Five for Friday

It's Friday and I couldn't wait to link up and post my Five for Friday.  Except I had to wait since I spent 5 hours of my evening on the road. Doodle Bugs is having a linky party, Five for Friday. I love these. Hop on over and read some more of them. And link up.

Five random things from the day or from the week.

1. Red (or "the read head" or any various assortment of other nicknames) is in Kansas this weekend and she took a little piece of my heart with her. I will be lonely and missing a chunk of my heart until Sunday afternoon when we meet up and she is with me again. These weekends also make for a lot of drive time~ boo. Or boo hoo. Tonight I drove 2 1/2 hours one way and then drove back home again.

2. I have been working on the organization thing. One thing is that I want to get my centers organized and ready before the day they need to be up and running. I have some wonderful resources. I printed almost 100 pages on card stock one night this week.  Thursday I spent over an hour laminating. I have lots of cutting to do this weekend. 

3. Our friend Tyler moved to another school district at Christmastime. As my teen would say... "sadface." We miss him dearly, he was a valuable part of our school family.  I put together some papers of his that were on display when he moved, along with his report card, and thought.... "we should send him a letter...." so if a student wanted to write a letter instead of doing morning seat work they could. Several students wrote to him. I included one of my favorite ones. 

Dear Tyler, I miss you, my best friend ever. From Ismael.

4. I don't know what to do with compliments and flattery. This week I have received a lot of compliments which makes me happy and helps me to feel like I am doing a good job. But really, I don't know what to do with it, it makes me want to cry. In all honesty I have to give some of credit back to the kids. I have a fantastic class. On Wednesday when the counselor visited she complimented me twice. The one that got me was when she said she never would have guessed that I was a first year teacher, that she thought I had been teaching for years. Yesterday, I had to leave early, so another teacher came down and covered my class. She told my kids what an awesome teacher they have and she asked me how long it took to teach them our five classroom rules (they nailed it when they went through our rules for her).  Thank you whole brain teaching and Mrs. Hamilton, my cooperating teacher during student teaching.

5. On Fridays we usually have an informal phonics lesson. We didn't get our test taken yesterday so today we took the test and then we played "Around the World" with sight words, or popcorn words. I was pleasantly surprised at how many words my students could read. 

Full Bucket

I had my bucket filled today. I had two overwhelming moments at school today. The counselor came to visit today. She is a great bucket filler. She always fills my students buckets and gets the best out of them. Today she came and talked to my students about bullying and we talked about feelings and words and talking about how we feel. Mrs. Counselor said to my class that we are the best class (love to hear this, but it's not the first time I've heard this from her.... see my heart <3) and she talked about how smart these students are (this is true also). Then she told my class how lucky they were and that Ms. Horn talks about feelings with them more than most teachers.  My memory fails me so I might not quote it correctly. Something to the effect of, "I think this is the class that talks the most about feelings and how to treat others. You are so lucky to have Ms. Horn for your teacher." Talk about filling my bucket. I didn't cry, just almost. I told my class that my bucket was really full hearing that. Then Mrs. Counselor told me as she left our class that would have never guessed I was a first year teacher by the way I handle my class. Aw..... I still didn't cry. But I almost did. I felt flattered and special and good. Like I am doing something good. I felt emotional, but it was all good. I love Pete the Cat. Love, love, love him. He's a hippie just like me.

There is so much going on in my classroom and I want to write another post about it. Here are few random things that really stand out.

• It felt SO GOOD to get back to guided reading groups. 
• There are so many valuable resources out there, and I love my TpT purchases. I started some new centers today.
• It's so hard to re-train kids and parents.  I sent home new folders for reading homework. It's hard to get accustomed to the idea that students should keep reading homework in it's own folder. When I feel so frustrated I make myself remember what it was like at the beginning of the school year. We will all "catch on" to the new homework routines. 

