Currently: May

Here's my May Currently. Link up with Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!!

I had been meaning to do this earlier. I guess I just got busy with life. I'm kind of a terrible blogger.

Anyways, testing is done. Only 8 more days of school...One of which I'm taking off to attend a friend's baby shower and this Friday is field day (or it should be...the person who sets it up is suspended...awesome!). Woo! So ready to be done.

I've asked my principal to loop with my class this year, but I was basically shot down. I have had practically zero office referrals and my students have done a great job academically...which is his reasoning for leaving me in first. Really, I think the reason is because both of my teammates are leaving and going to another school out of our district. I *personally* feel I'm not going to be allowed to move because of that. It kinda of makes me mad. There currently isn't a second grade opening, but one of the teachers has asked for a transfer. If she gets it and someone else gets her spot, I'll be really annoyed. I have two kids that probably need to be retained, but the parents are against it. If I looped, I could save them from retention for a year and really hit the ground running where we left off. I'm even willing to take some of the behavior kids from the other two rooms..knowing that I can't keep my entire class intact. 

I just don't feel like I'm done with them. And I'm tired of teaching first grade. I'm bored. And if I'm bored, I know my students are bored too. 

My principal is staying tight-lipped on just about everything. It's been a hot-mess in my school the last two weeks. I'm kind of over the drama and lack of discipline. Thankfully, I don't deal with my in my own room...but everywhere else is falling apart. I'm so ready for this to end. 

Truthfully, I wish I would have put in applications so much sooner. I never had peace about leaving and going home...or even leaving the school. I have had so many more questions than answers. It would be very easy for me to beat myself up saying that I should have made a decision sooner. I have spent countless hours praying and no answers...no direction. But I'm not going there...again. I'm resolving to trust the Lord. To trust that He has the perfect class planned for me. Not that everything will run perfectly..but that in the end, they will have been the kids for me and I'll have been the teacher for them. He works all things together for my good.

Spring Break

This week is/was our Spring Break. Thankfully, the weather decided to cooperate. It's been close to 80 and clear all week long. I have indulged in reading some books on my "want to read" list and starting one that wasn't on the list. I avoided school work like it was a plague.


I decided today would be the day that I got some of my ridiculous paperwork done. I have spent almost 3 hours at Panera Bread grading tests and filling out data forms. Clearly, I procrastinated doing this for far too long. But, oh well. I hate grading papers. I used to think I'd love it when I was a kid. Why would I think that? I have to look at the same papers 24 times. Who wants to spend their time doing that? I need an assistant. Or just to quit procrastinating. Yah..that's probably it.


After grading two Reading theme tests, I can officially say I am irritated. Why do I spend all my time trying to get them reading, when they go and bomb the tests? I expect them to take their time and do their best. We talk about it ALL.THE.TIME. !! When our tests ask for the students to fill in the missing words, we have practiced over and over again how we try all the words to find the one that fits and not just choose the one we know how to read right away. 


I know at least three of my students continually rush through the test without even reading it. Do they expect to do well? It's a READING test. You HAVE to read it. Oh. my. 


I am going to give them an ear full on Monday and all next week. This laziness has to stop. I can't continue to have these terrible scores when do so well on everything else. The majority of the class is reading on-grade level. Our Early STAR Literacy scores are top of the district (as a complete 1st grade). They continue to show growth every time they take it. As a grade level, we probably have at least a third of our students who are taking the STAR Reading test that begins in 2nd grade. We have students that are learning the 2nd and 3rd grade Sight words. Our Math scores are great. 


Why are they bombing this reading test EVERY TIME!?!?


Now, I realize that they have to read the test on their own, but it's words we see all the time. I make sure that we spend a good portion of time learning the phonics skills for the week. It's reinforced in our stations, spelling lists and stories. I don't get it. If I could I'd test them all in small groups, but with 24 that's not possible. So depressing and frustrating.


