Tornadoes and My Maria, I need Help!

I have been praying for those in Moore, Oklahoma.  I don't even know what to say about that.

Help! My principal gave the custodians thank you gifts.  However.... "my Maria" was not included because technically she's not "our" custodian. I am off in the other building, away from the other girls. And the custodian that cleans across the street also cleans for the other teacher who is "displaced" in the same building that I am in. So... to get to the point of this story, the other custodian got the gift. And the custodians at my principals other buildings got gifts. Maria did not get one. She works hard. So... I was at the store tonight and I got some of those $.50 candy bars. I was going to make one of those posters that talks about how great they are using candy bars. But I just kind of went blank. If you've made some of these, give me a shout and help me figure it out. Please! Please! Please! Please! Help! I have an Almond Joy, Milky Way, Butterfinger, Cookies-n-Creme, and Payday.

Here's the update! WE (and by we I mean me) made a poster for Ms. Maria and the students all signed a paper that we attached at the bottom. P.S. I vowed not to get choked up but when Maria got choked up, I did too.

Five For Friday on May 18

Five for Friday! The favorite part of my week! Hop on over to Doodlebugs and read and link up.  Post five random things from your day or your week. Here is a glimpse at our week.

I was too tired to post Friday night, I kept falling asleep. So, here's my five on Saturday. 

1. We re-read Bear Feels Scared and students had to discuss with their carpet partner a time when they felt scared and what comforted them, or what made them feel better. We discussed how Bear felt scared but this friends helped him to feel safe and loved. I am including our list. I think this list could qualify for "kids say the darndest things." And don't judge, I did question a couple students about what they shared, but we didn't make a big deal about it in class. What I noticed was how some students could not do what I asked in fall when we read this but now every student was able to tell their partner about a time when they felt scared, and their partner was able to share what they said. I think I only had one "I forgot" when I asked a student to share what their partner said.  Whoot! We've talked ALL YEAR LONG about the value of speaking and listening and what that means when you are in school. (Okay, not ALL our class was on the carpet... there are only 11 items listed and we have more than 11 students!)

2. It is the end of the year! One day we wrote sight words on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk.  That afternoon I let them take the chalk out and just play! They USED UP that chalk! It was gone! I received a very sweet note from a student. 

See my chalk! They used up their piece and came back for more! 

"It's ice cream Ms. Horn"

3. Letters of thanks. We wrote letters to Mr. Gonzalez thanking him for bringing his pony to our class.  If you missed my post, check out the Five for Friday from a couple weeks ago. These letters show how our writing abilities have progressed. One reason for this is because of the awesome rubric I keep posting about! Notice the detail in the illustrations, the colors, the attention to writing rules! Look how hard these students worked!!! Yay!

Here is the rubric, check out the post about this and how to download yours for free (and with credit where it belongs).

Here is the definition I created. 

4. Visiting Kansas! We were JUST here, this was not a planned trip.  But I had a job interview on Friday so we made the trek on Thursday night. I went to my interview, and I am still waiting to hear back about it, which is SO hard. The waiting is the hardest part! :( Well, and the disappointment if things don't go how I hope! But I digress! I went to my interview and then I drove to a town close by to see my dear friend Alyce Bartel from Mrs. Bartel's School Family! They are in the middle of a camping theme! I was able to hangout while they made a camping graph! So fun to visit other classrooms!

Mrs. Bartel creating the camping graph with her students! 

5. Family time! Last weekend we were "home" but I over-scheduled and we did not get to see my parents, on Mother's Day weekend, yikes! So I said that maybe we could go to the farm and not have a big shin-dig. My Dad tried, bless his heart, but Shin-digs are his thing. So... he got the fishing poles ready, got picnic stuff ready, and invited "The Fam." The kids just have to ride the 4 wheeler. And Grandpa has the biggest and the best, of course. We went to my uncle's pond and fished, hung out enjoying the beauty of nature and all Kansas had to offer (including sticky humidity), rode four-wheeler, roasted hot dogs, made smores, and talked and talked and talked.

Punky wanted a picture together, so here we are.

Red on the 4-wheeler

My Dad.... 

First fish of the night. 

"The view"

Punkin said she caught the most fish, but looks to me like her sis is fishing for her!! 

I love five for Friday even when it happens to get posted on Saturday (which happens frequently). I love reading about everyone's weeks, or a particular day. Happy Weekend! We have four days of school when we return! How about you? How many days do you have left?

Let's Get Acquainted Linky

Hooking up with Flying Into First for the "let's get acquainted" linky.  Head over and read up or link up, or both. This week we answer the three questions. 

Linky Questions

1.  What made you decide to become a teacher?

2. What has been your most rewarding experience as a teacher?

3. If you were not a teacher, what would you be?

1. What made you decide to become a teacher? Seriously... I was interested in the "time off." I know, that sounds funny now. I was working in a daycare and teaching preschool skills to three year olds, so I knew that working with children was both demanding and rewarding. I saw the parents of my daycare students pulling their children out for summer and I thought... "Hmmmm, I can do that." And after three grueling years of school, student teaching, and finally graduation, I landed that first job. I now have year number one under my belt (well, we have five more days of school). 

2. What has been your most rewarding experience as a teacher? I think it is the progress I have seen in my little non-english speaker from Burma. He is coming so far and it is so much fun to see his growth and to talk to him now! That is my biggest reward so far this first year of teaching. 

3. If you were not a teacher, what would you be? Good question! I would most likely still be teaching preschool skills to three year olds in a daycare center.  I am grateful I am not potty training students anymore. 

