Making music...

I was asked play the clarinet as part of the worship team at church on Sunday.  I agreed to participate but with apprehension in my voice!  I am never confident at my ability in anything but am willing to try my best.  I am really glad I participated.  I had forgotten how much I missed playing.  It was quite soothing to my soul to play again.  I played Angels from the Realms of Glory, Angels we Have Heard on High, and O Come All ye Faithful.  Playing those songs most certainly put a spring in my step and put me in the Christmas spirit!  Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you find time to rejuvenate your soul as you remember the true reason for the season.

Biscuits

On Saturday or sometimes Sunday mornings Carrie and I like to make biscuits.  The other day we decided to jazz it up a bit and instead of making them round, like normal, we did this...

Yummy star shaped biscuits!

Rathaus Christmas Market Field Trip

On Wednesday we (2nd and 3rd grade) took a field trip to the Rathaus (City Hall) to do a Christmas craft and visit the Christmas Market.  It snowing and wet the entire time but we had a blast!

On the U-bahn headed to our field trip.  We had wonderful parent volunteers!

Getting help from the Rathaus craft experts

What?!  You want me to smile?

Some beautiful girls inside and out!

Excited to start our craft!  They're so cute!

Working hard on their photo albums

Planning her next move

Look at my decoupage letter box!

2nd Grade Moments

We have been having a wonderful year in 2nd grade!  We are learning a lot and are loving school as we go!  Here are some recent pictures of my 2nd graders:

Hey listen to this!

What are you looking at?

Every so tired!

Making my placemat.

Having fun with a math game.

Sharing a story together

Best buds and so cute

The learning environment

Recent Quilting Projects

Here are some photos of our recent quilting endeavors!  There are many couples on staff this year who are expecting babies.  We have several quilts to make!  Luckily our friend Liz is willing to lend time and creative energy to complete this monumental task!

Heart quilt for baby Sophie.

Butterfly quilt for my niece Elsie.

Animal quilt for baby Daniel.

Winter Recital

This week our music lesson students had their Winter Recital.  It is a fun night where each student in the school who is taking a private music lesson showcases their ability by playing one or two songs.  We have students who are playing the violin, piano, guitar, and clarinet.  Carrie has one piano student and Amanda has two clarinet students.  Here are some pics from that night.  Enjoy.

Playing Silent Night

Concentrating really hard but doing very well!

An amazing violinist! 

So cute!

St. Nicholas Day

Here in Austria, and I think much of Europe, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated December 6th.  Now I know that Santa Claus and St. Nicholas are different, but to celebrate with my Kinder we make moveable Santa Claus'.  Here is a cute 3rd grader and his Santa Claus.  Can you figure out what he forgot to put on his Santa?  I laughed pretty hard!  Please know that this was not on purpose just a formality when the Santa character was put together!  :)

Santa is missing something.  Can you figure out what it is?

Physics of Sound: Sound Vibrations

In science we are learning about Sound vibrations.  It is a lot of fun!  They kids are thoroughly enjoying this unit and I think they wish it could last forever.  I am excited that they are learning and remembering all of the vocabulary they are being inundated with!

Wow!  That is sooo cool!  I can hear the tuning fork and my heart beeping.

Can you hear it?

What does the vibration do to the ball?

The vibration makes the ping pong ball bounce or "dance" as the Kinder called it!  

A day with the Cardenas Family

Recently, one of our ICSV families invited Carrie and me over to spend a Saturday with them.  It was a wonderful time.  We hiked through the forrest to find an elusive pond, ate a lot of yummy food, and stopped at a cute bakery/coffee shop to warm up from our hike.  All in all it was a wonderful day!

Hiking to the pond

They wanted to know if they could swim!  It was freezing!

Carrie and me at the beautiful pond!

Waiting patiently for his piece of chocolate cake!

Very yummy and warm!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time with friends to celebrate this Thanksgiving!  Here are some fun pics to illustrate the previous sentence:

We started the morning with making yummy cinnamon rolls!

Amanda enjoying her scrumptious (nut-free) cinnamon roll.

The turkey (obviously)!

The full dinner guests.

The very full tiny fridge after the Thanksgiving feast!

The Grandpa

Many of you may not know that I play the clarinet.  I do not consider myself fantastic but I do truly enjoy playing.  Since coming to Vienna I have also discovered that I love giving clarinet lessons.  It is a lot of fun and a wonderful ending to a sometimes hard day.  Today, during my Wednesday clarinet lesson, we were practicing several songs and techniques over and over to help my young clarinetist hear how the songs are supposed to sound.  At one point he stops playing and says, "Mine is a grandpa and yours is a man."

That is all he said.

I was stumped.

I sat there for a minute and went through everything I could think of that would explain why he was talking about a grandpa and a man.  Finally, I turned to him and said, "what?"  He then says that his clarinet sounds like an old clarinet that isn't working well and mine sounds younger like the man.  HAHA!  He is correct.  The clarinet he is playing on does sound feeble and old and mine apparently does sound robust and younger!  Ha!  It still makes me giggle!  I hope it gave you a smile today as well!  Blessings!

The Joy of Laughter!

Recently our elementary ELL (English Language Learner) teacher captured a video of one of my cute little ones.  This little one LOVES to laugh and brings so much joy and sunshine into each day.  I am blessed to have her in my class.  Pray with me that all of the ICSV staff that work with her, will have the correct words to help lead her and her family to the wonderful knowledge and acceptance of the Lord in their lives.  Click on the link to see a video of this cute one!  Click here to see this 3rd grade cute one!

Memory Verse Madness...

To help my students learn their memory verse we do a memory verse race each week.  We each cut apart our memory verse and then mix it up in a big pile on our desk.  Then I turn on the timer  and the kiddos see how fast they can put it together.  They have a blast trying to see how quickly they can put it together and see if they can beat their previous time.  They always say, "This is so much fun Miss Brunker!  Can we do it again?!"

I can write on the window?!

Are you kidding, Miss Brunker, you're going to let us write on the window?  That was the response my kiddos gave me when I told them that after they finished their assignment they could practice their spelling words by writing them on the window.  Even after they had the 'Miss Brunker approved window writing markers' and were writing on the wall of windows in our classroom, they kept looking at me to receive reassuring nods that yes, it is okay!  They are so cute and it is now the funnest way to learn their spelling words and memory verse ever (as they say!).  Enjoy the pictures!

The faces of third grade

Aren't they cute?!  I love spending my time with these 14 smarty pants!

  

     The darling girls!

The Amazing boys!

Second Grade at ICSV

Welcome to the wonderful world of 2nd grade!  Here are some pictures to show the 10 cuties that are in Miss Schreffler's class.

The entire cute bunch.

The handsome grade 2 boys.

The lovely girls!