I guess it's just fueling my fire for the rest of the year. I fell like coming out guns blazing.    Hopefully, we can pull it together before testing next month...which has been pushed back two weeks!!! We won't be taking our test until the last week in April. But then we will be about 3 weeks until the end of school. PTL! :)

Words from First Graders

This week, you would have heard these things in my classrooms....and it's only Tuesday!!

"Miss R., I'm going to stick my head in a pie."

A mentor teacher came into to model a read-aloud for me today. She asked the kids in the middle of the lesson she asked the kids who we were reading about. One of my kids responded with "Alvin Alien". We were reading about Alvin Ailey. HA!

Friday one of my lovely ladies told me that I need to go home after school and rest because I've been teaching all day. 

It's hard right now to hold on to the good parts when the stressful/hard parts are so much more. 

We need a snow day so very badly.

Hello, 2012!

I'm getting student #24 tomorrow. Technically, this will be the 27th kid I've had this year. 28..including our sweet friend who pushes in from the SpEd room.

I really have no idea how you teach 24 first graders in one room. It's 24 vs. 1. I realize I'm the teacher, but sheesh. Those are some crazy odds.

I feel like I'm going to be forced to pick and choose who I teach. How nutso is that!?!

We had a quick little grade level data meeting today to discuss our Early Star Literacy scores from December. The Superintendent of Elementary C & I said that our kiddos should at least fall into the "Transitional Reader" category at this point in the year. I still have 6 that are below that in "Emergent Reader". HOWEVER, just one month ago, I had TWELVE!! I cut that number in half! Woo!!

In looking at those 6...2 are ELL and 2 receive Tier 3/Title 1 instruction. So, really...the last two are my biggest concern. Is that not picking and choosing or what? Makes no sense to me.

Common Core Math is whoa. Whoever set the pacing for us this year was on some kinda crack or something. The windows for each unit are incredibly short. And with CC we HAVE to teach the skills to mastery. I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes every time we talk about it. I swear the people in positions of "leadership" have no common sense.

We read "How Full is Your Bucket?" yesterday. I had my kids draw another kid's name at random and then write or draw something to them that would fill their bucket. I heard lots of "I like his/her shoes". We got lots of new shoes for Christmas. :) Two of my favorites were "_____ is my hero" and "_____ is really funny". So sweet. One girl asked if she could write one to me. She said that she thought my nails were pretty. They're currently hot pink. haha! I may or may not be using the line "you're emptying my bucket" for my kids that won't stop talking or interrupting me. I've also had a few kids tell me they felt their buckets were empty, so we brainstormed why and how we could fix it. If this gets them to think about how their behaviors effect each other, then I have definitely succeeded this year.

Ooo...I can get them little buckets as an end of the year thing. Gotta remember that.

We're also writing New Year's Resolutions. Two of my sweet kiddos want to be better spellers. One wants to drink more milk. One wants to get better at driving her little play jeep. Quite a few want to be better helpers for their parents. We talked about ridiculous resolutions vs. realistic resolutions. Sky diving and driving cars are ridiculous resolutions for a 1st grader. They loved hearing that. I think this group is a lot more realistic with their resolutions than my kiddos were last year.

We also made a patchwork quilt square to make a classroom quilt. We talked about how each of us is different and unique but together we make a beautiful masterpiece....and how it takes teamwork to accomplish this. I surprisingly feel like we're pulling ourselves together.

I am going to try to figure out what to do with my life after this year. I am looking at gaining certification in another state to be closer to my parents. I also heard about a program there that works with children who have autism. They work with the students and families outside of the classroom. I have decided that the part I love most about my job is coming up with creative solutions to learning issues. It's rather daunting to do for 24 students. I feel I am most effective, creative, inspired and on my game when I work with less kids (as I'm sure most people feel). I am definitely going to be looking into this and consequently pursuing a Masters in Special Education.

We have a little more than 70 days until State testing. No snow days in sight. I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not. I'd like at least 1 or 2.

