Oregon Trail is now installed on all of our computers! Woohoo! The 5th graders were definitely excited about it and wanted to play it all afternoon. We had quite a bit of time that they could play it; the girls had their puberty talk, leaving the boys with some extra time. We did a little recess and then we came back in to play the Oregon Trail some more.
One boy was pretty good at it. The other one... not so much. His people kept getting sick and dying. The first time he played, he named the people after his real-life family members. Then he forded a river and three people drowned: he and his mom were left. Then she broke her arm and died.
The next time he played, all his oxen got sick and died. A thief stole all his clothes and food. All the water was bad. And his people got dysentery, cholera, and diphtheria. And he kept running out of food.
The third and fourth graders had better luck. One 4th grader made it all the way to Oregon!
We finished up National Treasure in class today. Oh I love watching movies with the 5th graders! They were gasping in all the right places and were figuring out the clues as it went along. It was great. Now they want to watch the second one in class...
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Floor Hockey
I got stuck being goalie for our big game vs. the 7th and 8th graders. No one else wanted to do it, so I stepped up and said I'd do it. I was hoping someone would switch with me in the second half, but no one did. I didn't ask anyone to do it either. It's not a big deal. I didn't have to run around at all and no one on my team got mad/upset I let the balls go in the goal.
The game started out pretty evenly matched. The students' strategy was to have the 7th graders play us the first half (minus one really good kid) and have the 8th graders play the second half. We held our own the first half. They only scored on us once! And we made our one goal in the first half. The second half... well, we would've done better if we'd have done some training beforehand.
The end score was Teachers: 1, Students 7. Yeah. My knees were getting bruised from kneeling on the hard gym floor. One ball bounced off my head and went into the goal (a foam ball, so no injuries). Two times another teacher was trying to block the ball from going in but she stood in front of the goal so I couldn't see the ball. And that's when they took their shot.
It was amazing how many students were cheering for us! I'd say over half the school wanted the teachers to win. They even made signs. Two were dedicated solely to Ms. J. One of the 5th grade girls made a sign with both Ms. J and my name on it and she cut it in half after the game so we could take our parts home. How sweet!
Something totally unrelated to floor hockey... We're studying prepositional phrases being used as adjectives/adverbs. On one of our English worksheets this week, an answer choice was "with goat cheese". For some reason, it reminded me of my family. (Didn't we have some sort of joke or something about goat cheese?) Regardless, it's kept me grinning the past two days. The 5th graders thought it was hilarious too. They tried filling it in the other blanks with interesting results:
"My brother asked a question... with goat cheese."
"We listened for the honk... with goat cheese."
"He has painted many homes... with goat cheese."
"The shadow was an owl... with goat cheese."
"David has finished his work... with goat cheese."
"The salad was roasted beets... with goat cheese."
Can you figure out which sentence goes with the phrase???
The game started out pretty evenly matched. The students' strategy was to have the 7th graders play us the first half (minus one really good kid) and have the 8th graders play the second half. We held our own the first half. They only scored on us once! And we made our one goal in the first half. The second half... well, we would've done better if we'd have done some training beforehand.
The end score was Teachers: 1, Students 7. Yeah. My knees were getting bruised from kneeling on the hard gym floor. One ball bounced off my head and went into the goal (a foam ball, so no injuries). Two times another teacher was trying to block the ball from going in but she stood in front of the goal so I couldn't see the ball. And that's when they took their shot.
It was amazing how many students were cheering for us! I'd say over half the school wanted the teachers to win. They even made signs. Two were dedicated solely to Ms. J. One of the 5th grade girls made a sign with both Ms. J and my name on it and she cut it in half after the game so we could take our parts home. How sweet!
Something totally unrelated to floor hockey... We're studying prepositional phrases being used as adjectives/adverbs. On one of our English worksheets this week, an answer choice was "with goat cheese". For some reason, it reminded me of my family. (Didn't we have some sort of joke or something about goat cheese?) Regardless, it's kept me grinning the past two days. The 5th graders thought it was hilarious too. They tried filling it in the other blanks with interesting results:
"My brother asked a question... with goat cheese."
"We listened for the honk... with goat cheese."
"He has painted many homes... with goat cheese."
"The shadow was an owl... with goat cheese."
"David has finished his work... with goat cheese."
"The salad was roasted beets... with goat cheese."
Can you figure out which sentence goes with the phrase???
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Stuck in the Middle
I always like Wednesdays. It's a good feeling knowing the week is half over and there aren't as many lessons to plan.
We had a much better day today, attitude-wise. Math corrections were handed in, memory work was said, the 2nd graders finished their math packet. They earned their twenty tallies of completely correct workbook pages which means another class reward. Originally, I planned to let them watch a Wishbone episode, but then I saw their next packet is about symmetry. There's an awesome Cyberchase episode about symmetry, so we're going to watch that instead. The 5th graders will probably be a little disappointed. I made a deal with them: if they get their memory work said tomorrow morning, they'll be able to watch the video with the 2nd graders. If/when they succeed, they'll have a pretty easy day tomorrow. We're watching National Treasure as the 5th grade reward for answering enough Challenges of the Week.
In science today, we discussed symbiosis (two animals living/working together) and mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, one is not affected), and parasitism (one benefits, one is harmed). At the end of the lesson, we looked at animal camouflage and created mini-creatures to hide in our classroom. Next Wednesday, I'll hide them around the room and the 5th graders will act as predators to see if they can spot all their prey. It was fun seeing how creative my students could be. And it was also a chance for them to show me how messy they could be. We had an overturned glue bottle I noticed a little too late and it seemed like there was more paint on fingers than on their creatures. Oh well. They cleaned up their area for the most part and while they went to PE with Mr. E I was able to clean up the rest (Ms. J helped).
Now it's almost time to head over to church for the Lenten supper/service. K-8 are singing during the service. I intended to get a lot accomplished after school today... and then I saw an email from BetterWorldBooks.com for a 40% off flash-sale! Woo! Book sale! So I perused their selection and bought some more books for our classroom library.
We had a much better day today, attitude-wise. Math corrections were handed in, memory work was said, the 2nd graders finished their math packet. They earned their twenty tallies of completely correct workbook pages which means another class reward. Originally, I planned to let them watch a Wishbone episode, but then I saw their next packet is about symmetry. There's an awesome Cyberchase episode about symmetry, so we're going to watch that instead. The 5th graders will probably be a little disappointed. I made a deal with them: if they get their memory work said tomorrow morning, they'll be able to watch the video with the 2nd graders. If/when they succeed, they'll have a pretty easy day tomorrow. We're watching National Treasure as the 5th grade reward for answering enough Challenges of the Week.
In science today, we discussed symbiosis (two animals living/working together) and mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, one is not affected), and parasitism (one benefits, one is harmed). At the end of the lesson, we looked at animal camouflage and created mini-creatures to hide in our classroom. Next Wednesday, I'll hide them around the room and the 5th graders will act as predators to see if they can spot all their prey. It was fun seeing how creative my students could be. And it was also a chance for them to show me how messy they could be. We had an overturned glue bottle I noticed a little too late and it seemed like there was more paint on fingers than on their creatures. Oh well. They cleaned up their area for the most part and while they went to PE with Mr. E I was able to clean up the rest (Ms. J helped).
Now it's almost time to head over to church for the Lenten supper/service. K-8 are singing during the service. I intended to get a lot accomplished after school today... and then I saw an email from BetterWorldBooks.com for a 40% off flash-sale! Woo! Book sale! So I perused their selection and bought some more books for our classroom library.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Another Groaner
Today was another rough one. The 5th graders were picking at each other left and right! It's ridiculous! The other teachers (K-2) said that their classes had a rough day too. Is it the weather? Are they all super tired? I don't know. All I know is I want it to change. What's interesting is that the 7th and 8th graders have been pretty good for me. We're working on a group project right now, so maybe that has something to do with it.
