"Miss P, Taylor Lautner is dreamy. Have you found someone dreamy yet?"
"How does that have anything to do with division?"
"It doesn't. I'm just checking up on you."
My kids are way too concerned about my non-existent love life. Comments like this have made me decide to keep a journal of all the strange/awkward/hysterical things my kiddos say. It'll be like my own pick-me-up on a rainy day!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
It's been forever!
Gee whiz, it has been forever since I've updated! Eeek! So much has happened since I last updated:
We got a new friend in our class. My favorite kid (yes, I know you aren't supposed to pick favorites) moved away without any of us knowing. The next day when we found out, we were still mourning our loss when we got the call that we had a new kid in class, so we had to empty his desk quick. Then a week later another friend left our class.
The kids discovered a new obsession of making sure Miss P doesn't end up the "old cat lady", we've made a commercial, read A TON of new books that the kids LOVED, the kids found out Miss P had a date, the kids met Sister P, a girl I've been friends with since 3rd grade got the open 4th grade position in the room across the hall from me after the old teacher became our resource teacher, the kids found out Miss P dumped the guy she was seeing, the kids met Mama P, we had a moustache Christmas party, our friend who mysteriously moved away came back the first day of the semester (there was much celebrating!!!!), we've had frogs and crabs and millipedes in our room for science (many gross stories there that we'll skip....), and we've learned a whole lot!
I've decided with all the weird/funny/awkward things my kids say, I'm going to have to start keeping a journal of them.
I've also had a couple kids ask if we could make a science club, so my new hobby is thinking of things that we could do so I can decide if I can handle a 4th grade science club....it'll be interesting!
I found this on pinterest and LOVE it, so I thought I'd share it with you.
We got a new friend in our class. My favorite kid (yes, I know you aren't supposed to pick favorites) moved away without any of us knowing. The next day when we found out, we were still mourning our loss when we got the call that we had a new kid in class, so we had to empty his desk quick. Then a week later another friend left our class.
The kids discovered a new obsession of making sure Miss P doesn't end up the "old cat lady", we've made a commercial, read A TON of new books that the kids LOVED, the kids found out Miss P had a date, the kids met Sister P, a girl I've been friends with since 3rd grade got the open 4th grade position in the room across the hall from me after the old teacher became our resource teacher, the kids found out Miss P dumped the guy she was seeing, the kids met Mama P, we had a moustache Christmas party, our friend who mysteriously moved away came back the first day of the semester (there was much celebrating!!!!), we've had frogs and crabs and millipedes in our room for science (many gross stories there that we'll skip....), and we've learned a whole lot!
I've decided with all the weird/funny/awkward things my kids say, I'm going to have to start keeping a journal of them.
I've also had a couple kids ask if we could make a science club, so my new hobby is thinking of things that we could do so I can decide if I can handle a 4th grade science club....it'll be interesting!
I found this on pinterest and LOVE it, so I thought I'd share it with you.
Think about it....
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Ban It!
So this week we were talking about poetry for reading. Since I used to work with library services for my school district, I would adopt many of the books libraries would weed out whenever they got more money. Because of this I have my own mini library in the classroom, with books of every kind. So I pulled out a good number of poetry books and found some good ones to share with my kiddos. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during reading we have the Title I reading coordinator for our school's 3 and 4th grade classes come in to help out. So she's sitting behind all the kiddos who are on the carpet and listening as I read and discuss poetry. One of the poems I pulled out was "They Don't Do Math in Texas" from the book If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand by Kalli Dakos. If you haven't read it, it is a poem told from another student's pont of view talking about Kate, a new classmate who just moved from Texas. Kate keeps going on and on about how Texas is better because "school didn't start until four o' clock" and "every classroom had a popcorn machine". I picked it for not only humorous reasons, but also because we live in Texas and I knew that I would get some good comments out of the kids.
(Before I get to the good part of my story, I should let you know that during Banned Book Week in September, I talked with my class and did some activities with Banned Books. They were all amazed books could be banned from places and thought it was outrageous that people would do such a thing.)
So, I get to the line of the poem that goes like this:
"In Texas, we only did math
In Kindergarten.
Once we learned that
One plus one equaled two
We never had
To study math again."