I am extremely thankful for the grace to teach. I am even more thankful that these first two days back haven't left my bucket completely empty at the end of the day. :)

5 More to break...ramble

I have decided this week, that next year...if I'm still teaching (who knows what the future holds)...I'm going do do a 12 days of Christmas in my classroom. I want to have some sort of Christmas activity each day for the 12 days leading up to Winter break. I have no idea what it will look like. Hopefully, I'll actually follow through. I really don't know how you fantastic teachers come up with units of study. I feel like I'm sinking in common core and testing.

But oh well..

Today, I taught my kids how to make snowflakes...and not the crappy square ones. It took the last 15 minutes of school to do it. I didn't send home folders. We just needed something fun to do. One girl said I was the best teacher ever and then asked for my autograph.

My best friend's brother is dying. He stopped breathing on Monday and hasn't had any brain activity in the last 24+ hours. She lost her mom about a year and a half ago to cancer. Her brother has had health issues all his life, but this is obviously the most serious thing to happen.

I told one of my kids about it today because I've been keeping my phone close during breaks. I told her that my friend's brother was very sick and in the hospital. She said that I need to go get him some vitamins and take them to the hospital so he could get better. How sweet!? I wish it was that easy.

The other day she told me that her head was going to explode with peas. I asked her if she had peas at lunch. She said..."no. Nachos." I laughed. Yesterday she told me her head was going to explode. I asked her with what this time. She says..."uh...lots of little Miss R___'s (my name)". I gave her the strangest look. Ha! I love that kid.

5 more school days to go. We so got this...and will somehow squeeze in a crazy amount of testing!

Happy November!

I can't believe tomorrow is our 50th day of school!! Our kids had a FIVE day weekend due to parent teacher conferences and Halloween. We had PTCs on Wednesday evening and all day Thursday. We all got Friday off. Today was a professional development day.

We finished our business centers. Pointless. Our new Superintendent of Elementary-in training is an idiot. Seriously. The only reason he's making us do this stupid stuff is because his school made AYP last year and he can show off. So..if it doesn't work for the rest of us..because our kids are not the same kids he had last year...can we cut the busy work? I know I haven't been doing this a long time, but this is ridiculous. I know that every place has issues. Nobody is like us. My district is so ridiculous sometimes. If my school doesn't get AYP this year, it's for sure going to be handed to us. There's a possibility that the state will step in and we'll all have to reapply and interview with the state. Ugh. I don't even want to think about that.

There's so much stress and tension in the building that it makes focusing on the teaching difficult. As a new teacher, I feel like I'm drowning.

Oh well, right?

I was supposedly groomed to be an urban teacher....to withstand the drama and trials to last longer than most urban school teachers. I'm supposed to go longer than the average turn-over rate. Yah...I'm sure I'm going to go under it. I am too young and too ill-equipped to deal with these pressures. I don't know how anyone can do it with a family. I would quit. Just up and quit.

I love my students. I love teaching them. I love sharing stories and learning with them. I love learning from them. I love opening a new world to them. I love helping them through struggles. I love giving them praise and teaching them how to act appropriately. I love the hugs and pictures.

I would really love to be able to close my door and teach. Maybe that's what I'll work on this quarter.

Still alive..

Much has happened since my last post.

My all-boy student moved (with his family, of course) to Egypt. Not going to lie..that was a blessing from God. I love the boy, but I knew he would be quite the stretch for me. And with my current lack of creativity, passion and motivation, that would have just not been pretty.

I lost two girls a few weeks later. :( Taking me down to 20 students. Twenty is seriously the perfect number for a class. It lasted for like a week and then I got two more..a boy and a girl. And I'll be getting a new boy on Monday. This turnover is ridiculous. It's like never being able to get into a smooth routine. We started really focusing and moving the week we were at 20. This is possibly the worse part of my job. But..we deal and it all works out great. I couldn't imagine my class without these students.

We're currently pushing into the second phase of Vicky Gibson's Differentiated Instruction model. Since when it is it ok to put all your eggs in one basket?