The 5th graders finally started weaving their tree projects (the one Ivy made an example for that one time she visited). They were pretty excited to start reading. We're getting to the exciting part of our read-aloud book, so they wanted me to read aloud while they did art, but I was too busy showing them how to string the yarn on the plates that I didn't get the chance. We only have about five chapters of the book left. Then it will be time to start another! I have a couple in mind right now... Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs or No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. One of the 5th graders wants us to read Bethany Hamilton's autobiography (which I still haven't read yet). Lots of choices! We might be able to read two of them before the end of the year...
Another cool thing we did today was make up hand signals for the Bill of Rights. We started by using one finger for the 1st amendment: freedom of religion (point up to God), freedom of speech (one finger over lips), freedom of the press (press a button), freedom to assemble (wave a finger around in a circle), and freedom to petition (write with a finger). The 2nd amendment: right to bear arms (make a gun with two fingers). The 3rd amendment: no quartering soldiers (make an okay sign- the three fingers sticking up show the 3rd amendment, the circle looks kind of like a q, put the other hand in a salute so show soldiers). The 4th amendment: no unlawful search and seizure (knock on an invisible door). Well, you get the idea. We came up with signals for all 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights. The girls were way more into it than the boys... We listened to the Bill of Rights song again and did the actions along with it. I'm going to test them on Thursday to see how much they remember!
The 5th graders finally started weaving their tree projects (the one Ivy made an example for that one time she visited). They were pretty excited to start reading. We're getting to the exciting part of our read-aloud book, so they wanted me to read aloud while they did art, but I was too busy showing them how to string the yarn on the plates that I didn't get the chance. We only have about five chapters of the book left. Then it will be time to start another! I have a couple in mind right now... Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs or No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. One of the 5th graders wants us to read Bethany Hamilton's autobiography (which I still haven't read yet). Lots of choices! We might be able to read two of them before the end of the year...
Another cool thing we did today was make up hand signals for the Bill of Rights. We started by using one finger for the 1st amendment: freedom of religion (point up to God), freedom of speech (one finger over lips), freedom of the press (press a button), freedom to assemble (wave a finger around in a circle), and freedom to petition (write with a finger). The 2nd amendment: right to bear arms (make a gun with two fingers). The 3rd amendment: no quartering soldiers (make an okay sign- the three fingers sticking up show the 3rd amendment, the circle looks kind of like a q, put the other hand in a salute so show soldiers). The 4th amendment: no unlawful search and seizure (knock on an invisible door). Well, you get the idea. We came up with signals for all 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights. The girls were way more into it than the boys... We listened to the Bill of Rights song again and did the actions along with it. I'm going to test them on Thursday to see how much they remember!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Fussbudget and Field Trips
What a fitting word for today!
The two 5th grade girls were definitely fussbudgets today, always picking at each other and nitpicking about every single thing the other one did.
We spent some extra time on Mystery Class today, figuring out the longitude coordinates. The boys had a bit of a head start since the girls had a special music practice (they get to be in a small ensemble for one of the musical songs). Since the boys finished early, they began working on the cultural clues. We only have one set of cultural clues to use. These ones give us a hint on which continent the Mystery Classes are located. I think the boys figured out three of the continents so far. Only 7 more to go! This Friday we should be able to narrow down the country of each location.
I didn't post on Friday after our field trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota, so here's a quick(ish) overview. Grades K-8 left school around 9:00am (15 minutes later than planned) on a bus. Once we got to the museum, the planner of the field trip (aka- me) headed into the museum to check in and get chaperone badges. Everyone else unloaded their lunches and followed me inside. All the badges were passed out to chaperones with just enough time to head up to the Omnitheater for our Dinosaurs Alive film. And then I noticed an extra parent standing there. He had driven up separate and asked if he needed a badge or something. Uh... I scrounged in my bag for the chaperone interest forms, and he hadn't turned one in. So. Now what? Buy another ticket I guess. At the school entrance desk they told me I had to go up to the 5th floor to purchase another ticket. Lovely. Meanwhile, everyone else is milling around, trying to keep track of their charges. I am supposed to be supervising two kindergartners and one of the 5th grade girls. The 5th grade girl decided she'd rather be with another group and was avoiding me. The two kindergartners decided they both wanted to hold my hand and follow me everywhere. Mrs. E saw I was struggling and stepped in to take the two little girls.
Long story short, we made it up to the Omnitheater and everyone made it into the movie all right. Mr. E and I stood in line to get another chaperone ticket. By the time we made it through the long line, the movie had started and the doors were roped off. We tried to go around/under the rope, but got stopped by a museum worker. She told us we had to talk to another lady (who was busy doing something else). So after that lady wasn't busy, she buzzed another lady to take us into the movie. And we made it.
One interesting thing about the movie was that the scientists changed their minds about how a lot of dinosaurs got fossilized. They're now saying there was a flood that trapped so many animals. Ha! The movie said that TWICE!
After the movie was over, my 5th grade girl bugged me some more about switching groups. I should've made her stay with me for a while longer, but I just gave in since I had to watch the two rambunctious kindergartner girls. We ate lunch in the lowest level of the museum and then went to the special Ultimate Dinosaurs exhibit. I wasn't too impressed with it. There were a lot of dinosaur bones. That was pretty much it. The little girl I was with kept pulling my arm to go see the next one. "Where's tyrannosaurus rex? I want to see the tyrannosaurus rex!" We went through nearly all of the exhibit and I was a little worried we wouldn't see that particular dinosaur... he was at the very end of the exhibit.
From there we had about 45 minutes to scope the rest of the museum until it was time to leave. Our kids were very well-behaved compared to some of the other schools. My favorite exhibit was the mummy. I would've liked to look at it some more, but a little girl was tugging at my arm to go look at something else. It was really fun to see our kids figuring out the interactive displays.
Pretty soon 2:00 came and we loaded everyone on to the bus to head for home. About halfway back, our bus began rattling, so the bus driver pulled into a town to check it out. He said we should be able to make it back. Should? Gulp. We kept going.
A few minutes, one of the 5th grade girls meandered to the front of the bus and asked the driver if we could stop so she could use the restroom. He told her to ask Mr. E. He told her to ask me. I said no. She did a little bathroom dance, "But I really, really have to go!" "Did you go before we left?" "No." "Why not? We gave everyone a chance to go before getting on the bus." "I didn't have to go then." "Well, you had the chance and you didn't take it. You're just going to have to hold it."
No more than two minutes passed and one of the parent chaperones called out, "Miss Heintz?" I turned around. "She really has to go." The fifth grader scrunched up her face to show how badly she needed to go. I said something about her having the chance and not taking it and having to face the consequences, yada, yada, yada. I noticed a few other moms/chaperones nodding along which made me feel better about making her hold it. After that last ditch effort, the 5th grade girl moved up to the front seat so she could be the first one off the bus.
So. We made it back okay. We didn't lose anyone. It seemed like everyone had a good time. All in all, a good whole-school field trip.
The two 5th grade girls were definitely fussbudgets today, always picking at each other and nitpicking about every single thing the other one did.
We spent some extra time on Mystery Class today, figuring out the longitude coordinates. The boys had a bit of a head start since the girls had a special music practice (they get to be in a small ensemble for one of the musical songs). Since the boys finished early, they began working on the cultural clues. We only have one set of cultural clues to use. These ones give us a hint on which continent the Mystery Classes are located. I think the boys figured out three of the continents so far. Only 7 more to go! This Friday we should be able to narrow down the country of each location.
