Hmmm. . .

I'm beginning to think I have a brown noser. He tells me how pretty me or my shirt or my hair is everyday. Today? He said my drawing was so beautiful!

So, how did my hair look?!

Writing

I had my kindergarteners do some writing for me the other day so we could see where they were.  Here's one sample -

I could read "I like" something.  Not sure what!  Then the bottom word Odxe had me puzzled.  Until I noticed he was sitting by this!

Lol!  Poor kiddo just wanted to write something! 

I had another student in 3rd grade write the cutest story about me!

One time I meet a women with yellow hair on ------ Elementary School.  She has a little room.  She teach me and -------- and she lets us get on the computer in rosetta stone.  She give us things.  She gave us a folder for our mystery word clues.  She is a good teacher.  She said that we have to write stories about math, my best friend, and our country.  She pick us up at ten am when I am doing reading.  That teacher was born in Nebraska and she put music on for us to entertain by we working.

So sweet!!

School is not. . .

a strip club!  Glad we cleared that up today.  I told a 3rd grader to pull up his pants and that's what his friend chimed in with!

7 Facts

I was tagged in a "7 Facts" award that's going around. I was tagged by The Caffeinated Teacher.  Basically you provide 7 random facts about yourself and then tag 15 other bloggers to play along. It's always fun to learn weird, random things about people :)


1) I'm addicted to Zumba!!  I get mad when I have to miss class!  I became licensed to teach it in December.  I want to take the Zumbatomic training so I can teach kids Zumba! :)

2) I love baseball.  I go to as many games as I can a year.  My goal is to visit every major league baseball stadium.  My favorite team is the Dodgers!

3) I started doing 5Ks last year.  My husband and I both enjoy finding fun 5Ks to try.  We just did one a few Saturdays ago as a couple - Cupid's Couple Run!

4) I am an only child, but do have a foster sister.  She is 6 years older.  My middle name is her name. 

5) We have 2 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 guinea pigs!  Like to keep things even. :)  One dog is blind and diabetic.  She has to have insulin shots twice a day.





6) I love chocolate covered sunflower seeds!  I think it has become my drug of choice, lol!

7) My husband's 24 year old sister moved in with us just before Christmas.  It's been ummm, interesting.  And expensive.

Sorry there's not pictures on everything - I got tired.  And I've been holding this post hostage for a while now, so here it is!

Now to tag some people!  I didn't come up with 15, but feel free to do this and let me know.  I'd love to read yours!

Teaching Happily Ever After
You Never know What You're Gonna Get
Ms Teacher
Life in the Mimsy Borogoves
Vodka Mom
Ginger Snaps
Finding Normal
Dead Class Pets

Ms. Fashion

I have a cute little kindergartener, Ms. Fashion.  The other day I was walking her to the bus and she was excited to comment on my clothes.

Ms. Fashion: Mrs. Z!  I know why you're wearing those shoes!
Me:  Oh really?  Why?
Ms. Fashion:  Because they're brown!  Like your sweater!
Me:  That's right!
Ms. Fashion:  You match!  This part in your sweater matches your pants too.

Wow, glad I wasn't clashing!  Who knows what she'd tell me!  The next day I picked her up again and it was all about my hair.

Ms. Fashion:  Can I touch your hair?
Me: Umm, ok. . .
Ms. Fashion:  It feels so soft and fluffy!
Me: Thanks!
Ms. Fashion:  It's soft like this.  (She points to the fleece lining on her jacket)
Me: Really?  Wow!

She has also noticed when I've worn a lot of black and said I matched again.  I think we have a future fashion designer or hair stylist!

New School, Part 1 - My Box, I Mean Classroom

I've been meaning write about our new school and just haven't had the energy!  We moved over Christmas break.  No, we weren't given time to do it, paid, or anything.  It was crazy.  My room was not ready the several times I came up to work, so it wasn't ready to go when school started.  I had boxes everywhere.  I moved from a large portable to a tiny office.  Still have to pull my kids in here.  I have one bookshelf that holds my curriculum and I stole a small shelf to put books on for my kiddos.  No other storage!  My husband had to clean out the garage to make room for everything I brought home!  There are some bigger empty rooms that I would love to have, but they're being saved in case we need them.  I also didn't get a document camera, projector, or notepad like the other teachers did.  We couldn't bring overheads with us so I have no way to project anything.  I had to trade tables with another teacher just to get enough table space for my classes.  My principal though I could fit 9 kids around a table made for 3 or 4 students.  I had to steal another table to hold my computers.  When my students are in my room, it is almost impossible to move around the room.  Good thing I'm small!  I'll add some pictures, you'll understand!



