Day 65

14 days until Christmas break!!! What?! Too early to start counting down until the next break? I don’t think so! You try being in a room full of 5 year olds when they have been at home, out of our school routine for 5 days.


The classroom was full of songbirds today! Throughout the day I heard the following songs:
· Single Ladies by Beyonce (included some dancing reminiscent of the Single Ladies moves)
· He Belongs to Me by Taylor Swift
· Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
· And various Christmas songs


For the next week and a half we are learning about Christmas Around the World then we will do Christmas. For that, I got a book, The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett, off of eBay for $5! The first time I heard this story was when I worked with my favorite substitute, Mrs. Chambers. We did a cute little reindeer that the kids got decorate ‘wildly.’


I am also very excited to read my favorite Christmas book, Mortimer’s Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson. It is a very sweet story about a mouse looking for a home. He finally finds one up on a table but he has to drag all these people and baby out of it. After a day out roaming he finds that those people are back in his house, so he drags them all out again. While in the process, he hears the dad telling the Christmas story to the kids. Mortimer feels bad so he drags all of the people back in making sure baby Jesus is snug in his bed. It is such a cute book!


I am off to finish up some school work. Ciao!

It's been a while....

Are you ready for another installment of crazy stuff my Pa says?!?!

While discussing the weather for our football game this weekend, Pa informs Preston and I that “it will be pretty damn cold.” He then informs Preston that he better get his “fur lined jockstrap” out because he will need it. I guess I am just out of luck.

Unfortunately, when I we asked the lady at Wal-Mart where the fur lined jockstraps are, she told us they were sold out. Guess we’ll have to try another Wal-Mart. ;)

GO POKES!!!

Day 64

Hooray for Thanksgiving Break! Even though I knew it was finally here, I didn’t leave school until 6:15. BUT, I was quite productive after the school bell rang… and before too. We’ll start there.

We started the day on a small lockdown since some old man was wholed up in his house with a gun. I don't really know any details, (I wish I did, it would have made for a better story) but I don't. The lockdown was lifted just in time to go to recess but we were busy doing... something.

These are some turkey we made on a whim when the copier was down yesterday. That is their foot for the body and hands for the feathers.

Our district had a “Hats On” day for a 17 year high school student that has a life threatening illness. We paid $1 to wear the hat and all the money went to the Make A Wish foundation. Kaylon’s wish is to go meet the Boston Celtics. Here are my friends in their hats. Some of them paid but didn’t even bring a hat. Lucky for them, my BFF and I buy stupid hates at Michael’s that I let them borrow. See MJ, those purchases paid off. :)

Here are my hat wearers and our wise old owl.

We also decorated for Christmas. I mean, the kids were pumped about it being the last day for the week, so the day was already wasted. If I think about it, I will take pictures.

It was also bedlam day, which I hate. Kids don’t know the difference but they sure will spout off about “I can’t believe you wear that color! It is not even allowed by my rules.” or“OSU is going down.” Those are straight out of the mouths of a third grader and fifth grader. My response is, “You are entitled to your opinion but I like OSU because that is where I went to school.” And then I walk off before I make any nasty comments.

My neighbor of 5 years is an OU fan. The first day my dad saw my classroom, he went out and bought an OSU sign for outside my classroom door. I was instructed that it be hung identical to the OU one above Mrs. Thompson’s door. Since she is retiring at the end of the year, we had to take a bedlam picture. The plan was to have mean bedlam faces. As we were posing, I decided at the last minute to throw up my pistols and it’s a good thing I did! She snuck in her #1.

This is the next picture, where Mrs. Thompson is asking, “Did you put up #1?” “Nope. Pistols firing!!” Then I start asking where her mean face went?

I have absolutely LOVED working next door to her. I could not have asked for a better second grade partner and neighbor. I just hope that no matter what I am teaching next year, she will come back to visit and volunteer in my room. :)

After that fun, I got down to business. My lesson plans are ALMOST complete for the next 2 weeks. YES, you read that correctly, 2 WEEKS! I sat down with Ms. Diaz and we got to work planning until Mrs. Taylor called and we went hunting for Stuart in her room. With the trashcan in hand, I was trying to catch the little booger but he was too fast. Did you know mice climb walls?!?! While in hot pursuit, I unknowingly stepped on a Sharpie. I screamed so loud thinking it was Stuart that the other two were screaming jumping with me. It was really funny though!

I wrapped up my evening watching Aladdin. It's been a long time since I had watched it.

I actually may go up to the school house for just a bit tomorrow because I want to get everything done so I won’t have to go up anymore this break. I’ll let you know how that goes. I am super excited to head home for a few days. I am thankful that so much of my family lives in one place. I wish that we could all live nearby and actually want to see each other, even if it is just for a short time.

