One Long, Short Week (and a freebie)

Why is it, that the weeks that we are off on Monday or Friday seem the longest? This week we were off Monday and there was no school Friday because we had Parent Conferences. I worked every evening having conferences until 7 on Tues, Wed and Thurs. My principal had told us we could do that and then not come in on Friday. I was all set to have Friday off and then I guess she found out that we weren't really supposed to be doing that, this was after I had been up at school late for three days. Most of my conferences went well, but I had 8 no shows. So I called them all and told them I would be up Friday morning. I got 3 more in today and I had 2 reschedule 3 for next week. It's tough getting them all in with 27 students.

We had to teachers to resign this week. It makes me sad to see them go, but I think there are a lot of teachers in our district that would resign if they could afford it financially. They just keep piling more and more things on us that we are supposed to do. When I add up the times of what I am supposed to be doing and teaching time each day, I have 10 minutes left over for transitions, bathroom break, etc... I'd like to say I have no wasted time in my class, but so far, I haven't been able to get through a full day's lesson plans and we have already been in school almost 5 weeks. We are making progress, but it is slow going.

It's not all bad, I have some really sweet kids. when I look at each one individually I can never figure out who is sooo loud when the talking starts, it just becomes a dull roar in my room. I bought a music box to try Teeny Tiny Teacher's idea. We ran out of music probably 2 hours before school was out. They liked the idea so I will be using it some more, I'm sure eventually they will earn some extra recess.

I am also excited about the future of this class, I think they will be a group of great readers and great writers! Here are a couple of sample of their writing from this week.  I got this pack from DeAnne at First Grade and Fabulous. I couldn't find it in her store, she may be updating it. It was made using kdg sight words, to extend the lesson, I had my students write at least one more sentence to go with the first one. We did a group edit checking for capitalization and punctuation using the Smartboard. It was great, when I would put one up they would say, it is missing a period or it doesn't have a capital. I'm hoping after doing that as a group, they'll remember on their on page next time.

I can see it. I see something that's red and it's juicy. It is an apple.

Here are a few pictures I took while the kids were doing free exploration/free centers while I was giving tests. This first one cracks me up, this little girl is the smallest and sweetest girl in the room. 

"Don't mess with Seme Corley."

I love it!

Here are a couple of kids using the lawn chairs I bought for reading. 

Working on a pattern block puzzle. 

Working puzzles. 

So while I was trying to test, it got extremely noisy. I was sitting there wishing I had a dool so I could try out Teacher Tipster's "Shhh the Baby's sleeping" tip. Well I didn't have a doll, but I did have this. 

 Meet Valentine.

Since I didn't have a doll I thought I would try Valentine. (BTW: he is wearing the tank top so he won't get so dirty. ;P) So I picked him up and walked around the room. I said in a quiet voice, "Boys and girls, Valentine didn't get any sleep last night because the roosters were crowing all night long (Our school is has a farm with a bunch of roosters right behind it). He said he needs a ten minute nap, please be quiet for ten minutes. He said he would choose the quietest group to join when he gets up. Here he is laying down.

 So it actually worked for about 8 1/2 minutes. so I picked up Valentine and took him to the quietest group. After a while I pick him up and he told me which other group he thought was being quiet and then he went to join them. Later it got really noisy so I went  and picked up Valentine. He told me my class was so loud his ears were hurting. There was only one thing left to do.

My kids were sad to see him go. I told them he wasn't used to loud noises because he had been living with Delaney and I for the past 2 years and we just aren't that noisy. I'm hoping next time I bring him out they will be quieter for even longer. ;P

I don't know what kind of tests you have to give at the beginning of the year, we used to give the DIBELS, now we have changed to the easyCBM. It is similar to DIBELS, but instead of naming letters, the boys and girls give the letter sound. They also have a Whole Word Reading test instead of the Nonsense Word Test on DIBELS. I made some pages so the parents could work with their kids at home. If it is something you can use, pick up a copy. I would appreciate a comment if you do ;) You can find it HERE.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Funny Little Story, Well It Was funny To Me.

