks one of our TLC schools is in charge of the project and the posts the assignment on our Solar System Wiki. Last week it was Islesford School's turn to "host" the wiki. They created a really cool assignment where every school had to create a model to demonstrate some aspect of the solar system.

Last Monday our five different TLC school met on the Tanberg to share our models with one another! We always love these big group meetings!

The Islesford youngers made a model to show the order of the planets from the sun!

That's Jupiter! Isn't it pretty!?

The Matinicus youngers showing their model!

Isle Au Haut School's super cool model of the distance of the planets from the sun! Their model took up their entire school! Pretty cool!

Ut oh... are we boring you Finn?!

Monhegan did a stop animation of the orbit of the planets around the sun. It was mighty cool but a wee bit too long to try and post on the blog. Sorry folks.

Here's Cliff Island showing the orbit of the Earth around the Sun! Such a great demonstration!

And of course we end in a spontanious dance party. Obviously. It's how we roll.

Our next project has to do with Stars, Comets, Asteriods, and Meteors! It's call operation SCAM! Stay tuned!

Awesome visit from Anne and Finn!

2011-11-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

We had some very special visitors last week! Two of our most favorite visitors of all time. No really, we LOVE them... it was none other than our favorite TLC coordinator, Anne and her super dog-pal, Finn!

We were pretty excited for them to visit! Our entire morning message was dedicated to them!

Here is the beautiful portrait Margaret did of Anne and Finn!

And did you know that Anne and Finn are both great words to work on rhyming!!!

Millie was a little freaked out about having Finn at school. I think she thought it was her boyfriend, Scout... so she was really confused and just decided to sit on him a lot.

Quinn was just over-the-moon when he saw Finn!

I think Dalton was pretty happy too!

Scout and Finn seeing each other for the first time on this visit. They look so confused. I wonder if they are saying, "Hey wait, that's me. But I am me. This is so weird."

Anne had to do a lot of not-so-fun work while she was here. But we forced her to stop to do some fun projects with us, like making "found poems" using words and phrases from magazines!

The idea for the "found poetry" came from our friend Ms. Rogers on Matinicus who had set up a wicked cool poetry wiki for our TLC group. She posts poetry projects for us to do every week.

We had A LOT of fun with this "found poetry" assignment.

We had even more fun because Anne was here to do it with us.

Margaret's poem, with a little help from Jessie :)

Quinn's "found poem."

Anne's super cool poem!

And Daltini's poem!

Anne also helped the boys with their science project... called Mission SCAM (stars, comets, asteriods, and meteors!)

Did you know Anne is an excellent puzzle solver? She and Margaret made a great team!

Happy school.

Before we knew it it was time for Anne and Finn to leave us! We will miss their faces VERY MUCH!!!

Thanks Anne and Finn. We wuv you.

Margaret the Math Wizard!

2011-11-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

I know I have said it before... but get ready, because I am going to say it again... Margaret is just the smartest little kindergarten in the whole world! When she started school in the fall she was all about books and letters and math and numbers were not so interesting in her mind. Boy, has that changed. She is now a math wiz! She has meant nearly all her kindergarten math standards and now is starting to meet the first grade standards. Wowsers!

She can not only count to 100 but she can write the numbers too! She wanted to make sure each number was written just right and I think she is pretty stinkin' close!

She is also working on telling time (another first grade standard!)

She made a schedule of her day with the different times she does each thing.

I mean... can you say smarty pants!?!?!

She is also learning to tell time with the minute hand, which mean she is learning to count by 5's! I just love how much Margaret loves learning!!! She is the best kindergartner in the whole wide world!

Moment of the Day: Darth Vadar Style!

2011-11-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

This Moment of the Day is brought to you by Quinny.

Jessie: "Hey Quinn, can you bring home your Darth Vadar costume from Halloween?"

Quinn: "Yeah, sure." He puts on the mask! "Hey! It smells like cookies in here!"

