It's that time.... Sunday Letters

It's time to link up with Michelle at Big Time Literacy for Sunday Letters.

Dear Cold and Flu Bug,
I am not having fun. I am ready for you to go away so I can spend time preparing lessons, loving my children, and cleaning my home. I am sick of aches, coughs, sneezes, sore throat, and fatigue. I have packed your bags. Please do not come back anytime soon.
Sick and Tired,
one worn out momma

Dear Singles Awareness Day,
I'm so glad you are done and over with. I am so grateful that I have my students and my kids to show me love, but there is still a sting that I have no special sweetie on this "special" day.
Until Next Year,
Single Teaching Momma

Dear Little Punky,
There are so many things I want to say to you. I am so proud of the young lady you are becoming. I am a little sad that I can't call you my Punky anymore because it "embarrasses" you. But I am so proud of how mature you are becoming. I love your ability to put aside your own ideas for the good of all. You will be an asset wherever you go in life.
with love and respect,
your adoring mother

Dear PRIDE Committee:
I am so excited to have books that my broad range of readers will be able to read and enjoy. Thank you so much for your interest in our little school. It makes such a big difference.
Reading rocks!
One grateful teacher

Dear Outspoken Teacher Gab Group Teacher,
It is harsh and hurtful that you say things like.... I can't believe that any teacher would request books when there are so many grants out there and things like title one funding. First of all, title one funding in our district is not something that I have any input into. Secondly, Why wouldn't you share those wonderful grants and other ways to get the things we need for our classrooms if you are going to taunt the long list of teachers who, like myself, do not know how to get these resources?
Feeling more than a little put out,
A teacher in a title one school who would still put books on her list

Dear Emotional Carrie,
Perhaps it is the cold/flu that you are battling, but it's okay to be emotional. Just let those tears roll, it will make you a better person for much longer in the future. Follow your heart, let those things that bring tears be the passion that drives you and changes you.
Cheering you on,
Your emotional inner voice

Our Week In Review

This teacher is SOOOOOOOO tired. I finally "caught" that bug that the students have been battling. It is not nice! What is nice?  Hot lemon-honey water. It stops my cough and improves my breathing and I feel so much more human. **Flashback.... in February last year I caught a similar cold and kicked it in my usual manner~ pseudofed.  This led to chest pains and an ER visit that turned into an overnight stay and founding out I had blood pressure that is TOO high and that was dangerously so after boosting it with pseudofed. I'll drink the honey-lemon water with gratitude and carry on!**

Our week in a nutshell....

Two students transferred out of our class last Friday and so Monday left us with a class of 14.  But a whopping 6 of them were not at school on Monday. So we had a class of 8. Barely more than half my class. So we had to change plans and practice flexibility on Monday!

1. Conversation Hearts in the classroom in two kinds of activities .... observing them in different liquids. The top photo you can see that the hearts in all three containers were dropped in at the same time.  Students predicted which one would dissolve first. They took a lot longer than I thought they would! But finally it was evident that the vinegar did indeed dissolve more fully, more quickly.

We also got a handful of conversation hearts to sort and graph! 

I used a graphing freebie that I got from The Daily Alphabet on Teachers Pay Teachers, click here to see the free download.

2. We are still working on making 2015 awesome for those around us. Mostly we are trying to express appreciation in small ways. I am hoping to build on this more next fall into more of a world-changing view. But we are enjoying our "little things" right now. We snuck into Mrs. Elliott's room and put sticky notes of encouragement on her desk! Some kids wrote jokes. Some wrote words appreciation. Mrs. Elliott is our Title One teacher and we adore her, she makes a difference in our education! 

3. More Valentine measurement! We cut out hearts and measured each other. The first we did it our data did not turn out to be accurate!

After we measured we stood in the order of our height by heart measurement.

The evidence here would say that our measurements were not accurate! So we measured again. This time we laid the hearts out on the floor with lined up with a green tape so we could make sure everyone's feet started a the same place, and that the hearts were always in the same position. Then we would count and record the measurement....

This looks much more accurate! That is why it is so important to use the same measurement when doing measuring!
This was a great learning activity! 

4. We did a directed activity to make Love Monsters. I got this idea from.... Teachery Bits and Bobs, see their post here.

I did not use their writing freebie, I had the students write a love letter to their monster.

Dear Love Monster, I love that you make my heart melt. Thank you for that. I love you happy Valentines Day. Is it okay if I call you bob. Sincerely, Maddie

5. A party is always a fun and wonderful thing! We had a Valentine party and decorated cupcakes and ate them. Yum. We played two fun games that our room Mom came up with! One game required us to shoot cupid's arrow into the heart-shaped boxes! We did this by putting a Q-tip in the end of a straw and blowing it to it's destination. We also played a game that required the students to pick up marshmallows with a straw and move them from one cup to another. Lastly, we looked at the Valentine's that we got from our friends.

Shooting cupid's arrow into the heart box! 

