Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening



Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~ Robert Frost

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

From 1991

From Christmas 2005




Fun with Math and Christams

I know you all are dying to know exactly what I teach, so here is a glimpse into my math class!!!!


Tommorow I am reviewing with my kids for our Unit 5 Test on Time and Measurement, so I wrote a little Christmas Story with math problems in leiu of a normal study guide....and it stars me and ALL OF YOU!

Please note it is not accurate (I know Emma is not 6 feet tall) nor predicting the future (I did not buy David an X-box or DVDS for stocking stuffers).

But really, see if you can solve all 30 math problems. Are you smarter than my math students?
(I will give you the first answer since my clock image will not upload.)

Ms. Versaci's Christmas Break

Chapter One: Flying Home
Ms. Versaci is going home to Atlanta, Georgia for Holiday Break on Monday. She is at her house in Oxford, NC getting ready to go. She looks at the clock.

It is (1)10:05. Her flight is at 12:53! She only has (2) _________ hours and ________ minutes until her flight. It takes her 45 minutes to get to RDU airport. She needs one hour to get through security, so she has to be at RDU at (3) _________. This means she needs to leave her house at (4) _________.

Chapter Two: Buying Presents
On Tuesday, Ms. Versaci needs to go shopping for presents. She needs to buy presents for her boyfriend David, her Secret Santa, Emma, and stocking stuffers for all 5 siblings. She leaves the house at 9:15. She gets to the mall at 10:20, meaning she drove for (5) _________ hours and _________ minutes.

She first needs to buy Emma a scarf. She knows Emma is almost 6 feet tall, and she wants a scarf that is that same height. However, scarves are measured in inches! So she will need a scarf that is (6) _________ inches long.

For David, she buys an X-box 360, which originally cost $275. However, there is a sale at Game Stop and she gets 65% off, meaning she only pays (7) _________. What a deal!

Finally, she buys 5 DVDS for stocking stuffers. Each DVD costs $8.20. Ms. Versaci spends (8) _________ on DVDs. Tax in Georgia is 5%, so after tax , (9) _________.

Chapter Three: Wrapping Gifts and Decorating the House
On Wednesday, Ms. Versaci is wrapping her gifts. She needs ribbon to decorate the gifts with. She needs 15 feet of ribbon, but the sales lady will only take orders in yards, so Ms. V asks for (10) _________ yards. She has 8 presents to wrap. When she measured, she had a total of 145 square feet to cover in wrapping paper. Each roll covers 29 square feet, so she will need to buy (11) _________ rolls of wrapping paper.

Ms. Versaci’s Dad needs to buy lights at Walmart for the house. Their house is a rectangle with a length of 35 feet and a width of 91 feet. Ms. V’s Dad is going to need (12) _________ feet of lights. They come in boxes of 70 feet, so he is going to have to buy (13) _________ packs of lights. Each pack costs $9.99, so his total before tax is (14) _________ and after tax is (15) _________.

Chapter Four: Cooking for the Christmas Eve Party
Ms. Versaci’s family always hosts a Christmas Eve party. Thursday, Ms. V’s Stepmom, Connie, is making a batch of fresh eggnog fir the party. The recipe calls for 4 pints of cream. Cream comes in fluid ounces. This recipe needs (16)_________ fluid ounces of cream. Each container of cream has 8 fluid ounces, so Connie will need to buy (17) _________ containers. Each container costs $1.50, so Connie spends a total of (18) _________ on cream.

Ms. Versaci’s sister Twila is baking cookies. She needs 2 pounds of chocolate chips, which is (19) _________ ounces. At the store it costs $0.75 per ounces of chocolate chips, so they will cost (20) _________.

Chapter Five: Traveling to Florida
Ms. Versaci and her two sisters, Cheyenne and Veronica, are driving to Florida to visit their mother. The trip is 360 miles, which is (21) _________ yards. All three sisters want to split the driving evenly, so they will need to switch every (22) _________ miles.

