Oh, Boy, Little Girls & Waterworks!

Today, two of my little girls, who I will call Little Lady & Sweetie Pie, got into a fight during Music. I was so surprised as I walked into the Music Room & saw Little Lady crying & Sweetie Pie holding back tears.

“What is going on?” I asked Little Lady as I gave her a big fat hug and let her cry it out. It was at this point that Car Boy passed by & said all-super-spy-like, “Miss, her and Sweetie Pie had a fight.” After that, I knew the waterworks were not going to stop any time soon. After our short walk to the classroom (all the while hugging Little Lady), I called Sweetie Pie to the back. It was at this point that she burst into tears. I felt like crying too. I didn’t, but it took strength. I counseled them as they both cried. I tried to get them to hug it out. They wouldn’t. The boys tried to get them to hug it out. They still wouldn’t. Sweetie Pie wanted to, but Little Lady is a stubborn little thing. After 10 minutes of talking and consoling them, I realized they were not going to hug it out. So, I moved on & read the class the last of the Dr. Seuss books before the month ends. I let them go with a promise to think of a way they could be friends again. I don’t know how they’re going to interact with each other tomorrow. That remains to be seen! I’m betting there will be more waterworks tomorrow. We’ll see.

***Note- The girls made up by text the same night***

Just the Right Book!

I love bibliotherapy and personally feel that it works. If you want to say something to someone and don’t know how to say it, say it with a book. That’s why I am looking for just the right book to tell one of my students about his behavior. This particular student, technically, bullies other people, but a book about bullying isn’t quite for him because he does it in such a way that the other person gets into trouble. All the while, he has the look of “What did I do” on his face. One thing about this kid I need to say, he is very good at his job.

I want to say it with a book but don’t quite know which one. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Curriculum Mapping

I just came from a fantastic Curriculum Mapping training. I will not have time to write about it now because my sister is giving a speech tonight. So, I will write about it tomorrow. So, if you don’t know what this is, you will tomorrow. Bye for now!

Peter Griffin, the Dragon Ball Z Stance, & the Black Sheep of the Family!

The title, as it is, is long and maybe a bit confusing. As usual, just sit back and you will understand it shortly.

I’ve made it a habit of making my class into family. Unfortunately, not this year. I was thinking that it didn’t happen this year, but it did. However, and this is a big however, there is one student who just does not fit, no matter how hard I try. Who is it, you ask? It’s the student of the infamous pencil taped to the floor incident. No matter what I do, he always seems to get under the skin of the other students. Just the other day, I had to separate him from four other students who were ready to fight him. All at the same time!

Let me set the scene of my school. The students at my school aren’t violent; they don’t fight. The one “fight” two of my students did have in my class consisted of one pushing the other. That was it. Nothing else to report on that. That’s why it was so urgent for me to separate Olive Boy from the other students.

Now that I’ve set the scene of my school, let me describe my students. My students are very peaceful. The biggest problem I have in my class is that they talk too much. Student #1, who I will call Peter Griffin, was so upset with this particular student that he had his fists balled up and he didn’t even know it. Student #2, who I will call Golden Boy, was redder than a tomato and giving him the stink-eye. Student #3, who I will call Warrior Boy, had his fist balled up and was in a Piccolo (from Dragon BallZ) fighting stance.

So, I said, “Warrior Boy, are you going to fight him?”

“What are you talking about Miss, I’m not mad,” he said.

Look at yourself. You are in a fighting stance, your fists are balled up, and your face is red. “You are definitely ready to fight,” I said.

Warrior Boy then looked at himself in disbelief. He didn’t even realize he was as mad as he was.

Car Boy was giving him the side eye of death. “Miss, he keeps bothering me,” he said. With all four boys mad at Laurence, I knew I had to defuse the situation, but quick. So, I calmed Peter Griffin, Warrior Boy, Golden Boy, & Car Boy down by separating them and moving them to the other side of the room by my desk to have a chat with them. I actually had to send Warrior Boy & Golden Boy out of the room to calm down.

I told you all this to say that I have created a family in my classroom with all but one student. This particular student is the Black Sheep of the family. He constantly bothers the rest of the class. He irritates all but two girls in the class. I have been given advice by Teachermum. I have to say that I tried only one time though, so I guess I didn’t really try. Teachermum, I will try it next week. I have to tell you that I have been at my breaking point more than once with this student. I will exercise more patience with this student. He is the black sheep of the family, but I will never give up on him. I will keep trying. But, boy am I happy the end of the year is near!

