Fifty Nifty United States

Well, it's over. TCAP's over. I don't know how they did - I honestly tried not to look! But, I'm supremely happy that it's over! In fact, I feel so free now!

 

This last week, we spent a lot of time learning about the fifty states. To say that my kiddos were happy would be an understatement!

 

One of the things we did was make state brochures. The librarian helped me find a book for each state! So, the kids picked states and they each made 2 brochures. They worked so hard and did such a great job!

 

 

 

 

 

They worked on these for two days and when they finished, they shared with each other about their states.

 

I took their brochures and put them up on a bulletin board outside our room.

 

 

The whole time that the kids were working on the brochures, they sang along with maybe the cutest song about the states I've ever heard:

 

 

Seriously, they listened to it about a hundred times. Listened, sang along, danced... they just loved it. LOVED IT! One kid said "I'm gonna' tell my mom to make this her ringtone!" Well, okay then :)

 

Our school gets these awesome social studies kits and they come with laminated maps for the kids so they can write on them. So, we used them to trace routes across the United States using the interstates. The kids ABOUT DIED!!! They were all saying "Tell us another one!" Whenever I would tell them a destination, they had to tell me which states they had to travel through.

 

 

 

We read the book Alice Ramsey's Grand Adventure. It's a super cute book about the lady who made the first trip driving across the US. While we were tracing routes, we made sure to trace her exact route across the states using the text.

 

 

Another day, we made a T-Chart to compare traveling in 1909 and traveling today. It really led to some good discussion from the kids.

 

We read a big book about the regions of the US, too.

 

 

As we read about each region, we color coded the region, wrote notes about what the region is known for and then filled in an anchor chart about the major exports from each region. We did this because next week we're going to focus on economics.

 

 

 

 

One other book we read was The Scrambled States of America. The kids ADORED it!

 

 

I actually printed off a reader's theater for the book, but got sick and missed a day last week. Sooo, we didn't get to do it. But, we're going it. I know the kids will think that is so fun!

 

It was such a fun week! This week will be fun, too! I already said we were focusing on economics, but we're tying it all in with a novel that we've been reading. Want a clue what it is??

 

Ha!

 

Have a good week!

 

LBL 2013

Once upon a time, a LONG, LONG time ago, it was Spring Break. And, I went with the second graders at my school to Land Between the Lakes. This is the third year I've been and it's a trip I LOVE to go on! This year was, well, rough. Really rough. We just had a lot of things go wrong and the kids weren't exactly as well behaved as we'd prefer. All the adults were pretty much over the whole thing by the time we left there on the third day. But, now that it's been a few weeks, I'm over it. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for a lot of these kids and it's fun to see it all through their eyes :) I took a bunch of pictures so I thought I'd share some of the fun things we did:

Here's all the boys in my cabin ready to hit the road! I love kids in rain boots :)

Before we left, I had to get some sweet baby cuddles from Brenda! Her sister was in my class last year and her brother is in my class this year: and, I ADORE THEM ALL!

Squeeeeeeezeeee!

First stop was the Homestead where kiddos got to learn about chores in the olden days... fun, fun!

They got to learn about cotton...

and peek out of windows that are really high up!

We played games outside after every meal. (And, when I say "played games" I really mostly mean "kept kids out of the lake.")

Speaking of the lake, it was GORGEOUS!

We even dressed up Ms. A as a beaver!

We may or may not have made a Harlem Shake video in which Mrs. Kristy had to sit on the mantle to film and she may or may not have split her pants open. Hmmm....

All in all, it was fun trip.

I'm just glad I have a year to rest until the next one :)

Finley's ONE!

           This week, my sweet little puppy will be one year old!

I can't believe my puppy isn't really a puppy anymore! Do I have to buy her adult food now??? I'm still gonna' call her a puppy because it makes me sad not to. Plus, she weighs seven pounds and still looks like a pup :)

I was so hesitant to get a dog and I took quite a risk buying one online that wasn't even born yet! But, I got soooooooo lucky! I think I got the sweetest, cutest puppy there ever was. She's my shadow and I can't even remember what I used to do for entertainment before I had her. She is the funniest thing ever and makes me laugh all the time. Here's a look back at her first year...

This is the first picture I got of her at two days old!

Two weeks old and starting to open her eyes...

Getting lots of hair!