I have been so worn out every day when I get home, I haven't had the energy to write a new post or read any blogs. I have really missed it. Here I am on Labor Day weekend, spending it trying to get the last of my required things ready for my bulletin boards. I really think the problem was having to start from scratch in my classroom, unpacking everything for the 2nd time in less than a year. That took more out of me than I realized. So I feel like I have been playing catch-up for the last four weeks. 

We are having Parent Conferences this week so I have a lot of paperwork to get together for them. This year we have to fill out a Reading Sufficiency Act report on every student no matter, even the high ones. Are you having to do that too?

I wanted to share a little funny. We have a fresh fruit or vegetable snack everyday at my school. We usually save it for the long afternoon, but one day one of my parents dropped by with some Koolaid drinks for everyone. The class voted to have their snacks before lunch. They had finished their snacks and we had passed out our next project, i looked at the clock and realized it was time to go to music. When I went to pick them up, I took a peek in the window and saw such a  strange and funny sight. Our music teacher is a very dignified and quiet man, he is up at the front of the room leading the kids in a patriotic song. When I looked at the kids about half of them were singing and the other half were crying. I was wondering what in the world could have happened because some of the ones crying were my best behaved.  You may have put two and two together, they were needing to go to the bathroom! The music teacher said he was letting them go one at a time, but you know how kids are, once he let one go, they all wanted to go. I'm glad to report none of them had an accident, maybe crying helped alleviate some of the pressure off of their kidneys! HA It doesn't look like any of them have the kidneys it takes to be a teacher does it. LOL

Last week I lost 2 more pounds, so I'm almost up to five. When I would want to lose weight in the past, I'd always want to lose it fast and since I didn't, I wouldn't do anything. Having to write down everything you eat and turn it in to someone really keeps you from eating a bunch of junk. The biggest change I have made is I am not drinking Coke or sweet tea anymore. I haven't had either now for two weeks. I thought I would have headaches, but I didn't so that has helped. I'm sure most of my daily calories was coming from my sweet, sugary drinks.

Hope you are enjoying your 3 day weekend, I'm getting another one next weekend too. I am doing all of my conferences in the evenings so I get Friday off!

Five for Friday on Saturday

I'm joining Doodle Bugs Teaching for her linky party Five for Friday.

1. We had had such a good day on Friday that I was looking forward to coming back on Monday and picking up on where we left off in practicing and following procedures. Well instead of one step forward two steps back, it was more like 10 steps back. I have a VERY talkative class this year. I have been online looking for solutions. I have been finding some success with whole brain teaching. I've never had any sort of training, I've just been doing a little reading and watching  videos. This past Monday, it was like the first day of school all over again. I had lunch duty and my teaching partner took the kids (all 54) out for a 15 minute recess and then back in for a bathroom break. I had told her I thought it was too many for one person too handle, but she was braver than me and forged ahead. I was sitting in my room when I heard a lot of commotion. I walked out in the hall and was confronted with a foggy, smoky-like hallway. It took a moment or two to figure out what had happened. One of my boys sprayed the fire extinguisher. I have been teaching for 17 years and have never had that happen. It's never happened with any student of any grade since I have been teaching. I corralled my kids back into the room and then a student from the other class did it again because one of my stinkers told him to. So my week got off to a very shaky start. Oh yeah in all of the commotion there was some pushing and shoving. One of my boys fell on the other teachers foot and fractured it. Needless to say, we haven't tried taking both classes to the bathroom again.

2. This one is not school related, but I have talked about losing weight forever, but have had no motivation. Our school has been working with the health department for the last several years and this year they even set up a workout room in our building. They gave us a treadmill and some exercise balls, I'm not sure what else because of course I haven't been trying to shape up. One other thing that we have is a weight loss program that started last week. It is after school and it is free and open for anyone who wanted to sign up. So I thought I would give it a try. I think it is going to help me, because at least for 12 weeks, I'll have someone checking my weight and looking over my food diary. Does this tell you I have no self control...well I do have some, but my biggest problem was that I love coke and really and I mean really sweet tea. So I haven't had a coke or tea since Sunday and I have been surprised that I did have headaches or anything. The first week I lost 2 1/2 pounds. I have a lot to go, but I think this program will get me into some better habits before it is over.

