In Case You Need a Laugh

  So, this week has been rough. And, actually, it's only Tuesday! I'm so tired and I've been meaning to blog a few little things going on and I'm just too dang lazy to even take pictures! I hope your week has been better. Really, I do.  But, if not, maybe these little funnies from Pinterest will make you laugh as much as they made me laugh.

I mean, seriously! I do.

This is the root of all meetings. I swear it's true.



This is soooo true! And, funny.

Words to live by.

How nice of him.

Maybe my favorite pin from my favorite movie of all time.

Oh, and here's another one from my OTHER favorite movie of all time.

This is totally me when cooking, ha!

Thank you, internet, for all the laughs.

The Four Seasons

Before I share what I came here to share, I have to show you this picture I found on my camera. I had completely forgotten that I had taken it... but, I'm sooo glad I found it!

HA!

It was taken from one of my student's literature circle journals. I don't even know what it is supposed to say... but, the words she wrote are pretty dang funny! You gotta' hate it when you throw your "wore" in the sea and she comes back!

Okay, I'm done laughing now.

We spent this week learning all about weather. And, we also spent our writing time learning about the four seasons. We used the seasons as a guide for the weather we discussed. We started off talking about the difference between warm days and cold days. We did a double bubble Thinking Map to get their little minds a-thinking!

I'm really, really trying to incorporate more Thinking Maps into my instruction. And, lo and behold, the kiddos are pretty dang good at them!

We made an anchor chart about the four seasons. Usually, I seperate their schema and new learning. But, this week, we just listed it all together. It was a great resource for the kids to refer to all week.

They pretty much gave me all that information!

Then, I had themm pick their favorite season and complete a circle map about that season.

Then, we took the information from their circle maps and used it to fill in one of our writing webs. The questions on the web were: What is your favorite season? What is the weather like? What do you do outside in this season? What can you wear? Why is it your favorite season?

These webs REALLY help my kiddos write good paragraphs. I really think it is so helpful to break up their writing into seperate sentences. Anyway, here are a couple of their webs...

These are also great for differentiating work because I have my higher kids write two sentences in each box and my lower kids only have to write one.

After proofreading, we took their webs and transfered their sentences into a paragraph. Here are some of their completed paragraphs.

They certainly aren't perfect. But, you know what? That doesn't matter. I try not to edit them to pieces because of course they can't spell every word... they're six! We just make sure they have capitals and periods and that their sentences make sense. And, I encourage them to spell words that are on the Word Wall correct.

Yesterday, I let them make a tree to show the season they wrote about.

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

And, here are all the rest:

Not the cutest thing we've ever done... but, the kids were so into it! They worked so hard on their trees and especially their writing. So, I'll chalk this activity up as a success.

Before I go, I wanted to also show this chart we've been using. We've been talking about Sneaky Silent E for the last few weeks. And, I wanted to make a chart to remind them about it. So, I made this:

The kids went NUTS. They've been "on the lookout" for Sneaky Silent E ever since!

Okay, that's all for now.

Thanks for reading!

 

Just That Kind of a Week...

Well, I don't really have anything important to talk about. But, that's never stopped me before, has it? Ha. It was a pretty crazy week around my school. I don't have any pictures to post... but, we all love funny kid stories, right? Here's a little glimpse at life in first grade lately...

1. Last week, when we were learning about penguins, my kids were pretty much appalled to find out that mama penguins "get sick" to feed their babies. As my kids were all yelling "ewwwwww" and screaming, one of my sweet little boys looked up at me with his big ole' eyes and said "I wouldn't like it, but I would do it for my babies." Melt. My. Heart.

2. Today, I taught my kids about touch math. I tried it last year at the very beginning of the year, but let it go when my kids got a little overwhelmed with it. I decided to wait until a little later this year to introduce it... and, I'm glad I waited! The kids really got the hang of it and were excited to have a new addition strategy. After about twenty minutes of practicing touch math, one of my littles said "Ohhhhh! Ms. Ridings! It seems like when we draw the dots on the number, it's usually the same amount as the number we're adding!" Face palm.

3. I found this on Pinterest and thought it was a PERFECT description of Valentine's Day in elementary school:

Ha! It makes me laugh every time I see it. Valentine's Day is maybe my least favorite day of the school year. Just being totally honest. It's madness when all the kids are trying to pass out candy and valentines. I'm calling in sick next year. At least the kids had fun...

4. I found a note in the trash can today after the kids left for the day. It said "M-----, do you like T-----? Yes or no." And, M----- had circled no and written "Do you?" I mean, really???? In first grade???? They are both boys, by the way.

5. A few weeks ago, we had Kids on the Block come to our school. They talked to our kids about divorce. At the end, they asked the kids to raise their hands and tell how they would feel if their parents got divorced. I'm not even joking... 14 kids in a row raised their hand and said "sad." Literally. Every single kid they called on said the exact same thing. "Sad." Those poor ladies kept saying "good answer." Ha. At one point, a little girl raised her hand and stopped to think. We all though we were going get a different answer and everybody was on the edge of their seats. Her eventual answer? "I would be sad." Well said.

6. I've been "kidnapping" two of my kiddos every couple of days and letting them eat lunch with me in the classroom. I must admit, it usually turns out to be  my favorite part of the day. The kids are soooo excited and they just bubble over with giggles and happiness. They talk non-stop! It's been so nice to spend some quality time with my little friends and actually have a chance to HEAR them when they talk. The only down side? My room is FAR from the cafeteria. As I was walking back to the cafeteria with two of my little boys today after their lunch date, one of them said "Man, teachers have a hard job!" I asked why and he said "All you people do is walk up and down the hall. And, it's far!"

One thing's for sure. No matter how stressful a week I have, those sweet kiddos make it all worth the trouble.

A Lesson To All...

Sometimes, in first grade, we have a little trouble controlling ourselves at centers. I have a reallly good class. In fact, I adore them! But, there are times when friends have to take  a little "time out" and go back to their seats. I'm not huge on giving a ton of warnings for center behavior because my friend Debbie Diller (at least, she's my friend in my mind...) taught me that centers are a privilege, not a right. So, you get one shot and if you're acting out, you're done.

To keep them from just sitting there and wasting time, I sometimes ask them to get out their journals and tell me why they had to sit out at center time. One of my sweet girls had to sit out today during math centers. She went back to her seat (VERY reluctantly, I might add) and got busy writing. I carried on with my small group and then asked the kids to start cleaning up. As they were cleaning, I walked over to her desk to talk with her and I glanced at what she had written:

In case you don't read "first grade," it says: "I can't go to centers because I didn't do centers right. And I yelled. I'm so so sorry. Let this be a lesson to all. Never do centers wrong."

I think my laughing might have undermined my talk with her about her behavior at centers today.

So, let this be a lesson to all: If you can make Ms. Ridings laugh, she might forgive you when you get too loud at centers :)