Friday- Where Are You?

Friday, I have a bone to pick with you. I don’t know what’s going on with you. You’ve been taking longer and longer to come and see me. And when you come, you leave waaaaaaaaaaaay too soon. What’s wrong? Don’t you love me anymore? If so, please visit more often, okay! I’ll be waiting for you. I Love You!

I Had A Bad Day!

Yep, as the title states, I had a bad day. It was the kind of day where you just want to roll up in a big ole’ ball and die. I say it was a bad day because it just seemed like I couldn’t do anything right. Today was my writing coach’s visit. I thought she remembered our time was 10:30. I was waiting for her, but she didn’t come until I was teaching Math. At that point she was just in the way. I felt like I was stumbling all over the place. It could have been my imagination, but I don’t think so. Tomorrow is Thursday and the day after that is Friday. Watch out weekend, here I come!

Cowboy & Octous by Jon Scieszka

I have to say that this story, Cowboy & Octopus (2007), by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith was not my cup of tea. I absolutely hated it. Why am I reviewing this book then? Well, I am reviewing this because Jon Scieszka, a former school teacher, writes books for reluctant readers (read boys), and he did his job with this one.

I recently bought this book for $1 D.W. Discount Books’ going out of business sale. The price was so ridiculously good, I did something I don’t usually do, I bought it without reading it. I figured since it was Jon Scieszka, it couldn’t possibly be bad. Well, I was wrong. I read it, hated it and passed it on to Phillise, thinking my “grownupness” was getting in the way. Well, Phillise hated it too.

So, bells started going off. Jon Scieszka writes for boys. Since that is the case, why don’t I give this book to a little boy and see how he likes it. I hit paydirt when I gave it to my neighbor’s 6 year old son. He laughed and laughed his little head off.

“What is he laughing at?,” I thought to myself. By golly, he was laughing at the book. I got a further thought to try it with the boys in my class. My theory= of the fourth graders, it was my belief that two of my students would like it, since they are a bit immature; the other one, since he already has sophisticated tastes, would hate it. While the last student I was  on the fence about. I figured he could go either way.

My theories were correct. The immature ones liked it. The one I was unsure of, who I was on the fence about,  despised it. The one with the sophisticated tastes, thought it was one of the worst books he’d read. None of my fifth graders liked it. So, my conclusion is that Jon Scieszka hit it out of the park with this one. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t written for me. I am not the target audience- 5 & 6 year olds are the target audience and they love it.

So, go out and get it for your little reluctant reader. Apparently they love it!

Wanna’ Play Jeopardy?

I’m not sure if this is the same site the 6th grade teacher used for her jeopardy game. I’ll ask her on Monday. I was so happy to find this because I have been wanting to play Jeopardy with my students since the 6th grade teacher showed me her version of Jeopardy. The only catch is the site isn’t free. It’s made by a struggling college student. But, the good part is that you can put in the amount you want to donate.

http://jeopardylabs.com/build

Here’s the link to another Jeopardy game that’s free.

http://www.macgamesandmore.com/freeopardy.php

Here’s another one:

http://www.jmu.edu/madison/teacher/jeopardy/jeopardy.htm

I also found one to make different Jeopardy Game:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4425955_make-jeopardy-game.html

 

Private Schooling the Homeschool Way!

I am so envious of homeschoolers. Most of them are fantastic. They are able to make resources out of nothing. That’s why I have decided to try some of the things they do. I found a homeschooling site for teaching children how to write a novel. I can’t access my laptop right now because I have to put it in the repair shop. It’s burned out 3 power cords in the past 4 months. So, as soon as I get it fixed, I will publish it.

The Gold Rush, Get Rich Quick Schemes & High Test Scores???

How are the Gold Rush, get-rich-quick schemes, and higher test scores related? Well, wait for a minute and, as usual, I will bring it back around. Recently I had a conversation with my fourth graders. We are studying the Gold Rush right now and they are so fascinated with it. As we were discussing the “rush” to California to find gold, one of my fourth graders, asked me if I would have tried to make my fortune in California, if I lived back then. I told them no without even having to think about it.

“Why, Miss?,” they asked. Those people made a lot of money. That’s when I had to give them a Genesis to Revelation explanation about get-rich-quick-schemes, the secret to increasing test scores, and just good old fashioned saving vs. modern day get-rich-quick schemes.

