You Know You're A ...

Linky, Linky, Linky Part-A!

The fabulous Abby over at The Inspired Apple is hosting a "You Know You're a ____ Teacher When..." Linky Party and I just HAD to join in the fun.
Off we go...

1) You're starving for dinner because the last time you ate was at 11 am.

2) You bug the nurse (and your husband) to check your head for lice more times than you'd like to admit.

3) You  are an expert at quality office supplies.

*I will never buy a stapler that isn't a Swingline. Crayola and Elmer's Rule!

4) When you come home from work you don't want to make any decisions or plans at all.

5) You'd rather do copies, answer e-mails, or check folders than spend those 3-5 minutes it is going to take to use the bathroom.

6) You're accused of being a witch because you knew Johnny had a piece of candy in his pocket, Sally had cut her hair, and Jane poured glue in her desk without actually seeing them do anything.

7) You crave adult time.

8) You are just as excited (if not more) than the kids about theme days. *I heart Pajama Day!

9) No matter how creative your lessons are and how many times you practice, you still have nightmares about the kids who just don't get it. "It's a dime. It's 10 cents. I don't know how else to explain it!"

10) You can't fight the urge to give the "look" at misbehaving kids when you are out in public.

11) You've been accused of treating your husband like you do your students. *Oops!

12) You have bruises on your thighs where you run into the kids' desks. (and it's always in the same spot!)

13) As you are watching movies or television, you can spot a person (child or adult) who has a speech problem.

14) AND you have to accept your flaws because your students will point them out every year. *Like I'm not totally aware how big my nose is!!!

Now why haven't you linked up yet?

COOL IDEA!

It's been one of those days...

1) First, I had a meeting this morning. Needless to say, Monday mornings isn't exactly my favorite time to have a meeting.

2) My student teacher is backing off and only teaching 75% of the day.

3) I just received a copy of our Math Benchmark and it is really HARD!  I had to quickly re-plan all of our math lessons to get the kids familiar with the objectives tested on the benchmark. Hello, we are only on Topic 10 and the test covers Topics 10-13! YIKES!!!!

4) It rained all day (the hardest during dismissal.)

5) My Pookie and I needed to go grocery shopping. We HATE going grocery shopping. We go as a team because we know it wouldn't be fair to make one of us go all the time when we both despise it so much.

6) The engine light turned on in my car today. Blech!

Plus, I've been in a writing funk.

But then, I saw this...

Jen at Scissors & Spatulas just posted this great little recipe to make Jelly Bean Bark. Love it! I can't wait to make it for my kiddos and family. Bring on Easter!

Go check it out N-O-W!

Ten Things...

You know I love me a good Linky Party, and Jennifer at Rowdy in First Grade is hosting a Linky Party about Ten Things I've Learned about Teaching. I read two posts from the list and then I had to STOP! I wanted to write my own, and I was loosing ideas when I read other teachers posts. They were so true, though! So anyway, I'm sure I'm preaching to the chore with some of my ten but maybe it could be helpful to some.


1. Your planning time is used for copies, checking student folders, making phone calls, meetings, or reading over the 50 e-mails you just received that day. NOT PLANNING! That gets done on your personal time.


2. Always pick-up the floor at the end of the day. It isn't the custodians job to pick-up Johnny's crayons and Susie's book basket.


3. Your school day DOES NOT end at 3:20pm. It never ends until summer vacation. You think about the well-being of your students 24-7.


4. You cherish your favorite pens and are very upset when the ink runs out or the substitute misplaces it!


5. I never schedule a parent-teacher conference before school time (7:30am.) I've been burned too many times by no-shows. Grrrr


6. It isn't always great to have a teacher's kid in your class. Either the kid is out of control OR the parent/colleague is!


7. Currently, most of your students are "gifted," according to their parents. Just ask 'em... (even your relatives will say it about their kids, ha!)


8. No matter how experienced or organized you are End-of-the-Year paperwork is a nightmare. Make sure to have those signatures or you will spend a lot of time on the phone trying to get parents in to conference with you.


9. The copy machine is EVIL!


10. Never think something is going to be easy or go smoothly because it won't. Always has a contingency plan!


Now, have fun making up your own list!

A Fun, Exciting, Informational, Delicious Lesson

Teaching adjectives has never been as much fun as when you are using Babbling Abby's "Let's Get Poppin' with Adjectives" TPT Unit.

I just love how creative she is! It must be so much fun to have her as a teacher.

My student teacher reading to the class.

Anyway, I was thrilled to have my student teacher read Tomie de Paola's The Popcorn Book for this lesson. It is one of my favorites. The kids love it, too.In addition, I'm glad we had some time to fit in this unit. I'd like for my intern to have more opportunities to teach fun, creative, interactive lessons as opposed to the dreaded "Pacing Guide" lessons.

Old maid kernels can hurt so bad! I was once burned in the arm when one bounced out and hit me.

I used an air popper throughout the whole lesson. Yeah, I won't do that again. I will definitely use the air popper for the beginning of the lesson. It works well for the sounds, smells, and taste of real popcorn right after it's been popped. Also, the kids adore watching the kernels pop.

My mistake was to use the air popper to fill the kids' bags after the lesson. It took forever. Next, time I'll just use the microwave.

This is what I get when I ask him to smile for the camera!

The kids had a great time completing their adjective pages and making their popcorn pictures. They are so proud of their work, after I posted up on the wall.

This is a fantastic lesson, and I highly recommend it!

 

What's the Matter?

Currently, we are having fun with Matter. We've had fun with size. We've had fun with shape. We've had fun with temperature. NOW, we're having fun with texture.

Here's the activity:

Prior to class: I'm going to place five items of different textures in brown paper bags. (The five textures I chose were feathers, leather, metal, cotton, and plastic.) 

First, I'm going to have the students feel inside bag #1 and make predictions of what they think the item may be based on their texture. Next, they will write their prediction in their books. After everyone feels the item and has written their prediction in their book, I will reveal the item. Last, they will record what the real item was in their books.

I'll repeat that whole process for bags 2-5.

Throughout the activity, I'll refer to the Texture Power Point  to reinforce their learning and provide another visual connection.

Happy Wednesday!

Rules to Write By

Got any free wall space?

So far this year, my kids have had a difficult time grasping the concept of adding -ed and -ing to words and spelling them correctly.

I've made these posters to help them fix this problem.

Feel free to use these posters as a guide to help your students learn how to add    -ed and -ing to words.

Or you could shrink them and add them to their little dictionaries, homework binders, or portable word walls.

Happy Tuesday!

Contraction Attraction

In preparing for our big Ancient Egypt Unit, I've decided to make a few documents that will tie in nicely with our reading series. This is my first attempt at creating anything this "techie" so I hope it is up to snuff.

My first document is Explorer Contractions:

Explorer Contractions (1 MB)

On a side note: It took me about 3 hours to make this. Seriously, I hope I get quicker at it. I do not know how some of y'all can have 80+ page units and whip 'em out every other week. Color me impressed!