Writing Class with Islesford

2011-11-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

We started up a little virtual writing class between the Islesford and Monhegan olders this past week. It is interesting because two years ago we had a virtual writing class between Monhegan and Iselsford and it was really the first kind of "virtual" class we tried to have between our island schools. It was kind of the beginning of what the TLC was to become. I don't think we realized at the time how far we would come in two years! Pretty exciting to think about.

Here are my precious boys waiting to call Islesford on the Tanberg. Boy, they are special.

Hello Islesford!

We started off our class working as a big group. We read some good example of "people sketches" which are strong descriptions of characters in writing.

Then we had the kids write their own "people sketches." We had them either write a sketch of Ms. Eysnogle, the teacher on Islesford, or myself. Their sketches were super good and very sweet.

We then had the kids partner off. I love this. The above picture is of Dalton's partner on Islesford working on her computer with Dalton.

And this is the picture of what Dalton saw of his partner on his computer screen!

Each of the pairs of partners read a section of a piece of writing they have been working on to eachother and then gave feedback of where the writer could add more character description to the writing.

Quinn met with his pal Joe. The two of them had a great time sharing their stories to each other!

It really helps when the kids can share their writing with other and get feedback that is not just from the same boring ol' teacher (yea, that's me).

Not to mention, any chance for the boys to work with their TLC classmates is A-O-K in their book!

Halloween Trick-or-Treating!

2011-11-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year we only had a half day of school so we did not celebrate much during school.

The festivities began after school outside of the Black Duck where all the kids gathered to begin trick-or-treating!

The Morning Cloak Butterfly had her gorgeous homemade wings on again!

Butterfly, Hawaiian Warrior, and a Pumpkin! Just as cute as can be!

The whole gang ready for some candy! This is a lot of kids! (Okay... we had to import some!)

Mysterious Middle Schooler inside of the Black Duck... collecting his treat!

Delicious homemade treats!

Only three trick-or-treaters made it all the way to my house for candy!

The kids had PLENTY of treats... so it was time for some TRICKS! Me and my squirt-gun gang waiting VERY patiently outside of the boys house to try and scare the bejesus out of them and spay them with squirt guns and silly string. We did quite scare them... but we did get them wet!

Happy Halloween Everyone! Hope you got some treats and some tricks!

Epitaphs!

2011-11-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

In honor of Halloween the boys learned about epitaphs for poetry last week. We read some famous epitaphs like these....

"I made an ash of myself." - Ruth Adams

"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear,

To dig the bones enclosed here!

Blest be the man that spare these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones!" - Shakespeare

Then I gave the boys a chance to write their own epitaphs... I know it sounds kind of morbid... but it was actually pretty fun and it is poetry!

Quinn's Epitaph:

Energetic for Life

But in the end

My imagination will be using explosives

To bring me high in the sky

Or further into the ground

Dalton's Epitaph... pretty funny.

And mine...

Do you like the "Angel of Death" Golden Retriever that will meant me at the end of the tunnel?

Who Would Steal the Poor Teacher's Pumpkins!?

2011-11-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

There is this horrible tradition on Monhegan that every Halloween the sneaky island children TRY to steal the poor teacher's pumpkins! If the pumpkins are stolen and the teacher does not catch the culprit(s) the school children do not have to have homework for a week... however if she DOES catch them it is LOTS of homework for all the kids. Let me just say, I did not start this tradition... but for as long as I have been the teacher, I have tried really hard to keep my pumpkins safe from the little hooligans of Monhegan. And this year was no different...

My plan this year was to keep my pumpkins somewhere that would be oh-so-difficult to get to... like suspended from my second story window!

Of course a lot of duct tape was needed for this particular endeavor.

Step 1: Secure pumpkins with rope and duct tape... check!

Step 2: Suspend Pumpkins from my bedroom windows so I can see any little sneaky-peaky action at all times through the night.... check!

Step 3: Step back and admire my masterful plan... check and check!

So... Halloween night came and went. And my pumpkins went untouched. I thought I was in the clear. But then on the night after Halloween I was sitting on my couch working on the computer and I heard a bunch of noise coming from outside. I thought it was neighbor putting stuff in my basement, so I didn't think much of it... but THEN I heard a huge bag against the side of my house!