They stop for lunch at Chick-fil-a. Here is the menu:
#1 Combo: $5.75
#2 Combo: $5.90
#3 Combo: $6.00
Chicken Sandwich: $3.45
8-Pack Nuggets: $3.45
12-Pack Nuggets: $4.00
Fruit Cup: $2.25
Cole Slaw: $1.30
Brownie: $0.80 Small Drink: $1.50
Medium Drink: $1.90
Large Drink: $2.05

Ms. Versaci orders a #2 combo with a brownie. Cheyenne orders a #3 combo with cole slaw. Veronica orders a 8-pack nugget, fruit cup, and medium drink. Their total comes to (23) _________. If they split the cost three ways, they each pay (24) _________.

Chapter Six: Coming Back to North Carolina
Ms. Versaci is ready to come home and see her students. Her brother, George, is driving her to the airport. It takes them 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to the airport. Ms. Versaci’s flight is at 7:25pm. She needs 3 hours to get through security, so she needs to be at the airport at (25) _________. They need to leave the house at (26) _________.

At the airport, Ms. Versaci’s bags are being weighed. Her total baggage weighs 59 pounds. It costs $0.05 an ounce to check a bag. Her bags weigh (27) _________ ounces, so it costs her (28) _________ to check her bags.

When Ms. Versaci lands, she needs to pick up her car. She parked it at a lot that costs $5.50 a day. It was parked for 11 days, so she owes (29) _________ . She pays with a $100 dollar bill, and receives (30) _________ in change. That’s just enough to fill up her tank for the drive back to her house!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Pictures!

Here is a cute one of Trudi, i know we take way too many of that little mutt...


Here is Twila and Trudi!



And lastly, this is (from left) Jameson, Joey, and me at our friend Aimee's holiday party last night! Do you like my new hat?

More Christmas Decorating

Connie hung the stockings, set up the village and lit a fire...



We took a trip over to Home Depot to get some poinsettias...


The tree is growing on all of us - very sincere.



Trudi was around so I took one of her for good measure!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Our Christmas Tree

Emma and Twila came over to join Cheyenne, Veronica and George for a hearty breakfast (courtesy of Connie and of course our new toaster from outer-space!) before decorating the tree. A good time was had by all.





My Wish Lists (Secret Santa and General Use)

I have a vague wish list on elfster and amazon, but please note I will take ANY planner, ANY hair straightener, or ANY label maker.

Pretty much any item from uncommongoods.com

I can always use copy/printer paper, construction paper, pens and pencils (i only like sharpie pens for all my grading/memo writing needs) post-it notes, paper clips, binder clips, dividers, file folders, etc etc.

I need a new "teacher bag" ie a bag big enough to hold laptop, multiple binders, and text books....usually trendy tote bags work nice.

I'd love a subscription to Real Simple magazine

And finally, if all else fails, a gift card to Barnes and Noble, Bath and Body Works or New York and Co (shout out to Twila for getting me that last one for my b-day!).

--Kacie

My Secret Santa Wish List

Hey All. It's Cheyenne.

So I would like:

A Boader's Gift Card.

This puzzle or this one.

A Target gift card.

Books. I really want Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and The Last Song.

Anything you think I might like.

If your honestly at a loss, anything Disney or Harry Potter will make me Happy.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Secret Santa

Hi, Veronica here!

This is a little over $20 but I ADORE this dress. (In grey, XS.)


This shirt in XS.


I am also looking to expand my earring collection. I need hypo-allergenic and I more into stud than dangly.

If all else fails, a target gift card would do just fine. I buy a lot of my groceries and other necessities there.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Here's another that I like

Here is one of his that I like a real lot --- love the sailboat!



Our New Still Life




The artist's name is Paul Bachem. I went to high school with him and his work is starting to gain recognition in the art world. You can see more of his work here.