April Library Display

 I have been vigilant about keeping up with my monthly display in the library.  The kids seem to look forward to seeing what I put up next.  I will be the first to admit that I have a whole folder on Pinterest devoted to library displays!  Here is my one that I just put up for April.  My theme was:  Reading with my peeps!

See the bunnies at the bottom with their little books?!

I added some Easter baskets and Easter grass from the Dollar Store (a whole $9 investment) and voila!  My April display has been created!  The Peep bunnies were easy to make--I just printed out a template and ran it on bright colored paper.  

Caroline's Winter Semi-Formal!

 Caroline attends the Commonwealth Governor's School, which is an accelerated program in high schools all over Virginia.  The surrounding CGS from King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford have a semi-formal each winter called the Snow Ball.  It was rescheduled from Feb to March 11.  Caroline and her group of friends had made plans early on to just go as a group.  Bella, Cullen, Kate, and Connor joined Caroline for pictures (at Kate's house), the dinner at Chili's, followed by the dance. 
 I took Caroline dress shopping a couple of weeks ago, and it was not very successful.  She's a picky shopper to start with, and we didn't find many options for a semi-formal (lots of prom dresses).  We ended up finding that cute navy blue number ON SALE on JC Penney's website--marked down to $39!  She also got fancy nude high heels that will work with fancy dresses in the future, some earrings and bracelets from Charming Charlies, and a whole bunch of curls courtesy of me :)
Connor's mom became my hero by offering to drive the kids to dinner, then to the dance, then hang out in F'Burg until the dance was over, AND drive them all back home!  I passed out at 10 PM while reading and Caroline made it home about an hour later.  Her first comment this morning was "God, my feet hurt so much!".  Yep, welcome to high heels, they suck ;)

The whole group, looking all cute

The "serious" pose

Don't let the smile fool you--it was absolutely freezing!

Gimme a "YAY!" for awkward high school dances!

Drum Roll Please......

 I got the shock of my life when my administrators came sneaking into the library last Thursday with the superintendent of the county to present an award to me....KGMS Teacher of the Year!!!  I turned 50 shades of purple and had to pose for what will only end up being embarrassing photos of myself with my bosses :)  They presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a backpack filled with work-related goodies (post it notes and dispensers, scotch tape dispenser, washi tape, pens, highlighters, you get the idea) AND a gift card!  I was absolutely speechless!  Most teachers in the building don't tell who they nominate for this honor, so it's not like I was expecting it at all.  I had nominated a fellow English teacher and though that she had it in the bag!  After my recognition, it was nice to have many teachers come by and congratulate me, letting me know that they had nominated me.
Where does this go from here?  I have an "award of excellence" ceremony on May 15th and will be honored along with the winners at the other 5 schools and a school board meeting on May 22nd.  At the school board meeting, they will be announcing who wins as "teacher of the year" for the entire county.  Not sure I would look forward to that--there's A LOT of paperwork involved--and I'm just thrilled to get a designated parking spot in the front of the staff lot :)