An Ode to Duck Dynasty

 

I mentioned in my last post that I'm currently obsessed with Duck Dynasty. This should come as no surprise to anyone. I'm the kind of girl who notices a show (usually about a year after everyone else does), watches every episode available in one weekend and then can speak of nothing else.

 

And, that's just what happened to me over Fall Break.

 

Comcast had all of Season 1 on demand and I literally sat on the couch for two days and watched them all.

 

If you don't watch this show... do yourself a favor and tune in some time.

 

It's a classic.

 

 

I'm sure you know all about it.

 

 But, in case you don't, here is the Cliff's Notes version:

The Robertson family, from Monroe, Louisiana (aka REDNECKS) are millionaires because they run the Duck Commander company. They make duck calls. But, it's still a "Mom and Pop" corporation. Oh, and they are about as country as country can be.

 

Let me introduce you to their awesomeness.

 

First up, we have Phil. Phil is the father to Willie and Jase. He's raised his family in the country and he's very concerned that his now-rich grandchildren are going to grow up to be "subdivision yuppies." In fact, that's about the worst thing he can imagine.

 

 

He repeatedly tells his grandsons that a girl's looks don't matter. All that matters is if she can cook. Preferably roadkill...

 

Phil's brother Si (I guess short for Silas?) is arguably the funniest guy in a cast of hilarious people. He's set in his ways and opinionated.

 

 

 

(He's talking about fourth graders at Career Day, by the way...)

 

Phil's son Willie is the CEO of the company. I guess he's the "smart" one.

 

 

 

Jase is my favorite. He's Willie's brother. He has all these fun ideas and cooks up all these ridiculous schemes that get everybody in trouble. Oh, and all he wants to do in life in catch bullfrogs.

 

All Jase's idea.

 

 

I concur.

 

Oh, and Ms. Kay is Phil's wife and Jase and Willie's mom.

 

 

That's really all you need to know about Ms. Kay.

 

Jase and Willie are both married and have kids. So, of course there are all kinds of kid shenanigans, too.

 

 

It's just an epic show. I laugh out loud every single episode. More than once.

 

I promise, if you watch it, you'll be HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!



It's Turtle Time!

  Well, it's Friday night. And, what are my exciting plans?

 

Um, watching the Duck Dynasty marathon on tv! Have I mentioned that it's my new favorite show? Because, it is.

 

It totally is.

 

I'm also in tonight because my sweet little Finleydog had surgery yesterday. She got "fixed" and she is PITIFUL. She's 100% miserable, I'm pretty sure. She's still really sore and so she's spending most of her time laying in her crate and staring up at me with the saddest, sweetest eyes I've ever seen.

 

Exhibit A:

 

 

Oh, and she has a cone on her head... which she DETESTS. She usually walks around with her head down to sniff and, well, she can't really do that with a cone on. So, she pretty much just stands there and lets the cone drag on the ground.

 

Exhibit B:

 

 

Poor baby.

 

So, yeah. I have some time to blog and I actually took pictures at school today.

 

So, blogging it is!

 

In Reading, we've been working on a comparing/contrasting standard. We did it a full week and I felt like my kids were doing it decently. So, I wanted to spend the second week doing some kind of project to incorporate several of the standards we'd already done as a review.

 

So, I sat down at my computer and googled "animal articles for kids."

 

And, what should appear first on my screen?

 

Sea turtles.

 

Sounds good to me.

 

Plus, the articles were really good! They even included a glossary of words at the end of the article. So, I printed off four different articles: the Green sea turtle, the Loggerhead sea turtle, the Leatherback sea turtle and the Hawksbill sea turtle.

 

I gave each kid a partner and gave them an article to read. I had them highlight the information that they thought was most important.

 

 

 Some groups highlighted more than others. This group obviously didn't see too much information that changed their lives :)

 

Next, I put all the kids into the four groups to find the main idea. We've worked a LOT on main idea and it's something that they seem to either "get" or not. So, I feel like we need to just keep revisiting it over and over again. I made a graphic organizer for them to fill in together.

