Halloween, a Werewolf, and a full moon

I knew Halloween would be...eventful.  I knew it before I saw the beautiful full moon low in the sky yesterday morning.  But I did not expect to be greeted by a howling werewolf crawling on all fours through my classroom door at 7:30 am....

We really did try to do Letterland for an hour.  But while we were waiting for the trick-or-treaters from kindergarten to come through our classroom, a little spontaneous dance party broke out....

there is supposed to be a video HERE.....it refuses to upload:(

The quality is not the greatest, but aren't they just the cutest? 

Prior to Halloween, we had done pumpkin activities.  We measured, we scooped, we estimated seeds, we counted seeds, we read about pumpkin growth, and we wrote pumpkin poetry.

Normally only the kinders at our school dress up for Halloween.  But these guys begged.  They pleaded.  They wore me down. I'm a pushover, I admit. And it's not like much work occurs on the best candy day of the entire year anyway. Even though it was only Wednesday, and we had two more WORK days to go...

We had a great party, thanks to our parent volunteers who braved our classroom of werewolves, monsters, and pirates.  They were the superheroes who brought great food and prizes and spent fun time playing games with the precious little goblins!

And what would we do without our batty assistant?  She is the QUEEN of Halloween and she is the one who keeps us on track...she is the money taker, the timekeeper, the bus driver, the paper checker, the copy maker...no wonder she's batty:)

As fun as it was, I'm glad it's over. I put up a giant turkey in place of the giant spider web before I went home, I took down the spooky decorations and I hid the party music.  After all, we still have to get some work done up in here;)

Happy November!

50th Day!! (already? no way!)

Yesterday was the 50th day of school...I can hardly believe it.  (Christmas will be here before we know it and I, being the procrastinator that I am, have not even thought about shopping.) We celebrated in our classroom by having "fifties day". I purchased Cara Carroll's mini unit from TpT, and it was FULL of ideas.  In fact, we did not get to all of them, so we also celebrated on day 51:).

We began the day by watching a portion of "Leave it to Beaver". We talked about televisions in the 50s and how televisions began in black and white. Without cable. (and I told them how in the 70's I learned "southeast" by the direction I had to turn the antenna on the roof.) They think I'm ancient. I am, in fact, feeling a little ancient.

We also discussed fashion.  That is a word my class understands!

We did a "craftivity" paired with a Venn diagram of kids in the 50's and kids today.  Most of them wrote about the 50's kids not having to wear seat belts.  They were shocked at this news.

Below is a record player.  It plays vinyl records.  Records are like vinyl CDs. Even kids in the 70's listened to records. And ones in the eighties.  These kids had NEVER seen a record player. They were astonished. And they were interested in how to change songs....they studied the grooves on the records and the needle on the arm. We listened to Fats Domino, Patsy Cline, and of course Elvis.  I had to explain who Elvis was. I had a life size poster on the door.  They noticed him the minute they walked in, and asked me repeatedly "Who is that man?" and"Why is he on our door?" One little person informed them that he was a king.  And that she knew how he died.

Next we made root beer floats.  I did not tell them that I thought root beer is disgusting.  I did not want to bias any opinions. (but I did have Pepsi on standby) Then we did a survey. 16 liked root beer floats, and 5 did not.

We also wrote shape books entitled "How to Make a Root Beer Float".

Next, we went outside and timed our partners doing various "fifties fads" for 50 seconds. This girl blew about 10 bubbles in a row!

And these kids can hula like nobody's business!

Then we put fifties words in ABC order.  Words like "greaser" and "jukebox".  That one was as fun to explain as "record".

Then we doubled our burgers and answered with fries:)

It was a really fun day and I think the kids really did get the concept of how the world is changing...and they are thrilled that it's all in color now:)
They are already asking for a sixties day and a seventies day!

And a little less retro...this was last week.  We, like the rest of the world, have been studying spiders and bats.  Several teachers have used this freebie from Pinterest. It was interesting to see what 600 mosquitoes look like...

 As cute as I think bats are, I'm glad I won't have to see any with 6 ft. wingspans!

And the kiddos created some of their own creatures of the night. But these are special because they eat rhyming words. (another freebie from tpt)

And thanks to the "Teeny Tiny Teacher" for this idea.  This is the quiet creature. The quiet creature only comes out when it is quiet. Suffice it to say, he hides in my desk drawer quite a lot.  But today the kids asked if he could come back out...and they promised to be really, REALLY quiet.  Because the quiet creature hates noise as much as Harry Hat Man does.  He never, ever opens his mouth.  He only nods and shakes his head.  (and wiggles his ears) And then they argued over whether the quiet creature was real or whether it was just Mrs. Raby's hand. They can be a little skeptical at times. But the quiet creature got to come out and he checked on everybody's quiet working skills....

 it worked for a little while

If we have eighties day, maybe the quiet creature can teach the rock and roll sign. Just kidding. sort of.