Thankfully, I have an instructional coach that doesn't quite buy all of her ideologies and is willing to support my efforts to be a better teacher for my students. I am starting to explore the idea of flexible grouping in my classroom. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it done or really know the basics of it. (Thanks, University!) I've found some things on the internet and am just going to flesh it out myself. It's a big task to take on, especially 41 days into school. But....it's the first time I've been excited about teaching this year.

We've been asked to do ridiculous things, and the stress from the politics of teaching is really wearing me out. Why am I spending my time making interactive data bulletin boards in the hallway when data is up in the classroom and in student data portfolios and I could be using that time to really look at my data and figure out what my next steps are? Why am I creating a "business center" when all those things are in my classroom just not in the same place? My kids can't read all of that stuff anyways. Seriously? This stuff makes me want to jump ship.

On a positive note...My kids are already showing great academic growth as well as emotional/social growth. We went on our first field trip on Friday. We had a huge amount of parents that came with us. My group ended up being just two boys. And let me say, we may have challenging kids because of us being an "urban" school district, but my kids were so polite and aware of the kids around them. They didn't push to get to the activities that they wanted. They waited their turn and then didn't hog the activity the whole time. I couldn't have been more proud of them.

We have parent teacher conferences the 26th and 27th. Never look forward to them, but I think they'll be fine this year. But I am definitely ready for Christmas break. I wanna see my parents and friends. ha. Oh..the joys of school!

A brief update...

I've been a slack blogger, but I usually am. I go through spurts of wanting to write and then wanting to keep it all to myself.

Today was day #14.

I thought that as you continue in your teaching career things get easier. Well..not so much for me. I feel more like I am lost in a sea of papers, little people, data folders, smart goals, common core standards, PLCs and everything else. I feel like my classroom is in shambles and routines are nowhere to be found.

I feel like I can't even get things started or organized. It's like I don't even know what I want my classroom to be. It's absolutely draining and disheartening.

I'm so ready to just throw up my hands and walk out...for fear that I won't be able to get it together at all.

I love my 23 students. Well....1 of them gets on my nerves frequently, but that's to be expected. We laugh often mostly at ourselves and are learning lots of reading and math vocabulary. I am really proud of them.

It was a crazy start to the year. I was the fortunate teacher who had all but 1 of her kids show up the first day. The other two didn't and have been getting about 1 new kid a week. One of them got 2 in one day.

In a span of 5 school days, I had 3 throw up at school and 1 poop their pants. I've gone through about 6 boxes of Kleenex.

I have one sweetie who is so low. She's supposed to be getting tested soon. She is priceless!! We were working on numbers that come after other numbers. I asked my students to show me on their dry erase boards what comes after 49. She says, "forty-ten". Ha! She also has said that if you need to get rid of your hiccups, you can hold your breath for 10 hours. :) She cracks me up on the daily.

Despite feeling like there's no room in our classroom, I have had a good start to the year. I just feel like I'm not giving them enough and don't even know where to start. So frustrating!!

I don't even know how to ask for help....

Hopefully, things will come together soon.

A New Year...

I really took a long break this summer. I ended up staying home in North Carolina for 8 weeks instead of 4. Best.summer.ever! I was not looking forward to coming back to the midwest and having to work.

I had a wonderful class last year and was very nervous about the group I would be getting this year. I ended up not getting the class I wanted and got a kid I retained from last year. I felt really down and disappointed for a couple of days and then decided that whoever is supposed to be in my class will be there and whoever isn't there isn't supposed to be there. From then on I have been getting more and more excited about the group coming into my room.

Unfortunately our numbers kept going up. All 3 classes are at 24 on their rosters. However, not all 24 have shown up in our rooms. I'm at 23. The one student missing is the one who was retained from last year. PRAISE THE LORD! He was the one I was dreading the most. I did not want to deal with the same kid again. He apparently doesn't live in our district; his family life is tragic. If he does come back, we'll make things work. And if not, I hope that he gets put with a great teacher and a great class.

So..we've been in school for 2 days. It's been difficult to transition from a wonderful group of kids to some I'm not sure about or don't know very well. I miss my kids from last year but am excited to see them move on to second grade. And I love that they're still on my hallway.