 

 

 

The next day, I had each set of partners team up with a set from another group. In other words, there were four kids in a group and they had two different turtles to compare/contrast. They used a graphic organizer to record their information.

 

 

We made an anchor chart of comparing/contrasting terms to help them explain the differences and similarities.

 

 

I had the kids write about the similarities and differences between their two turtles.

 

 

 

 

I also let them make some sea turtles out of clear plastic plates and tissue paper.

 

 

I hung it all up together on a bulletin board in my room.

 

 

We did one other thing with sea turtles. On Tuesday, my kids took the Constructed Response Assessment. And, just sayin... that thing was H>A>R>D! When they were done, I played a Netflix movie for them about the life of a Loggerhead turtle. It was a documentary but very kid oriented and educational. And, my kids were sooooooo into it! They referred to that movie all week long. And, it helped them understand some of the stuff they had read about in the articles.

 

I made them a graphic organizer to fill out as they watch. I wanted them to understand the life cycle of sea turtles. We're going to be working on that next week so it ties in nicely :)

 

 

 

I made one other activity but we just ran out of time. It was a checklist of facts about sea turtles and I was going to have the kids work in groups to put checks in the boxes that apply to their turtles. Then, they were going to have to use fractions (our math standard right now) to write sentences about the facts. We may do it next week if I can fit it in.

 

We had a great week learning about sea turtles. And, you know what? I didn't read them a SINGLE book about sea turtles. They figured out every bit of information they learned completely on their own. How cool is that?

 

Well, I better go. I'm going to the flea market tomorrow so I have to get up sooooooo early. You know what they say: the early bird freezes their tail off!

 

What? That's not it? Well, it applies for tomorrow because the temperature has dropped about 30 degrees today and tomorrow looks to be frigid.

 

Awesome.

 

Have a good weekend!

A Little Research

We've been doing some fun things in third grade lately. I wanted to share some of what we've been up to.

 

In writing/social studies, we've been working on researching and timelines.

 

The kids worked with a partner to research a famous person in history. They used books from the library and websites to gather all their information. They're actually getting pretty good at finding the important information in a lengthy passage.

 

I made a little graphic organizer for them to use to record their information. I did this because one of the third grade common core standards is about sorting research information into categories. And you know as well as I do that it's all about THE CORE, right?

 

 

 

I mean, they plagarized all over the place but I think it's a pretty good first step when learning to conduct research projects :)

 

Then, I had each group write their information in paragraph form on index cards. I told them to label them with the headings that we used on our graphic organizers.

 

 

 

I also gave them a half piece of paper and told them to draw their person.

 

 

 

Pretty sure Helen Keller didn't have red hair. Or did she? Hmmm...

 

 

Next we put all our people in order of their date of birth on a timeline. And, just saying, I got this idea off Pinterest. The original idea came from the blog Third Grade Thinkers. I tweaked it, of course, but when I saw it I thought it would a perfect activity for my kiddos.

 

Here it is:

 

 

 

 

My kiddos were IN AWE! They love it! All day they kept going and standing under it and reading it.

 

Tomorrow, they are going to present their information to the class and we're going to talk about how they all relate to each other and to our history.

 

Then, it's off to the hallway for the timeline because it is pretty dang huge and it takes up my entire board :)

 

Before I go, I have to share this journal entry from one of my precious kids.

 

 

I know, I know.

 

 You want her to be in your class, right?

 

 Too bad... she's already the star to my moon! Ha!

 

Love, love, love my job.

 

Have I mentioned that?

 

That's all I've got tonight. The next blog post will be all about how we covered about 5 standards in one week studying sea turtles! Woo hoo :)

 

Busy as a Bee!

 

The last two weekends have been pretty busy around here. Nothing too important... just lots of running around and traveling.

