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.

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!

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. :)

Grandma Bears + Farts

This last week, we have been working on measuring with non-standard units. I started the week by introducing/refreshing the students on measuring and measuring objects with counting bears.

While meeting with my third small group, one of my boys...my most challenging boy...asked me if the bears were the "grandma bears". I looked at him kinda funny and said, "Grandma bears??" He continued to say "Yeah. You know, Grandma bears". I told me I had no idea what he was talking about. One of the other girls at the table chimed in that they were like the ones you eat. The light bulb went off. Teddy GRAMS!

We laughed for about 2 minutes.

These moments I love completely.

I had my scholars sit on the carpet after lunch to explain to them our new math rotations. One of my boys was a little gassy. He let out a couple of loud farts. The standard reaction is lots of "ewwws" and "gross" from the scholars. I remind them that everyone does it, so it's not a big deal. It's definitely not worth a 5 minute interruption. This particular time one of my scholars spoke up to say that everybody farts 14 times a day. I told them I didn't know if that was true. He told me it was because his grandma told him. haha!

They're so great.