I am loving my kids. We're so cramped in our room, so we're spending time discussing how we can be respectful and how important it is that we keep in our areas. I'm launching the clip-up/clip-down behavior chart that so many teachers use this year. I learned about it from reading lots of blogs and browsing lots of pictures. It so fits my personality better than just flipping cards. My kids seemed so excited that they could actually move up and earn more rewards. They were given the compliment of "best class in art" today, and as a reward, I let the whole class clip-up. None of my classes before have ever gotten that compliment. The kids were so excited and proud. I also shared with them about earning class compliments. In the past I've use plastic chain links to make a chain to the floor. It usually takes about 45 compliments to hit the floor. We had to wait a bit to go into Art today. The kids waited so patiently and were complimented by the Art teacher. I congratulated the class on their first compliment. One of my boys asked me if we could put stars up rather than links. What a brilliant idea! I immediately die-cut stars and got one up on the wall. I love this because I can put the date and who the compliment came from. We ended up getting three today!!

I can foresee a few problems arising, but I think we'll be ok this year. But TWENTY-THREE!?!?! (9 boys and 14 girls) My biggest class was 20. Which I realize is only 3 less...but 3 bodies makes a big difference. I can get rid of two tables in my room with 3 less kids.

I am so glad to be excited about this. I was not thrilled about coming back to work after experiencing a great summer. I definitely think these kids are going to make the transition easier. :)

Last Day

Today was our last day of school.

14 of my 18 students showed up...just my luck, right? We actually had a pretty full first grade.

It was so uneventful...THANKFULLY!!!! We colored, played on Cool Math or PBS kids, watched a Reading Rainbow and Arthur and took down the word wall and data and job board behind the sink.

I actually had to hold back tears as I walked my last two boys to the busses. I'm really going to miss these kids.

I've got to work in my room tomorrow and close it down. I am hoping to have everything done tomorrow. I've actually gotten a lot done the last two days.

Unfortunately, I have to pack a lot of it up because my room is going to be used for summer school.

Ahh..what a great feeling to be done. :)

We interrupt your daily scheduled classroom....

We spent an hour and a half in our hallway today.

The tornado sirens went off around 11am. I knew we were supposed to get rain, but I had no idea the weather was going to be so severe. I honestly wasn't sure the sirens were for real...like maybe they were a false alarm. I saw the other teachers in my pod area taking their kids into the hall, so I did the same.

I calmly asked my kids to line up, and we headed into the hallway to assigned place. My kids were FANTASTIC!! They got right behind the kindergarteners, dropped to their knees and covered their heads. I didn't have a single kid cry!! (But I did have one fall asleep.....)

We had teachers coming down the hall with updates. At one point there were 4 tornadoes on the ground around us and some that were headed in our direction.

My hallway is K-2. Our kiddos were really calm. Our teachers were really calm too. We all had our phones out and were texting family members. My parents are back East, so I was texting them like crazy. Some of my friends were in the way of the tornado. I was trying to keep up to date with them and check on my brother as well. Crazy boy was driving right into the mess on his way to work!!

We ended up staying in the hallway for AN HOUR AND A HALF!

We didn't get an all clear until around 12:30. Our kids had to go to the bathroom and were hungry, but they really didn't complain. We kept telling them this was serious and they needed to stay down and keep their voices quiet.

The other hallway (3-5) was in hysterics. They kids were balling and wanted to call their parents. It probably didn't help that some of them had been learning about weather and learning stuff about what happened in Joplin, MO., and one of the teachers was telling them that a tornado was coming towards us. Really? Who tells kids that?

I understand that it was a VERY serious situation, but to scare them? That's not our job. We're supposed to be the calm, reassuring ones. I consoled two first graders (who are not in my class) letting them know that we're in the safest place and that we're going to be fine and their families are going to be fine, too. We had a couple of parents come to the building while the sirens were going off. We weren't allowed to let the kids leave, so the parents joined them on the floor.