Day 63

So, what do you call a Monday without a copy machine available?? TODAY. For real. Not a joke. I would like to mention that part of being a teacher is being flexible but not quite that flexible. Nonetheless, we made it through the day.

I bet you are wondering WHOOOO these cuties are, huh?!?!

Well, these two sit inside my front door. But, I have a bigger one at school. I bought them this weekend for 75% off! Let's be real, I bought three adorable owls for the price of one!!! I'm not a great mathematician but I know that is a great deal! And, did I mention how cute they are?!?!

At school, my wise old owl looks for a table to land on that is making wise choices. Don't you worry, we talked about how I would cry if something were to happen to that cutie. The kids seemed to enjoy having it in class and appeared to work better knowing that the owl was looking for a table to land on.

In case you have lost count... there is only 1 more day until Thanksgiving break (which made a day without a copier/lesson plans a little more bearable)!!!

Lately, I have found that I like owls. Cute ones that is. I am off to enjoy my evening!

50 free?!?!?

Yes, please!

There is no better way to sum up a year than doing it for Christmas! With Christmas at the end of the year, it is a great time to be thankful for the whole year’s events. When it starts getting close to Christmas, I start racking my brain for how I want the cards to look. Shutterfly’s generosity with 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers is going to make this even more difficult than I already do! I love the collage look so it can include pictures that sum up the year but also the elegance of a single holiday picture. So many decisions!


Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/bubble-wreath-holiday-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/monogram-snowman-christmas-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/vintage-snowflakes-holiday-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/holiday-love-sketch-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496


If you blog and want 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, go here: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

Day 62

2 DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!

I am ready for a break and ready to go home to see my family.

7 Days Old

We had a friend move about 5 weeks ago. While working on math, or something, the kids asked why she hadn't been at school, even though we talked about her moving before she left. So we emailed her, via her mom. They thought it was cool to hear back from her and a few days later, they were talking about her again. I noticed on my calendar that her birthday was on the 11th, so we emailed her this birthday wish:

I do love that my little friends are so caring. They loved decorating their letter and thought it was so cool to put it all together.

Day 59-61

Day 59- Eh. It’s down in the books. We had a TAPS (basically PTA) meeting today. Pretty sad when there are more teachers than parents that show up. This month, we offered a craft time for the children while their parents were in the meeting. This is what they made:

Fancy hand turkeys!

Day 60- One of, okay, my favorite substitute was in the building today! I was lucky enough to work with her two years ago when she was a long term sub for another second grade teacher. I loved seeing Mrs. Chambers!
While we were on the playground, one of my wild childs came up and said, “I don’t have a noodle shirt under this.” Mrs. Chambers and I looked at each other then I looked at the child and said, “what?” She replied with, “I don’t have a noodle (motioning a thin strap) shirt under this.” We just laughed and I asked her if she meant a spaghetti strap shirt. She said, “A noodle strap.”

Day 61- We are all off of 1-10!!!!! As I was walking around looking at their work on Number Masters, I almost wanted to scream when I saw it was done correctly, 1-10!!!

Three school days until Thanksgiving break!!

On an exciting, non-school related topic… We ate a Chick-fil-A tonight!!!! The new one is about 10 miles from our house! I couldn’t be more excited! If only I had known that the first 100 people there at 6 a.m. this morning won Chick-fil-A for a year! I totally would have sent Preston to wait in line all night and then joined him at 5:30. :)

Our Veteran's Day banner

Day 56-58

Day 56- Thursday, October 11th- Hooray for still being able to write 1-4 without help! Now we just have to focus on 5-10 and pass that by December 17th. Unfortunately, this child’s parent did not show up to conferences for me to brag on her number writing improvement. I will put this on my to do list to call and harass the parent about coming for a conference. (If you know me, you know I am good at harassing people.)

Speaking of conferences. I had one more this afternoon. I spoke to this parent on Tuesday after school to see when she could come since she never signed up for a time. It really helps to corner them when they are trying to pick their child up. She may have been hoping I would forget that she told me she could meet with 3 of the teachers (1 for each child she has at our school). Nope, sure didn’t forget.

For our car rider dismissal, we have a system (see picture below for visual).

Pink and purple dots are teachers. The pink dot (who happens to be me on this day) walks down the line of cars and calls back on a walkie talkie to the purple dot telling them what color cone the child needs to get on. For example, Bobby on red, Suzy on orange, etc. Then the kids are in line for their car to pick them up. So, I call this child’s family to the orange cone and follow up with, “Make sure purple dot (who happens to be a 37 year veteran and my former partner) goes to the car to make sure she comes in for the conferences.”