I didn't post on Friday after our field trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota, so here's a quick(ish) overview. Grades K-8 left school around 9:00am (15 minutes later than planned) on a bus. Once we got to the museum, the planner of the field trip (aka- me) headed into the museum to check in and get chaperone badges. Everyone else unloaded their lunches and followed me inside. All the badges were passed out to chaperones with just enough time to head up to the Omnitheater for our Dinosaurs Alive film. And then I noticed an extra parent standing there. He had driven up separate and asked if he needed a badge or something. Uh... I scrounged in my bag for the chaperone interest forms, and he hadn't turned one in. So. Now what? Buy another ticket I guess. At the school entrance desk they told me I had to go up to the 5th floor to purchase another ticket. Lovely. Meanwhile, everyone else is milling around, trying to keep track of their charges. I am supposed to be supervising two kindergartners and one of the 5th grade girls. The 5th grade girl decided she'd rather be with another group and was avoiding me. The two kindergartners decided they both wanted to hold my hand and follow me everywhere. Mrs. E saw I was struggling and stepped in to take the two little girls.
Long story short, we made it up to the Omnitheater and everyone made it into the movie all right. Mr. E and I stood in line to get another chaperone ticket. By the time we made it through the long line, the movie had started and the doors were roped off. We tried to go around/under the rope, but got stopped by a museum worker. She told us we had to talk to another lady (who was busy doing something else). So after that lady wasn't busy, she buzzed another lady to take us into the movie. And we made it.
One interesting thing about the movie was that the scientists changed their minds about how a lot of dinosaurs got fossilized. They're now saying there was a flood that trapped so many animals. Ha! The movie said that TWICE!
After the movie was over, my 5th grade girl bugged me some more about switching groups. I should've made her stay with me for a while longer, but I just gave in since I had to watch the two rambunctious kindergartner girls. We ate lunch in the lowest level of the museum and then went to the special Ultimate Dinosaurs exhibit. I wasn't too impressed with it. There were a lot of dinosaur bones. That was pretty much it. The little girl I was with kept pulling my arm to go see the next one. "Where's tyrannosaurus rex? I want to see the tyrannosaurus rex!" We went through nearly all of the exhibit and I was a little worried we wouldn't see that particular dinosaur... he was at the very end of the exhibit.
From there we had about 45 minutes to scope the rest of the museum until it was time to leave. Our kids were very well-behaved compared to some of the other schools. My favorite exhibit was the mummy. I would've liked to look at it some more, but a little girl was tugging at my arm to go look at something else. It was really fun to see our kids figuring out the interactive displays.
Pretty soon 2:00 came and we loaded everyone on to the bus to head for home. About halfway back, our bus began rattling, so the bus driver pulled into a town to check it out. He said we should be able to make it back. Should? Gulp. We kept going.
A few minutes, one of the 5th grade girls meandered to the front of the bus and asked the driver if we could stop so she could use the restroom. He told her to ask Mr. E. He told her to ask me. I said no. She did a little bathroom dance, "But I really, really have to go!" "Did you go before we left?" "No." "Why not? We gave everyone a chance to go before getting on the bus." "I didn't have to go then." "Well, you had the chance and you didn't take it. You're just going to have to hold it."
No more than two minutes passed and one of the parent chaperones called out, "Miss Heintz?" I turned around. "She really has to go." The fifth grader scrunched up her face to show how badly she needed to go. I said something about her having the chance and not taking it and having to face the consequences, yada, yada, yada. I noticed a few other moms/chaperones nodding along which made me feel better about making her hold it. After that last ditch effort, the 5th grade girl moved up to the front seat so she could be the first one off the bus.
So. We made it back okay. We didn't lose anyone. It seemed like everyone had a good time. All in all, a good whole-school field trip.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Oh it's the Bill of Rights, it's the bill of your rights...
Oh this song is so catchy! I've only listened to it a few times, but it's one of those that gets stuck in your head. I started singing along when I played it for the 5th graders. They looked at me like I was crazy. And then I played the song again while we did art (I caught the boys dancing to the beat). And now it's in my head again. I might need to listen to it one last time before I go home...
After school, the teachers met to discuss chaperone groups for our field trip tomorrow. It's a lot more complicated than you'd think. Last night, I grouped the students and stuck them with chaperones. It took forever! Put kids with parents? Put them with their teachers? Mix grades? Keep classes together? Split up best friends? Give chaperones equal numbers of charges? Will some parents be offended they only got three kids instead of four or five? With all those questions floating around, I wasn't expecting my list to be perfect.
This morning I made copies and handed one to Mr. D since he was walking past. He took one look at the list and said, "You must not like me or something, putting me with these three kids." Totally not my intention at all! This is what happens when I try to be fair to everyone. He had problems with every other group I had made out of the kids in his class. Sigh. Like I said, I didn't expect my list to be perfect. But when I asked him yesterday, he said he didn't think there could be a bad way to split them up!
So anyway, the other teachers and I sat down after school and ironed out the lists. Mrs. M and Mrs. S said we should put children with their parents, even when the children are spanning grade levels. We also decided that chaperones didn't need to have an equal number of students in their groups. Hopefully no parents will be offended or think we don't trust them as much.
I'm interested to see what happens with my group. The 5th grade girl without a para (Ms. J is still at state basketball) is going to be with me as well as the two kindergarten girls. One of the girls was in cheerleading and she loves me to pieces, so I'm not worried about her. The other girl is a bit of a rascal (okay, a lot of a rascal) and she likes to push all the boundaries. I think I'm going to have my hands full with her! Hopefully my 5th grader won't be feeling too crazy and she can help keep the kindergartners in line... I can dream, can't I?
After school, the teachers met to discuss chaperone groups for our field trip tomorrow. It's a lot more complicated than you'd think. Last night, I grouped the students and stuck them with chaperones. It took forever! Put kids with parents? Put them with their teachers? Mix grades? Keep classes together? Split up best friends? Give chaperones equal numbers of charges? Will some parents be offended they only got three kids instead of four or five? With all those questions floating around, I wasn't expecting my list to be perfect.
This morning I made copies and handed one to Mr. D since he was walking past. He took one look at the list and said, "You must not like me or something, putting me with these three kids." Totally not my intention at all! This is what happens when I try to be fair to everyone. He had problems with every other group I had made out of the kids in his class. Sigh. Like I said, I didn't expect my list to be perfect. But when I asked him yesterday, he said he didn't think there could be a bad way to split them up!
So anyway, the other teachers and I sat down after school and ironed out the lists. Mrs. M and Mrs. S said we should put children with their parents, even when the children are spanning grade levels. We also decided that chaperones didn't need to have an equal number of students in their groups. Hopefully no parents will be offended or think we don't trust them as much.
I'm interested to see what happens with my group. The 5th grade girl without a para (Ms. J is still at state basketball) is going to be with me as well as the two kindergarten girls. One of the girls was in cheerleading and she loves me to pieces, so I'm not worried about her. The other girl is a bit of a rascal (okay, a lot of a rascal) and she likes to push all the boundaries. I think I'm going to have my hands full with her! Hopefully my 5th grader won't be feeling too crazy and she can help keep the kindergartners in line... I can dream, can't I?
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Lighting Strikes!
The 7th and 8th graders are learning all about weather! I'm getting to the end of their science book, so I've been stretching out the topic a lot. Their book only spends one lesson on thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. I'm splitting them up into separate days. And I ended up taking a second day to talk about lightning safety. Back in college, one of my classmates and I created a unit plan on summer safety. Lightning and Tornado safety were featured on two of the days. We had found a few YouTube videos about lightning safety, so I showed those to the class today. One was all about people who had been struck by lightning and survived. The other was a video made by two high school students about staying safe in a lightning storm (it was hilarious). You can watch it here. I was worried the 7th and 8th graders would think it was lame and wouldn't pay attention... I had nothing to worry about. Most of them have been paying more attention in class recently; I think it's because what we're learning is more relevant (or they can see the connection to their lives right now).
The 5th grade boys survived their chat with the nurse. She spent 45 minutes teaching them about puberty. This year is the first time they saw both the boy and girl videos. Meanwhile, the two 5th grade girls and I hung out in the gym for a 45 minute recess. Plus they had PE today. Triple recess! It'll even out though; the girls have their class next Friday. And the girl talk always takes longer than the boy's.