MY PUMPKINS!!!!!

I grabbed my flashlight, put on my boots, and ran outside but the little monkeys had run off with one of my pumpkins!!!! I heard a bunch of rustling in the bushes and tried to get Millie to go find them, but she was too scared.

I went back to the scene of the crime and found a pair of men's gloves and saw that one of my pumpkins was still hanging from the window. I grabbed the gloves and went inside to wait.

A couple of minutes later I heard more noise outside. I jumped up from the window and shinned my flashlight. The suspects were not in sight... but I could hear them.

I whispered out the window, "I have your gloves! And I can hear you breathing!"

They irrupted in laughter!! I knew right away the little sneaks I was dealing with... it was none other than my bratty eighth grader, Dalton and his criminal like step-father, Travis.

Dalton and Travis came inside to retrieve the gloves and have a good laugh. They said they would get their ladder and be on their way... making me think they would leave my final pumpkin be.

I should have known better... as soon as they got outside they climbed up the ladder and started pulling down my second pumpkin! I ran up to my bedroom to try and pull up my pumpkin but I got there too late!

They got my pumpkins! And not only did they steal them...

They smashed the crap out of them :(

Poor little pumpkins.

So the bad news was... even with all my efforts my pumpkins were stolen.

The good news was.. I caught them red handed, which meant homework for everyone!!

I have to say, I will miss this tradition a whole lot. I hope the next teacher fight the good fight of protecting the teacher's pumpkins!

Our New Best Friend - Irene the Ipad!

2011-11-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last week was a BIG week at the Monhegan School... we got our long awaited, new exciting, awesome, fantastic, and utterly wonderful piece of technology.... the Ipad!!!!

Of course the boys were beside themselves. When I first let the boys play around with the Ipad it was not hooked up to the school internet yet so I thought they would not be that impressed since there no cool apps on it.

But they got a kick out of the simplest apps that came on the Ipad. Like the "notepad" app where you can write little notes to yourself. They loved using the touch pad keyboard.

Dalton's turn to type.

Aw, what sweet little notes they wrote to each other.

I, of course, could not help but get in on the note writing. We were pretty silly.

And then Margaret got to use the Ipad for the first time. Can I say love at first sight!?

I had downloaded three different kindergarten apps for Margaret and she now has an Ipad center! It is AMAZING to see what a kindergartner can do with an Ipad!

THIS is my favorite app. It is called "TeachMe" and it is the First Grade version because I know the kindergarten one would be too easy for Miss M. This app focuses on spelling and reading based on Dolche's site words and also adding and subtracting. What I like about it best is that it has the student write their answers using their finger and they have to write within the lines and form numbers and letter correctly in order to get the answer "right." Every time they get an answer right they earn a "coin." They can save up their coins and go "shopping" at the local shape, pet, and art store. It is such a great way to get kids motivated to form letters and number correctly!

The boys and Margaret have a rotating schedule of who can use the Ipad during break. But it seems it does not matter whose turn it is to use the Ipad... they all gather around to watch. I found two GREAT geography games called "Stacking States" and "Stacking Countries" that the boys (and yes, I) are kind of obsessed with!

The games have you answer questions about U.S. or World geography and every question you get right you get a state/country. You have to stack the states or countries (kind of like tetris). It is so fun and you learn so much different states and countries!

The Ipad has been a PERFECT addition to our unit about space studies!

The boys met me one evening to use the "Star Walk" app where you use the Ipad to recognize what you are seeing in the night sky. I do believe this is the best application I have EVER seen.

The boys parents came out that night as well! We got to see the Space Station in orbit! It was pretty awesome to see, especially after our time at the Space Challenger Center where we did our Space Station simulation!

But I have to say, I do not think anyone loves the Ipad more than Margaret. It is just so user friend for younger kids. She only gets to use the Ipad once a day for about 15 minutes... but I think it is her favorite part of school for sure!

Margaret and I named the Ipad Irene... and every day when it is time to put the Ipad away... we close the cover and sing "Gooood night Irene!"

I wish every kindergarten class could have an Ipad. We are one lucky school!