In the mean time, I watch as our purple dot walks back into the school with the 3 children and the mom parks up the hill a little bit. From down the road, maybe 60 yards, her body language walking in, carrying a sleeping toddler did not look to thrilled to be there.

The conference with the 2nd grader started while I finished up duty with other teachers. When I came in I went hunting for the 1st grade teacher to make sure she came back down to meet with the mom. When it was my turn, I met the mom and kids at my door. I was greeted with an awful smell. That poor sleeping baby was in a poopy diaper! Who knows how long she had been in it either. Anyways, I raced through my conference because of the smell. I know a few times I said, “I really encourage you to work on …. At home.” That is my nice teacher way of saying, “Take an interest in your child’s education. I can’t do it alone and he/she is trying here at school.”

After I was finished I walked them out and she tried to leave without going to the last conference! I had to say, “Ms. ___’s class is down here.” And walk her down there. While she was meeting with the 3rd teacher, our PE teacher came down the hall. She got this look on her face so I asked if she smelled something. “Yes! What is that?” I informed her, “THAT is in there. And was in my room and this room! And, all down the hall.” YUCK!!!!!

This happened a few days ago and I just remembered to post it. As a student is working I hear her start singing. “You change your mind….” Anyone else recognize the Katy Perry line from Hot n Cold?? Try this at 36 seconds.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/katy-perry-hot-n-cold/58643cd0ef955a046fdf58643cd0ef955a046fdf-258362836181?q=hot%20and%20cold%20by%20katy%20perry&FORM=VIRE2
She is 5 for goodness sakes. Shouldn’t she still be listening to Barney?

Day 57- Friday, October 12th-

If you didn’t know… this is a pirate ship. Well, it was a ship similar to this.

I was showing my kids a video about Veteran’s Day when a student said, “A pirate ship!”

Day 58- Monday again…. It was an okay day. Luckily, we were able to go to recess before lunch. The later lunch goers were not so lucky thanks to the rain.

We had our first experience with painting today. They painted a spider web in October but they only had white to choose from. This time they had 5 color choices. Too bad we don’t have good paper to paint on. : ( I do think that some of the pictures could have turned out better if they had stopped painting. I only wore a little bit of paint home on my hands and pants. Hopefully it comes out of my pants or my coworkers will be seeing khaki pants a lot.

Today, I started something new to help teach my young ones about responsibility. In the morning, we do literacy centers. They generally have 40ish minutes to complete their task. Starting today, if they did not finish they have to put the work in a folder and finish it before they do free centers in the afternoon. I am hoping this will motivate them to work more and chat less or else they miss out of fun times with their friends. I only had 4 friends put their work in the folders today. One told me, “He didn’t tell me I had to do it. I just didn’t know.” I followed up with, “I explained everything you had to do and you saw the others working on it. I’m sorry you will just have to finish during free centers and pay more attention to what you are supposed to do tomorrow.” I am heartless I tell ya!

When that particular child did get to play, he found himself with hurt feelings by another student. I kept hearing him say, “Can I talk to you in private?” or “I need to talk in private with you.” I don’t think he ever did but it was a nice try.

I am off to read a book. Well, a chapter of a book. I have some Principal Lovin' Care (PLC) tomorrow. What's that you ask? It's a whole new post that isn't going to happen today.

Days 50-55

Day 50- Wednesday, November 3rd- Hmm. Nothing too memorable a week later. We are half way to 100 days, which is a big deal these days. Another milestone is that we have actually kept up with counting the days. Only once I have tracked down another teacher to check our number. These kids still like calendar and get their feathers a little ruffled if we don’t do it.

Day 51- Thursday, November 4th- There has been some breakthrough with one of my students and Number Masters. This student wrote 1-4 without any help! That sounds silly, but it is a big improvement over where we started.
Long day is over. I think I put in 12 hours since we had conferences from 4-7. They all went smoothly and I had several parents remind me that they would love to send extra supplies, etc. if needed, which is something I never heard in second grade.

Day 52- Friday, November 5th- Next week is “Freedom Week.” We, kindergarten teachers, brainstormed and came up with an idea to make a giant flag and let the kids put red handprints as stripes. Being a little anal, I took over making the actual flag on paper. I wanted it to be accurate. 13 stripes, starting and ending with red, totaling 7, 6 white stripes, all the lines close to being the same size, etc. I must say it looks pretty good. Picture to come….maybe, if I remember to take one.