I couldn't believe how calm I was. I HATE tornadoes. BUT...I couldn't really see anything going on in the sky and I didn't see a radar until after the fact. I suppose we just get adrenaline or something going and know exactly what to do.

I think I'm going to have a better kit prepared for stuff like this. I also thought that I probably need to get email addresses for my parents, those that have them, to send them updates when stuff like this happens. This is the first time this has happened in the three years I've been in my building.

What a crazy day! Only 2.5 more to go!!

Last week..

This next week is our last full week of school! YAY! We do have to come back on May 31 for a half-day.

I haven't formally planned out my last week, but I am planning on enjoying every moment of it. Even with my special little friend who pushes all my buttons before walking into the classroom. Definitely ready to send him to 2nd grade! ha! :)

It's going to be bittersweet.

Despite the last three weeks being the roughest of the year, this has been a complete turn around from last year. I have enjoyed teaching and learning new things. I have become extremely excited about the next year. It's been a challenge trying to get out of the hole I got in last year. I kinda feel like I was set up to fail last year. I somehow survived, but I've been trying to climb out of the hole all year. It's like this ugly cloud following me around.

But....that year has been over for a long time. And now this year will be over very soon.

Ahh..what a great feeling. Woo!!

Summer-itis

We have it.

We have it really bad.

We've got Summer-itis!

It feels like absolute craziness in my school.

For whatever reason, I don't remember what last year was like at this time. I'm sure it couldn't have been worse than this year. I feel like it's come out of nowhere. I have students who are acting like it's their first day of school EVER!

Of course today wouldn't have been a good day.

We had a schedule change 30 minutes before school started. The other two teachers on my team were out today. The SPED teacher had meetings in the morning and couldn't take her kiddos. One of them is on new meds, and they take FOREVER to kick in. Oh...and I had a TWO hour observation today.

My special friend decided to whack another kid with his backpack while standing outside the classroom door. He then proceeded to rip a think sheet into itty-bitty pieces and throw a fit. Ugh. I'd just like for him to actually act like a first grader just one day. Just one. And of course, kids were playing in stations and yelling across the room and bothering me while I was trying to DRA. And of course, my Cross-Cat kid would show up when he normally doesn't on Wednesdays. And of course, I wouldn't be able to try out a new strategy I've been planning especially for R-controlled vowels because my students wouldn't allow me to explain it before they had to tell me about their shoes or jackets or pets or whatever it was. And of course, when I asked them to be quiet, three more who WERE quiet would feel the need to talk. Ugh!

It was all I could do to keep it together today.

It felt like last year all over again.

Alas! Only 7.5 days to go. 6.5 for me because I'm out on Friday. I've got to keep myself in the present and not worry about all the things I want to do this summer.

We can do this!

Next Year

I have already started to think about next year, as most teachers are. I have been thinking about it all year really...making mental notes and trying to figure something out. I tabbed a page in my go-everywhere-hold-everything notebook as my 2011-2012 ideas and to-dos. I am hoping to spend quality time purging a lot from my room this summer and reorganizing.

I plan on rearranging my room to reflect more of what I believe as a teacher. I plan on getting rid of a lot and reorganizing EVERYTHING!

I definitely fail in the organization category. I just can't seem to get it together. I plan to put a lot of my "worksheets" and activities into binders by subject, but I have to figure out how to organize them in the binders. I really wish I could have taken a college course on classroom organization! I'm going to figure it out, write a book and have my career made! haha!!

My theme for next year will be star related, I think. I'm going to play around with a lot of ideas and work on some decorations.

The biggest undertaking for the summer will be planning my year in units and really mapping it all out. Unfortunately, I didn't learn this in college either. There was no way to plan anything last year, and I didn't plan anything this year. I feel like I am finally familiar with our "curriculum" to break it and do the things I want. My personality is very much a "rule-follower". We had a reading "Nazi" last year who was a stickler for following the book. It's difficult to break myself out of habits. Thankfully, I have people who are willing to push me and help me figure it out.

We are very blessed to have a local church coming to host a school makeover work day for us in July. They're bringing tons of supplies and people to spruce up our school. We got to submit wish lists of what we'd like to see. I can't wait to join them in making our school over.