A blog makeover? Just what I wanted! ;)

Journey of a Substitute Teacher blog is giving away a free blog makeover from Tales from a blog designer. This is a $50 value. I was just telling my friend Alyce how much I love her new look and would like to do more with my blog, but I am not familiar enough with my blog and it's possibilities and I don't any "extra" time. So when I saw this, I said, "I must enter!" Wish me luck! Oh, and hop over and enter! Good luck to all.

A glimpse at our week in Kindergarten....

This week in Kindergarten...

We made daisies in a literacy center. Students trace the patterns, cut and glue and then write words that start with letter Dd on the petals. What the students have finished so far look really nice. We did a math center with butterflies. Students fold a piece of construction paper, cut the butterfly pattern and then put stickers on bot halves. On the first half, the students put the stickers on how they want to, and the other half they have to put the same stickers on to make both sides look the same. We started the centers that I got from TpT last weekend. The students did the count and match game.

This week we will introduce the Monster Math Centers that I purchased earlier this fall. I just put eyes on a few so it would show what students have to do. Students have to place the correct number of googlie eyes on the monster, matching the numeral printed on the monster's stomach. Students will fill out worksheets with matching the number of eyes in the ten frames as well. I laminated a copy of the worksheet pages so we can do things differently after awhile.

Students were glad to get back to centers. I like to keep center groups small, partners. So we have 10 centers going. About half are math and literacy centers and about half are fun centers, like Housekeeping and  blocks. 

Students in the Reading center are supposed to choose books they can read and use the "phones" so they can hear themselves read. 

You can see these two working on the Count and Match center and in the back you can see the painting center. Students really enjoyed making the daisies.  I will have to do similar centers more often. 

Love this picture. Two of my students who didn't speak English at all when school started. Here they are in the housekeeping center. They have started to help each other and use whatever English they have to communicate each other's needs. 

We started learning about Martin Luther King Jr. this week and about how his dream changed our country. I mentioned in another post that students got somber when we talked about how we would not be the same school family if it weren't for Martin's dream. I am posting the picture of this bulletin board that is not finished yet and hopefully I can update it later in the week, when we finish it. 

I am trying to figure out what I want to do for upcoming events: President's day, Valentine's Day, and our 100 days of school. 

Look at this mess that was in my supply stash.  Any good ideas how to use this? 

Foam cut outs: hearts, flowers and more, all Valentine related. 

It was a busy week in Kindergarten. Our letter of the week was letter Uu; our story this week was called See How We Grow; the popcorn words that were introduced this week were see, look. We had a book order due on Friday and we had Fantastic Friday. What is this? It is what we call Fridays because they generally include something fun and special like Bubble Gum Fridays, or Pickle/Popcorn Friday.  We play "Around the World" with letter recognition on Fridays. Students love it. They wouldn't even care if we missed recess, that is how much they love it. Often times on Fridays we have to be flexible and go with the flow. It seems like plans always change on a Friday. We do a motion or chant or cheer (?almost?) about this. It says: "We can be flexible (students put their hands on their hips and flex their knees). When plans change (students put both hands up in the air sort of like gesturing a big 'I don't know'), we go go with the flow (students make a flowing motion with hands like a river)." 

It was good to be back at school. I love teaching. I love learning. I love this school family! 

Tell Me Something Good

Tell one good thing from school and one good thing from home. Then hop over to Rowdy in First Grade and read some more and share your own.

I am going to preface this by saying that whatever you focus on becomes reality. When November rolls around and I make a gratitude post, or a thankful post, every day on facebook, guess what? My outlook changes and good things happen.  When I look for the good, good things happen. So in the midst of things that seem completely negative, if I take a moment and look for something to be grateful to God for, my life gets better You can say whatever you want about Zig Zeigler and his power of positive thinking or about "The Secret" or whatever, but you can just take it back a little farther and see what the Bible says. Here's a fave: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about these things" Philippians 4:8. And maybe it is because it of this: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Luke 12:34. I just know it works. And I needed that reminder. Life really IS good.