Her first bow!

The breeder sent me this picture about three days before I got her. I still didn't realize how TINY she was!

She's all mine!

She fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was soooo excited to finally have her!

Playing baseball like Uncle Matt!

During her biting phase...

Sleeping in the car!

My favorite picture of all time!

First Halloween

Shaggy hair at Christmas :)

Uncle Matt says she looks like a diva in this picture :)

How she rolls...

Happy Birthday, little pipsqueak :)



This Is How We Do (Test Prep)

Did you know the TCAP test takes place in FOUR school days? You heard me - FOUR!!

 

I'm terrified.

 

 But, also, I'm excited because 1) I can see every day how much they've learned this year and 2) one way or another, it'll be over. Yeah, I just said that. But it's true. It's scary how your entire year rests in the hands of 23 giggly, goofy kiddos who don't understand how important it all is.

 

I've tried REALLY hard to tell them and show them how important it is. Not to prove anything to me or to anybody else, but to prove it to themselves. I think they kind of understand, but if I'm being honest, they still don't really. I don't think any 8 year old does.

 

But, I'll tell you this. Those 8 year olds have worked their cute little TAILS OFF the last three weeks! They have been sooooo good and so  attentive and as long as they try their best, I'll be happy.

 

Really.

 

Since I have a student teacher right now and a bunch of my kids go out for intervention twice a day (thank you, Metro funds) I'm able to basically pull small groups all day. I pretty much spend about three hours a day working with my 7 bubble kids. You know the ones. The kids who are thiiiiiiiissssss close to either passing or failing.

 

The biggest thing we've been working on is reading big passages. I found the following strategy on Pinterest. It's a Ruby Payne strategy and I LOVE it! Next year, I'm going to start doing this the first week of school!

 

The only problem? My little stinkers are spending tooooo much time reading carefully! I don't know what I was thinking showing them a strategy that is so thorough. I guess I was thinking I wanted them to be better readers - shame on me! Ha. Today I had to do a little undoing, if you will. You know, a little "Guys, I want you to just read the passage and then you can circle when you find the answer because you're NOT going to have enough time to do all of this during the test!" I know, I know. Terrible.

Here's the strategy we've been using.

And, guys?

It works.

Those kids are getting better and better at understanding what they're reading.

At recess today, one of my sweet little girls brought her Bible Study book out to the playground. She asked me if I wanted to look at, so I flipped through it. Ya'll? That sweet baby had numbered every single paragraph she had read, highlighted the topic sentence in every one and had circled the important words.

Seriously, I almost cried.

We've also been talking a lot about Evil TCAP Man. You know him, right? He's the mean man whose job it is to trick kids on the test! My kiddos are NOT A FAN of him! We talked about this guy sits in his office and laughs every time he tricks a kid. But, if he doesn't trick us, then he'll get fired because he didn't do his job! I hate to encourage the laying off of an employee in these hard times, but since he's not real...

I even made a wanted poster - because, really, there's nothing I won't try.

(Don't you just love the picture? I found it on Google. My apologies if you know this guy. It's all for a good cause, ha!)

 

Whenever we do test prep questions, I make them tell me how Evil TCAP Man is trying to trick them - so, they're on to his games. And, if somebody does get tricked, we may or may not do an evil laugh. It just takes the pressure off, ya know :)

 

One other thing we've been doing is a countdown. I saw this idea on Pinterest. I basically blew up balloons for every day leading up to the test and we pop a balloon each day and read what surprise we have that day. Most of the things are ways to make the test prep more fun and they all tie in to getting answers right.

 

Those are our balloons! I took this picture the first day. There are only three left - GULP!

 

This is an example of the different activities they got to do.

 

On the last day, they'll get a bag of Skittles and a letter from their parents wishing them luck and encouraging them to do their  best. I'm excited about that. I know when I'm nervous, my mom and dad are the ones who can calm me down. I may need to call them, actually... ha!

 

Today, I had the kids write letters to themselves to read right before the test. They could include reminders and reasons why the test is important and all that stuff. They were so cute and serious about it.

 

In all actuality, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm going through this the first time and I'm scared to death. But, as I said before, whatever happens, I'm okay with it because I know I'm doing everything I can and I know my kids are too. As long as they try their best, I'm okay with the outcome.

 

I really am.