To begin the story, I told my current students about my former students, their low reading, Math & comprehension scores and how I consistently taught them basic foundational skills that helped to raise their test scores. They wanted to know how I helped raised their test scores.

“What’s your secret?,” they asked.

“Well, there’s no secret to good teaching and to helping raise student’s test scores,” I told them. The key is to behave just like you’re building a house- build a good foundation; something the house can stand on, come rain (spelling tests), sleet (monthly OCR assessments), or snow (standardized testing) . Being a Special Ed. teacher, you get used to filling “holes”. By holes, I mean, concepts and ideas the students just didn’t catch onto the first time around. So, when a child isn’t progressing, it usually (not always) means there are certain holes that need to be filled. That’s what I do. That’s why I have had the success that I’ve had. Just call me The Spackler!

If I hadn’t already learned it from life, I learned it from an L. Ron Hubbard educational training program  I and my children attended through my old church. There’s this technique called Clearing a Word. This is how it works. If you’ve gotten to the end of a paragraph and don’t understand what you’ve read, chances are, there are only one or two words in the paragraph you don’t understand or misunderstood. In order to understand the paragraph, you have to define the misunderstood words and re-read the paragraph. AND, if there are any words in the definition you don’t understand, you have to define those also. That is the same principle I teach by. If there is some word, concept, or idea that a student doesn’t understand, I work with them to “clear” that word, concept, or idea. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, then proper learning can begin.

Okay, now that I’ve given a Genesis to Revelation answer, let me bring it all together. My students asked if I would have gone to California during the Gold Rush to seek my fortune. My answer was NO! I would not have gone. I told them that I would have done it the old-fashioned way because there is no “secret” to getting rich quick (Well, maybe there is. I just don’t know about it.), just as there is no secret to teaching. The key (not secret) is building a good foundation, filling holes, and just good old-fashioned problem solving.

A LITTLE AT A TIME. SLOW & STEADY!!!

A Genesis to Revelation Explanation!

That’s a funny title. You may even be curious as to what it is. Well, what is a Genesis to Revelation explanation? Glad you asked, now I can tell you. My brother-in-law, who’s a pastor, is (let’s say) very thorough. Don’t ask him a question if you don’t want to get an answer that’s at least 20 minutes long. Think I’m exaggerating? Well, you go ahead and ask him and you’ll see what I mean. If you ask him a question about the book of Revelations, he will tell you that, in order to fully understand his answer, he has to take you back to the book of Genesis. Just in case you don’t know what those books are, Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and Revelations is the last book.

I said all that to explain what a Genesis to Revelation explanation is. It’s when you ask someone a question, expecting a simple answer, and they want to give you a very long and complicated history lesson.

Finally Better!

Hello, Dear Readers! I know I’ve been missing in action. I’ve been sick for about 2 weeks off an on. Just when I thought I was getting better, some other symptom would come out of nowhere and knock me on my butt! But, I said no more. Last night, I took a scalding hot bath and washed those germs right down the sink. Boy, do I feel better today. After work I am going to Lysol my house down like I should have done the first time. Not only that, but I am going to clean all the door knobs with bleach.

Now that I’m better, I can finally get some work done. I’ll be staying a little late today to finish up some things I didn’t have the energy to do earlier in the week. I have a couple of posts I want to put up from two Saturdays ago when I went to a fantastic training. It may even have been three weeks ago. So, I need to get on it. Well, that’s my update. Now that you have it, you can go home already. Are you still here? Bye! I will see you when I look at you.

$1 Book Sale

Yes, you read that right. There is a $1 book sale going on in Westchester, on Manchester & Sepulveda. They are going out of business and everything is $1. I cleaned up. I got 15 books (9 hardcover, 7 softcover) for $16.54. I don’t have the books in front of me, and can only remember some of them, but I will list them all when I get home.

Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders by Jack Prelutsky

Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest

Only Opal by Barbara Cooney

Feelings by

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman

An Island Like You: Barrio Stories by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Someone for Mr. Sussman by Patricia Polacco

Mrs. Rubinstein’s Beauty by Pep Montserrat

Swine Lake by James Marshall

Gizmo by Barry Varela

Cowboy & Octopus by Jon Scieszka

Ride by Stephen Gammell

Is That You, Winter? by Stephen Gammell

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Walk on: A Guide to Taking the First Step

Here’s their info if you have any questions:

D.W. Pages (Formerly Crown Books Liquidation Center)

8655 Sepulveda Blvd.

Los  Angeles, CA 90045

(310) 568-9553

Fruitful Friday!

