An update from Room 106:
Three bows are better than two
Learn to tie shoe-laces in three bows, and you will become the most popular person in the world:
I'm going to have my kiddos start practicing tying shoelaces next week (almost all of my students can tie their shoes, but many of them can't get them into a tight enough knot to last through recess . . . ), but I can't help but smile when the I "impress" a six-year-old by getting their shoelace to go into three bows!
Borrowed ideas :)
Why re-invent the wheel if it's already spinning, right?? I just wanted to share some neat things that I've "borrowed" from other classrooms that I've been in!
Last week I hung up writing samples in the hallway on laminated construction paper with one kiddo's name on each piece, and taped their work to it. This was really convenient, but I also realized that every time I hung something up, I was still going to have to tape it up, and then take the tape off when it came down...kind of defeating the purpose of what I was going for by making the "created by" posters in the hallway outside my classroom. I heard a great tip to put clothespins on the construction paper, and oh, boy, does it make such a difference! Hanging work in the hallway has never been easier--just un-clip the old work, and re-clip the new projects! Check it out:
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| We talk about being "Quality Students" and "Quality Teachers" at my school . . . this student wrote, "I can be a Quality Student by making good choices." Atta boy! |
Also, these jars have saved hours of student pencil-sharpening (literally). I have one student (sometimes two, depending on how many pencils need sharpening at the end of the day) sharpen all of our "need to be sharpened" pencils during our pack-up/clean-up time, so that way, the next day, we've got a re-stocked supply of sharp pencils :) I call this helper my "woodchuck"--I'm not quite sure the kiddos get it, but I giggle at it every day. With this system, students can just go grab a new pencil if theirs breaks, and it holds students accountable for the pencils in the classroom, since we are all sharing!
Happy birthday to you...
What better way to introduce graphing, more or less, equal amounts, calendar months and so much more than having the students' birthdays displayed? Here is how we did it in my classroom--I was so impressed with how great my kiddos' work turned out!
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| On Monday, every student got to color a cupcake for Morning Work. At this point, they sort of thought of it as just a coloring activity, but little did they know . . . . |
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| The next day for Morning Work, their job was to cut out their cupcake, and glue it on the colored piece of paper that I had provided for them. This way, I knew the right cupcakes were going on the right colored months! After we glued and cut (which allowed me to assess their fine motor skills, too--double-whammy!), they had to get into groups with other students that had the same color construction paper under their cupcake. Then, they had to find out what the labels on their cupcakes (that I had written out ahead of time) had in common. |
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| Voila! I like to consider this "tasteful learning" :) |
Just something to chuckle about
I have one student who doesn't really like to sit still, so today I had him working at a table sitting riiiight next to me so that he could concentrate on his work. We were rainbow writing our read-and-spell words for the week, and he looked at me and said, "Ms. W, my arm is too tired. It can't go any further." To which I replied, "Oh, is it out of gas? Let me fill 'er back up so you can get back to work!" I pretended to "fill up" his arm with my imaginary gas tank, until "drip, drip, drip," I had no more gas for him. He got back to work with a smile on his face.
What brought a smile to mine, though, was later in the day when he was working back at his table and I looked over at him; he was sitting down, concentrating, with his right arm resting on the table and his left arm "pouring" into his right. I watched him mouth "drip, drip, drip" as he finished "fueling up," and got right back to work, all on his own :) Call me selfish, y'all, but I love moments like these.
Library additions
This morning, in our content block, we began working on the Pledge of Allegiance. I got to show my class all the books that I picked up at the public library this weekend, and now these are options for what the kids can choose from when they are reading silently. Even I am learning a ton about flags from these books, and my kids are (surprisingly) really excited by the pictures. Maybe I shouldn't say "surprisingly," but I just didn't think they'd take to the books like they did!
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| College text sets, anyone?? Just a few from the "flag" text set that I was able to gather from the library! |
Yikes...wrong bus!
So, I kind of had a real-life nightmare happen this afternoon--shortly after my kiddos were on their buses heading home, I was sitting in my room and the phone rang; it was our wonderful registrar asking me if a particular student had gotten on the bus, because she hadn't gotten off the bus at home where her father was waiting for her. He was one the phone, so I headed up to the office to try to resolve matters. Let me tell you--SO.SCARY. The thought that a child left your sight, but then didn't wind up at home...uh oh.
Turns out that this student saw a friend get on another bus, and decided that she wanted to ride that bus, too. She also decided once she was on the new bus, that she didn't want to get off at the friend's house--makes sense, she didn't know where she was when she looked out the bus window. Dad ended up driving to school to see if things could be sorted out, and the second bus came back to school with my student still on it. Everyone was reunited and I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, but wow, did my heart stop for a quick second.
This week has flown by, and has also seemed to be crawling slowly as we reach Friday, but after tomorrow, I will be able to say that I've had my first full week of school as a teacher :) As of today, all of my beginning of the year assessments in math and reading are done (a HUGE check to place on my to-do list at school), so now I feel like I can really get into the year, and solidify the routines that we've been working hard to establish the past couple of weeks!
How are your weeks going? Are you looking to tomorrow and thinking TGIF? (I am!)
Love from Room 106,
Allie
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