My path to my teaching table!  This is the only way back here.

 

Standing in the corner - I walk through here to get to my teaching table.

Standing at the door to come in my room.



All my curriculum is on that beige shelf.  Not much room to get there!  Sorry this is so blurry!



A kindergartener walking in my room.  He just squeezes through!  I did ask to get rid of the teacher desk, but am now using it for storage space.

When kids are on the computer you can't get through!



I can't open the filing cabinet all the way!



Uno, Dos

The end of last year and beginning of this year have been a wild ride! I'll write more about our move to our new campus later and all the fun that brought over Christmas break. I have a sweet story to share though and don't want to forget it!

We had a new student start last week in first grade. She spoke no English and had just arrived from Mexico. Poor girl was scared - no one spoke her language and she didn't know what was going on! I found out she cried for 6 hours one day! The little girl who sat next to her (and is black) wanted to help. She was rubbing her back and talking to her. The teacher asked what she was saying and she responded, "If you talk to her in Spanish, she stops!" And she did. The teacher was surprised and told the little girl she didn't know she could speak Spanish! Sweet girl said "I can count and say colors!" That's all it took though! Made my heart melt!

PS - We have now moved the new girl to a different school for bilingual. :)

Wonderful Speaker

This weekend I had the opportunity to go hear a phenomenal speaker with several schools. It was a Saturday morning - hard to get teachers motivated on a Saturday just before Christmas break. We were all blown away. If you ever get the chance to hear Dr. Adolph Brown - GO!!! You will love it. There are video clips on his website. I bought one of his books to read and can't wait. I know my description will never be close to seeing him in person, but I promise he is worth the time. One thing that stands out is that if you can't picture all your students graduating college, then find a new job.

Our Christmas Wishes

Our school has a door decorating contest. I really don't care for them because it usually is what teacher spends the most time decorating, not showing off the what the students do. I came across this idea for a bulletin board at Caffeinated Teacher and decided to adapt it for our door. I had my K-2 students tell me what they wished they could give or do for someone else for Christmas. We had a discussion about people less fortunate than us, so most of them caught on. We made a small letter to Santa that folded into an envelope from here. Then my 3rd-5th graders wrote a longer wish explaining why they wished that. We put their stories inside a gift box to open and read. I thought it came out cute!

tag to encourage people to read our wishes

inside a letter

a box opened

Field Trip

Yesterday I went with kindergarten on a field trip to see Babes in Toyland. It was a pretty good trip and somehow I ended up with the most talkative kid ever as my seatmate on the bus! I'm not kidding, he talked or sang the entire way there and back! I heard about his dad's truck, his uncle's car, how his sister is white, but his other sister and him are white and black, last year they took food on a field trip, I've been there, I live there, and he sang the green, red, and blue songs for me! He also got very excited about a building and thought that should be our field trip. I turned to see, expecting a fire station or something but it was . . . a uniform cleaning building! Got to love the mind of a 5 year old!

Thanksgiving

Oh I love teaching about Thanksgiving - being thankful, pilgrims, Native Americans, and food! Some of my kids give interesting answers when we discuss what we learned. Did you know that the Pigwams came over on the Flower? Love it. Oh and the things we're thankful for! Here are a few from my older kids - helping anyone in help (need, maybe?), my frinds (exact spelling), my family for coming to my house, having the best parents, and my mom because she brought me to life (aww!). My younger ones had lots of ideas too - food, toys, no not my brother, trees, school, my dog, my bunny rabbit that we had to give away to someone that doesn't have any pets, not my baby sister, my hampster, grandma, my friends, my teacher, my fish, learning, my dog and my sister (in that order) and my favorite - Jesus. Happy Thanksgiving!

Great Book

I ordered a bunch of books from Scholastic the other day and noticed a new one by Audrey Penn (author of The Kissing Hand). I had to buy it. I noticed the title - Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories. I figured it was some sort of fall book and didn't read the description. I was quite surprised when I started it and realized it was about Chester having a friend pass away. It was so sad; I was almost in tears walking down the hall (bad idea to read new books while walking around)! It was very well written though, and would be great for a class that lost a student. I would've loved to have it the year our school lost 3 kids from one family. I highly recommend this book - just read it alone the first time!

Hibernation

One of my 2nd graders needed to finish a quiz for his classroom teacher. I set him at a table and let him work. Here's one of his questions and his answer! It was all I could do not to laugh!

Love Is in the Air!

