Thursday, 6/5/14

Are you ready for the rest of the readers' theater??? My little actors and actresses are so incredible! Check out the details in their props and costumes; and again, I did not give a single suggestion--this is all them!!

Here we have the classic tale of The Cheetah and The Sloth (based on The Tortoise and The Hare) . The players include a Sports Announcer, Sloth, Cheetah, Racing Judge, Commercial Voice and Audience

Behold: Goldilocks and the Three Bullfrogs featuring a Narrator, Goldilocks, Papa Bullfrog, Mama Bullfrog and Baby Bullfrog

Finally we have the cast of Slurping Beauty: Narrator, Wicked Fairy, King, Prince Charming, Prince Alarming and Slurping Beauty

Wednesday, 6/4/14

Today was a momentous day for many reasons. Today was field day, which always marks that we're coming to the very end of the year. Unfortunately we had poor weather, but fortunately, we have the world's best gym teacher, so she planned fantastic indoor activities for the kids. We also started taking things down and cleaning things out in our room. It's always so heartbreaking to see the walls slowly becoming bare and the "personality" of our classroom starting to slip away. It's not a good vibe for me, so I put it off for as long as I possibly can. And today was the last day for one of our classmates. He has plane reservations for tomorrow, so who am I to stop him?? Even though I'd really really REALLY like to. The kids have been working on readers' theater plays, so we were sure to do his group's today, before we were missing a crucial role in the show. The class has been working for two days on making props and costumes. Spiderella was today's presentation. The characters include a narrator, First Ladybug Stepsister, Second Ladybug Stepsister, Spiderella, Fairy Godmoth and Cicada Prince. Is that the cutest thing ever, or what???

Below I present to you.......Spiderella:

If you look closely, you can see the tiaras, crowns and "wireless" microphones. I gave the kids absolutely zero direction on their props and costumes; they did it all on their own, and impressed me every step of the way.

Monday, 6/3/14

What a day!! It was an unconventional one, to say the least, but look at how it ended:

Some of my sweet and amazing moms coordinated with some other wonderful parents and look at the result:

It's a shoe!!!!!!!!!!! A SHOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Along with gorgeous plants that were done by these special folks and then they had the kids come in and decorate the pots with their fingerprints! I am so honored and touched-I can't even believe it! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed and worked to make this gift come to life. It's so precious!

Wednesday, 5/28/14

I don't have much to report on today, so I thought I'd show you something that we came up with yesterday. On the first day of each week, we do a spelling "preview" of the new words that are to be learned that week. The kids try the new words on their paper, and I have a copy of what they fill out on the Smartboard. When we're done with the list, we correct the words together. Well, yesterday the Smartboard was being less-than-cooperative, and I wasn't sure how I was going to do the correcting portion with the kids. I am forever talking to the kids about being a problem solver, so I looked around the room baffled as to how to solve this problem, and the following is what I came up with. I must admit, I was pretty proud of myself. And then, major bonus....I was INCREDIBLY proud of the kids because I started out with the blinds open and the lights in the room on. Then I tried closing the blinds, which helped a great deal and then the kids suggested we turn off the lights and it was PERFECT!! So-here's how we did spelling, on the windows, for lack of a better idea---but sometimes lacking turns into loving, as it did in this case:

Friday, 5/23/14

Today was a big, big day for me. Throughout the year I run "small" assemblies for our students to celebrate the Character Counts pillars that they are learning about and demonstrating. Typically we say The Pledge of Allegiance together, some kids come to the microphone and read writing they've done about the month's pillar and then we all shake our groove thangs to a song called "The Character Counts Shuffle." However, at the end of the year, I present a much larger assembly to the students body to celebrate all of their great work in developing their character and being such a great kids. Each year I find a theme for the assembly, find a book that I can share with them that will support it (I display it through a PowerPoint) and the grand finale of the slide show is pictures of all of the Benson students (taken in little groupings) that I've put to music and show on the gigantic screen we have in the gym. In between those two things I do some story telling and some "wisdom imparting"  as  best I can. It's a lot of planning, and I'm always nervous I'm going to forgot something, but by the end, I'm incredibly pleased. If nothing else, the kids get a kick out of seeing their pictures on the big screen, and I get a kick out of seeing how happy they are. If there's a little gleaning of a lesson in there somewhere; that's the best bonus I could ever dream of! Today's didn't go exactly as I had planned, but after I'd cleaned up and was making my way back to the classroom, two second graders told me 'Good job.' That made it all worth it!!!!!!!!!

Happy Memorial Day to all! Thanks to those who have served and/or are serving and their families for their sacrifice! Sometimes we take it for granted, but we truly do have the privilege of living in the greatest country on Earth!!

Wednesday, 5/21/14

Last week I was getting a bit concerned about how the remainder of our school year together was going to go down. The weather was still cold, the kids were still in for recess and the fact that school was less than a month from being over was starting to take hold. Classroom management became a challenge, and I had to put in place some of the tricks up my sleeve that I'd used at the start of a school year. At one point I remember telling the kids that we didn't have much time left, and I really hoped that our time together would be lovely and fun, rather than frustrated and "strict."

I don't know what miracle happened, but they must've picked up on what I was trying to tell them. My day, well my week really, has been full of moments that I have tried to take "mental snapshots" of (is anyone thinking back to Alec Baldwin's episode of "Friends"? I sure am!). My students have been demonstrating the love, understanding and compassion for each other that I have intended to foster all year long. They have been cute and clever. I have watched them put into practice the problem solving skills that I've worked to teach them, and I have heard them use the terminology and phrases that I tend to repeat. I can nearly feel my heart swell as I write all of this. This year has been a true journey and it has been my honor to be on it with this particular group of little humans. I'm not wrapping up my blog for the year, even though it may sound that way, I'm just having a bit of a moment. <3<3<3

Friday, 5/16/14

 Here are our newest members of the Benson Primary family. The pictures don't quite do justice to the cuteness. Our little chickies often huddle together and then fall asleep on top of each other---it is the definition of 'AWWWW!!'

And look at the napkin one of the kids gave me earlier this week. How funny is that? I had to hang it up in honor of our current unit-of-study. ;)


That's it from here. I'm going head home to shovel. Just kidding, but can you believe that it snowed today?? I was walking around the room singing, "I'm dreaming of a white Memorial Day." ;)

Have a great weekend!