Before I write anything at all about our excitement of the day, I must send a gigantic THANK YOU to anyone and everyone who is involved in the IPTO. Today their Teacher Appreciation committee provided the most amazing lunch for our staff. I've been very diligently watching what I've been consuming lately, but that all went out the window today. Tree Guys catered and it was AMAZING! I wish I could go back for more and more and more it was all so yummy! Thank you thank you thank you---any and all who contribute funds, time and/or talent to this wonderful organization. They do such incredible things for our kids and today made each of us feel extremely special!!
Now--on to the Room 16 excitement: BUTTERFLIES! Right here in our room! We've been waiting so incredibly patiently ever since the teeny tiny caterpillars arrived. We watched those caterpillars eat and grow, eat and grow, eat and grow. Eventually we saw their final molt as their metamorphosis transformed them each into a chrysalis. And now, the moment we'd all been waiting for, their final emergence into the beautiful Painted Ladies. The kids noticed first-thing this morning (I hadn't even noticed yet!). At first they were concerned because the butterflies were not moving, so I had to remind them that they were brand-spankin new to the world. By lunchtime I was getting excited reports that some had opened their wings. It's so fun to watch the kids run to the net every time we return to the classroom. I love hearing them talk to each other and use the vocabulary that I've been exposing them to throughout this science unit. They make me so proud!
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Monday, 5/5/14
Feliz Cinco de Mayo!! Just writing that is making me crave tacos!!!
Today was our spring trip to the nature center. I must admit that I was a bit concerned about the weather, but the sun came out and we all had a blast (which made up for the fall when we were rained out!). The activities that Ms. Chris led the kids through were so incredibly cute and I was grateful to the moms who joined in for the fun. I've attached some pics of the "mother birds" and "father birds" as they built their nests for their future babies. Throughout the afternoon, the "birds" then protected the eggs that wound up in their nests from the predators (the chaperones), later found food to feed to their babies (the chaperones) and ultimately we all wound up inside where we washed up and Ms. Chris gave all of my little birdies a gummy worm for their hard work.
Today was our spring trip to the nature center. I must admit that I was a bit concerned about the weather, but the sun came out and we all had a blast (which made up for the fall when we were rained out!). The activities that Ms. Chris led the kids through were so incredibly cute and I was grateful to the moms who joined in for the fun. I've attached some pics of the "mother birds" and "father birds" as they built their nests for their future babies. Throughout the afternoon, the "birds" then protected the eggs that wound up in their nests from the predators (the chaperones), later found food to feed to their babies (the chaperones) and ultimately we all wound up inside where we washed up and Ms. Chris gave all of my little birdies a gummy worm for their hard work.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Friday, 5/2/14
Ugh--another week that has flown by. I need more time in my days to be able to blog!! Isn't that what we all wish for... more hours??? =)
Today was a big day in our second-grade world. We made a trip over to Franzen for the kids to see their new school! The second graders have been pen-pals with third graders this year and today they got to meet them in person! They met in the third-grade classrooms and were able to talk and hang out for a bit. Then the kids had lunch and recess together. After that, the third graders went back to class and the second graders gathered in the library. Half of our kids then went on a tour of Franzen with Mr. Taylor while Ms. Wit read to the other half. When the tour was over, the kids returned to the library and the groups switched. Our time at Franzen ended with the second graders all coming back into the library and doing a brief Q and A session with Mr. Taylor. The trip was a great success, and hopefully has put the kids' minds at ease about transitioning to a new school in the fall.
They look ready, don't they? (I'm not ready for them to go, but they sure are!)
Today was a big day in our second-grade world. We made a trip over to Franzen for the kids to see their new school! The second graders have been pen-pals with third graders this year and today they got to meet them in person! They met in the third-grade classrooms and were able to talk and hang out for a bit. Then the kids had lunch and recess together. After that, the third graders went back to class and the second graders gathered in the library. Half of our kids then went on a tour of Franzen with Mr. Taylor while Ms. Wit read to the other half. When the tour was over, the kids returned to the library and the groups switched. Our time at Franzen ended with the second graders all coming back into the library and doing a brief Q and A session with Mr. Taylor. The trip was a great success, and hopefully has put the kids' minds at ease about transitioning to a new school in the fall.