Day 53- Monday, November 8th- While working, a student comes up to me tattling that a girl at his table took his marker. I promptly told him to “go talk to her about it. I didn’t take your marker.” I listen in to see how he will approach this. In case you are wondering, “Jesus said it isn’t nice to take other people’s stuff.”

Day 54- Tuesday, November 9th- I was shocked this morning when a new little friend showed up at my door. Well, he wasn’t actually new. He was in my class for about 7 days before he was going to be moved to the new kindergarten class. Then, he never showed up to that class because he moved back to his prior town. So, he is back. He is interesting. He can be playing and then all of a sudden come up to me and say, “The pee pee is coming so fast. I can feel it.” Of course I say, “Then go to the bathroom and don’t wait so long next time.”

Conferences are over!!! For this semester, at least. I have a few that didn’t show up and of course they are the ones that I need to talk to about working with the child at home on letters and numbers. Go figure. In the 4 full years I have been teaching (this is my 5th year), I had the most awkward conference last night. Grandma was taking notes! Now I know how the doctors felt when I was relentlessly taking notes with my FIL this summer but it was for his health and livelihood, not to be odd.

Day 55- Wednesday, November 10th- Today, I was able to see a good reason I would want to stay in kindergarten next year. That reason would be the actions of a first grader. Oh. My. Goodness. BUT, then I think about some of the pre-k kids I see trolling around the school. The thought of both of those scenarios makes me want to have as many kids (I’m thinking Gosselin or Duggar size) between now and then so it would make sense for me to stay home. I tried rationalizing with an aide in our school about having lots of dogs, which would be an easier goal to obtain, but I don’t think that would fly.

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. Red, White, and Blue day at school, which means blue JEANS! You got it. I can do that. Our faithful leader wanted to just do red, white and blue day on Friday, which is normally our school spirit day that we can wear jeans, since we will be having rise and shine and have invited veterans to it. I chimed in that it made more sense to do it on Veterans Day and did not mention that I would be wearing jeans. ;)

In all honesty, I think it takes a special person to volunteer to put their life on the line for strangers. Strangers that may not appreciate it, will gripe and complain about what they are doing instead of be thankful. Strangers that will protest them but not have enough balls to do it. There are also the strangers that do appreciate it and feel very blessed to have such brave men and women that will take care of business because I am too chicken to do. I pray for the families of soldiers to have strength while their loved ones are away. I pray for safety and a speedy return for those that may be away from families. May God be with them all while they are protecting everyone’s freedom.

Day 49

Number Masters Update: 4 more and we will all be off of 1-10. 3 of those 4 can normally do it but get all flustered when I time them. Hopefully, that number can keep going down this week.

I am in preparation for parent teacher conferences on Thurday and next Tuesday. I cannot wait until they are over. I do not know a teacher that likes them.

Day 47

I've got no new pictures today... I am all pictured out.

It definitely seemed like a Monday. Long. Cloudy for most of the day. Cold. It was dark when I got to school this morning. I guess that is what happens when I don't plan ahead and go on Sunday.

My kids did their first 'journal entry' today. After drawing a picture, the only word they had to write was Halloween, which was already written on their page. As they were finishing I went around the classroom asking what their picture was. Then I wrote, "On Halloween, I carved a pumpkin with Mr. Snow and Tobie." (or whatever their sentence was) and they had to trace it so that they were 'writing' a complete sentence. They all did pretty well and I have 10 hours to decide what their word will be tomorrow.

Found out today (from the nurse at the hospital who called my phone!) that my Nandy will be having her shunt procedure tweaked. I had to give my Pa a hard time for the way I found out. I think he was quite surprised that I already knew when I called to harass him. Will be praying that all goes smoothly and that there is a speedy recovery. She has come so far since the first procedure!

Last night was Halloween. I don't know if it was because of it being Sunday or what but we did not have our usual big trick or treating crowd. Lucky for us, we buy the good candy and have lots left over!!! Because of this, I tried my first Reese's Fast Break. It is a very interesting piece of candy. Tastes like a Reese's Cup with Milky Way fluff and Butterfinger flavor mixed in. If I don't eat them all, I would offer you one but you'll have to hurry!

Oh, wait! I do have a picture to post. Preston could hardly contain himself when I brought it home....

God Bless school pictures. And for some reason, my principal took a 3x5 and wallet picture of every teacher. I wonder if she is going to hang them at her house to think of us fondly? HA!

And just in case I ever get lost, ask Hubby for this... I am sure it can be found in his wallet. :) But according to my Pa, when I was little he told me they [kidnappers] would bring me right back so you won't need the card for long.

Yes, I have one of these from every year I have taught.

No, I do not buy these. It is just one of the perks to being a teacher. Free school photos! Yea-ya! Don't be too jealous.