Teacher to the Core

I am done teaching yet !!!???!!!

Yes! I am finally done! Friday was my last day! My last week of school was AMAZING! It was great because I kept teaching. Oh don't get me wrong we watched a movie or two this week. I ain't gonna lie to you! But I kept them VERY busy the other 4 and 1/2 hours of the day ! ! !

If I stop teaching they stop behaving! This is often worse than the start of school, because I find myself so annoyed with them. "They KNOW better than to act this way." I think in my frazzled brain! I also know better than to ask them to silent read for 45 minutes so I can clean... So I planned a packed week including a fabulous science activity.

This activity is SUPER engaging, easy to pull together, CHEAP, and makes me love being a teacher!

I sent kids around with a black trash bag asking for bottles. I forgot to tell them we only needed 30, they came back with 100. Little over achievers, just like there teacher! But that was perfect because I used the extra bottles to let them do the project at home too.

I brought a feather, gravel, pennies, a sponge to school. I meant to bring foil, but forgot... Oh well. So I cut up some plastic instead of using the foil. You have to roll with it...

We huddled up around a big bowl of water and tested out a feather and talked about why it floats, then we dropped a rock in and talked about why it sank. We generalized about why things float and sink.

Imagine a picture here

Why no picture?

Remember I am FRAZZLED!

My teacher brain cannot remember everything.

Then the kids grabbed one of everything and headed to their desks to work in buddy pairs. They predicted what their supplies would do. Would they sink or float?

Getting ready to make our bottles for the sink or float buddy project

Sink or float buddy science project predicting together

Then, in go the sponge, penny, rock, and plastic or foil. Kids know that they must communicate and take turn at all times when we are working as teams.

Adding supplies during the sink or float experiment

Tip: only fill the bottle only 1/3 of the way. This means the label we add will not cover the floating objects. Tip 2: add the label last so that it does not get soaked.

First graders discover what will sink and what will float

Then each child got a thinking mat. They drew and labeled each object inside their bottle, then they explained why some things sink and some things float

Friends, I tell you they were smiling, engaged, leaning, and most importantly not complaining, pinching, chit chatting, or doing any of the stuff that drives us crazy as teachers!

I made bulletin board component for this because … well that’s what I do…I really like bulletin boards…. I created the lettering. All you have to do is print and cut. I have way more than 14 kids ( I have 30) but this fits in the camera frame.

I also did this photo idea from Primary Practice. The minute I saw I knew I needed to do it! The results are just too danged cute! And it took them a long time to do the writing! SCORE for being able to clean up my room. I think the parents appreciated that their child did some meaningful work this last week of school.

The kids glued their picture to the paper below and wrote all about what their jobs will be like and why they chose that job. This little guy (who is a gem and my Citizen of the Year award winner) wrote that he “will try be very smart in the way he fights and try not to die”. But don’t hear darkness in what he said. Nope, not this kid. He is sunshine and helpfulness. He wrote that with optimism and a cheerful plan for being a great “army guy”.

If you would like the writing template, grab it my dear, and enjoy! Next year I will staple the students’ writing next to the giant lettering for an Open House display. I miss the ipad… darn thieves.

Are you in love with the new trend of grey and yellow? I think it is a nod back to the 80’s grey and peach trend. I liked it then, and I love the new variation now! I am Loving this bag! Polka dots and chevron, too cute!

So what do you think would happen if you throw last year’s grade book into the pool as part of your “Welcome Summer” victory dance? Will it sink or float? I plan to find out today! I’ll let you know!

Throw Back Thursday!

in Classroom Chaos

Don’t you love Cara Carroll ? Only Cara could think up a blog linky that does not require a ton of work! We are throwing back to early blog posts. That’s perfect for me because like any new blogger ( a year ago ) I wrote great posts that no one read….

Like this one about the Hunger Games Book 1 Crisis, and how I had to hide in my own house to stay up and read all night.

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Originally published March 27, 2012

Well, while the rest of you saw the movie this weekend, I devoured the book! I ordered it weeks ago, and it took Amazon an eternity to get me my book. It was worth the wait. My goodness. I loved it, but I am nervous to go on to the next books. I am having a crisis! Do I dare read on? I love what I read! Can’t we all just get along? Really does there have to be a war?

Somebody blurted out that they didn't like how book 3 ended... so should I read the rest? Who cares what one person says right? But I am exhausted, and cannot even get myself to B&N to buy the next one.

This maybe because I was up until 1:30 finishing the book. I sat on the sofa reading like my life, or Katniss' life depended on it. The problem is our new house has a slight "reading all night" disadvantage over our old house.

In the old house when I wanted to stay up all night and read, I would drag my blankets and pillows into our bathtub and shut the door. Hey don't judge, it is surprisingly comfortable in there. Think about your tub filled with blankets and pillows. It is a little reading cocoon. The bonus was the reading light was blocked out by the door. Should my slumbering "Mr." awake, he has no idea I am irresponsibly squandering my precious hours of sleep.