I am looking forward to having an even better year next year!! I am so inspired by everything I am reading in books and what other teachers are doing. Y'all are seriously amazing!

I am also secretly hoping that I get the entire kindergarten class in the room next to me...minus one who I know I would not get along with. :)

Head on over to Time 4 Kindergarten to see what other teachers are planning for next year.

Field Day and other ramblings

Today was Field Day. Thank goodness it's over!

Two of my gentlemen were called by the principal to miss the morning stations. After she called their names, several of my other students threw fits because they didn't get to go. They didn't realize that it was because the two were in trouble. Once they knew that, they calmed down.

One girl threw a fit because she was in uniform rather than street clothes. She wanted me to call her mom, which I was unable to do because we had about 10 minutes before Field Day started and before I had an IEP meeting. She threw a major fit. She ended up pulling it together. Her mom randomly showed up about an hour later with a change of clothes for her. In the afternoon, she pulled a major fit. I called Mom, and Mom came and got her. Such drama.

Overall, it was a really fun day. My kiddos won the tug of war--which was the best station/game. The girls beat the boys, too. We had plenty of time at each station, and surprisingly my kiddos were pretty well behaved. Our downtime in the classroom was the worst part.

I really wish it was the last day. I don't know if I can make 15 more days.

My principal came to me about 3:15 to let me and the other first grade teacher outside with me know that we are being observed next week. 9:00am to 1:00pm for me! FOUR hours! I'm hoping they won't be in my room that long. It's going to be nuts. Hopefully, my scholars will be calm. They're about to come unglued. We're so ready for this year to be over.

There has been major drama with my newest student. His mom took him from the aunt's house on Monday...didn't bring him to school Tuesday through Thursday. I found out this morning that he's now coming to and leaving school in a cab. Aunt was at school today to watch her kids at field day. She didn't realize he was here. She said that the police and social workers were looking for them because mom is unfit and running. He responds poorly to structure and is at a beginning kindergarten level. It's really frustrating.

My one team member is retiring this year. She was planning on working 2 more years, but her class is just too much. They haven't grown emotionally or behaviorally all year. She is a great teacher but is just at the end. It's so sad. She's using up her last 10 days the next two weeks and will be back for the last 5 days of school. How horrible! I know exactly how she feels because I was there last year and it was only my first year. I just can't believe it. I'm really going to miss her.

Oh Monday..

I think a clear indicator of how your day will go is evident when a student throws up 15 minutes into the day.

Whew. It was Monday for sure!

Two of my special friends decided to clown around all day. Seriously, how do you handle a student who should probably be in a self-contained room? He can't do ANY of the work we're doing. Honest. None of it!

Today is was a little daunting even with 4 kiddos out.

Then I ended up being at school until almost 7! I'm out the next two days for a Marzano training. I couldn't seem to get any plans done during my plan time. It was nuts. I would have been out of school earlier, but I spent 30 minutes tutoring one of my sweet boys. He makes me laugh and warms my heart with his unfailing effort.

On the upside, tonight was our celebration for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year teachers. They had a little dinner and certificate for us. I missed it because of tutoring and sub planning. BUT..we got a $15 giftcard to Target! Yay! And the PD Representative is the SPED teacher in our building and my former cooperating teacher while I was student teaching. She dished out an extra card for a couple of us. Completely on the DL, of course. There are perks to knowing some people.

Oh..Major Giveaway at First Grade is Fantabulous! A $25.00 gift card to TPT!! Be sure to check it out!!

Oh..I forgot. Several of my ladies brought me Easter gifts...which included a real hard-boiled egg. So thoughtful. :)

ou/ow phonics

Since we were testing last week, I took the time to review our phonics skill from last week. We learned ou and ow as in ouch and owl. My scholars brainstormed a list of words they knew that had the ow/ou sound. (My handwriting stinks without line sometimes, too.)