Halloween BINGO!!!!

2011-10-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that we were on a Field Trip on the days leading to Halloween AND that Halloween fell on a Monday, we decided against having a Halloween party/Fall Festival this year and just keep the holiday easy with some HALLOWEEN BINGO!!!

We had to have it on the Friday we got back from our trip, so we were all pretty tired, but we rallied for the big night!

The freshly carved pumpkins lighting the way to the school!

Halloween decorations were hung!

Delicious goodies were out!

And the scary prizes were ready to be won!

We invited everyone to wear costumes to BINGO!

Millie does not look impressed with the shenanigans!

Matching costumes. I know... a little over the top... but I LOVE Halloween!

Of course we picked the windy day of the week to try and light the pumpkins.

We moved them over to the hay stacks to try and protect them from the wind.

Those pumpkins looked good anywhere!

Waiting to greet the BINGO players.

Bored devil.

Two pretty looking ladies all dressed up!

The BINGO tables filled up fast!

A magical fortune teller.

Looking into her crystal ball to see who would win!

D giving the opening speech!

A beautiful blonde wig in the back. Just cracks me up!

Darth Vadar was kind of scary at BINGO... I mean you don't want to see what happens if he doesn't win a game!

Phew! He won the beautiful devil wig!

Matching fishermen/women! So cute.

I just love seeing the school house filled with fun people!

Billy B. said he dressed up as Russell Crow. That Billy, he is a hoot.

A little witch calling BINGO numbers.

The fortune teller won a fabulous mask that went well with her magical appearance!

Giving out prizes.

More number calling.

The little fisherman lending a hand.

Gina won the orange wig/glasses prize! She looks FABULOUS!

Wigs everywhere!

It was a Halloween miracle! Billy B. FINALLY won a round! We think his new BINGO hat brought him some extra luck!

He won a tiara... quite fitting I thin.

I just love all of these costumes!

That cute fisherman kept distracting me!

Darth Vadar and Donga.

Kathryn won a fancy mask and trident!

BINGO couple looking fine!

Time for the final round... everyone wants to win the championship so they can be on the BINGO wall of fame!!!!

And the October BINGO champion is.... Nick Cennamo!!!

Billy's lucky hat and now with his lucky tiara!!

It wouldn't be Halloween BINGO without Norma!

Such a good looking crowd!

Halloween buddies!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Inter-Island Field Trip - Halloween Party!!!

2011-10-31T11:12:00.001-07:00

On our last night of the field trip we had an EPIC Halloween party! I am talking full out costumes, decorations, and snacks! We do not mess around when it comes to parties!!!

Check out these costumes....

Super sweet horse!!!

A boo-rrific ghost!!!!

Arrrrghh! Our very own TLC pirate!

Scary Skeleton!

Fabulous Blue M&M!

80's Dancing Queen!

Oh shoot... I kept getting her outfit name wrong... I think it was Zombie High Doll!?!?!?!

High-Heeled Gypsy!

Monster! So awesome!

Zombie brothers... and least one was a peace-loving zombie!

Solider!

Junior!

Junior was my date for the evening... I, of course, was Mrs. Peabody.

Leather wearing dracula/zombie guys.

Gothic Lady!

We had a FABULOUS runway show. First up was Sleeping Beauty!

And then Captain Hook!

The track star!

One eyed giant! (He couldn't see anything... so his runway walk was really funny!)

SUPER Heidi diving down the runway!

Beautiful Morning Cloak Butterfly!

The whole crazy gang!

Darth Vader and Storm Trooper make friends!

Dessert Time!

Best Looking Family Award goes to the Holloways!

We dressed up as two pretty, intelligent, kind, amazing blondes. Isn't is a super realistic costume!!

Time to give out awards!

Best Track Star Award!

And best monster with a clown wig award!

Lots of Sugar + Glow Sticks =

Party Animal!

The Halloween festivities ended with some ghost stories around the fire place.

The kids and adults then all collapsed from sugar comas and wayyyy too much fun.