3. We use Everyday Math. I had been going over the "bunny hop" with the kids. It is basically teaching the kids to use a number line and "hop" each time they say a number. It really does help those kids who want to start counting before they have moved. We did a group bunny hop lesson on the smart board. In the book "Teach Like a Pirate" he talked about getting out of the classroom so I decided to take the kids out to the blacktop and do the bunny hop outside with the kids being the bunny. I made each table draw their number lines, some did better than others. One student was the bunny and a partner rolled the dice for them. They had a great time, it is something we will do again! Here are a few pictures. It was so sunny out, I couldn't even see what I was taking a picture of.

4. As I have said, I have a couple of stinkers, well to be exact...7.  Four of them are boys who just can't stay seated and they bother every one around them. So I tried having them sit on the rug with a dry erase board as a lap desk. It worked like a jewel last year with a couple of my boys. Well that was last year, this year when I have tried it, the boys are laying down, wiggling all over, one was on his back with his feet in the air, another was doing a headstand. So I sent them back to their seats where they were bothering everyone and not getting any work finished. I thought that if I had some extra money sometime I might try to buy some of those balls for them to sit on. I bought 3 of those beach chairs, you know the ones that sit really low to the ground, on clearance at Walgreens before school started. I was going to use them when everyone is reading around the room. I decided I would try three of the boys in the chairs on the rug to see if that would help them. I'm very happy to say the it worked great for 2 of them, the sat and got all of their work done. Zamarion was still in and out of the chair so Monday I'm going to try the 4th boy in that chair to see if it helps him. I have a little kids lawn chair that I might try with  Zamarion, since it is a little higher off the ground, he can't just roll out of it like he was the other chairs. Now if I can figure out how to get them to work in a group for centers, I'll have it made. ;P  The chairs look like these without the ocean!

5. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel completely overwhelmed right now. We have a new lesson plan format that at least right now is very confusing and  taking me forever to fill out. I have a new test that I am supposed to be giving to the kids instead of DIBELS. I haven't  tested anyone yet and I'm supposed to be finished by next Friday. My partner went to the training and hasn't said much to me about it except to give me the password. I'm hoping it is pretty self-explanatory. I'm supposed to make sure all of my kids can relate to someone else where they are in their learning. For example, "I know 20 of the 25 unit 1 words." That would be nice but we have been so crazy that I haven't assessed anyone yet. I'm suppose to have academics vocabulary notebooks for the kids and doing activities or games with the words, have an interactive word wall, have learning goals posted daily that the children can tell to others, be teaching them the Great Expectations life principle of the week, teaching Core Knowledge along with 90 minutes of math, 90 minutes of reading plus 30 minutes of intervention for tier 2 and tier 3 students, The times they have set up for us added up to 4 hours and 30 minutes and 4 days out of the week we have 4 hours and 40 minutes of teaching time. OK, I'm tired now just reading it, I would go take a nap, but I have to get to work on grading papers, lesson plans, and oh yeah I need to do laundry, mow the yard and clean house. Wish me luck.

Five for Friday

 I'm joining Doodle Bugs Teaching for the linky party Five for Friday.

I have been back to school for 2 weeks and since I had to unpack my room from a move, I feel like I have been trying to play catch up ever since school started. So this 5 for Friday has things from the past couple of weeks that I just haven't had time to post.

1. Here are some pictures from my classroom. these were taken before school started, I do have a few more things up on the walls now.

This is a picture from my door. I have books all over the room, but I guess the back wall with the orange shelves would be what I would call my library. I'm trying tables for the first time since I have been teaching first grade.

This picture is taken from in front of my computers. As you can see from this picture, our newly renovated rooms are very colorful. My teacher table is in the back corner and then behind the black shelf is my writing center. In the foreground you can see part of the rug I bought. It has 24 squares and we have already outgrown it. I have 27 students so far.