They look ready, don't they? (I'm not ready for them to go, but they sure are!)
Monday, April 28, 2014
Monday, 4/28/14
I feel like it's been forever since I've written. This time of year moves at a rapid pace, mostly because of the exciting things we have going on, but the rapidity (I just made that up!!) causes my blog to be forgotten by the time I'm getting kicked out of here at night.
Today we went to our middle school to see their production of "Aladdin." Oh my gosh, I might be slightly biased, but seriously only slightly, when I say they do the most amazing job with middle school students! The true testimony is the sheer number of students who volunteer to be involved. There are stage crews, light crews, the actors/actresses, make-up and hair--the whole thing! They work for months and months in preparation, and it shows. It is nothing less than stellar each year. Kudos to the staff members, parents and MIDDLE SCHOOL kids (it's a little mind blowing to me that so many kids of this age are so involved in their school's play--like I said, to me, that's testimony enough to what a quality production is created year after year). And, of course, then there's dorky me in the audience nearly in tears watching my former students up on stage lighting the place up. I'm a proud mama bear, that's for darn sure!!
That's it for today. My mind is a bit of a bowl of mush. I'm not sure why, espeically since we spent the afternoon enjoying the arts, so perhaps is the rain, but nonetheless, I'm taking it as a sign to say good-night, so Good-Night Gracie!
Today we went to our middle school to see their production of "Aladdin." Oh my gosh, I might be slightly biased, but seriously only slightly, when I say they do the most amazing job with middle school students! The true testimony is the sheer number of students who volunteer to be involved. There are stage crews, light crews, the actors/actresses, make-up and hair--the whole thing! They work for months and months in preparation, and it shows. It is nothing less than stellar each year. Kudos to the staff members, parents and MIDDLE SCHOOL kids (it's a little mind blowing to me that so many kids of this age are so involved in their school's play--like I said, to me, that's testimony enough to what a quality production is created year after year). And, of course, then there's dorky me in the audience nearly in tears watching my former students up on stage lighting the place up. I'm a proud mama bear, that's for darn sure!!
That's it for today. My mind is a bit of a bowl of mush. I'm not sure why, espeically since we spent the afternoon enjoying the arts, so perhaps is the rain, but nonetheless, I'm taking it as a sign to say good-night, so Good-Night Gracie!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Monday, 4/21/14
I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend and a special Easter (for those who celebrate). I loved every second of the weather. I got a pedicure and dug out the flip flops--there's no turning back now, so Mother Nature better have dug out her flip flops as well!! I also got the car washed. It was a very cathartic, done-with-winter weekend!!
On Wednesday we have the first of 4 field trips over the next three weeks. We're headed downtown! Hopefully the kids will all heed my warning of limiting their "liquid consumption" in the morning before we go. There's no bathroom on the bus and who knows what traffic will be like, so it's always best to err on the side of caution when the bladder is involved. =) I'll write with a full report on Wednesday. I hope the weather is nice and we have a lovely day together. And above all, I hope that I have some priceless photo moments!
I hope you heard all about our recent class visitors. They've already grown tons and tons and tons...if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your favorite second grader. ;)
On that note...I'm out for now. Have a great night!
On Wednesday we have the first of 4 field trips over the next three weeks. We're headed downtown! Hopefully the kids will all heed my warning of limiting their "liquid consumption" in the morning before we go. There's no bathroom on the bus and who knows what traffic will be like, so it's always best to err on the side of caution when the bladder is involved. =) I'll write with a full report on Wednesday. I hope the weather is nice and we have a lovely day together. And above all, I hope that I have some priceless photo moments!
