Happy Mother's Day!

We love our mommies! Look at these beautiful young women. Hard to believe they are mothers at all! ;) Kevin and I went to lunch at Red Lobster with my Mom and Dad, and Mama Deb. We were all about ready to pop by the end of the meal, but we had a really great time!

Like mother, like son! What a couple of cuties.

Spring Release

With Mother's Day and Spring Release came the

SPRING 2009 WINE TOUR PARTY BUS!

When Miss Eva Joe invited me to be her date for a wine tour on a party bus, I was so excited! And I was not let down. We had a fabulous day. Perfect weather, terrific wines, beautiful balloons, and amazing company.

We started off by visiting L'Ecole No. 41 and Woodward Canyon. We were off to a wonderful start. I absolutely loved the Syrah at L'Ecole, and was amazed with the dry Reisling at Woodward. I just had to buy them both, I mean...after all, what's a wine tour without a little to remember it by?

Next we were off the Cougar Crest, where I enjoyed the wines, but the conversation more!

Lunch at Dusted Valley Vintners was fabulous! We had a picnic with sandwiches, salad, and of course WINE. Here we met the most wonderful pourer, Andre'. He was fabulous, and kept us ladies in full supply of the wines. To sum up our time here, let me just say
I LOVE ME SOME SYRAH (slurp)

After lunch, we jumped..or swaggered back on the party bus, and headed to Rulo Winery where the bus driver, Richard showed us that chivalry is not dead. On a side note, I think Dick has a little crush on Marci Marce.

Walla Walla Vintners was really nice. I really enjoyed their Cabernet Sauvignon, and I also enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Every time I drive up Mill Creek to see my parents, I comment on how I'd like to check it out. Worth the drive.

Incubator Wineries was very interesting. The set up reminds me of the houses on Edward Scissorhands. They all look the same, but in different, sherbet colors. Very cute. We only really visited Kontos Cellars while here. That was fun, since Kevin farms right next to Chris Kontos, who was pouring wine for us.

Quick pic of Eva, Carrie, and Jason outside the tasting room at Kontos Cellars. We were all pretty droopy eyed at this point in the day.

Last but not least, we were off to dinner at Dunham Cellars. They have some wonderful wines, and the food was delicious as well.

The tasting Room at Dunham

The decorations were beautiful at Dunham, and dinner was great!

Eva and I had a wonderful time; we are definitely doing it next year! Thanks again, Eva for a great time.

My Classroom

A lovely view of my super enthused 6th grade class. (Notice the boy SLEEPING in the second row. I was clearly very entertaining that afternoon.)

Our "classroom read-aloud bookshelf" We are currently reading A Wrinkle in Time.

My 'to be graded' basket. Amazingly enough, it was empty. Not at all typcial!

View from the front. My room is crowded with 27 student desks. Thank goodness I have an actual classroom this year, and not the portable I had last year. They just wouldn't have fit.

Our windowsill displays student mailboxes, hand-in baskets, Late-work basket, No-name basket, and 'Extra' basket (for extra copies of worksheets and such)

The white board at the front of the room, Math Tesselations and Weekly vocabulary words are displayed above and below.

My corner! I spend A LOT of time at that computer!

View from the back.

Computer Research Center.

Coat rack and Math manipulative shelves. Parts of Speech on the wall!

This is our classroom library corner. Students often read or work on team activities in this corner. I'll need to expand it for next year; I just got a hold of some books that need a new home!

Skill Reminder Wall. Currently displaying Fraction opperations, Elements of Literature, and Good Reading Strategies. The Weekly spelling list is also displayed here.

Our Math wall. Measurement, multiplication, and Mountain Math bulletin board!

This classroom community tree is the first thing that I made to go up on my wall at the beginning of the year, and I am very proud of it. Each apple has a student name on it; Mrs. Chabre is up there too!

Our classroom calendar, rules, expectations, homework policy, birthdays, weather report, and classroom jobs chart is all on this bulletin board by our door.

Each week, students are given a new classroom job. They check the "current job openings" board every Monday morning to see what job they are responsible for that week.

My 6th graders will soon be Jr. Highers, so we just had our elections for 7th grade ASB officers. Each student was required to write a speech and make a poster for the candidacy of one office. Here are the posters, displayed on our classroom window.

Classroom Website

Well, April is gone and we're on to May! This is crazy to say, but we only have 30 more days of school until summer. And just think, if the Swine Flue hits, it may be even less. Just kidding!! Work is going really well; I just had my end of the year evaluation and it went great! All Satisfactory +. I also just finished creating a classroom website. I am seriously obsessed with it.

The URL is www.teacherweb.com/WA/PrescottSchool/MrsChabre

Our school has really been emphasizing getting parents more involved with their children's education. I agree, very important! So I thought that this site would be a wonderful way to do just that. It allows parents to access daily assignments, extension activities, class projects, expectations, rules, discipline policy, and so much more!

So check it out; and don't tell me you don't love it- I know you do! :)

April Showers

Holly just had her bridal shower. I can't believe she is getting married in 3 weeks! Congratulations, Holly and Jim! The shower was really fun. We played little games, gave Holly advice, and my favorite part was making wedding dresses out of Toilet paper and ribbon! Here's a picture of the winning design. Brought to you exclusively by Chabre-Reser Designs. :)

Here is Holly enjoying herself with Sarah Hoffmann, sister in law to be, and a friend from work. Holly had a 'honey do whistle' that she could blow whenever she wanted to be waited on. The power went to her head for sure!

The Day after the shower, we had a big BBQ and planted a vegetable garden! Holly and Cindi helped me set up a 'master plan' for the garden. I planted my herb garden already. Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Cilantro, and Chives. I planted a ton on green beans, so let me know if you want any once they are ready to harvest. I have started seeds inside for Roma tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. Cindi just brought me sweet onion starts, and she is also starting watermelon and bell peppers in her greenhouse for me. I think we'll plant strawberries and carrots too! We have had rain showers pretty constantly since planting, so hopefully that will help the plants grow big and bountiful!

I swear it's not just dirt! Notice the dogs like to walk through!

A few flowers by the front steps. Lovely!

The Scudders came over to hang out, and Chris broke out his huge grills to slow cook ribs. I promise I'm not just saying this to make Chris feel good- MMM, MMM they were good!

Here are Jesse and Bradley; they spend most of the afternoon painting pet rocks with Deb. Debi had the most fun of all, I think. Love you, mama! The rocks are now a beautiful addition to my first ever attempt at a garden! We'll see how it goes.

Here's the new Cherry Blossom Tree Kevin planted for me, and my favorite potted plants on the porch!