As of this week, I’ve instituted Friday center time. I have the Art Center, Writing Center, Computer Center, Leila Center, Reading Center (on the rug), & finally the Game Center.

At the Leila center, I pay the students and review concepts they may have had trouble with. For the first time, things went pretty smoothly. Today, in addition to paying the students and reviewing concepts they had problems with, I did their monthly Dibels testing & let them buy from the classroom store.

I know I’ve been promising to post pics of my classroom store. Well, here they are:

No Sour Grapes This Time, My Friend!

Ok, Dear Readers, this time I will not be eating sour grapes. Not that there was any sour grape eating last time either. This time I will definitely be ready for the Open House we’re about to have. I have been working on a writing project with my students that will definitely be on my writing board with pictures. Not only that, but I will have the published work bound (by the student) on display.

I already have their student bound Dr. Seuss books on display. I just need to put their K-W-L charts on the reading board. I need something else for my reading board to send it over the top. Although I hope everyone’s room is nice, I’m not worried about it. I’m only worried about my room and my sweet grapes I will be eating. Nope, no sour grapes this time, my friend!

Back at Work!

Although I’m not @ 100%, I couldn’t stay at home. I was still a little unsure if I was going to be able to return to work, but I made it. Once I could walk down my hallway with stable legs and run my own bath water, I knew I was well enough. I’m going to take very good care of me still, though. I am hydrating as we speak. I’m alternating between drinking Gatorade so I won’t get that electrolyte imbalance that has my stomach turning flips & a really tall drink. For lunch I had lentil soup. I’m still a little shaky on the steps going up to the classroom, but I managed to get through today. That’s the important part. I’ll get get better as each day goes on.

HERE’S TO 2011!

Much Better, But Still Not @ 100%!

I feel much better even though I’m not @ 100%. I am incredibly weak. I keep trying to get up, but my body keeps tell me to lay back down. Hopefully I will be well enough by Monday to go to work. If not, I will simply have to listen to my body and take another sick day. I hate to miss another day but I have to take care of me.  So, I’ll see how I feel tomorrow evening.

Co-Flu???

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was going up the steps to my classroom when I had to stop because I was so weak I nearly passed out. One minute I was fine and literally the next minute, I was shaking with chills. I’m all achy and have a headache. The only way I can describe this is the Co-flu, because it is a combination of the common cold and the flu. I sweated it out last night, so I am feeling loads better. I’m still a little achy and don’t have much of an appetite, but the worst is over. Thank goodness today is Friday. Since I am not going to work, I now have a three day weekend. I’m not happy about missing work, but my body is telling me to lay down and rest.

HERE’S TO 2011!

Oobleck Again?

I made Oobleck with my class today in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. I couldn’t stop there though. Why, you ask? Well, since you asked so nicely I will tell you. Phillise wanted to make some too. So, even though I was tired, I had to make oobleck with my baby. As I speak, she is washing the oobleck from her hands. She had such fun playing with it. I love spending time with my little girl. I will write more about my day tomorrow because right now I am pooped. I’ll see ya when I look at ya’!

Today Was Like Magic!

Today, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, is like magic. There is so much going on at my school today. First, my Principal dressed up like the Cat in the Hat. Secondly, the Pre-k through 1st grade had green eggs and ham. Thirdly, we had readers from the community come in and read Dr. Seuss to the whole school. Lastly, for their journal writing assignment today, I had them pick a line or page from the favorite Dr. Seuss book and either re-write the ending or write 3-4 extra rhyming stanzas to go with it. Once they finished writing, they illustrated then bound the book. They are in front of my classroom along with the “real” Dr. Seuss books. They look very nice.

I could feel how excited the students were. I remember how excited I used to get while reading Dr. Seuss books when I was little.  Reading the books to my students evoke a feeling of magic. It’s like reading Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe all rolled into one. They’re magical; the best thing ever!

You can see the cornstarch, measuring cup, and food colors (along with my cute little brown hand) in the background. It got a little messy, but everyone had fun. I will make some time tomorrow (since we ran out today) because the students want to make some on their own.

I’m not sure if I had more fun today or my students. How was your day today?

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I’ve been looking forward to this for some time now. My students are excited. I’m excited. The Kindergarten & 1st grade are making Green Eggs & Ham! I may do the same thing. I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. But, for now, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!