From The Work Of Your Own Hands

 This is the last post of mine for 2025. I wanted to combine reminiscing from the previous couple of weeks of school with some memories of this year's family Christmas celebration. At the risk of repeating the theme of a post I wrote in July of this year (called "Rediscovering the Joy of Creation"), I wanted to focus on the extreme satisfaction you can achieve when you build or make something by yourself.

The Rods and Connectors Duplex

During the last two weeks of school for 2025, people were getting sick left, right, and center. Usually, we are fortunate enough to have sufficient occasional teacher coverage, but we were overwhelmed with absences. To ensure teachers did not miss their preparation time, I took two classes simultaneously in the library. Supervising over forty children  at a time (although less because of illness) meant that my regularly scheduled programming had to take a back seat. Instead, the students were given rods and connectors and asked to build a structure, together. The first three images below were from the first afternoon we started.

The students loved this project! Some would start on their own and then join their cube to someone else's. They saw how powerful it was to combine forces and resources, and they got excited to see how large it became. It grew... and grew... and grew! It grew so large that students needed to stand on chairs to reach the top. It grew so large that students would inspect the foundation to ensure things weren't getting loose. It grew so large that we had to dismantle the rods and connectors furniture others had built (i.e. a table, chair, and TV) because we ran out of rods to add to the walls. 

The students were sad to take it down, but thanks to Mrs. Ngo's Grade 1-2 students on the last day of school, we carefully dismantled it.

The Garlic Pork

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a cook. However, I try my best to continue a cultural tradition my parents passed along to me - the preparation of the Christmas garlic pork. It's tedious, and a bit smelly, and the end product is definitely an acquired taste, but I'm proud when I taste the results and it's edible. I guess it's more meaningful for me because it takes so much effort and this is outside my area of expertise. I cooked it on Boxing Day this year.

The Cross Fit Canuck Snowman Workout

Every year around this time, our "box" (the term for a Cross Fit gym, often because it's in a warehouse-like boxy space) has a workout that gets the participants to build parts of a snowperson using equipment found in the gym. This was our contribution in 2023. The picture below was the snow person we made in 2024. (It's not posted anywhere else, so I had to immortalize it somehow.)

There must be something conditioned in my psyche - since my muscles are quite conditioned yet! - that readied me for this challenge, because a week before we had this same workout, I dreamed of how we would build our snowperson at the gym for this year! Don't tell my coaches, but it helps make the workout less painful. My husband and I were partners and we ended up making two snow folks for 2025.

(Big thanks to Coach Ann for taking this photo of us below with our "main" snowman and posting it to the Cross Fit Canuck Facebook page.)

It's goofy, but I have fun building a snowman with gym equipment. It exercises those creativity muscles as well as the physical ones I possess.

My Sister's Modified Song Lyric Gift

Christmas was special this year because my sister and her husband traveled all the way from Calgary. The last time Mary Carol was in Ontario for Christmas was 2020, but that doesn't really count, since the pandemic forced us to keep apart. The last Christmas we actually spent face-to-face was in 2017. She stayed with us for a few days beforehand, while her husband drove way up north to see his family. Mary made her special fudge, which I seem incapable of making. Delicious!

On Christmas Day itself, we wore matching PJ pants and custom-made shirts that Mary and Donald specifically designed for every member of the family. 

Mary goes all out for Christmas, and even had a theme to her gift purchases. (Cue the teacher in the movie "A Christmas Story" announcing that she wants her students to write a theme.) This year's theme was "food". In addition to her many, many gifts, Mary wrote us a song, to be performed at Christmas. Her song this year was to the Billy Joel tune, "We Didn't Start the Fire". If she's able to, she will send me a digital copy of the lyrics so I can share them here. I was going to type them out but it's four pages long with seven verses!

ETA - Here's the song!

1

Baking, frying, boil, saute, 

Roasting, grill in any way

Poaching. stir-fry. 

