Then It's Lights Out For Me

I have really been working with my class on their writing this year.  My class last year didn't score so well on the writing portion of the SBA so I made it a goal of mine this year to work more on teaching them how to write a good paragraph.  So, we write like a hamburger.  We have our top bun: the introduction sentence, the meat in the middle: the juicy detail, and the bottom bun: the conclusion sentence, you can't have your hamburger falling apart.  The kiddos are really taking to this type of writing and they understand how to put a paragraph together because they know how to put a hamburger together.  We even talked about what makes a good hamburger.  You don't want just a small piece of meat in between two buns.  You want lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, cheese, green chili, catsup, etc.  In the same way you don't want one sentence in between the opening and closing sentence, you want juicy detail.  So, to work on this, I give the class a writing prompt to work on every morning after they finish their morning math.  Usually they do this in their composition notebooks, but this past Friday I had them write on a loose leaf piece of paper and turn it in for me to grade.  I have to say I am very proud of my kiddos!  For the most part they wrote good hamburgers.  And, as always there were very interesting, and funny paragraphs.  Let me share them with you.  (These are exactly how the students wrote them, spelling and all, no teacher edits.)

The prompt this particular Friday was:  What would you do if you were in the middle of the lake and your boat started to leak?

Alexandra: If I was in the middle of a lake and My boat started to leak I would get my life gaket (jacket) and triy (try) to swim my way and my boat back to land.  Then I would leth (leave) my boat next to The lake.  Then go to my panis (parents) and Tell Tem (them) where The boat and they would drith (drive) to the boat.  then pu The boat in The car.  and that wast I wood do if I was in the middle of a lake.


Maria:  If I was in the middle of a lake and I was in a boat and it stared (started) to leak then I would put a life vest on and jump in the water.  I would do that because I have no chocie (choice).  All I can do is jump in the water or die.  And I would pick to jump in the water.  Even thought (though) it is very cold I would do it.  But I will try not to land in the rocks.  Thats what I would do if there was a leak in the boat.  


Mark:  iF my BoAt hAD A leAk I would swim to shore.  And Get A cANoN ANd Get bAck out There.  ANd Thats what would hApeN if my BoAt hAd A leAk.  


Erin:  First of all I would SCREAM!  Then get duck tape and tape it and put on my life jacket.  And would get a computer and contact 911.  Then wait for police until i'm safe.  and they would take me on land and I would give them shiny medals.  


Anna:  If I was in the middle of a lake and my boat began to leak then I wold begen to panik (panic) and screem screem and panec.  I wold call for help her (here) is an axampal (example) help help Aaaaaaahhhh help some body.  And thats what I wold do.  


Richie:  If I was in the lake and the boat began to leak.  I would get a life jacket and swim.  But if that did not work I would try to swim.  If that did not work I would find a log to get on.  If that did not work then its light out for me.  


Man, you gotta love a kid's imagination sometimes.


 

Something Fun?

The first month of school is over!  I can hardly believe it.  On one hand it seems like school has only begun but on the other hand it feels like we have been doing this for months now.  I am proud to say that Steve is still alive!  I was very nervous in the beginning that I wasn't going to be able to take care of him and keep him alive since I have never cared for an amphibian before.  But, as far as I know, he is still living.  However, I need to go get a new Can O' Crickets to feed Steve.  He doesn't like the new brand I bought for him last week.  REALLY Steve!?!  They are dead bugs packaged in their own "natural juices" what is not to like.  We've tried all week to get Steve to eat these crickets; all he does is walk up to them, stare at them for a minute, licks them (to see how they taste?  I don't know!) and then walks away.  But not without giving me a look like, "Really, you're still trying to give this stuff to me?"  Oh well, looks like I just need to buy a different Can O' Crickets. 


Since we have been in school a month I'm getting my kids ready to start literacy centers.  We have taken the first month to practice as a whole group what we are going to be doing in Literacy Centers.  We've made charts for rules, I've typed them up and laminated them, we've made pocket charts for them, we have done almost everything I can think of in order to get ready for them.  Well, this past Friday we were wrapping up creating rules for the Literacy Centers.  We had 3 centers that we still needed to create rules for.  So, I was doing as I had with the other centers in order to make rules:  I had chart paper on the board and we were coming up with "Do's" and "Don'ts" for the last 3 centers.  Granted it is not fun, but the kids generally enjoy creating rules for themselves and enjoy telling other people how to act, what 9 year old wouldn't?  So, we were finishing up creating rules for the last center so I told the class, "Alright that's enough rules for now.  If you have anymore you'd like to add, you can tell me later and we can add them.  So, we are moving onto math now."  Before I could finish this last sentence, Ari yells out, "Are we going to do something fun now?!"  My jaw dropped and my hands went to my hips as I said, "Well I don't know anymore, maybe not!"  I was trying to pretend that I was upset and offended but the kiddos knew I wasn't and they all began to laugh at Ari and laugh at me.  That is what I really like about my class this year, they know how to have fun with each other.  They know how to laugh and they know how to take a joke.  It is fun to have a class of kids that you yourself can have fun with.  I am really enjoying this year!

Go Away!

We are a month into the school year already!  We have to send progress reports home next week because it is half way through the first quarter!  I cannot believe how quickly this year is going!  Even though it is a month into school I am still just discovering the personalities of some of my students.  When you have 26 students and you lose or gain a student every other day it seems like, it makes it hard to get to know you student's very well in a timely manner.  This past week I discovered the personality of Alexandra, yes, the wing ripping/cricket smashing student.  I discovered her personality and I have to say I LOVE IT!  She is so much fun and makes me laugh every day.  Now, you would think I would understand her personality when she came to me with a fly with no wings.  However, I did not understand it until she literally told me to "Go away!"  Here's the story:  We were working on a simple, I thought, math assignment.  After explaining the assignment to the class I began to walk around to help students who needed it.  Alexandra raised her hand immediately so I made my way over to her desk to in order to provide my assistance.  As I began to reteach Alexandra she suddenly becomes very excited and says, "Oh okay I get it."  I believed that she understood the assignment but continued to explain further just to double check he knowledge.  Apparently Alexandra did not want this because she looks at me and says, "OKAY!  GO AWAY!"  I was laughing so hard at her that I had trouble walking away.  Alexandra was laughing with me, I think she realized at that moment that I understood her and that she would now be able to joke and play with me.  If you were wondering, she did understand it, she received a 100% on the assignment!

On another note; I must say I am very excited for this year and the direction my career is going.  I have been asked by the Ed Tech at our school to be on a district committee to rewrite the Technology Plan for the district!  I have always enjoyed technology and I am enjoying using it in my classroom this year.  Since I have a Smart Board in my classroom this year I feel like my teaching has improved and I feel like my students are learning better this year.  Our Ed Tech has also asked me to do a training with our school on a Wednesday.  I am the only teacher at the school to have AverVision on my lap top.  (AverVision is a program that can be used with the Smart Board.)  Since I am the only teacher that has this and uses it regularly she has asked me to show all the other teachers how to use it so they will know if they would like to implement it in their classroom.  

Sorry I have been neglecting the Blog, I will try to write more regularly.  I am glad you are all enjoying reading it!