Moving the marshmallows! 

Our masterpiece creations! 

Valentine Boxes! 

That was our week! I didn't get to share with you about our progress on our Multicultural Night studies, but I will have plenty to share next week about this!! Have a great week! Today is Valentine's Day, otherwise known at my house as my Dad's Birthday.

Saturday morning recap

I love, love, Five for Friday. But many times on Friday I am too exhausted to get my five things done and posted. So, I'm linking up on Saturday again. Hop over the Doodlebugs Teaching and read about everyone's week or day!

 1. Groundhog's day! What a fun way to learn. We ended the day with a groundhog snack.... pudding cups (aka dirt) with a groundhog (sometimes known as teddy grahams) poking out of a mound of dirt (crushed oreos).  We did some estimating and predicting, groundhog fun in a word find, watched a video about Punxsutawney Phil and learned about ground hog features and habitats.

 2. Learned about different cultures for our Multicultural project. We "hungout" with someone who had been a missionary to Cameroon, Africa via Google Hangouts. We learned about the culture, the dress, foods and markets, housing and modern conveniences that we take for granted in America, that are not a given part of their daily life there.

 We honed our letter-writing skills by writing a thank you letter to Mrs. Rundus for her time and expertise, and for sharing her knowledge with us! This is a skill we have been practicing for awhile and we often bring it together with our "Awesome 2015" goals. Sometimes I don't realize what an awesome group of students I have until I see their finished work!

Dear Mrs. Rundus, Thank you for teaching us about living in Africa. I think it would be funny to see a motorcyle with 5 people on it. Sincerely, (1st grade friend).

Dear Mrs. Rundus, I learned so much from you like women wear hair coverings to go to church and weddings. Also you said that clock time is six hours ahead of us but I am wondering what do men wear in Cameroon Africa? Also you didn't tell me how you get electricity but you did tell me that your electricity runs out faster than our so what do you d when the power goes out? Do you cook? Do you play with your kids or do you go to bed? Do your kids go to school or do you teach them math? Do your kids read library books? I think I know what mean wear in Cameroon, Africa. I think they wear white clothes and hat with a feather on top of the white hat. Your friend, (fourth grade friend).

I loved how both letters demonstrated that students were listening and engaged when the speaker shared about events in Cameroon. A lot of the girls were struck with fact that many people in Cameroon raise Guinea Pigs for food, not to keep as pets.

4. Good behavior rewards! We've had some great behavior lately and it shows! Rewards, rewards, rewards!! We've noticed a dip in the desire to please and so my team and I agreed we are going to "catch" the good behavior frequently! So we've had a lot of full charts that have chosen from the following coupons: eat lunch with the teacher, stinky feet (no shoes in the classroom), silly slippers (wear slippers instead of shoes), show and tell (bring something from home and practice speaking skills), or wear your pajamas to school for the day. This little Kinder filled his chart and chose the "still sleepy?" reward and wore his pajamas all day!

I got my whole class reward coupons from Mel at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations. This was my first ever TpT purchase and worth every cent! You can check them out here!

5. Rewards, rewards, rewards! More individual behavior rewards equals more whole class rewards! We filled our Cool Beans chart and earned a celebration. How do you handle this in your classroom? We throw out ideas and then vote. First we brainstormed and posted quite a few ideas on the board. Then we voted those down to just three ideas. Then we voted one more time and chose our reward for this time and will use our second choice reward for our next behavior celebration. Students voted to have a Rootbeer Float party! It was easy and fun and we did this at the end of the day on Friday!

Happy Weekend everyone! What do you do in the classroom on Valentine's day? Do you celebrate? What grade levels celebrate Valentine's Day?

February Currently

It is time for Currently! I am linking up with Farley for February Currently. Head over and read everyone's Currently!

I was so excited when Friends came to Netflix. But now it is on just about any time we are awake. Don't judge me, my kid watches inappropriate television. So in the early morning I was listening to the quiet of my home and heater running but since Punky is up, it is the sound of Friends in the background now.

Loving..... I love my home. I take it for granted all too often, but as the cold wind howls outside, I am reminded that our home is cozy and warm and I truly love it.

Thinking.... I really feel guilty for taking time out for Currently. Which goes to show that planning and grading run my life. And you can see that it didn't stop me. I love linking up for Currently!

Wanting.... I keep thinking of so many really great things I want/need for my classroom. I want to add flashlights to our Fantastic Friday reading time! And beanbags. and iPads. and, and, and.... my wanter is turned on high.

Needing.... a hug. Sometimes life is like that.

Pageant Title: I tried and tried to come up with something that wasn't so similar to Farley's, but we are all so fluent in sarcasm at our house. And me, being the queen "B" here, I have taught it to my kids. Sometimes my youngest has to ask... "are you joking? or serious?" because sometimes you just can't tell when we are serious and when we are joking. I am totally the queen of sarcasm, so if you are not fluent, you might not survive here.