Marinating. Deep fry

Cranking up the barbeque

Simmering the beef stew

Sous vide, dry heat, 

cooking up a storm

2

sour, tangy, salty, sweet

Bitter, spicy, lots of heat

Carbohydrates, protein

Fats, and Oils, Omega-3

Oyster, Tarter, hot sauce

Salad aids in weight loss

Loading up on toppings

There’s no need for stopping!

CHORUS

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

but we’re trying to fry it

3

Skip the dishes, uber eats

Order in, delivery

Food trucks, truck stops

Snacking on the go

Sample, bigger portion size

Buffets, super size my fries

Full plate great taste, 

Going back for more

Drive in Diner, dining scene

Dennys got a winning team

Coca-cola, sugar sweet

Processed foods and packaged treats

Kraft dinner, cracker jack

Fried spam, Big Mac

indigestion, never learn

trouble with some heart burn

CHORUS

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

but we’re trying to fry it

4

Happy hour, breakfast, lunch

Cocktail hour, tea and brunch

Beer time, red wine,

Lemonade and lemon-lime

Feeling full but not full yet 

Eating faster, meat sweats

Muffin top and gaining weight

Skipping meals and eating late

5

Nitrates, beta carotene

Sorbates, Yellow dye 13

Citric acid, aspartame

Slowly making me insane

Hydronated fatty oils

MSG and so much more

Stabilizers by the Ounce

Chemicals I cannot pronounce

CHORUS

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

but we’re trying to fry it

6

Elevated glycerides

40 percent BMI

allergies 

mini stroke

Cancer causing it’s no Joke

Acid reflux, heart disease

Vitamin deficiences

bloating, sleepless,

sweaty hands

Shortening your life span

Inflammation, excess fat, 

Diabetes, heart attack

Sickness rising every day

What else do I have to say?

CHORUS

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

but we’re trying to fry it

7

Rolaids, Zantac, leptin meds

Drinking water before bed

New trick, ozempic

Losing weight real quick

Protein, fibre, fruits veggies

Bariatric surgery

Eating slowly, smaller plates

Throwing up what you just ate

Yo yo diets, Exercise

Keto, Atkins all are lies

Eating healthy, salad bowls

Setting realistic goals

Rising prices, groceries

GMO imported cheese

Shrink-flation at the store

I can’t take it anymore

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

when the oven’s on

It will still burn on and on and on and on

We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Stomachs always churning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

but we’re trying to fry it

We didn’t start the fire

You can blame the nation

For rising inflation

We didn’t start the fire

Though we’re smarter buyers

Prices are much higher

It took Mary a long time to work out the lyrics to her song. She had to listen to the original song over and over to remember the rhythm and cadence. Could she have had Generative AI create the song? Probably? Would it have been quicker to complete? Most definitely? But it would not have been as rewarding. I don't want this to be an anti-AI rant, but I desperately hope that technology does not take from us the willingness to make or do things that are time-intensive. Let us draw and write, sing and dance, not always because we have to, but because we want to. Did you see this article from December 19, 2025 about a singer having robot back-up dancers? What's next?

Thanks to everyone who has made 2025 a good year for me. Stay safe and we'll see you in 2026!

Giving Gifts to Students

 Sorry I'm late! My sister is here, visiting for the holidays, so I didn't get a chance to write my usual blog post on Monday.

I thought I'd write about gift giving, since it's so close to Christmas. I've done a version of this topic before, from discussing what teachers get and like to get from students (see https://mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-gifts-we-get-and-give.html ) to sharing what I purchased for my class during the pandemic (see https://mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com/2020/12/presents-and-p3s.html).

I'm not a classroom teacher, so I don't have a small or exclusive group of students that I can indulge with presents. However, this year, I was inspired to acquire some gifts for the students that I see as part of the ESL program. There are nine students in my primary ESL program, and thirteen students in the junior ESL program that I share with Connie Chan.

I forgot how observant, and how jealous, young children can be. When I gave my primary division ESL students their presents after our last class together, I had a lot of other students asking why the ESL students received presents and why they couldn't be part of the ESL class. 