The first thing I hear? "Ban It!" from one of my little angel students. Then comes "Burn It!" I look over at the Title I reading coordinator with this incredulous look on my face, and we both just bust out laughing. The kids are lost as to why we are cracking up, so they revert to what they do best....point out the obvious facts. The next comments I hear over our laughing go along the lines of "Miss P, you're face is red," "Miss P, you're crying because you're laughing so hard," "Miss P, I think you need to take a breath."
My kiddos keep me on my toes and smiling. Everyone always says that you always remember your first class....I have absolutely NO doubt of that.
(Before I get to the good part of my story, I should let you know that during Banned Book Week in September, I talked with my class and did some activities with Banned Books. They were all amazed books could be banned from places and thought it was outrageous that people would do such a thing.)
So, I get to the line of the poem that goes like this:
"In Texas, we only did math
In Kindergarten.
Once we learned that
One plus one equaled two
We never had
To study math again."
The first thing I hear? "Ban It!" from one of my little angel students. Then comes "Burn It!" I look over at the Title I reading coordinator with this incredulous look on my face, and we both just bust out laughing. The kids are lost as to why we are cracking up, so they revert to what they do best....point out the obvious facts. The next comments I hear over our laughing go along the lines of "Miss P, you're face is red," "Miss P, you're crying because you're laughing so hard," "Miss P, I think you need to take a breath."
My kiddos keep me on my toes and smiling. Everyone always says that you always remember your first class....I have absolutely NO doubt of that.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
New Things!
So I went to a staff development today on Blogging in the Classroom, and I learned all sorts of cool new things! I am super excited to start playing around on here and actually understand bits and pieces of it more.
What I'm even more excited about, though, is that my class' movie is almost done! We finished reading Gregor the Overlander on Monday of last week, and decided to keep using it the rest of the week instead of moving to a new book. We happened to be discussing drama/plays in reading, so my brilliant mind goes straight to "let's make a movie!" I suggested it to my kiddos and they were all on board. We brainstormed, wrote a script, had casting calls and auditions, made scenery and costumes, then filmed our teaser trailer on Friday. The original plan was for me to take my computer with me on my three hour trip to College Station to go see my sister's play. My parents and I were going to see my older sister's play (she's completing her Master's at Texas A&M) so I would have 3 hours in the backseat on the way there and 3 hours on the way back to edit all the video and audio clips we took to make our movie. However, said sister also stepped on my laptop this summer, and so it chose not to work on Saturday. So my kiddos keep asking, "Miss P, is the movie ready?" to which I reply, "Almost." Then they broke into the prophesy from the book, having memorized the entire thing from how many times we've mentioned it...." An overland warrior, a son of the sun, may bring us back light, he may bring us back none...." And needless to say, my kiddos will pass their Content-Based Assessment in reading with flying colors when it comes to drama. They know it all inside and out now!
If you know someone who wants to donate a bit to my awesome classroom so we can keep doing projects like this, we have a DonorsChoose for the second and third Gregor books that is almost out of time and needs funding! Pass on the word to help support my Reading Warriors!
What I'm even more excited about, though, is that my class' movie is almost done! We finished reading Gregor the Overlander on Monday of last week, and decided to keep using it the rest of the week instead of moving to a new book. We happened to be discussing drama/plays in reading, so my brilliant mind goes straight to "let's make a movie!" I suggested it to my kiddos and they were all on board. We brainstormed, wrote a script, had casting calls and auditions, made scenery and costumes, then filmed our teaser trailer on Friday. The original plan was for me to take my computer with me on my three hour trip to College Station to go see my sister's play. My parents and I were going to see my older sister's play (she's completing her Master's at Texas A&M) so I would have 3 hours in the backseat on the way there and 3 hours on the way back to edit all the video and audio clips we took to make our movie. However, said sister also stepped on my laptop this summer, and so it chose not to work on Saturday. So my kiddos keep asking, "Miss P, is the movie ready?" to which I reply, "Almost." Then they broke into the prophesy from the book, having memorized the entire thing from how many times we've mentioned it...." An overland warrior, a son of the sun, may bring us back light, he may bring us back none...." And needless to say, my kiddos will pass their Content-Based Assessment in reading with flying colors when it comes to drama. They know it all inside and out now!
