TAKS

Just want to send a big hug and hello to all of the Texas teachers out there doing TAKS this week.

You've done all you can... my fingers are crossed for you and your students!!!

Tag... You're It

Mr. Teacher tagged me for this a while back. I have not been blogging or reading them lately so I just now noticed. Lots of stuff going on lately. It looks interesting though. I'm not going to tag anyone but would love for some others to post it if they would like.

Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

The closest book to me is a book I am currently reading to my daughter. We read a few pages a night. It's, The New Kid on the Block, poems by Jack Prelutsky. Not too interesting but here goes.

It's hard to fault the Zoosher's taste
(a mushroom belt adorns its waist),
and gaily wrapped about its head
are radishes-some white, some red.
Just why the beast behaves this way
is rather difficult to say,
as here beneath a bush it lies,
with mashed potatoes on its eyes.

Justice?

Today was a VERY rainy day for us. The power was out in the school this morning which caused the kids to be a little rambunctious. My students know what behavior I expect from them and normally comply. Others, however, do not. As we were walking down the sidewalk today towards our portable, two children were running full speed past us. I told them to slow down. They did not. I stuck my arm out and said louder for them to slow down. As soon as they passed me they continued their sprint into the building. Just as my class and I made it to our portable we heard the two students screaming and running back down the sidewalk. As they rounded the corner, one of them slipped and fell into a HUGE puddle of water that collects where the sidewalks meet. Can I just say how funny that was! I know it's mean. It's almost like when a car is cutting you off and speeding and you hope to see them pulled over by a police car on the side of the road ahead. I looked at my kids and said, "That is why we don't run on sidewalks children." The boy that fell jumped up, soaking wet, and went back into his classroom. I talked to his teacher after school today and she said he told her the other boy pushed him in. The nerve! :) To lie about sweet justice! No running boys and girls! Lesson learned? Probably not. He will still run everywhere he goes. But for me, a great lesson on cause and effect! And... a great lesson as to why we have rules and that they actually do make sense.

Have a great week everyone . . . and slow down! ;-)

The Nerve!

Another teacher on my grade level always says, "the nerve" when a student does something they shouldn't. I think it's an appropriate title for my wonderings today.

As I mentioned before, one of our classes was "dissolved" and that teacher now does reading groups with our low students. Instead of pulling them out she does the groups in our class. She was out Monday and Tuesday so has only done this two days now. Yesterday she sat in a corner of the room, did the two groups, and then left. It seemed to work just fine. Today, however, she sat where I usually have the kids go to share journals. Because we don't have much space, I was unable to do journal sharing and the kids went to centers while I did my reading groups and she did hers. As I'm doing my group, I hear her getting onto my kids in centers for being to loud. She is sitting in "the library" area and that is their center. They are reading. Why did she think she could tell them to be quiet? She is just a visitor in our room, not the teacher. Ugh! Then, about five minutes later, I hear her yelling at the kids in the group for not "trying" hard enough to read. She then tells one of the kids to go move their clip on my behavior chart. This just happens to be a very quiet, academically low child. Hence the need for extra reading tutoring. Why would she think she can discipline my students with our classroom behvior chart? Shouldn't she have her own "system" for getting them to participate. Maybe by not scaring the crap out of them and yelling at them. Just a thought! Anyway...

The nerve!

Broken

Well, today was a looonnngg day. I still feel very under the weather. I haven't been able to eat so I'm extremely tired. The new kids I got last week from the "dissolved" class are still adjusting to a new teacher and new procedures. One funny thing did happen at recess today. A sweet little girl in my class came up to tell me that another one of our students was crying. I asked her if she new why. She said that some other girls "broke" her feelings. Broke her feelings... how cute is that. Not that her feelings got broken, of course, but the language she used. Fortunately all was worked out and she was able to continue to play, broken feelings and all.

Have a good one!!!

I'm Back!

Hey guys! I have been crazy busy lately and unable to find any time to write. I've certainly missed it. It's been so long, I'm surprised I remembered my password! I'm just getting over a stomach virus. Yuck! As always, it hit me Friday night and I am now, Sunday night, feeling a little better. No weekend for me!

This coming week should be an interesting one. We have "dissolved" one of our classes and now have that teacher as a reading tutor that will be in our rooms tutoring for an hour a day. I'm all about extra help but I think I could make more of an impact with fewer students all day. Why take a teacher out of a classroom and give other teachers more students? Especially in February.

We also will be doing "learning walks" next week. These seem a bit pointless and stressful to me. Oh well, not my call. :)

Glad to be back! Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to write more regualarly again.

Dialects

The way we say things differently has always interested me. I love accents and dialects of all kinds and have gotten very used to the "accents" of my students. We have a large Hispanic and African American population at my school and they do pronounce words a little differently. Today we were practicing the long o sound when oe is at the end of a word. We were reading a book about Joe and the Doe. I always use these opportunities to expand on their vocabulary. I asked my students if anyone knew what a doe was. Only one child raised her hand. I asked "E" what she thought a doe was. She pointed to the front door of our room and said, "One of dem". I'm not kidding folks! You just can't make stuff like that up!