100th Day of School

Friday was the 100^th day of school!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in school for 100 days already.  When I sit down at the end of the day, however, I feel it!

We had a party on Friday to celebrate making it through that many days of school.

We made necklaces (or halos) with 100 Fruit Loops,

had a competition to see which team could build the tallest tower out of 100 straws,

and dressed up like 100 year olds!

My kids had a blast and were so entertained that there were hardly any behavior problems. What a blessing that was!

Looking back over the past 100 days, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned (if I can narrow it down to one) is that kids are extremely loving. When they feel like you love them and want them to do well, they have a much easier time performing well for you. Most of my kids genuinely want to please me by making good choices.

The good thing about this is not that it cuts down on behavior management issues (although that is a plus!), but it shows them that there is a reward for treating others well. They learn to value the good marks they receive and are proud of themselves. I child who feels successful is much more likely to believe in him or herself!

It has been a difficult, complicated, emotionally trying, patience growing, entirely enjoyable 100 days.

Game Time!

Someone donated some games to our school and my class got to pick out which two they wanted to keep.

They chose Battleship and Twister. 
              I didn't even know kids still played those games!

We had some extra time that afternoon so I let them drag the games out to play for a few minutes.
I have never seen my class in such chaos.

Everyone wanted to play Twister but it's really only a 4 player game. That left me to decide who would get to play and who wouldn't. I resorted to drawing sticks with their names on them out of a basket. (I always feel bad choosing students to do something when others can't!)

The kids who didn't get to play the first time paired up for Battleship or messed with the snails that have somehow become our new class pets.

The kids who did get to play proceeded in the loudest, funniest, craziest game of Twister I have ever witnessed. From their socks making them slide to the awkward positions they were tangled in to the force of gravity pulling at them, everything combined to create one intense game of Twister!

After the original students had their turn becoming pretzels, they switched with the Battleship and snail players so they could have their chance to twist and turn.

Whoever invented Twister-a mat with colored dots on it and a spinner-is a genius. Thank you for my afternoon entertainment.

Favorite Quote of the Day

My kids will not walk in a line and it drives me crazy.

As we were walking to the bathroom I turned around and said, "This is not a line."
My kids' response was, "Nope, we're and amoeba!"

This is what happens when you are spontaneous...

On Thursday the Spanish teacher was sick. This left me with 45 minutes to entertain my students since they didn’t have related arts.

I looked

 through craft books

online

for puzzles

for reading activities

I found nothing…

so I decided to take my class outside to play. They are a very active group so I thought this would be a good way to get some of their energy out.

As we are headed to the playground, one of my boys asks if we can go down to the lake.

I hadn’t been to the lake yet and was curious as to what was down there.  I agreed to let the kids play at the lake as long as they promised not to get close to the water. They promised so we headed down the hill!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a lake, fire pit, and pavilion at the bottom of the hill.

I let the kids play there for a while (which consisted of putting on a show in the pavilion, hopping over logs at the fire pit, and seeing who could throw a rock the farthest into the lake). When the class was ready to go to the playground, we started our hike through the woods.

The best part of the trail was stumbling upon a cross about halfway to the playground. We stopped and talked about it for a few minutes then continued on our journey.

We finally reached the playground. My kids felt so successful! They had accomplished their goal of making it through the woods and had a great time in the process.

This is one time when being flexible and spontaneous has paid off!

Pay Attention!

It's really funny what kids notice. Sometimes, little things that I would never pick up on grab their attention so much more than obvious things. They notice

whether I wear glasses or contacts

whether I'm driving my dad's truck or my car

if a teacher has an iPhone or a droid

if one of the other kids has on the same pants he wore yesterday

when I get new dry erase markers for my board

when someone gets a new hair cut

and the list goes on...and on...and on.

Yet when I try to direct their attention to a specific passage in our history book that will be on their test they are all over the place! They can't focus on math problems or science questions or language arts sentences but they can pick up on the smallest change in our classroom.

I think the difference is that they are discovering the minute details themselves rather than being told them. We learn all about discovery learning in our methods classes and I think this is proof that it really is effective. I would love to use discovery lessons for everything I teach because the kids get so involved in them! Hopefully as I build my lesson plan library and get into the groove of planning and teaching, I will be able to develop many lessons that students will remember years down the road.

December Student of the Month

Carmyn is our student of the month for December!

I chose Carmyn to be our student of the month because she works very hard on her school work. She makes awesome grades because she tries so hard. She even missed an entire week of school in December because she was sick but managed to have all of her work completed before she came back to school!

One thing I really like about Carmyn is that she loves school. I remember when I met Carmyn on Parent/Teacher night. She was so excited about the first day of school that she already had her book bag packed! The very first day of school I could tell Carmyn enjoyed learning. She finished every assignment quickly and showed great reading and writing skills.

Another thing that is wonderful about Carmyn is her respect for everyone she comes in contact with. Not only does she respect me as her teacher, but she respects all of the students in our class as well. She is a very positive person and is able to see the best in everyone. She loves to help others with problems they are having as well (which is a wonderful blessing to me)!

These are just a few of the reasons I chose Carmyn to be our student of the month!