REVERSE and Staff Surprises

This was a hard one.  REVERSE.  Then I hit upon the thought of taking a picture of the REVERSE side of my little stained glass bluebird.  Through the window you can see the REVERSE side of the bird but also make out some of the kitchen and also the reflection of the house and backyard.  A little confusing but kind of like a puzzle.  Is that lantern hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen like the plant in the round glass ball?  Are those trees growing in the dining room? Is there snow on the floor?

My little celebration today was getting chosen as the "Leader of the Pack" by the staff for doing something special for them each day for the last two weeks during testing. The students have been taking a new standardized test on computers for the first time.  There's been much in the news about it but I won't get into that here.  Needless to say, the staff was freaking out about it.  I talked with my daughter who teaches in another state that has already been using computers for testing (a different test though) and asked her if her administration did anything to lighten the mood during their testing week.  She said they put candy in their mailboxes once or twice.  Then I remembered what one of her teachers had done for the class when she was in 4th grade (I think).  Every day there was a little treat with a message on her desk.  So I came up with some treats for each day of the week.  Keep in mind that 4th grade was one week and 5th grade the next so not everyone got something each week.

The first day was a piece of bubble wrap and some chocolate with the message.........

The second day...........

Day 3.............

On Day 4 I baked Inside-Out S'mores.............................

Day 5 the first week.....................

And Day 5 the second week (couldn't find enough orange slices)..............................

And also on Friday the last week I gave these out to the teachers who had helped with extra duties/recess, etc. (essentially any staff that was not directly involved with administering the test).

I stuck around a little later than I normally do most days to sneak these surprises into the right mailboxes so they would find them in morning because some people get in before I do.  And one day the first week I had to put two days' surprises in the boxes because of a snow day and doubling up on the tests for the next day.  

I tried to keep it simple with the tags just printed on copy paper, punched and tied up with different colored cotton string each day.  

There were some surprises of my own today.  One teacher left me a bag of microwave popcorn with a tag that said "You make the school pop".  Another gave me a card and several people send me e-mails with thanks.  So I think it was a worthwhile use of my time.

The second round of tests is in May and I've already warned them not to expect the same thing now that they're no longer novices and should know what to expect.  

I'm fading fast, so if anything doesn't seem clear about any of the above, please drop me a line.