If you know someone who wants to donate a bit to my awesome classroom so we can keep doing projects like this, we have a DonorsChoose for the second and third Gregor books that is almost out of time and needs funding! Pass on the word to help support my Reading Warriors!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Singing Stars and Reading Warriors
So in my infinite knowledge as a first year teacher, I decided my students were asking too many extraneous questions. So to limit these questions, I told my kiddos that if they wanted to ask a question they had to sing it to me. Big mistake. I didn't take into account the fact that I have some goobers in my class who would love to do a little sanctioned song and dance during class. When one of my boys started to go all Broadway on me, I couldn't hold my laughter in anymore. I ended up having to take a breather because I was laughing so hard. The rest of the class gave a standing ovation and were ready to move on....I was still laughing.
As an avid reader, one of my goals this year was to inspire students to read. We are currently reading Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander. I went out and bought enough copies of the book so that each child could pair up with someone to follow along as I read. Because it is one of my favorite books, I can read the story aloud complete with character voices (that the kids often request during lessons). I think this book has officially gotten them hooked on reading. We (and by that I me "I") read aloud for about 2 hours today as part of their reward for the amazing feedback I got from our substitute. I planned it out perfectly so we would stop at the big climax of the story right before the bell rang. When I told them to close their books, my students begged to keep reading so we could finish the story. I told them the bell was about to ring, and they asked if they could just stay for 30 more minutes to finish the book! Imagine that....the end of the day on the Friday before a 3-day weekend, and they would rather stay in school for 30 more minutes! I love my kiddos!
As an avid reader, one of my goals this year was to inspire students to read. We are currently reading Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander. I went out and bought enough copies of the book so that each child could pair up with someone to follow along as I read. Because it is one of my favorite books, I can read the story aloud complete with character voices (that the kids often request during lessons). I think this book has officially gotten them hooked on reading. We (and by that I me "I") read aloud for about 2 hours today as part of their reward for the amazing feedback I got from our substitute. I planned it out perfectly so we would stop at the big climax of the story right before the bell rang. When I told them to close their books, my students begged to keep reading so we could finish the story. I told them the bell was about to ring, and they asked if they could just stay for 30 more minutes to finish the book! Imagine that....the end of the day on the Friday before a 3-day weekend, and they would rather stay in school for 30 more minutes! I love my kiddos!
Friday, September 23, 2011
First Year Teacher
I guess I should start out all of this by saying I am a first year teacher. I am fresh out of college and was lucky to get my dream job shortly after graduation. I have an amazing class at an Exemplary school, and I love every minute of my job.
I should also confess I am a pinterest addict, and many things I see on pinterest I get the urge to recreate and incorporate into my own classroom. I come from a creative family, so I tend to have a flair for the dramatics at times, but my kiddos find it hysterical so that works fine for me. My students yearn for days when the air conditioning turns on high so that I'll get out my Harry Potter Snuggie for reading time.
I started out college knowing I wanted to teach reading, but after graduation I was accepted to NASA's Pre-Service Teacher Institute at Johnson Space Center in Houston and I am officially a math and science nut. I bribe my kids with NASA experiments and they do my bidding in hopes of an awesome science lesson.
All of this is new to me, but I knew I wanted to blog the happenings of my first year of teaching as something to look back on later, and if I happen to entertain you with my random ramblings of classroom anecdotes or provide a great arts and crafts idea, so be it.
Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.
-Miss P
I should also confess I am a pinterest addict, and many things I see on pinterest I get the urge to recreate and incorporate into my own classroom. I come from a creative family, so I tend to have a flair for the dramatics at times, but my kiddos find it hysterical so that works fine for me. My students yearn for days when the air conditioning turns on high so that I'll get out my Harry Potter Snuggie for reading time.
I started out college knowing I wanted to teach reading, but after graduation I was accepted to NASA's Pre-Service Teacher Institute at Johnson Space Center in Houston and I am officially a math and science nut. I bribe my kids with NASA experiments and they do my bidding in hopes of an awesome science lesson.
All of this is new to me, but I knew I wanted to blog the happenings of my first year of teaching as something to look back on later, and if I happen to entertain you with my random ramblings of classroom anecdotes or provide a great arts and crafts idea, so be it.
Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.
-Miss P
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