This picture is taken from the back door. The shelf that is by the rug have AR books and easy books to use at the beginning of the year.

This picture is taken from my teacher table. The computers are in the far corner. The table with the orange chair is my writing table. I don't have anything hanging above the boards, for some reason they did not put any tack strip above the boards so everything has to be taped with something that won't ruin the new paint.

2. Here is my version of the BE poster I saw on pinterest. I have a lot more words to add, but I am going to use it as a vocabulary lesson and introduce the Life Principles from Great Expectations each week. Once I have introduced the words, I'll put the word on the board.

3. This board says:

In our class...We celebrate success. We use critical thinking skills. We are committed to excellence.

We speak in complete sentences. We demonstrate mutual respect. We have high expectations. 

We are responsible for our own behavior. All children can learn.

4. My principal bought me some brightly colored Ticonderoga Dixon pencils to use for my different tables. So I decided to spruce up my pencil holders a bit. Here's the supplies I used.

And here is the finished product. I love them!

5. As I said, I am seriously behind. All of these pictures were taken before school started 2 weeks ago. So staying with that theme, here are two  pictures of my daughter on her first day of 5th grade.

This is one of students on the first day. I had this frame last year, I just added the sock monkeys to it.

Enjoy your weekend!

Made It Monday and Favorite Song Linky, Plus a Freebie.

This week I'm joining Tara @ 4th Grade Frolics, once again, for her "Monday Made It" linky party.

I have been working on things for the classroom since I report back on Wednesday.

The first thing I have made I got from this pin.

I loved this poster! When I was working on mine, I decided to get  most of my words from the Great Expectations Life Principals. So if the life principle is curiosity, I put curious. I made a few words to start with and I'm thinking about adding one word a week to make sure the kids will know each word. Here a picture of some of my words. As you can see, I haven't actually made the poster. I just got the pages laminated. Hopefully I'll get it on my board tomorrow. 

I also worked on a set of motivational quotes that are in my TPT store. Here are a few that are printed, laminated and trimmed.

My last Made It came from Math Coach's Corner. she has blank ten frames you can print. Then you use colored dots to make cards for the students to practice subitizing. This was a very easy made it thanks to Donna.

I also wanted to link up with Barb from Grade ONEderful and share one of my favorite poems/songs. When I used to teach kindergarten, it was always the class' favorite song out of all of the songs we would learn. I found the song in a Mailbox magazine years ago, I don't know who to credit. You can grab a copy HERE if you like.

The kids love the song and as you can see it also has some wonderful vocabulary to introduce.

Enjoy your freedom, while it lasts, I go back Wednesday.

It's Time!!! When do you go back? Linky Party and a Freebie

I'm joining Jessica from Literacy Spark for her linky party, "It's Time!! When do you go back?".

Link up and share with us when you officially start back at school.  How many days of work do you have before the students come back?  What do you spend those days doing?  How are you feeling about going back...?!

I officially go back to school on July 31. Yikes, that is this Wednesday!!! We get one day to work in our room and we have two days of professional development before the kids come August 5.

I'm kind of torn about going back. There is a part of me that is always ready to go back, I do love teaching! There is another part of me that loves the freedom that summer brings. In my district, we have a very strict curriculum guide that we are supposed to be following. After looking at it last night, I'm not looking forward to school as much as I was.

I have a little freebie to share this morning. My principal says this to our staff a lot. I asked if it was her original quote, she said no, but she couldn't remember where it came from. I made it with four different background colors. Pick one up HERE if you like it.

Thanks to the following:

Some of the backgrounds were  By- Jessica Stanford MrsStanfordsClass.blogspot.com 

The chalkboard frames: © Graphics Created by The 3AM Teacher http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com/

If you are interested, I just posted a group of 32 motivational quotes using these same chalkboard frames, you can check it out on my TPT. 

If you pick up the freebie, I would appreciate if you would leave me a comment or follow my blog. Then I'll know if people are interested in more of the same type of things.