Inter-Island Field Trip - Day #2

2011-10-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Day two of our field trip started bright and early... super cutie with his little pal.

We started the day with some snuggle action of course!

The TLC kids are ALL about TLC!!!

A little drawing time for Margaret and her BFF from Cliff.

More snuggles....

Piggy back rides are making a comeback!

During breakfast I head one of the kids yell out... "It's here! It's here!"

We had rented a school bus for day two so we could all ride to our programs together.

You would have thought this was the only reason we came on the field trip! The kids were estatic! I would say about 85% of the kids had NEVER been on a school bus before! Pretty exciting!

It was totally Miss M's first time on a bus and she was thrilled!

More happy school bus faces!

"Hodlums" kids in the back... man, how do they know this stuff.

My bus mate was the coolest!

Static electricity on the seats kept us entertained for much of the ride.

Have I mentioned how much I love all of these kids!?!?!

He's a keeper.

We arrived at UMaine in Orono and huddled up outside the planetarium before breaking into an olders and youngers group. The kids passed the time by waving and saying "Good Morning" to all the college students walking by. Poor college students did not have a clue what was going on.

The youngers went to the planetarium first and the olders headed over to the rock gym.

Happy little monkeys!

Happy big monkeys!

There were some big walls to conquer!

Quinny heading for the top!

I think he liked the falling part better than the climbing!

Ms. Eysnogle giving it a whirl... she was apparently afraid of heights... who knew!?! Especially since she made it to the tip-top!

Ms. Greatorex's turn!

Dalton looked like a pro.

I gave it a try... but let's be honest... there was no way I was going to make it to the top.

And then their was super Anne! We all knew she was a super TLC coordinator... but who knew she was a crazy climber!

At the top!! Yes!

After rock climbing it was time to switch... the olders headed to the Planetarium and the youngers took a turn at the rock wall! Man, do I wish I had pictures of Margaret (nickname: Monkey!) at the rock wall! I heard she was pretty awesome!

The olders watch a mind-blowing program about Black Holes.... seriously, it made my head hurt.

And then one of the high points of the day... lunch at the college cafeteria!!!

After lunch time hugs! Margaret was not used to all this hugging action! But she got the hang of it!

After lunch we headed to the ropes course on campus. Two island buddies. So sweet.

Lining up for some team building games before we took on the challenges!!

Everyone tap the shoe!!!!

Passing the hula-hoop!

Time for the ropes course! Man, these kids were pumped.

They were given helmets and harnesses... this was serious business.

Can you even stand it!?

My super brave gal pal from Islesford was the first one to take on the high wire... the hardest rope course of the day!

It was pretty magical watching her cross the course. She was obviously scared, but so brave and all of her island classmates were cheering her one! Brought tears to my eyes. What an amazing experience!

Down she came! Our little hero!

Good thing we brought a little mini fireman along who knew a lot about using ladders!

Quinn getting geared up for his trip up the course.

Climbing high!

Helmet heads.

Margaret taking a turn up the ladder!

She made it!

Time for the balance course... Margaret and her partner were adorable.

The two teams had to work together to balance this platform... sound easy?

It totally wasn't!

The fireman wasn't going anywhere!

More climbing! Big D's turn!

He made it across.... no problem!

"Man, I am pretty high up here!"

Eliza from Cliff was a champ!

Weeeeeee!

One last round up circle before it was time to head back to camp! What an awesome day!

A few photos before loading the bus!

Yay Monhegan School!

The ride back to camp was a lot quieter then the ride there!

We walked into Camp Jordon and was greeted by a super awesome hunted house made by Dylan from Matinicus!!! We were ready for our halloween party! (Check out the next blog post for scary pictures!)

Dinner was burritos. Yummy!

My favorite little guy.

Hanging out at the dinner table. I just love being together!!!

Of course the night ended in a dance party once again. We do love busting our moves.

The next morning came early... maybe a little too early.

And we had our first frost... it was so crisp and beautiful out.

But it was time to leave Camp Jordon and take the long trek home.

We were sad to say goodbye to our friends... lots of hugs and sad faces. But we knew we would see each other again soon!