Currently November

Listening: I’m listening to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He is a funny guy and I like the guests on his show.

Loving: I’m loving how the nursery is coming together in our house. My husband painted to room and we got our crib this weekend. It makes me smile every time I walk into the room. It’s the best feeling!

Thinking: I’m thinking about all the parent teacher conferences I have left. I have half of my conferences done. My mind is still on finishing up and making sure the parents are getting the information they need to best help their children.

Wanting: I’m really wanting cooler fall weather. It is still in the 80’s here in Florida. I just would like for it to drop 10 degrees. It is November!

Needing: I’m needing to put the Halloween decorations away! The decorations are all done they just need to be put back in the attic.

Yummy: Everything that I shouldn’t be eating sounds delicious but pumpkin pie with whip cream sounds good tonight. I love eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving day.

Hope everything has a wonderful November! Link up with Farley for Currently November!

Character Parade & Pumpkin Party

Friday we had our character parade at school. The kids dress up as their favorite book character and parade around the bus loop. It is really just a chance for them to show off their Halloween costume. The kids love it and have so much fun parading around every year. The whole school participates in our character parade.

The teachers dress up too. The Kindergarten teachers were Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees, 1^st grade were Fly Guy’s, and 2^nd and 3^rd crayons from The Days the Crayons Quit. 4^th and 5^th grade teacher dress up individually not as a team.

After the character parade, we had our pumpkin party. I had set up four stations for our pumpkin party and had volunteers running them so I could snap pictures and visit each center.

The first station the kids had to weigh, measure count the ribs, and find the circumference of the pumpkin. They kids also predicted whether the pumpkin would sink or float.

The second station the kids had to describe a pumpkin using adjectives and design their own pumpkin and write about it. They were very creative at this center with designing their pumpkins. They picked favorite characters and made up their own for pumpkins. I love how each one was different.

The third station the kids had to estimate how many seeds would fit in their cut out pumpkin. After estimating they grabbed seeds out of the pumpkin, cleaned them off with a paper towels, and glued them inside their cut out pumpkin. The kids loved touching the gooey insides of the pumpkin and seeing if their estimations were close.

The fourth station the kids made worms in dirt. Each kid got three Oreos and gummy worms in a plastic bag and a snack pack pudding. The kids got to crush up the Oreos in the bag and then pour the “dirt” and “worms” into the pudding. This was such a hit with the kids! They loved being able to be messy with their food and create something. If they finished eating early they got to use sharpies and stickers to decorate a foam pumpkin.

The pumpkin party was the smoothest it has ever been. It was stress free and the kids had so much fun! They were appreciative and polite to our volunteers. They thanked them and me several times for having our pumpkin party. This is wonderful since I feel like many children feel they are entitled to these fun days and parties. I was also very thankful I had volunteers bring in all the items and help out in our room. I know that our other holiday parties will be success this year!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! This is my husband and I dressed up last night as the baker and bun in the oven.  

Sleeping Beauty Ballet Field Trip

We went on our first field trip today to the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty. This is a free field trip put on by our county so we do not have chaperones. It’s an easy enough field trip because we ride the bus, sit down to watch the ballet, and ride back to school.

It was a hectic day! Our buses came to school late so we were late to the ballet. After walking up about seven flights of stairs to the top of the theatre we had to quietly sit down. The usher split up my class, so half of my class was sitting with me and the other half was on the other side of the theatre with another teacher. My students were very well behaved during the performance and I enjoyed watching the ballet as well once I stopped worrying about the other half of my class. It just panicked me to be separated even though I knew they were with another teacher and just watching the ballet. #crazyteacherproblems #mamabear

After the ballet we had to wait for everyone else in the theatre to exit first since we were at the top. My kids waited as patiently as second graders can wait. Then we got back on the bus to go back to school. It was a 20 minute drive but one of the buses got lost and it took them an hour to get back! 

Back at school we rushed off to a later lunch at 12:30. Then we had recess and took a math test. I know it seems mean to have a math test on a day of a field trip but that is just how the dates fell on the calendar. Taking the test tomorrow would just be a hot mess!

Now I’m off to kick up my feet and relax before another crazy day of school tomorrow! I'm so thankful for classroom volunteers tomorrow!

Highlights from my week

This past week we had a jammed pack short week at school. Friday was a teacher workday but if you finished report cards then you could take the day off. I of course finished my report cards and took the day off.

On Monday my team and I planned for the 2^nd quarter of the school year. We had a half-day with our kids and have a sub the other half of the day. It was nice to be able to plan with my team and get lesson plans done. My substitute loved my class and said she would come back anytime. This is awesome considering last year I couldn't use the same person twice since my class was such a handful! It's also great knowing my class this year is so well behaved for others. It puts my mind at ease when I'll be out for maternity leave.

We had our Fun Run on Thursday to raise money for a new playground for our school. The kids love participating in this fundraiser every year. Even if they don’t raise any money they still learn about healthy lifestyle choices, being a team player, and running around a track.

We made a flag for our class. Our team name was Hyland’s Highfliers. Here are some pictures from our Fun Run.

After the Fun Run we took it pretty easy and I let them make these adorable monsters from Miss Kindergarten Love. I am going to hang them up in hallway this coming week.

I did get a chance this week to hang up our bat writing. My kids did a great job writing about where bats live, what bats eat, and what bats look like. I’m proud of their writing! They wrote 3 to 4 paragraphs on bats. I first had them brainstorm and make a circle map. Then they made a tree map. I had them write a paragraph each day from part of their tree map. After I edited their writing. Finally they wrote out their final copies. This process took two weeks to accomplish.

Those were the highlights of my week! Now I'm off to enjoy this long weekend with my family!

Stellaluna Story Structure

This past week we learned all about story structure with Stellaluna. My students loved this story and made wonderful connections through reading throughout the week. Any printable shown were from Rooted in Reading. 

We read Stellaluna a few times during the week but they loved listening to the story. There are tons of stories you can listen to on Storyline Online. Even if you have a copy of the book, I highly recommend having your students listen. This website is by the Screen Actors Guild and the readers are phenomenal. I even teared up when Stellaluna and her mom found each other again. #pregnancyhormones

Throughout reading the story we discussed strong verbs vs. weak verbs. I went over the strong verbs meanings, which made a great vocabulary lesson. Hopefully after learning these strong verbs, they can incorporate it into their language and writing. 

Since we were learning about story structure, we talked about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. As a class we sequenced the beginning, middle, and end together early in the week. Then later in the week I had them work with their tables to write and determine the beginning, middle, and end on their own. Each child got a sticky note and I told them to write the beginning, middle, or end. They had to work with a partner to make sure they weren't writing the same part. Then they stuck their sticky note on their tables chart. I put each child's name so they could take ownership of their work in the group. They did a fabulous job and were proud of their work so I displayed it in our class.

We also discussed character development and how characters change from the beginning and end of the book. We decided as a class how Stellaluna felt at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. Then the students made their own foldable. I love how we color coordinated the feelings. It visually made it easier to see the character changes.

I love teaching reading with mentor texts like Stellaluna. It makes reading more enjoyable and authentic.