I started my day covering a 2nd grade class whose teacher had a doctor's appointment. While in there, I intercepted a note that a little boy was trying to pass!

I thought it was too cute to get upset over!

I worked with my kindergarten group who did much better than yesterday. When they were lining up, one little boy (with the same name as my hubby) looked up and said, "I love you!" Aww, he's a cutie! Look out JZ - you've got some competition, lol!

Pets

Yesterday we were discussing pets in my first grade group. We made a graph of the pets our class has at home. Here's the graph:

Can you see the last pet? Turkey?! Sure hope someone's pet isn't missing after Thanksgiving!

Did that really just happen?

Friday (before Halloween), I went to get my 4th graders. There I was, just strolling along the boardwalk - since my room is in the trailer park behind the school. I'm almost to the main building. I walk close to a trash can. It starts to move! Yikes! Then a possum JUMPS out at me!!!!!!!!!! I probably jumped 10 feet and am amazed I didn't scream or pee on myself! It ran under the boardwalk and I ran inside. All these years I thought possums were nocturnal.

Changes

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote! This year has been crazy so far. The grant I was working under ending last year, leaving about 20 people in our district needing jobs. My campus (let's call it L) also combined with another campus (M), leaving some teachers needed to be placed somewhere else. I ended up at a different school (F) teaching pre-k. I packed up everything and spent several weeks (and hundreds of dollars) getting my room ready at F. I loved it! I had a great class, wonderful colleagues, and a friendly principal (what a change!) Then the principal got hired in another district. Ok, interim principal was great! Still happy! I bought 2 guinea pigs for our classroom pets. The kids loved them! Then one day (the 4th week of school) I was called back to campus from a training. I found out they needed another 1st grade teacher and had to lose a pre-k teacher. The teacher hired after me volunteered to go because she liked older kids. I lost my planning partner, but she was still next door so we were happy no one had to move. Last Monday, the 5th week of school, I was called to the office after lunch. Found out they needed a bilingual pre-k teacher and I was going to have to move. I ended up back at my old school :( teaching ESL as a pull-out. I had 1 day to pack up. I was devastated. I got to my campus (now called M) and the principal really doesn't want me because I'm not bilingual. That was a mess. So now I'm trying to learn another job and get settled. Until we move to our new school over Christmas break. I can't bring the classroom pets because I'm in a portable that has terrible insulation and I can't keep the temperature even. None of my friends from M have even bothered to come see my classroom, much less see if I need any help. Guess I better get back to getting settled. Still waiting on all my stuff to be moved and the teacher that was here just got her stuff out yesterday. There's a mess in here! I have no energy left to make this room look good! Hopefully I get trained on all the paperwork that is required soon. Sorry for the long rambling post! I really hope everyone else is having a better school year!

How Sweet

We're closing in on the end of the school year! Hooray! Of course that means we're super busy. I don't know what I'll be teaching or even what school I'll be at because the grant funding my position is ending. Hopefully I'll hear soon where I'll be next year!

I had a picture laying on my table of a 1st grade teacher, a 2nd grade teacher, a retired teacher who subs, and myself. One of my students saw it and said, "My favorite teacher!" I had to ask, "Which one?" Sweet boy answered, "2nd grade teacher and you." Aw, smart boy.

Eyes

I work with a few students who are next door with a 2nd grade teacher (we'll call Mrs. Blue Eyes). The other day one of these students told her she had "scary eyes." Mrs. Blue Eyes asked why they were scary and he just shrugged. So she asked what color they were. He responds, "blue." As she was trying to convince him that blue eyes aren't scary, another darling yelled out "Mrs. Z has red eyes!" I do? Really? I know they change colors, but I always thought they were green or bluish-gray. Hmmm. Do I turn into demon teacher when they're in here?

I Love Free Stuff!

Oh, how I heart free stuff!! Over at Confessions of an Untenured Teacher, she's giving away this awesome pocket chart from CSN stores!


Here's more info, copied from her blog!

Up for grabs is this pocket chart, perfect for your classroom, your home office, or as a gift to your child's teacher (did you know National Teacher Appreciation week is May 2-8?):

This pocket chart has 27 pockets that hold standard sized file folders. It also includes 27 dry erase cards so you can reuse it year after year!

All of us out there could use a bit more organization in life! But because I practically live in my classroom, I thought of some potential uses:

1. Student mailboxes
2. Student portfolios
3. File folder center storage
4. Storing extra work for independent activities
5. Storing teacher memos and random paperwork you can never seem to find a proper place for!

So hurry over and enter!