Sunday, February 28, 2010

Italian Restaurant Night

Last Wednesday was our famous Italian Restaurant night at the Monhegan School. We were looking forward to the evening for months. The kids had been after me to do a restaurant night since I started teaching on Monhegan, but I just could never muster up the energy to plan, organize, and execute such an event. That is when the FABULOUS Kathie Iannicelli comes in. She called me in early winter saying she would be willing to orchestrate such an event and once she offered I didn't let her get out of it! And thank goodness, because Italian night was a HUGE success.

The kids were responsible for everything. They had to figure out what supplies we needed, how much to charge to cover our expenses, assign roles, make up the menus and schedules, and work the entire event. When Wednesday came we all got right down to  business...



The Middle Schoolers were first put in charge of making the pizza dough. I love how responsible and on task these two boys can be.


The fourth graders were put under "Muffy supervision" and were charged with bread making responsibility!
Chief Chef Kathie came to show how the pro makes bread!

I think Quinny takes after his grandmother!

Maya was on floor clean up duty, as usual!

Arlo was ALL over that bread!

Buttering and garlic-ing the bread!


Chopping veggies for the pizzas!



The makings for our chocolate chip batch!

Quinny lends a hand... cookie stirring takes a lot of strength!

Making cookie plates for each of the tables!

Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and peanut butter chocolate chip... 10 dozen cookies in all!

Time to set up... making floral arrangements for the tables.

We borrowed silverware and table clothes from the Trailing Yew, candles from the teachers' house, and lots of chairs from the shed! We set up for thirty people and got a FULL house!

The kids designed place mats with Italian themes and on the flip side was a Monhegan School trivia quiz!

The kids named the restaurant "Pizza Alla Mare" which means "Pizza by the Sea." 

Quinny was the greeter. His speech was something of the following, "Hello, welcome to Pizza Alla Mare. May I seat you?" The best part is he had to keep looking at the sign because he kept forgetting what the restaurant was called. Too flippin' cute.

Awesome last minute touches! I am telling you this was some fine dining!

Our drink order waiter! We had a choice of water or freshly brewed iced tea!

Dalton made the welcome speech and gave directions about the trivia game that would be happening after dinner! He was quite the professional!

And then came the food! 


Did I mention the teacher (that's me!) did not have to work at the restaurant! I was a paying customer that evening and I loved EVERY second of it! Even though I think I was more nervous then the kids... as usual!
Above in my delicious meal... the kids made four different kinds of pizza and a scrumtious salad and homemade bread sticks!!!

You would think the staff could have done something about the forward dog who kept nudging me under the table. My word!


Kitchen pow-wow. Have I said how amazing Kathie was orchestrating this entire event!?! SHE WAS AMAZING!


The workers had their own table that was in the back of the school. They did a nice job taking turns eating so there was almost always a student in the main dinning room available to wait on the customers.

Then it was trivia time. There were 10 questions about the Monhegan School that we asked the community. The kids wrote the questions and most of the answers could be found right here on the Monhegan School blog... there was only one person who got all the questions right...

Yep, little miss smarty pants Pamela! And NO... I did not give her ANY of the answers.


Then it was time for dessert and bills! The kids made up bills for the customers and asked them to rate the food, service, and ambiance... we have some room for improvement but over all I think they were terrific!
Billy B. tried to get a discount with his AARP card. Classic.

Counting up the funds! We raised over one-hundred dollars for kickball t-shirts! I call that a success!

Thanks to everyone who made Italian Night a huge success... Chinese night in April? What do you think?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Skyping with Wyatt and Tralice!

Last week we got the chance to use our computers to skype with Tralice and Wyatt in St. Croix! It was totally awesome. I didn't tell the kids until the day of (just because you never know with technology) but man, were they excited.

It was SO good to see Tralice and Wyatt. They looked tan and happy. We got to hear about Wy's school, his new friends, and all of his legos. Tralice told us about the differences between living on St. Croix and Monhegan (for instance the thirty minute drive to Wyatt's school instead of the bike ride down Horn's Hill!). It was hard to say goodbye at the end of the forty-five minutes and I think it made us miss Wyatt at school even more! 

Hopefully it is something we can do more often. 


Maya would recognize Wyatt's voice anywhere!

It was so warm that Tralice was in a tanktop and Wy was in his bathing suit! WE ARE SO JEALOUS!

The gang crowding around the computer to talk with our St. Croix pals.


The kids gave Tralice and Wyatt a tour of the school. Wy's kindergarten area is now the middle school! 

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Morning Greetings

So, every morning I get to school a little after six to start getting things ready for the day. Of course Maya comes with me. She takes her "morning nap" from about six to seven-thirty and then the pacing begins. She knows that in only a mere fifteen minutes "her kids" will start making their way to school and she just can't wait. We have a saying at school that "everyday is like the first day for Maya" because she just gets SO excited for school. Here are some photos to try and illustrate the morning greetings that Maya enjoys giving to her students...

First she waits outside to school, ball ready, for her kids to start walking down the road.


Often Spy (and sometimes Jon) come out to greet the kids as well!


Dalton is first to arrive and boy is Maya happy!

Then Gabe makes his way down the road and Maya runs to greet him!


Then Quinny! (Trust me we try to teach her not to jump, but it seems kind of pointless.)


They look like two happy school-goers!



Then usually Maya gets so excited that she drops her ball in the ditch and one sympathetic soul goes in to try and find it!

And then it is eight o'clock and time to head to the office! 

Monday, February 22, 2010

Community Football!

Trying to hear the other team's strategies!

For her first time playing football, Jorgie seemed like a pro!

We had a fantastic stretch of weather last week, so we were super excited to get out and play some FOOTBALL! Last year we played football almost every week for gym, but we just didn't get into the football groove this year. But once we got on that field it was just like old times! We invited the community to join us and had some great adult players! Jorgie and Arlo totally held their own as the newcomers on the field and we had a special guest, Nate the football professional, to make the event extra special! 


"TIME OUT!"

Maya looked like a football superstar!

Spreading out for a great play.

Getting ready!

I am pretty sure the dogs had the best time out of all of us!

Time for the kickoff. Travis is a brave soul holding onto that ball!

Another kickoff from the opposing team.


Huddle!

Our special football guest star... NATE!

The best part was it was a tie game! Go teams, go!