Here's our Ou/Ow Cloud:

My scholars then had to choose 4 words to write on their clouds. They then cut and pasted them on a piece of construction paper. They had to choose at least one word to use in a sentence. They wrote their sentence on their construction paper and then had to illustrate it.

Here's a couple of my favorites. Sorrythe pictures are bad. My camera and my room lighting do not like each other.

This sentence: "I found a big room in a big house." This is one of my "low" scholars. He still struggles to write without lines but has improved GREATLY!! since the beginning of the year.

This sentence: "I am loud." (and she really is...)

This sentence: "The clown bowed and had a crown and said how did I win first prize." She drew a clown at a clown contest. (one of my high scholars who used all 4 of her words)

As much as I sometimes want my scholar's work to be perfect or neat, I really love their creative, personal expression.

Tattles....with update

Testing is OVER!

We can hopefully get back into some recognizable routine tomorrow and the next week before we go back to our regular schedule. I have no idea who decided to change our schedule so drastically. This was NUTS! I want my big plan time back.

My kids have been little tattle tellers all week. It's stupid stuff like "he's looking at me"..."she's wearing her coat". Really?! You need to interrupt me for that.

I tried a tattle jar last year. It didn't curb the tattling like I thought it would, even though we read them during recess.

I've found teachers that have used a stuffed animal, picture of the president or a picture of an ear for their kids to tell their tattle to.

I decided to make mine incredibly labor intensive to hopefully cut down on the tattling.

I'm going to make a Tattle Tales book. The kids will have to write their name, date, what the problem is and how they can solve it. They'll have to write in complete sentences. I'll check the book occasionally and revisit the procedures for writing in the book, as needed. I plan on discussing the different between tattling and telling something important (i.e. somebody's hurt, etc.) Unless my counselor has a book, I'm going to use a video from learn360. Hopefully, this will help.

**Update:

My kiddos learned the difference between tattling and telling. Honestly, I think I had less tattling. I overheard a few of my kiddos telling each other to go "write it in the book". I'll have to revisit the tattle book format, and I may even have the counselor come in for a follow up lesson---just so they hear someone else say it.

Sad news: My district let go of all of last year's new hires. This included one of my teammates. :( About 15+ first year's in the district were riffed, meaning they may be hired back. I am hoping that my teammate is rehired. I love working with her. We graduated together. If she is not rehired, I hope that we get another outstanding teacher. Whoever it will be, they have big shoes to fill.

"Eggs"celent Scholars

My class has been sending encouragements to a 4th grade class as they are also taking our big state test.

The first week of their test, we sent them some Smarties with a little card saying they were smarties.

This week, we sent them candy filled Easter eggs. I made a band/wrapper to go around the eggs that said "You're an 'eggs'celent scholar!". My kiddos colored them, and I wrapped them around the eggs.

Both classes are going to meet up on Friday to celebrate the end of our tests with Popsicles. Hopefully, it won't rain.

Here's the egg band/wrapper.

Monday, Monday.

Can we start summer break on Friday?

We started testing this week. My kiddos did fantastic...as I knew they could but was super stressed that they wouldn't. We went over about 20 minutes, which I think is pretty good since it was our first day. We'll tighten up tomorrow.

My one little friend who has been in our class for 4 days and who is only at a beginning kindergarten level(yikes!) struggled through the test. I figured that he would but was thankful that he didn't have a big meltdown or tantrum. He constantly said that he couldn't do it. I would push him to just do his best and make a choice. He guessed probably 65% of it right.

One of my ladies showed up 5 minutes after testing started. One of my gentlemen has to see the nurse to have his blood sugar checked. We took a break, and he went to the nurse. Turns out his blood sugar was WAY high, and he had to stay longer. What craziness?!

I'm really proud of my scholars. I think I almost cried as I was looking and making sure that they were filling in the circles. I have been very stressed about the test, getting two new scholars in two days, finishing my 2nd year teacher portfolio, lesson planning, end of 3rd quarter grades, planning/strategizing for the 4th quarter and just life in general. I need a break.

Hurry up, Summer!

34 more days to go!!