Check back soon for news on our "Pete the Cat Rockin in My School Shoes" talent show act update!

County Fair

      What feels more like fall than a county fair?  For the past couple of weeks, my students have been learning about farm animals, their importance to NC, and have been busy doing some writing activities as well.  I guess I got all excited thinking about cotton candy and funnel cakes, so my family and I took a little field trip of our own.  

Research, I called it......

Because I hadn't been to a fair in a really, really long time....

 Neither had my girls.  The last picture of them at the fair was, well..maybe when they were still in a stoller.  It was hot. And crowded. But it was a fun day, and there were a LOT of animals.  The pigs were adorable. And there was a whole section called the "mooternity" ward, for pregnant cows. obviously

I have found some free ideas from tpt that I wanted to share with other teachers. (Although, at this moment, the site is having a technical glitch, so I will add the links as soon as I can.) I am reading Charlottes' Web to my class and went in search of some first grade supplemental activities.  I found these Blue Ribbon Vocabulary words that we put on a bulletin board and are listening for in the story.

 

We've also worked on describing words for pigs and made up our own poems with the following framework: 

 

 

 

We even ate "piggy bread" for snack....

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we talked about cows, we read "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type" and talked about the cows' point of view.  Then we designed our own talking cows and came up with questions that a cow might ask the farmer...

And finally we worked on labeling the parts of a farm, as well as various farm animals...

This week, our "theme within the theme" is "apples".  We are beginning to learn about Johnny Appleseed, uses for apples, apple math, apple writing,  and a few facts about NC apple orchards.

And I really REALLY needed this today.  A mom gave this to me last year, and I LOVE it. I take a deep breath and relax each time I look at it:

Keep calm, everyone:)

A Teacher's Assessment

Lately, I've had a little change of attitude.  School has felt like a hobby this year.  Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day, I am not exactly wishing for extended hours, but I just feel happy and renewed.  I am ENJOYING what I do.

     There have been a few years when I dreaded going to work each day. And I had the Sunday blues every single week. I felt bogged down more and more, as state demands grew. (and paychecks diminished)These past two weeks, as we have been "assessing" right and left, I realized what the difference is this year.  I have been so busy in the past few years making sure my professional evaluations were completed on time, that I got my students grouped in the exact right ways according to DIBELS, that my class profile was filled out and all the testing portions were complete, that my other endless school "to-dos" were checked off, that I pushed the lesson planning to the end.  It was what I did AFTER I worked on all the important stuff.  YOU know, the stuff that comes with deadlines. I put the minors before the majors, so to speak.

     Of course I have KNOWN that the children come first.  I am there for them, not the paperwork.  This year, my TEACHING is coming first.  The state will still get what they need from me.  The data will be collected, measured and I will use it as I see fit, realizing that data does not measure a whole child.  Data is a number that represents a testing experience of which a number of extraneous factors must be considered. (In first grade, the factor could be a fly zooming around during the one minute timed assessment:)

     I guess what I'm saying is, that I am in the process of restructuring my priorities in life.  My priorites at school are those precious little six and seven year olds who come to my classroom every day and look forward to what we get to do and learn each day.  They look to me to provide them with interesting learning experiences, not stressful data collection. And if I enjoy school, they enjoy school:)

Whole Brain Rule #5:  KEEP YOUR DEAR TEACHER HAPPY!:)

In amongst the assessing going on, we have begun a "County Fair" theme for September.  We are reading the book Charlottes' Web, learning to ask and write QUESTIONS, (as opposed to "One time, I..." comments), we are comparing fiction elements to nonfiction ones, learning some "blue ribbon" vocabulary words, learning farm animals and how to "label" parts of a farm, we are learning to discuss character point of view, and comparing/contrasting farm animals to forest animals.  And of course we work in a few craftivities:)

In math we are continuing to work on number sense to 20, specifically combinations for sums of 7, 8 and 9. I am still getting used to Math Investigations.  It moves a little more slowly, and is a little more "active" than what I've used in the past!

Next week we'll do some apple activities and of course, talk about Johnny Appleseed.  I will do my best to post pictures soon.  When the testing is finally over....

Speaking of Whole Brain...any teacher friends out there using it with good results?  We've tried "Class/Yes", "Whisper/Release"(that one is my fave)"Teach", "mirror", and the "rules".  I haven't had training on Whole Brain Research, but I've been watching videos and thought I'd experiment with a few techniques.  I do think it helps students stay more engaged, perhaps. The kiddos really like the ten finger "Woo-hoo":)Leave me a comment if you are trying some Whole Brain techniques in your classes....

Enough of my rambling...thanks for reading:)