Ms. J was gone for her state basketball tournament today. The two of us usually get to talk for a bit before the students get here in the morning, so it was odd not starting the day that way. The 5th graders were a bit goofy (especially the student who works with Ms. J), but they settled down after a while. The 5th graders have been rock-stars when it comes to getting their work done this week! It's only Wednesday and they are completely finished with their memory work, handwriting, and spelling for the week. Good thing they're on a roll; we're taking our spelling test early this week since we have our science museum trip on Friday.
I need to write another note home about not getting back in time for the buses on Friday. I'm also in charge of dividing up chaperone groups. We figure each chaperone will be with about 3 kids. Some couples are chaperoning, so they'll probably get 5 kids between the two of them. The other teachers are going to look over my groups tomorrow after school to see if any need switching. So the question is... which kids do I want to spend the whole day with???
The 5th grade boys survived their chat with the nurse. She spent 45 minutes teaching them about puberty. This year is the first time they saw both the boy and girl videos. Meanwhile, the two 5th grade girls and I hung out in the gym for a 45 minute recess. Plus they had PE today. Triple recess! It'll even out though; the girls have their class next Friday. And the girl talk always takes longer than the boy's.
Ms. J was gone for her state basketball tournament today. The two of us usually get to talk for a bit before the students get here in the morning, so it was odd not starting the day that way. The 5th graders were a bit goofy (especially the student who works with Ms. J), but they settled down after a while. The 5th graders have been rock-stars when it comes to getting their work done this week! It's only Wednesday and they are completely finished with their memory work, handwriting, and spelling for the week. Good thing they're on a roll; we're taking our spelling test early this week since we have our science museum trip on Friday.
I need to write another note home about not getting back in time for the buses on Friday. I'm also in charge of dividing up chaperone groups. We figure each chaperone will be with about 3 kids. Some couples are chaperoning, so they'll probably get 5 kids between the two of them. The other teachers are going to look over my groups tomorrow after school to see if any need switching. So the question is... which kids do I want to spend the whole day with???
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Like a Rocket
We went outside for recess today. The girls brought their snow pants in anticipation of our outside recess. It was a little chilly; I had second thoughts. But I'd said we were going out for recess, so we went out! One of the boys chose to come to school in shorts today... he came outside too.
They wanted to go sledding and asked the other classrooms if we could borrow their sleds. Unfortunately, there weren't any sleds at school. I guess they got sent home once the snow began to melt. On the way outside, I spied two broken down cardboard boxes. Bingo! We used those as sleds until I remembered there were a few large, plastic trays back in the storage shed. I sent one of the 5th graders to go get them while the others used shovels to make a sled path. Those plastic trays were super slippery! The 5th graders shot down the hills! A few had been "snowboarding" down the snow drift on the boxes, but that was outlawed once we switched over to the slippery trays.
Our last day of the floor hockey tournament was today. My 5th grade boys' team was up against the best 7th grader's team (the upper grade boys get to draft their own teams). And... they got creamed. They did make one goal! Afterwards, I found out my boys were short a team member and the 7th grader's team was supposed to sit one person out during the game (but didn't). So they were unfairly matched. A few students called for a rematch, but the tournament has taken so long already I can't see a rematch taking place. There is one more game left to play: the faculty vs. 7th/8th grade. Ms. J's basketball team made it to state, so she's going to be gone the rest of the week. That leaves us faculty one player short for our game. She was super bummed to miss it! I'm hoping we can postpone the game to Monday so she can still participate.
They wanted to go sledding and asked the other classrooms if we could borrow their sleds. Unfortunately, there weren't any sleds at school. I guess they got sent home once the snow began to melt. On the way outside, I spied two broken down cardboard boxes. Bingo! We used those as sleds until I remembered there were a few large, plastic trays back in the storage shed. I sent one of the 5th graders to go get them while the others used shovels to make a sled path. Those plastic trays were super slippery! The 5th graders shot down the hills! A few had been "snowboarding" down the snow drift on the boxes, but that was outlawed once we switched over to the slippery trays.
Our last day of the floor hockey tournament was today. My 5th grade boys' team was up against the best 7th grader's team (the upper grade boys get to draft their own teams). And... they got creamed. They did make one goal! Afterwards, I found out my boys were short a team member and the 7th grader's team was supposed to sit one person out during the game (but didn't). So they were unfairly matched. A few students called for a rematch, but the tournament has taken so long already I can't see a rematch taking place. There is one more game left to play: the faculty vs. 7th/8th grade. Ms. J's basketball team made it to state, so she's going to be gone the rest of the week. That leaves us faculty one player short for our game. She was super bummed to miss it! I'm hoping we can postpone the game to Monday so she can still participate.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Starting off slow, but picking up speed...
We were supposed to get some freezing rain last night, but it didn't happen (or if it did, we didn't get much). I think we're supposed to get some more tonight too; I'm hoping I heard wrong.
It took about three trips, but my car is now free of all Fine Arts Fair materials. The science boards are leaned against a filing cabinet in a corner. We're probably going to display them at the end of April for our school musical. My 5th graders kept pulling theirs out and fiddling with them. I sure hope this won't be a common occurrence, or I'll have to find a new place for them.
I was on a roll when I came to school this morning. I passed back everything I corrected, put books away, sent off some emails, printed a bunch of things... and then my students arrived, tired out from the weekend.
One of the boys went to a Timberwolves game last night that didn't get over until 10:30, and then they drove home. He was tired. The other boy didn't realize he had to have all his math corrections finished before he could play floor hockey. Oops. His team has been doing really well in the hockey tournament and they NEED him to play (that's what he said). I told him to take it up with Mr. E. He stayed in from recess. He brought the rest of his corrections home to do tonight so he can play tomorrow. Speaking of floor hockey, D-Day is Thursday. The day the 7th and 8th graders play against the faculty.
In other news, one of the 8th grade girls asked about my brother. (Ethan came with me to the Fine Arts Fair.) Out of the blue before we started class, she asked, "Miss H., was that your brother?" A little surprised that she'd care, I said yes. Then she asked where he lived. And then she wanted to know how far away it was. And how old he was. She thought about it a while and then said, "So your brother drove an hour and a half just to see you?" Well, kind of... I drove to see them and he wanted to come with me. Then another 8th grade girl accused the first of having a crush on my brother (which the first girl denied). I think she was just curious.
It took about three trips, but my car is now free of all Fine Arts Fair materials. The science boards are leaned against a filing cabinet in a corner. We're probably going to display them at the end of April for our school musical. My 5th graders kept pulling theirs out and fiddling with them. I sure hope this won't be a common occurrence, or I'll have to find a new place for them.
I was on a roll when I came to school this morning. I passed back everything I corrected, put books away, sent off some emails, printed a bunch of things... and then my students arrived, tired out from the weekend.
One of the boys went to a Timberwolves game last night that didn't get over until 10:30, and then they drove home. He was tired. The other boy didn't realize he had to have all his math corrections finished before he could play floor hockey. Oops. His team has been doing really well in the hockey tournament and they NEED him to play (that's what he said). I told him to take it up with Mr. E. He stayed in from recess. He brought the rest of his corrections home to do tonight so he can play tomorrow. Speaking of floor hockey, D-Day is Thursday. The day the 7th and 8th graders play against the faculty.
In other news, one of the 8th grade girls asked about my brother. (Ethan came with me to the Fine Arts Fair.) Out of the blue before we started class, she asked, "Miss H., was that your brother?" A little surprised that she'd care, I said yes. Then she asked where he lived. And then she wanted to know how far away it was. And how old he was. She thought about it a while and then said, "So your brother drove an hour and a half just to see you?" Well, kind of... I drove to see them and he wanted to come with me. Then another 8th grade girl accused the first of having a crush on my brother (which the first girl denied). I think she was just curious.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Fine Arts Fair
Yesterday after school was pretty hectic. I gathered up all the art from the office (both the entries from our school and those from a Lutheran school in Mankato that wasn't going down). The science fair boards and visual aids were packed with care along with the canvas art projects of the 7th and 8th graders. My aunt had emailed me that she was willing to help pin up the projects (THANK-YOU!), so she hung around MLHS long enough for me to get down there. There were a few other people hanging projects and we all helped each other. Isn't it great how God provides?