I hope you heard all about our recent class visitors. They've already grown tons and tons and tons...if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your favorite second grader. ;)
On that note...I'm out for now. Have a great night!
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, 4/11/14
Happy Report Card Day! Earlier in the week I received some report cards of my own. This class cracks me up with that--they gave me report cards at the end of 2nd quarter too. Luckily, I showed some improvement from then until now. Lol!
Today was a big day. First, it was our "Day of Stars." I set a timer in the beginning of the day and whenever it went off, we dropped what we were doing so 5 or 6 randomly selected students could present their quilt square to the class and were able to answer questions from their classmates. Once the initial crew was done, I reset the timer and when it went off, we did the whole thing again with a few more kids. It was very exciting, especially when it went off smack-dab in the middle of our DOL quiz!!!
In addition to that excitement, we'd also received some more Flat Stanleys this week, so we learned about where he'd gone and added them to our map. Our map is getting quite full and looks super cool.
And above all else, my little pumpkins were finally able to go outside on a nearly 70 degree day and run around like crazy. Thank goodness! They were cooped up indoors for entirely too long this winter. They definitely deserve this weather!!
With that said, I'll leave you with some of my report cards to look over. I hope you get a smile like I did. Enjoy the weekend!!
Today was a big day. First, it was our "Day of Stars." I set a timer in the beginning of the day and whenever it went off, we dropped what we were doing so 5 or 6 randomly selected students could present their quilt square to the class and were able to answer questions from their classmates. Once the initial crew was done, I reset the timer and when it went off, we did the whole thing again with a few more kids. It was very exciting, especially when it went off smack-dab in the middle of our DOL quiz!!!
In addition to that excitement, we'd also received some more Flat Stanleys this week, so we learned about where he'd gone and added them to our map. Our map is getting quite full and looks super cool.
And above all else, my little pumpkins were finally able to go outside on a nearly 70 degree day and run around like crazy. Thank goodness! They were cooped up indoors for entirely too long this winter. They definitely deserve this weather!!
With that said, I'll leave you with some of my report cards to look over. I hope you get a smile like I did. Enjoy the weekend!!Monday, April 7, 2014
Monday, 4/7/14
The first day back from spring break and we all survived! You never know what life will be like after everyone's been gone for over a week. I must admit, it was nice to see all of my favorite little faces! I have "door duty" (aka hang out with the kids from the time they first arrive in the morning until the bell rings) on Mondays. Today's was especially nice because I got to see the kids right away. It's funny how much you grow to enjoy seeing someone (or several someones) everyday, so much so, that even having a week off of school can make you miss them.
Today is the first day of fourth quarter, which translates to the first official day that I start to fear the last day of school. Fourth quarter is always a blast because all of the work that we've put in all year pays off in dividends, plus there are just a ton of fun activities that occur, but it is very bittersweet because living in the back of my mind is the knowledge that my time of hanging out with these amazing little humans is nearing its end. So, I block that out and we just enjoy every single day we have together. Like today:
Nothing extraordinary except the announcement of our upcoming Day of Stars!! On Friday, April 11th, I'm going to randomly set a timer. When it goes off, regardless of what we are doing, we will drop everything and learn about a few of our star classmates. The kids were sent home today with a "quilt square." It's simply a piece of paper now, but by Friday will become a square which represents each of the kids in our class. I will put them together to form our class "quilt." Once we've learned about those first few kids, the timer will be reset, we'll continue on with business as usual until it beeps again--at which time we'll learn about some others, and so will go the day until we've been through all 23 of my shining stars. Some have a wacky Wednesday, we will have a free-for-all Friday!! I'll fill you in on how it goes!
I'm off to finish up report cards! It's so hard to put into one little number or symbol what 9 weeks of academics, problem solving and growing looks like, so my favorite part is where I get to write on the bottom. That's the part I'm working on tonight. Good thing I seem to be in a writing state of mind. ;)
Happy Monday!
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