Gingerbread House Extravaganza 2011

After two weeks of reading every Gingerbread book we could get our hands on, connecting the Gingerbread to every area of academics, creating nearly every craft we could find connected to the gingerbread stories, and retelling the Gingerbread stories over and over, we celebrated with our annual Gingerbread house building extravaganza.  Here are just a few examples the fun we had:

Should I stick on my house or pop it in my mouth?'

So, you pick this up and stick it like this. Make sure you have a lot of frosting!

I'm ready to start decorating... I like the frosting.

Thank you for supporting students at Maxfield as they learn and celebrate their learning.

2011 Nettie & Friends Opening Reception at the Egg AND I East, Saint Paul

It was a dark and stormy night, and STILL friends came out to support Nettie & Friends and Maxfield School at the Opening Reception on Saturday, December 3, 2011.   Thank you all.  It was a fun evening. 
Remember, the sale continues through the month of December at the Egg And I.  Come on over for breakfast or lunch - - do some shopping -- do some good.

Ta Da! A Fireplace is built, the Nettie & Friends Sale is OPEN for business

With a bevy of devoted volunteers, we take a bare wall and build a fireplace in an afternoon.

Thank you for bringing tall ladders and a willing spirit to turn 

a wall into a warm inviting space for Nettie & Friends to 

show off their wares to sell to benefit Maxfield School in St. Paul.

We're ready for business! 

Thank you one and all for your support.

Thank you to the Egg and I for their willingness to host this annual event.

I hope to see you all at the Opening Reception.

Nettie

Fundraising Show and Sale to Support Maxfield School Opens in December

Getting Organized

Thank you to all of the 'friends' who joined us for breakfast on Saturday, October 29 at the Egg and I.  We gathered some unique and wonderful items for the sale and show in December.  

Wow.  There's a lot of talent out in the world.  Here's a sneak peak:

This is the cutest child's cooking set.  Oh, my.

There  are many other items, and as soon as I get photos, 

you can rest assured they will be posted here.

In the meantime, I spent part of my Sunday doing a little production work:

Reusable sandwich bags... yes, they are big enough for a couple of slices of bread.

They are colorful, fun and reusable.  They come in sandwich and snack sizes.

They are lined with rip-stop nylon you can wipe clean, or machine wash and dry.

S.P.A.R.C. at Maxfield

Special Projects Are Really Cool made its debut at Maxfield on Friday, September 30th.  Through your support, students were able to participate in special high interest activities for part of their school day.  The day was a huge success with both students and staff.  From an outdoor carnival to bass guitar lessons and making spring rolls to rolling beads, students had the opportunity to experience unique, fun and engaging activities.

Making ornaments...

Spring rolls...enough to share

Ooey gooey gleek...

Science... build it... chain reaction

Bass guitar lessons

Cookie decorating

Group Karaoke

Origami

Puzzles

Etching

 

and making beads to name a few...

There were many other activities included on this SPARC day.  We will be hosting more SPARC opportunities at Maxfield throughout the school year.  Thank you for making all of this, and so much more, possible at Maxfield School.

Building a Peaceful Community, One Stitch at a Time

Room 10 students celebrated their peaceful community by sewing a Peace Pillow to take home and share with their family.   Over the year, we have worked with students to build a classroom community where students care for themselves and each other in a peaceful way.  When this project was introduced as a possibility for celebrating our hard work growing together, it was best summed up by one student who responded "That's so awesome!"

Call us crazy, but with the help of volunteers, we set up sewing machines and got to work.  Students learned about how sewing machines work, taking turns, practicing patience and feeling pride in a finished project. 

Feedback from families when the pillows came home was wonderful.

It was an incredible finish to a fantastic year.

Thank you for making this project, and so many more,  possible for the students.