The science fair boards were super easy to set up. I took a swing through the other projects to see what other school's did. I was impressed with the engineering projects; they made me want to invent something. My cousin had built a video game controller organizer as his project. He drilled holes in a cupboard that could hold the game cases and wrapped some soft, plastic coated wire around to create cradles for the controllers. And it's baby-proof! The wires are bendy so little toddlers won't poke their eyes out.
Other inventions: a floor scraping attachment to a push broom, a doggy gate (like a baby gate, but for dogs, to fit his family's extra wide staircase), a remote control holder, a tri-fold display board holder-opener (to keep science fair boards wide open for people to view), a robotic floor scrubber, a hairspray holder and nozzle cleaner (wet sponges inside a welded box with openings for aerosol spray cans... it's a lot more impressive than I've made it sound), a portable chicken pen, a squirrel/rabbit/other small rodent trap... I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Like I said. Impressive.
My 5th grade inventor came down with his dad to set up his engine. I had the board and booklet for his project. But they only sent the actual engine with me and not the heat source that goes on the bottom of the engine. It was carefully wrapped in bubble-wrap and a very sturdy box. Here's a video his mom took of the engine running:
It survived most of Saturday running with no mishaps. Then, one of the kids from our school saw another kid messing with it when my 5th grader (we'll call him M) wasn't around and it got busted. I came in the room later and the one who witnessed the breaking said with awe in his voice, "Some kid broke M's engine, but he fixed it! He just moved some stuff and he got it working again!" Oh, I was so proud. I'm glad he knew how to fix his invention.
Packing up was definitely easier than bringing everything down. The other three teachers from Courtland helped take down the art and pack it up. A few parents stuck around to help too. Mr. E brought most of it back with him; I have the science fair boards in my car still. Typically we'd have students bring their own projects back, but we want to display them at our school musical in a few weeks so more people can see them.
The end of the year is fast approaching. Friday, one of my 5th graders flipped through his spelling book, "Miss H! We only have... (counting the pages) five spelling tests left!" Yikes! It seems like there should be more! I checked the spelling lists I typed at the beginning of the year and yes, there are only five weeks left. In two weeks, we'll be in the fourth quarter and then it will be field trip season...
The science fair boards were super easy to set up. I took a swing through the other projects to see what other school's did. I was impressed with the engineering projects; they made me want to invent something. My cousin had built a video game controller organizer as his project. He drilled holes in a cupboard that could hold the game cases and wrapped some soft, plastic coated wire around to create cradles for the controllers. And it's baby-proof! The wires are bendy so little toddlers won't poke their eyes out.
Other inventions: a floor scraping attachment to a push broom, a doggy gate (like a baby gate, but for dogs, to fit his family's extra wide staircase), a remote control holder, a tri-fold display board holder-opener (to keep science fair boards wide open for people to view), a robotic floor scrubber, a hairspray holder and nozzle cleaner (wet sponges inside a welded box with openings for aerosol spray cans... it's a lot more impressive than I've made it sound), a portable chicken pen, a squirrel/rabbit/other small rodent trap... I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Like I said. Impressive.
My 5th grade inventor came down with his dad to set up his engine. I had the board and booklet for his project. But they only sent the actual engine with me and not the heat source that goes on the bottom of the engine. It was carefully wrapped in bubble-wrap and a very sturdy box. Here's a video his mom took of the engine running:
In theory, it can run on hot or cold air. All it takes is a little spin for the engine to catch and then the difference in air pressure caused by the hot/cold air lets the engine run. So a cup of coffee or a bag of frozen peas could power the engine (this one needs a little more fine-tuning to run on a smaller temperature difference).
It survived most of Saturday running with no mishaps. Then, one of the kids from our school saw another kid messing with it when my 5th grader (we'll call him M) wasn't around and it got busted. I came in the room later and the one who witnessed the breaking said with awe in his voice, "Some kid broke M's engine, but he fixed it! He just moved some stuff and he got it working again!" Oh, I was so proud. I'm glad he knew how to fix his invention.
Packing up was definitely easier than bringing everything down. The other three teachers from Courtland helped take down the art and pack it up. A few parents stuck around to help too. Mr. E brought most of it back with him; I have the science fair boards in my car still. Typically we'd have students bring their own projects back, but we want to display them at our school musical in a few weeks so more people can see them.
The end of the year is fast approaching. Friday, one of my 5th graders flipped through his spelling book, "Miss H! We only have... (counting the pages) five spelling tests left!" Yikes! It seems like there should be more! I checked the spelling lists I typed at the beginning of the year and yes, there are only five weeks left. In two weeks, we'll be in the fourth quarter and then it will be field trip season...
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Crabby Pants
Ugh! I feel like such a crab. It seems all I did all day was nag my students. I had to get on my 5th graders all day about not interrupting me while I'm talking. The 2nd graders did it too. And I feel HORRIBLE. I don't want to yell at them! I get sick of repeating myself over and over and over again! I want them to listen to me when I talk. Sigh. Why don't kids these days respect their teachers like they did back in the old days? I don't remember having this problem as much when I did student teaching. Is it me? Is it our school? I don't know. Maybe it's a combination of changing weather and daylight savings time.
Ms. J and I had a long conversation about this, how we both feel like such crabs. She brought it up, actually apologizing for being crabby. I hadn't noticed. I was too worried that she thought I was crabby.
This morning I was scrambling to put pictures into a powerpoint I had made for the 7th and 8th graders. I was going to teach the lesson today. Normally I try to have my lessons ready at least the day before (words, pictures, everything), but since we served the Lenten Supper yesterday, I didn't have time to do it at school. I didn't want to stick around school all that long after church, so I took the book home to do it there. No internet= no pictures. And of course it took me longer to add the pictures than I expected. And the 5th graders were bugging me about heating up the egg bake/eating leftover muffins. Then they wanted help finishing their science fair written reports on the computer and gluing stuff on the boards and finishing that one last math problem they didn't get done and finishing up that last spelling page they needed help on. And here I am, trying to get a lesson ready for the toughest critics you'll ever find.
Is it Friday yet?
On the plus side, it's all downhill from here. Aside from making my lesson plan outline for next week, I only have a huge pile of correcting to do tonight, along with my weekly trip to the library. But it picks up again Friday after school...
I'm in charge of bringing all the Fine Arts Fair projects to Northrup, pinning them in their appropriate spots on the wall, and attaching ribbons to the projects from our school in grades K-2. The people from Good Shepherd brought their art projects over; I'm supposed to do the same for theirs. And I need to set up my 5th graders' science fair projects in their appropriate rooms and make sure my engineering 5th graders' engine works. All this needs to happen before 6:00pm on Friday. I had no idea it was going to be this much work to bring the art down. I am glad I can help out! (but I do wish it wasn't so much work for one person)
Ms. J and I had a long conversation about this, how we both feel like such crabs. She brought it up, actually apologizing for being crabby. I hadn't noticed. I was too worried that she thought I was crabby.
This morning I was scrambling to put pictures into a powerpoint I had made for the 7th and 8th graders. I was going to teach the lesson today. Normally I try to have my lessons ready at least the day before (words, pictures, everything), but since we served the Lenten Supper yesterday, I didn't have time to do it at school. I didn't want to stick around school all that long after church, so I took the book home to do it there. No internet= no pictures. And of course it took me longer to add the pictures than I expected. And the 5th graders were bugging me about heating up the egg bake/eating leftover muffins. Then they wanted help finishing their science fair written reports on the computer and gluing stuff on the boards and finishing that one last math problem they didn't get done and finishing up that last spelling page they needed help on. And here I am, trying to get a lesson ready for the toughest critics you'll ever find.