Part of the present preparation was for the ESL students' reading and writing exercises. I prefer authentic literacy experiences, so I had my ESL students create lists of objects they'd like to receive as gifts, and sample candy to give me information on their favourite flavors. The other students didn't see it quite like that. They saw that their peers were getting candy during ESL class, and they wanted some too!

The issue is that presents don't come cheap. If I purchased a present for every student I interacted with, I'd end up buying something for the entire school population. I decided to buy some more presents than I usually do. In addition to the ESL students (whom I see for between 3-6 periods per week), I compiled little presents for students that are in my STEM and Library classes (equaling 2 periods a week). I felt bad about excluding the kindergarten students as well as the students I see for social studies or for guidance, but if I expanded the list, it was going to get out of hand! As it was, I put together eighty (yes 80) little packages with a pencil, eraser, rubber ball, lollipop and package of Rockets candy in each.

It's the thought that counts, right? Things have gotten so expensive that it's difficult to make "little gestures" because even those can get costly. I was on kitchen duty for the last two weeks of December, and even the treats tally was higher than I expected. 

Thanks in advance to everyone that sent me a gift, from homemade to store-bought. (You will receive a thank you card in the new year.) Enjoy the holiday and time away from school, if you can. Merry Christmas!

Pulling it all Together

 I'll just touch briefly on a few things that happened last week at school, that all fit under the theme of "pulling it all together". It'd be nice if all of these projects were wrapped up by the end of the calendar year - I'll give a status report at the end of each paragraph on how close we are to "wrapping it up".

Claymation Movies

One of the collaborative teaching times I'm involved with this term involves Matthew Malisani's Grade 4-5 class. The students are filming claymation, stop-motion mini-films. Matthew did a lot of the heavy lifting related to this project; my contributions came with teaching about script-writing and providing a bigger space and an extra pair of eyes to support students as they completed their work.

It takes so long to complete! The goal is to have them finished by the end of this week. STATUS: Half finished

ESL Non-Fiction Books

The Junior Division ESL students were looking at features of information books, with the goal of writing their own simple non-fiction book in Book Creator. For my group, it appears as if they aren't quite grasping the concept. Most won't be done by December. STATUS: Not finished

Winter Concert

The Winter Concert was held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Although I did not have any groups (except for choir) performing in this year's concert, I was still involved in the preparation. Our final number of the concert was a huge extravaganza. Brenda Kim's Grade 5-6 class worked in conjunction with The Wushu Project and performed an intricate Dragon Dance that involved almost every member of the class. There were times when we worried that it wasn't going to all come together in time for the show, but somehow it coalesced into a wonderful spectacle. STATUS: Finished (and much appreciated!)

STEM Pigloos

The Primary Division classes have been working on designing cage enclosures for our school pet skinny pigs. Their plans had to demonstrate aspects of Science (knowing about skinny pig behaviour and preferences), Technology / Engineering (showing how to connect the cardboard without glue or tape that could harm the animals), and Math (measurements). This week, I introduced them to the concept of nets, so that they could reduce the number of connections they'd need to make to assemble their mini-habitats. Some groups have finally started cutting their cardboard. STATUS: Not finished

Grade 7 Coding

One of my other collaborative teaching units involves coding with Farah Wadia's Grade 7-8 class. Farah is coding with Python with the Grades 8s, while I am coding with Scratch with the Grade 7s. My very kind son has been supporting me with this project. He designed a short quiz to review some of the required vocabulary. These are the expectations:

C3.1 

solve problems and create computational representations of mathematical situations by writing and executing efficient code, including code that involves events influenced by a defined count and/or subprogram and other control structures

C3.2 

read and alter existing code, including code that involves events influenced by a defined count and/or subprogram and other control structures, and describe how changes to the code affect the outcomes and the efficiency of the code

Unfortunately, the students did not do as well as we had hoped. We will have to reteach the vocabulary, redesign the quiz, and provided another opportunity to demonstrate they understand what a control structure is so that they will be able to read it and alter it. STATUS: Not finished 

Even though it feels great to have projects completed at the end of a certain period, I just need to remind myself that we have time. This week will be full of sick students and extra activities, so I need to be flexible and adjust my expectations.