But the new house has a big beautiful arch between the master and the master bath. Arch. No door. Light gives me away. So I read on the sofa…

"Go to sleep, Katie" he calls.

I move to the family room.

"Are you still up?" he asks when he is up for a midnight snack.

Caught again.

"I promise only a few more pages." I say.

I move to the living room. An hour later, more calls from the bed..."You're going to be grouchy in the morning, Katie."

But then genius strikes.

This house has a guest room !

Yes!

The guest room! Comfy bed! Newly decorated. My new haven of ~~sleep wasting~~ reading. I love you, new house. I really do.

Now back to the Games. Are you kidding! I'd have been dead in the first 60 seconds because I would pass out thereby, triggering the explosives. If I didn't pass out, I can neither climb trees, nor run fast, nor fish, nor gather food (unless you count raiding a pantry of clearly marked boxes that say Cheez-its and Lucky Charms).

Peeta. That's all I'm going to say. Maybe she should have gone home, eaten a few of his bakery rolls, and tried him on for size. I mean I get it, Gale, but I don't get it..... I get it. Then again at the end of the Phantom of the Opera I always feel a little bad for the phantom.... Like Katniss I do not forget debt easily.

Boob job: That would have been a score. Katniss would have gotten over it. I would have. Imagine awaking hungry, skinny, and big-boobed! That sounds like a dream come true. I awake hungry, headed to the treadmill, and seeing my previously mention parts shrink along with my thighs.

What's going to happen next. I am too tired to really care, but should I get myself to B&N today???

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Let me tell you, I got myself to Barnes & Noble and proceeded to stay up and read all night long for another week. I also got my husband to read them and then HE was up all night reading too!

Do you want to flash back to my class play? Seriously you do. My first graders almost killed themselves with the back drops….
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Excerpt from: Adventures in Theater with First Graders!

Originally published June 10th 2012

( Bricks Pig from the song Do What’s Right- The 3 Little Pigs)

OK, so here is a little story from this year's show (2012). I am going to tell the adventure through what I would imagine to be the first grade boys' conversation. I did not hear the conversation because I was seated by the parents directing the show.

3 boys jump up and go to the bathroom during the show. Because they can't hold it ... really? Anyway, they come back cuh-ranked to high heaven. As they make their way back to their spots, one grabs the gigantic wooden backdrop and begins to rock it back and forth.

I think this is how the conversation went....

KID 1: “Look guys I can move this big wooden thing! I am soooooo strong!”

//// backdrop rocking/////

KID 2: “No I'm way stronger!”

////// backdrop really rocking ///////

Kid 3: “If we all rock it we can almost tip it over!”

///////backdrop is really moving now//////

KID 2: “Hey what is Mrs. Knight doing on stage? We are in the middle of our dress rehearsal performance for kindergarten! Doesn't she know that?”

///// backdrop still rocking/////

KID1: “Dude she looks scared! What's her deal?”

KID 2: “She's upset too and moving really fast! She is looking at us!”

- - - backdrop stops moving - - -

Kid 3: “Dude.... we are so missing last recess….”

Yes, my friends, this is life with first grade.

I would not trade it for anything!

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Thanks for flashing back! Link back up with Cara by clicking the picture.

By the way have you noticed how fashion is making a full circle? The colored denim jeans I wore in 6th grade are now back in fashion. I should have kept my 5 button BONGO jeans! What throwback fashion are you loving these days?

June Mystery Box !!!!

in Mystery Box

It's baaaack...

But, not in a creepy, Poltergeist kind of a way.

No, no.

No creepy, but definitely mysterious.

That's right!

It's time for June's monthly Mystery Box Giveaway

hosted by 6 fabulous blogging buddies.

And, it won't arrive uninvited via your television,
but via snail...Mail, that is.

Any guesses who might be hosting this month?

Any ideas what goodies might be in the box?

All we'll say is...

If you love all things summer with a very small sprinkle of school, then you'll LOVE this box.

Over $30 worth of mysterious goodies,
plus,
$30 in TpT products (one from each of us)!

Woo-Hoo!!

So to ring in summer, enter quick!
US Residents Only

Winner will be announced 1 week from today!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck Friends!

What to do when you don't feel safe in your classroom

in Handling Hardships

Classrooms don't feel as safe anymore. School shootings and a robbery have changed my world view, so how do we heal?

May Mystery Box Delivered and Revealed

in Mystery Box

Our lucky winner was Katie Klohn! Friday morning May’s Mystery Box arrived on her doorstep. I was this month's Mystery Box host, and I had a ridiculously good time shopping for the box!!! Included in the Mystery box was over $30 of digital units and a treasure trove of goodies to make summer days sweeter! Take a peek inside and get excited because June’s Mystery box is being photographed right now and will be announced soon!

The May box included:

~ The best teacher scissors ever