Something good thing at school:  Talking about Martin Luther King Jr. We had the chance to talk about our school family, and what our learning community is in our classroom. We talked about how we wouldn't get to go to school together at one time in our country, and that we wouldn't be able use the same water fountains or bathroom. My students took this very seriously and some of them nearly started crying. While the thought of my precious Kinders crying did hurt my heart, at the same time, I was happy, I was full of pride at the community we have developed.  I love my school family!

Something good at home: Well, in the words of Pete the Cat, "it's all good." Seriously, I don't know where to start. There is not a lot that is spectacular, but there's not a lot that totally sucks. I can choose gratitude today. I am grateful that my girls are smart and kind and helpful. Right now might be my "something good." I am happily typing, my 8 year old is in the rocking chair all comfy under a blanket, and my 16 year old is sitting in my giant bean bag all snuggled under a blanket (with a little red dachshund snuggled up with her) and we are watching "The Help." This is the good life.

Oh please! Tell me something good. Leave me a comment about your something good. Or link up!

Five for Friday

It's time to link up for Five for Friday. Hop on over to Doodle Bugs and join the party! The rules are: Post any five things from the day or the week. School or not school. Randomosity (that's a word, right?).

1. This is sort of a recurring theme among teachers this week, but I am celebrating survival of the first week back. Of course, the term "celebrating" is used very loosely here since I have been on the verge of losing my supper and various other contents of my stomach off and on all day. I thought it was nausea do to dehydration this morning, but it came and went all day, something I've never experienced before. Report cards went home today, students learned this week, we re-established routines, and it was good to be back.

2. I am working on something for the 100th day. We are celebrating on Friday the 25th. There are conflicting counts in our district as to when the 100th day really is, but the count that landed on Friday is what we are going with.  I am responsible for a center or station in a rotation with 4 other teachers and students will be K-2nd grade. So I want to find something that goes together relatively fast, is easy enough for Kinders but engaging enough that 2nd graders will enjoy it too. I have a lot of ideas for my classroom celebration.

3. We started a bulletin board in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. We also read Scholastic's "Let's Find Out" and watched the short excerpt of that oh-so-famous "I Have a Dream" speech that was linked in the digital "Let's Find Out" magazine. We've talked a little bit about how we would not have been able to be a school family if we were still segregated. This made my students sad, which made me happy. Yes, I see segregation happening again in America, but oh how far we've come.  We are a school family and we could not imagine not being allowed to learn together, or for some of us to be expected to learn in substandard environments while others of us were not held to that same expectation. I love how their little minds can wrap around this.

4. We are reading Junie B. in our classroom now. We are reading Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business. The student's burst out laughing when Junie B. says something inappropriate, and sometimes they gasp in shock. Which reminds me what a great and wonderful class I have and that even though they have their moments, they are respectful and responsible and I am blessed to be their teacher. I students like it when Junie B. is always talking about some "dumb bunny" this, or "dumb bunny" that...."My dumb bunny teacher...(insert snickers and out right laughter)."

5. I have great kids. I have great students, that much is true, but I am referring to the biological ones that I trudged out here to the panhandle to a place so far from their friends and family.  I am lucky and blessed to have them help me in my classroom. Here's a picture of one of my favorite helpers!

Gem of the Day

I am going to just do a quick little blog tonight....

I have been working in my room.  I am so slow. I spent hours there yesterday and today and it is still a disaster. It is more of an organized disaster, but still a disaster. I got  more lesson plans lined out, but still not done with those either! AAAaaaa!

Here is a little gem for you. My Aunt Marilynn who was a librarian for years and years gave me her stamp collection to use at school. I have to be honest, I really want to hoard them for myself. Check them out. The Wild Thing! Mrs. Frizzle~ she didn't show up too well, but trust me, she's there. Little Critter (love him)! So many more! I am in awe and feel very, very loved. That is the gem of the day. Smile, you know it was a good one.