 

Last weekend was the tail end of my Fall Break. I ended up staying at my parents for a few nights and then we went to my grandmother's for the weekend. It was a lot of fun to see everybody... but, I didn't take too many pictures.

 

 

But, let me tell ya... we did a lot of chilling and relaxing.

 

 

We also did a lot of porch swingin' - our favorite thing!

 

I spent some time redecorating that weekend, too.

 

 

I completely switched around the den... and I LOVE it!

 

 

I pulled this rug out of the closet, too. I had put it up when I first got Finley because I was afraid she'd pee on it and ruin it! But, as it turned out, she didn't really pee in the house... thankthelord. I just forgot that I had it!

 

Welcome back, old friend.

 

 

 

I bought this driftwood bowl and the moss balls at Trees N Trends. I'm obsessed with it. I've moved it around about nine times... but it's staying here for a while :)

 

 

While I was doing all of this, I realized I hadn't heard Finley in a while. That's because she had just crawled into her crate to watch. Have I mentioned she's the best behaved puppy in the world?

 

Because, she really is.

 

 

I worked on my room, too! I got those red lamps I was craving and I think they're perfect! I also obviously added the shelf above my bed.

 

 

I consolidated all the dog junk to one corner. (And, that bag actually belongs downstairs. I'm just too lazy to take it down there.)

 

 

I moved the desk out of the corner and turned it into a nightstand. I think the scale is much better than the dinky one I had there.

 

 

Here's the other night stand.

 

(I'm sorry all my pictures are terrible. I pretty much only use my phone to take pictures and they are hit or miss!)

 

 

I moved the picture above my bed to this wall and left the sconces. I think it adds color ot this wall and so I like it. I'm totally getting a nicer tv for Christmas, by the way. Don't you worry!

 

 

And, here's the other side of that wall.

 

 

The last thing I tweaked was the living room.

 

 

I took the big white ottoman out of this room and put it in the den. So, I found this little bench at an antique mall and had to have it!

 

 

I love the gold striped fabric and I love that I can move it in about a million places in my house! It matches every room and the scale is perfect.

 

This weekend, I worked all night Friday at our school's Fall Festival. It was tons of fun but I was WIPED when I got home that night. And, I had to drive out to Franklin afterwards because my parents had been keeping Finley for a few days. I had a few late nights with school at the end of the week and I hated for her to spend so much time in her crate!

 

My mom says she's ready to start staying out of the crate during the day when I'm at work... but, it makes me nervous! I'm not worried about her having accidents... she NEVER does. But, what if she puts something in her mouth? Or starts getting nervous and claws at the walls? She's really calm... but, how do you know when they're ready? If you have a dog and have any advice on this, I'd love to hear it!!!

 

Also, she's getting fixed on Thursday... poor baby! So, I'm not going to do anything until she's all healed up from that.

 

Saturday, my mom and I spent ALL DAY shopping for work clothes. Fun times! She even convinced me to order a new pair of Steve Madden's because mine are three years old and they look AWFUL! But, I love them and I especially love the color!

 

They don't make the ones I have anymore, but I found some that I like even better!

 

 

Swoon!

 

I just love the color. It's perfect with black and brown. And, it matches my hair (which I realize is stupid) which kind of makes them seem like they match anything I wear them with. Ha! I can't wait for them to get here.

 

Today, we celebrated Matt's birthday with lunch in Cool Springs and then I took Finley to the groomer.

 

 

Here's her new look (and crazy tongue)!

 

It's really short... but, I wanted it short so I won't have to take her back for a while.

 

And, since I've long since passed over into " crazy dog owner" territory...

 

 

she's going to be a bumble bee for Halloween!

 

You're "awwing"... admit it :)

 

I think that's all I've got for now. I need to do a school update post. Everything is going good... I've just been super busy. I'll try to get some good material this week.

 

Have a good week!