Is it Friday yet?
On the plus side, it's all downhill from here. Aside from making my lesson plan outline for next week, I only have a huge pile of correcting to do tonight, along with my weekly trip to the library. But it picks up again Friday after school...
I'm in charge of bringing all the Fine Arts Fair projects to Northrup, pinning them in their appropriate spots on the wall, and attaching ribbons to the projects from our school in grades K-2. The people from Good Shepherd brought their art projects over; I'm supposed to do the same for theirs. And I need to set up my 5th graders' science fair projects in their appropriate rooms and make sure my engineering 5th graders' engine works. All this needs to happen before 6:00pm on Friday. I had no idea it was going to be this much work to bring the art down. I am glad I can help out! (but I do wish it wasn't so much work for one person)
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Egg Bake
Yay! Our Lenten supper went off without a hitch! We prepared about 7-8 egg bakes the night before and we only had 2 leftover (one was really big though). The only comments I heard were good ones; a number of people asked if we'd be serving again in a few weeks. The 5th graders were all over that... the parents, well, I think they're good for a while. We made a tiny bit over $200 from free will donations. That's enough to cover three kids going to Camp Omega! One mom had the idea to do a breakfast/lunch after church to raise money, probably toward the end of the year. Sounds good to me. Start saving eggs again Mom!
Tomorrow, one of the moms is going to send the leftover egg bake to school so the 5th graders can have it for breakfast. There's a bunch of leftover muffins too, so they get those for snack. I hope they'll still be hungry for lunch!
After serving supper, I got roped into singing with the ladies choir since they only had five people. The cook is their leader and two days ago she asked me in the lunch line if I'd sing. She had the sheet music with her and everything! They're singing again in April, so I'll probably sing with them then too.
Science fair projects. One girl is 99% finished. She has to add a couple things to her board and quick edit a few paragraphs of her report. One boy is 99.9% done. His report is printed off (but he wants to do a new title page) and I want him to add some captions to his board. The other two are spending tonight finishing theirs. Whew! I will be so glad when this is over and done. I can only imagine how parents are feeling.
Now time to go home and correct papers and make a powerpoint for the 7th and 8th graders to take notes on tomorrow. All I want to do is read a book, but *sigh* it's going to have to wait.
Tomorrow, one of the moms is going to send the leftover egg bake to school so the 5th graders can have it for breakfast. There's a bunch of leftover muffins too, so they get those for snack. I hope they'll still be hungry for lunch!
After serving supper, I got roped into singing with the ladies choir since they only had five people. The cook is their leader and two days ago she asked me in the lunch line if I'd sing. She had the sheet music with her and everything! They're singing again in April, so I'll probably sing with them then too.
Science fair projects. One girl is 99% finished. She has to add a couple things to her board and quick edit a few paragraphs of her report. One boy is 99.9% done. His report is printed off (but he wants to do a new title page) and I want him to add some captions to his board. The other two are spending tonight finishing theirs. Whew! I will be so glad when this is over and done. I can only imagine how parents are feeling.
Now time to go home and correct papers and make a powerpoint for the 7th and 8th graders to take notes on tomorrow. All I want to do is read a book, but *sigh* it's going to have to wait.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Drippy, Droopy Day
Everything was a bit droopy today. The weather, the kids, me...
Last night, I had two parents call me about science fair projects. I will be so glad when they are all handed in and everything is over and done with. Our Lenten supper is tomorrow night, so parents are hit double this week.
I had to break up a bunch of 5th grade arguments; the girls both wanted it their way and neither wanted to budge.
Then at the end of the day, one girl decided she was going to ride the bus because no one was there to pick her up right away. At the beginning of the year, her mom and I decided that her mom would call if this student ever has to ride the bus, otherwise we'd plan to have someone pick her up. One time her mom forgot to call and this student hasn't forgotten since. Today I had to physically get on the bus and ask her to get off since I hadn't heard from her mom. Once the buses left, she argued with me about why she should've ridden the bus. About a minute later (while she was still mid-rant), her brother pulled up to bring her home. Ha! I was right. (I didn't rub it in, even though I kind of wanted to.)
Well, that's all for now. We have a PTL meeting tonight after our prep for the Lenten supper tomorrow. I said I'd be over at church around 5:00, which means I need to get moving!
Last night, I had two parents call me about science fair projects. I will be so glad when they are all handed in and everything is over and done with. Our Lenten supper is tomorrow night, so parents are hit double this week.
I had to break up a bunch of 5th grade arguments; the girls both wanted it their way and neither wanted to budge.
Then at the end of the day, one girl decided she was going to ride the bus because no one was there to pick her up right away. At the beginning of the year, her mom and I decided that her mom would call if this student ever has to ride the bus, otherwise we'd plan to have someone pick her up. One time her mom forgot to call and this student hasn't forgotten since. Today I had to physically get on the bus and ask her to get off since I hadn't heard from her mom. Once the buses left, she argued with me about why she should've ridden the bus. About a minute later (while she was still mid-rant), her brother pulled up to bring her home. Ha! I was right. (I didn't rub it in, even though I kind of wanted to.)
Well, that's all for now. We have a PTL meeting tonight after our prep for the Lenten supper tomorrow. I said I'd be over at church around 5:00, which means I need to get moving!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Rocket Launch
Well this week took off with a bang! Mostly figuratively, but a little bit literal. With the nice warm weather going on, the snow on the roof is melting and then sliding off in a huge avalanche. There were two of these avalanches during the day, causing the students (one happened while the 2nd graders were here) to sit up and look around. One went down in front of the window causing everyone to go, "WHOA!!!"
In the aftermath of my sister's visit, I had two students ask me where she was today. They wanted to know if she had school. Nope, she's on spring break. "Well how come she's not here?" I guess they liked her. I mean, who wouldn't? And Mr. D was very impressed with the art project example she did for me.
Yesterday my mom asked me what I do after school that I stay so long. I didn't have an answer for her, mostly because it's hard to think of all the little things. But I've been thinking about it some more and here's what I came up with: talk with other teachers, ask them questions/touch base about things that are happening later in the week. Since I work with other teachers' students on a regular basis, there's a surprising amount of things to talk about each day. I also erase the boards, straighten the room, respond to emails, gather the handed-in assignments, respond to more emails, figure out lesson plans for the next day, plan activities to do later in the week (or in upcoming days), write this blog, and print off worksheets, etc. for the next day. There's a bunch of other random stuff thrown in too. Like today I need to put backings on my students art projects for the Fine Arts Fair that's coming up on Saturday. I suppose I could push it off a bit, but I'm worried I'll forget if I don't do it now. Hmm, I think that's about it. Or at least what's coming to mind. Oh! I need to hang a map somewhere on the nearly-full walls of my classroom. I think it might go above the Interesting Word Wall. I'll have to see if it fits.
And since it looks like I still have a lot to do today, I will leave this post at that!
(Oh wait... I forgot about the blizzard update. It seems that it's been moving toward the NE United States and we're not going to get it. We are going to get some rain tonight that might turn into snow/grossness if it gets below freezing. So we might have 2-hours late tomorrow. And along with that, the School Board is for sure thinking about extending school. We might even have school on Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday. Yuck. I hope not. They're waiting until the snow is gone to make a decision about extending school.)
In the aftermath of my sister's visit, I had two students ask me where she was today. They wanted to know if she had school. Nope, she's on spring break. "Well how come she's not here?" I guess they liked her. I mean, who wouldn't? And Mr. D was very impressed with the art project example she did for me.