End of year packets to send home with students?????

What are you all sending home with students over the summer? I am kicking around a lot of ideas in my head and could really use some input. I have some leftover prizes I might put in some little bags, and I found some name writing practice for students. I have thought about including a card addressed to me with a stamp on it and ask them each to write to me over the summer. I have such amazing bloggy teaching friends, I know you all are putting together some great packs, and I just want to glean from your wisdom! So share the love and help this first year teacher out!

End of year reviewing, and Five classroom affirmations

This week we are reviewing basic Kindergarten skills in the common core standards. I suppose that we should try to accomplish more curriculum. But I want to make sure that my kiddos are on track for the next grade. Is that backwards thinking? I want them to review, but I also want to know what they know. I am still assessing like crazy for report cards so I thought that it would be best continue reviewing with a more flexible teaching schedule. The truth is, I don't like the days when we change our routine and schedule. Some kiddos don't do well with changing schedules, and I get the value of keeping our schedule the same as much as possible.

I mentioned our classroom affirmations recently. I got them recorded the other day. I plan to use this video next year.   I have not decided yet if we will use the same affirmations next year or if we'll make our own.  I have done a lot of voting on things with my students this year and have given them a lot of ownership in the way our classroom is run. I don't know what I am planning to do this next year. Here are my children doing their affirmations, after we say our five affirmations, we say... "let's do it!" just like a team in a huddle ready for the game! Whooo! My students who do not have a signed media release are just outside the camera range.

Five for Friday!

Friday! Friday! I am lovin' this week on Friday! I can never wait for Five for Friday to get here because it's my favorite linky to read and post in! Whoot! Hop over to Doodlebugs and read up!

1. Mother's day fail. The marigolds we planted. No success. Was it my fault from not enough tlc? Was it the dixie cups? Was it all the fingers in the dirt? What was the cause of our fail? I am not sure. But Mom, you won't be getting a marigold for Mother's Day. At least not from our class. So here's the last minute project we made (parents, don't look if your Kinder did not give you their gift yet). We made tulip pictures using their hand for the flower pattern. We voted on the wording. They could choose between 1) My love for you grows and grows, or 2) My love for you grows and blooms.  They chose option number 2. I posted the sentence on the promethean and gave an example on my page.  Some students wrote the sentence perfectly, some still struggled.

Personally, I think these turned out adorable. I am more than a little disturbed that some students wrote words in no particular order and their sentences did not make sense. But overall, I was really pleased with this project. 

2. Five Classroom Affirmations. After Christmas we started watching Jessica's affirmations and we came up with five of our own. After we say all five, we finish up with "Let's do it!" It's more inspirational than any football huddle! Okay, maybe not MORE inspirational, but it is inspiring! 

3. Our Alphabet books. We are SO far behind on these! Yikes!! I am thinking of what I am going to do differently next year! I do have a plan. :) We are on Hh. If we do two letters a day we will not finish, so we will sneak in some extra times and some days we will do three letters, or maybe four because we really need to finish them this week! Here are their directed drawings and sentences. 

My example is really hard to see, sorry! 

One of the things I love is seeing the improvement of language of the little guy in the white and tan.
He told me he didn't know what to draw, so I asked if he wanted to do his drawing on the carpet to see better.
He worked really hard and did a great job! 

4. Kansas! Love it. I will miss my place in the panhandle. There are so many things I'll miss and none of them are actually things: I will miss my students of course, I will miss the girls I teach with. Those are the biggest things (that are not really things).  But I find myself getting giddy on the trip to Kansas.  We were silly and wild and crazy and goofy by the time we got to Greensburg last night! By the way.... I wondered last night if I had gone to heaven, there was green grass, so much moisture that the dandelions were growing, and green trees, and did I mention green?! I actually took a picture of the grass and dandelions on the trip.

Look Hundley (our little red dachshund)! We are not in the panhandle anymore! 

5. All School's Day! Love this "holiday!" More later. We are headed into town to find a place to watch the parade (ahem... South Main is where I'll be my friends, across from the Cake Lady)! The All School's Day parade features all the Kidnergarten classes in the county (I LOVE Kindergarten), and all the bands in the county and the surrounding counties.  It is a HUGE parade. And afterward there is the carnival.  More later, but we are late already. This is not about my current school, but about the town I call home and where I hope to one day teach. However.... I'm trying really hard not to treat God like a fast-food God: I'll take a job in McPherson with a side a fries and a large coke! I know God will place me where He wants me. Thanks God!

This, That, and the other....

Sooooo.... I was going to post on here today about the upcoming Mother's Day holiday, but I know that some of my students are planning to keep their project until Sunday, so I am trying to keep it under wraps! Boo! I want to share! I'll try to wait though.

Good news! We got back to calendar time today! Whoot! Calendar time is my favorite time.  It is also something that gets shorted, shortened, rushed, etc. So I really enjoyed having all my kiddos there this morning for calendar time!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow... 

weather prediction!

Today we participated in "Walk Like a Tiger" and walked to the track and walked around twice.  Some of my Kinders voluntarily walked around more than twice.

When there are situations like this that are far from the norm, students get rambunctious.  Some students struggled with following directions today. I was exhausted afterward.

I have been dangling a possible recording of our classroom affirmations in front of kiddos and they've been practicing their little hearts out. I anticipate posting a video of this soon.

Tomorrow is Thursday, which is the new Friday here in the panhandle. Happy weekend everyone!