Yesterday my mom asked me what I do after school that I stay so long. I didn't have an answer for her, mostly because it's hard to think of all the little things. But I've been thinking about it some more and here's what I came up with: talk with other teachers, ask them questions/touch base about things that are happening later in the week. Since I work with other teachers' students on a regular basis, there's a surprising amount of things to talk about each day. I also erase the boards, straighten the room, respond to emails, gather the handed-in assignments, respond to more emails, figure out lesson plans for the next day, plan activities to do later in the week (or in upcoming days), write this blog, and print off worksheets, etc. for the next day. There's a bunch of other random stuff thrown in too. Like today I need to put backings on my students art projects for the Fine Arts Fair that's coming up on Saturday. I suppose I could push it off a bit, but I'm worried I'll forget if I don't do it now. Hmm, I think that's about it. Or at least what's coming to mind. Oh! I need to hang a map somewhere on the nearly-full walls of my classroom. I think it might go above the Interesting Word Wall. I'll have to see if it fits.
And since it looks like I still have a lot to do today, I will leave this post at that!
(Oh wait... I forgot about the blizzard update. It seems that it's been moving toward the NE United States and we're not going to get it. We are going to get some rain tonight that might turn into snow/grossness if it gets below freezing. So we might have 2-hours late tomorrow. And along with that, the School Board is for sure thinking about extending school. We might even have school on Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday. Yuck. I hope not. They're waiting until the snow is gone to make a decision about extending school.)
Friday, March 7, 2014
Le Sister
One of my sisters came to school with me today. I gave her the option of staying home, but she said she wanted to come along. We packed her a lunch and ate a nutritious breakfast before leaving. At school, almost every single kid who walked in asked "Who's that person sitting at the lab table?"
She was very useful! I had her correct the spelling tests and the 7th and 8th graders' history tests. She also finished an art project example for me. And she read a book. Oh, and she played the Adjective Game with us during English and also the Spanish Vocab game (aka- the Tap Game) before lunch.
At the floor hockey tournament, a little kindergarten girl asked, "Is that your daughter?" A 7th grade girl came over and asked, "Is that your friend?"
It was kind of fun to have her around during the day. It did make my 5th graders go a little nuts having someone new around. We could turn it into an incentive though... one girl had a ton of energy and asked Ms. J if she thought Ivy liked it. Ms. J said, "I think she'd like it more if you were a good student and listened to Miss H. and me." Score for Ms. J!
We ended the day in Mrs. M's room practicing for the musical. Mrs. E introduced the Butterbraids Fundraiser by letting us sample them. Yum! Right after practice, one of the 5th graders asked, "Miss H., will you buy a Butterbraid from me? I'll bring the packet on Monday." So I guess I'm buying a Butterbraid! I wonder if I'll be able to eat it all...
She was very useful! I had her correct the spelling tests and the 7th and 8th graders' history tests. She also finished an art project example for me. And she read a book. Oh, and she played the Adjective Game with us during English and also the Spanish Vocab game (aka- the Tap Game) before lunch.
At the floor hockey tournament, a little kindergarten girl asked, "Is that your daughter?" A 7th grade girl came over and asked, "Is that your friend?"
It was kind of fun to have her around during the day. It did make my 5th graders go a little nuts having someone new around. We could turn it into an incentive though... one girl had a ton of energy and asked Ms. J if she thought Ivy liked it. Ms. J said, "I think she'd like it more if you were a good student and listened to Miss H. and me." Score for Ms. J!
We ended the day in Mrs. M's room practicing for the musical. Mrs. E introduced the Butterbraids Fundraiser by letting us sample them. Yum! Right after practice, one of the 5th graders asked, "Miss H., will you buy a Butterbraid from me? I'll bring the packet on Monday." So I guess I'm buying a Butterbraid! I wonder if I'll be able to eat it all...
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Blustery Day
I'm going to keep this short since I have a sister waiting in my apartment for me. Normal day at school. Finished an art project (still a very messy table), took an English test (5th grade), took a history test (7th8th grades), played basketball for recess, visited the Bookmobile (no Psych season 3 yet), listened to people complain about the gross weather that's coming up (freezing rain tomorrow, blizzard next Friday), sat through a faculty meeting (still wondering what to do about the 150th anniversary celebration date), and talked to the Ecology Bus helper (they're visiting in April!).
Now to plow through my huge pile of papers to correct...
Now to plow through my huge pile of papers to correct...
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
What? Again?
Surprise, surprise... another two hour delay this morning. But looking ahead at the weather next week we will get weather above freezing! Yay!
Wednesday is chapel day, so adjusting to the delay was a bit more complicated than normal. It was nice enough to walk over to church and by the time chapel was over, it was time for lunch. I still had to endure the complaints of hungry students for much longer than I should have. One of them kept asking if she could ask the cook for a sandwich even though I had just told her lunch would be in 15 minutes. Then when we got back to the classroom, she pulled out her lunch box to get a snack. Was I speaking to the air or what?
In science today, we went over the results of our popcorn experiment. HyVee brand and Pop Secret tied with 9 points in each category. Orville was the next in line with 12 points. And Jolly Time was last with a whopping 17. We went over how to make graphs on the computer for their science boards. This was somewhat confusing to about half the class. They were all able to make the graph I assigned them! So something's sinking in.
The 5th graders are feeling the pinch on their science projects. They have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. I think we may need to push back the due date of the graphs/reflections of results. Boy will I be glad when all this is over!
I had a meeting with two parents who are going to do a native prairie grass planting at our school this spring. They wanted to double-check the location and size of the garden and make sure we're all on the same page. I'm really excited to start! The kids can help plant, we can research different plants, they'll get to be outside... The plans include a pathway through the garden, so once our plants are a little bigger, we'll be able to walk through to look for insects and identify plants! I can't wait for spring!
Wednesday is chapel day, so adjusting to the delay was a bit more complicated than normal. It was nice enough to walk over to church and by the time chapel was over, it was time for lunch. I still had to endure the complaints of hungry students for much longer than I should have. One of them kept asking if she could ask the cook for a sandwich even though I had just told her lunch would be in 15 minutes. Then when we got back to the classroom, she pulled out her lunch box to get a snack. Was I speaking to the air or what?
In science today, we went over the results of our popcorn experiment. HyVee brand and Pop Secret tied with 9 points in each category. Orville was the next in line with 12 points. And Jolly Time was last with a whopping 17. We went over how to make graphs on the computer for their science boards. This was somewhat confusing to about half the class. They were all able to make the graph I assigned them! So something's sinking in.
The 5th graders are feeling the pinch on their science projects. They have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. I think we may need to push back the due date of the graphs/reflections of results. Boy will I be glad when all this is over!
I had a meeting with two parents who are going to do a native prairie grass planting at our school this spring. They wanted to double-check the location and size of the garden and make sure we're all on the same page. I'm really excited to start! The kids can help plant, we can research different plants, they'll get to be outside... The plans include a pathway through the garden, so once our plants are a little bigger, we'll be able to walk through to look for insects and identify plants! I can't wait for spring!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Pop It Like It's Hot!
We did our popcorn experiment today. Just in time too! The school board came in for their annual observation day. They were scheduled to come at 1:45pm. Unfortunately, since it's at the end of the day, not much is happening. Normally we'd be doing art at that point, but I moved some stuff around so we could do our experiment while they were here.
Before we could pop the corn, we did a graph ranking the popcorn on price. I had noticed the packages weren't the same amount of ounces, so we made a category for that too. HyVee brand was in the lead at $1.67 for a pack of three 3.3oz packages. Orville was at the bottom with $3.68 for a pack of 2.9oz packages. We also had Pop-Secret and Jolly Time which had about the same price and size (3.2oz).
After going over the instructions one more time, we trekked down to the microwave in the kitchen to pop the bags. To keep the temperature of the microwave constant, we did a practice bag. Orville was the chosen practice bag and after 2 minutes of popping time (another constant), the smell of burnt popcorn filled the air. Our first adjustment! We changed the popping time to 1 minute 30 seconds so the popcorn wouldn't be burnt.
Everyone popped their designated bag and we dumped the contents into separate bowls (or piles) so they could be judged on looks. By now, the 5th graders were showing some bias as to which bag was the best (obviously their own bag), so we had to recruit the school board members and Ms. J and Ms. H. After ranking them on looks, we got to do the taste test! Again, we recruited others (10 total) and Orville and Pop-Secret tied for best tasting.
The last step was to count the unpopped kernels. Sigh. For some reason, the 5th graders had a hard time with this. But we got them counted! Results: Orville- 46, HyVee- 132, Pop-Secret- 136, Jolly Time- 146. I think with a longer popping time, the other three brands would've popped more kernels.
We ran out of time to discuss our findings. That's all right! Analyzing the results is a separate step anyway. I keep asking my 5th graders if they've begun their own science fair projects. Only one out of 4 has. *Wince* The one who's started already is doing hers on which bread molds the fastest. Another 5th grader is doing the freezing point of pop, so his won't take too long. One of them is making sugar crystals... another is building a Stirling engine. Those are the two I'm most worried about. I hope they start them soon!!!
Before we could pop the corn, we did a graph ranking the popcorn on price. I had noticed the packages weren't the same amount of ounces, so we made a category for that too. HyVee brand was in the lead at $1.67 for a pack of three 3.3oz packages. Orville was at the bottom with $3.68 for a pack of 2.9oz packages. We also had Pop-Secret and Jolly Time which had about the same price and size (3.2oz).
After going over the instructions one more time, we trekked down to the microwave in the kitchen to pop the bags. To keep the temperature of the microwave constant, we did a practice bag. Orville was the chosen practice bag and after 2 minutes of popping time (another constant), the smell of burnt popcorn filled the air. Our first adjustment! We changed the popping time to 1 minute 30 seconds so the popcorn wouldn't be burnt.
Everyone popped their designated bag and we dumped the contents into separate bowls (or piles) so they could be judged on looks. By now, the 5th graders were showing some bias as to which bag was the best (obviously their own bag), so we had to recruit the school board members and Ms. J and Ms. H. After ranking them on looks, we got to do the taste test! Again, we recruited others (10 total) and Orville and Pop-Secret tied for best tasting.
The last step was to count the unpopped kernels. Sigh. For some reason, the 5th graders had a hard time with this. But we got them counted! Results: Orville- 46, HyVee- 132, Pop-Secret- 136, Jolly Time- 146. I think with a longer popping time, the other three brands would've popped more kernels.
We ran out of time to discuss our findings. That's all right! Analyzing the results is a separate step anyway. I keep asking my 5th graders if they've begun their own science fair projects. Only one out of 4 has. *Wince* The one who's started already is doing hers on which bread molds the fastest. Another 5th grader is doing the freezing point of pop, so his won't take too long. One of them is making sugar crystals... another is building a Stirling engine. Those are the two I'm most worried about. I hope they start them soon!!!
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Trials and Tribulations of The Oregon Trail Disk
I feel like a tornado went through my brain.
All the kids were bouncing off the wall today. Ms. J said it's supposed to snow tomorrow, another three inches. I'm praying that's why they're so crazy.
We (as in, my 5th graders and I) looked for the Oregon Trail disk AGAIN. I still can't find it anywhere and it's driving me NUTS! I made a list of possible places to look for it and am slowly crossing them out. One of the girls cleaned out our game cupboard and reorganized it, but didn't find it. There was some drama there when the other 5th grade girl tried to take over the organization and they couldn't agree on who was right. Sigh.
After school, Mr. D dropped by to ask a question about floor hockey and I asked him if he knew where I put it (grasping at straws). He didn't know where my copy was. I mentioned that one of the 5th grade girls had asked if we could just use Mr. D's copy and I had told her it was lost. That sparked Mr. D's memory. He dug through his CDs and found a new Oregon Trail disk he had purchased to replace the one that walked off many years before. Yay! At least we have one copy of the disk. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should keep looking for my copy or if I should let it turn up on its own...
All the kids were bouncing off the wall today. Ms. J said it's supposed to snow tomorrow, another three inches. I'm praying that's why they're so crazy.
We (as in, my 5th graders and I) looked for the Oregon Trail disk AGAIN. I still can't find it anywhere and it's driving me NUTS! I made a list of possible places to look for it and am slowly crossing them out. One of the girls cleaned out our game cupboard and reorganized it, but didn't find it. There was some drama there when the other 5th grade girl tried to take over the organization and they couldn't agree on who was right. Sigh.
After school, Mr. D dropped by to ask a question about floor hockey and I asked him if he knew where I put it (grasping at straws). He didn't know where my copy was. I mentioned that one of the 5th grade girls had asked if we could just use Mr. D's copy and I had told her it was lost. That sparked Mr. D's memory. He dug through his CDs and found a new Oregon Trail disk he had purchased to replace the one that walked off many years before. Yay! At least we have one copy of the disk. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should keep looking for my copy or if I should let it turn up on its own...
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Good End to the Week
Just a few notes from Friday...
I had a really stressful dream Thursday night into Friday morning (the 7th and 8th graders weren't listening to me again), so I woke up feeling super stressed.
All the 5th graders got their memory work said before the bell rang. All my grades got put in the gradebook. Almost all the 5th graders did well on their spelling test (our theme was homophones... pretty tricky). We got a lot accomplished on our Mystery Class project and we even had time to practice the whole school musical. We went over some of the songs at the end of the day and it sounds like it's going to be a good one!
The 7th and 8th graders were having a lock-in at school Friday night. Mr. E and the parents didn't want them to use any classrooms (probably a good choice), so I needed to remember to lock my door behind me when I left after school. I wasn't planning to stay very long, but one thing led to another and I didn't leave until 4:30p.m. There's something about school; I just can't leave!
Even though the lock-in didn't start until 6, some students still stayed after to "set up" and by set up, I mean they played basketball in the gym and wandered around school looking for something to do. I recruited one of them to feed Joe. They asked if they could take him out. I said yes and then went to make copies. They were leaving the room as I made my way back, so if they did take him out, they put him back right away.
The scanner isn't working! I wanted to scan our February pen pal letters (and I did, twice!) but the email didn't send. One of the 5th grade moms wanted me to send her the schedule for memory work for the rest of the year, so I was going to scan that too... and that didn't work. Sigh. I'll try again on Monday I suppose.
The best end to the day was a little before 4:30. I was tidying up a few last minute things in my room and looked outside to see one of the 7th grade girls dusting the snow off my vehicle! Yay! Such a thoughtful student.
I had a really stressful dream Thursday night into Friday morning (the 7th and 8th graders weren't listening to me again), so I woke up feeling super stressed.
All the 5th graders got their memory work said before the bell rang. All my grades got put in the gradebook. Almost all the 5th graders did well on their spelling test (our theme was homophones... pretty tricky). We got a lot accomplished on our Mystery Class project and we even had time to practice the whole school musical. We went over some of the songs at the end of the day and it sounds like it's going to be a good one!
The 7th and 8th graders were having a lock-in at school Friday night. Mr. E and the parents didn't want them to use any classrooms (probably a good choice), so I needed to remember to lock my door behind me when I left after school. I wasn't planning to stay very long, but one thing led to another and I didn't leave until 4:30p.m. There's something about school; I just can't leave!
Even though the lock-in didn't start until 6, some students still stayed after to "set up" and by set up, I mean they played basketball in the gym and wandered around school looking for something to do. I recruited one of them to feed Joe. They asked if they could take him out. I said yes and then went to make copies. They were leaving the room as I made my way back, so if they did take him out, they put him back right away.
The scanner isn't working! I wanted to scan our February pen pal letters (and I did, twice!) but the email didn't send. One of the 5th grade moms wanted me to send her the schedule for memory work for the rest of the year, so I was going to scan that too... and that didn't work. Sigh. I'll try again on Monday I suppose.
The best end to the day was a little before 4:30. I was tidying up a few last minute things in my room and looked outside to see one of the 7th grade girls dusting the snow off my vehicle! Yay! Such a thoughtful student.
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