Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Please, pretty please with a cherry on top, stop the rain! Rainy days, although welcome in AZ, are not so much welcome when you are a teacher. Feel free to rain anytime on the weekends and from 2:15 P.M. to 7:45 A.M. during the week. No joke, the rain is simply put a punishment to teachers everywhere. So what exactly do teachers do when it rains? Why, we put in a movie of course!

Jill and I would never just "put in a movie" for no reason whatsoever, well we might, but certainly not for days in a row. So, in went "The Little Mermaid". It's a movie with water, so we were tying it to the theme of the week, but we took it one step further. While they were watching the movie all of the kids, all 41 of them, were on the hunt for nouns and verbs. We tied it all together! We survived the rainy day. Or so we thought. Wake up and what's happening? Rain, more rain! So in to school I went, movie in hand, lesson ready. This time we watched "Monsters' Inc." and recorded adjectives. Mission accomplished. Stir crazy children were content, exhausted teachers were happy.

Not only did we watch movies though. My class made boats. S came to me and suggested we make boats to float in the puddle/pond that was our South Playground. Out came boxes, wrappers, everything in the recycle bin and they built boats. They were very creative, and I must say, watching them build their floating creations was pretty fabulous!

The kids were just itching to get outside by Friday afternoon, so once the rain stopped Jill and I planned on taking them to the North Field. It wasn't flooded like ours was. We didn't tell them until we were lined up, knowing that they would have been ecstatic for the 30 minutes we had left. Q came up to me and said "can I run around? I need to stretch!" as he stretched all around. Too cute. They just RAN to the playground. It was so nice for all of us to get some fresh air.

Our fun Friday wasn't over yet. We finally got a chance to float our boats. The sun was out and the puddles were waiting. Originally, I tried to keep them from walking, standing, splashing in the puddles, but whats the fun in that. So knowing that they were heading home in a mere 10 minutes, I gave up and they got wet. Most of the boats sailed, all of the kids splashed. A very fun way to end the week from you know where!

Well, just when we thought the rain was over, the following Wednesday came. Not only did I have a headache, it was also a half day (which are always nuts!). I couldn't wait for our 9:30 recess to come. Just as I walked out the door to go and pick them up from specials, which would directly lead to recess...the sky's opened! Seriously?!?!

My final thoughts: Movies can be used productively. Puddles are meant to be splashed in. Just as there are snow days back east, we should have rain days. Sunshine please, pretty please come back!

'Til next time...

Ok, so my goal of writing at least one sentence a year has gone right out the door already! But with good reason...I was sick. It's one of the many perks of teaching. We came back from winter break on Monday and on Tuesday I had that scratchy throat thing going on. I sucked it up and went in on Wednesday, but knowing that I had a trip on the weekend, I stayed home on Thursday. A quick trip to the doctor turned up a diagnosis of bronchitis. Ick! Well a day of rest and then a half of a day on Friday and I was back in action.

Last week was a short week since I was out of town on Monday, but short weeks always feel longer then regular weeks! We got a lot accomplished though. We've learned all about verbs, which are easy for the kiddo's to pick out of a list, but not so easy to write. We'll continue to work on that for sure!

This next week will be a short week as well. No school because of MLK's Birthday. It's nice to have a day off. Seems that the days off come at just the right moment! You would think that after having a two week break for the Holiday's, we'd still be ready to roll...not so much! It's crazy, but this 3-Day weekend was heaven sent.

So for now, that's all. But I'll be back as we continue our trek through grammar. Wish me luck!

Halfway Point

Well, we made it. I made it! I survived the first half of the year teaching the little ones. And I have to admit I love it. I was pretty skeptical at first. So much prep work during the summer, so many tears in the beginning, but all of the hard work and we've made it through the first half of the year.


I've cried. Day one, after using the word "decipher", taking the whole lunch period to get the kids through the line and being asked a million questions about where they were supposed to go...I cried. I didn't want to do it anymore, did anyone want to switch grade levels? But I got through it. Jill and ALL of the admin was on my side and it turned out just fine. No tears since then!



I've laughed. If nothing else the kids have made me laugh on a daily basis! Everything from "I can touch my brain" to a mini MJ doing the moonwalk across the floor. I've seen it all! Not to mention that Jill and I have shared some great moments and laughs in the first 09 of the 09-10 school year.

I've taught. The biggest difference between the older and younger kids, is that I can see the learning as it happens with the little ones. I teach them to read a new word today, and tomorrow they read it to me! I show them how to spell "who" today, and tomorrow they write it in their story. I'm pretty sure I taught the 5/6's something, but I couldn't see it. This year it's different. I can see it pretty much immediately. Immediate gratification for me and for them.

Overall it's been a great first half. I have a lot of ideas in mind for the second half of the year. We'll see how that goes. I know I've fallen off the page with this blog. But I'm back now. My goal is to write here at least once a week, even if it's just a sentence. So for now...

My 3-Day adventure

I know this is a teaching blog, for the most part, but for today it's all about my latest experience...here it is!

Day 1

The 3:30 alarm came way too soon! Just when I thought I was ready, I wasn't. Tiffany showed up on time and of course my shoes weren't on, my bags weren't in the car and I ran out of time to eat the breakfast I had planned on. But, we made it out the door and only forgot 2 things (sunglasses and chapstick). Arriving at the Conway house to Kerry decorating the car set the tone for the rest of the weekend. We received our crowns, waited for Melinda (who we learned is usually a little late) and we were off.

At about 6:30 we arrived at opening ceremonies and experienced our very first porta-potties. These would be heaven over the next 72 hours! After potty breaks, check-in and our first group photo it was time for opening ceremonies to begin.

Opening ceremonies were emotional. There were cheers and tears, ups and downs, warm-ups an finally walking. The warm ups were tricky. Being squished with 1800 women and being asked to do knee raises and squats is not so easy. But we made the best of it as we would for the rest of the weekend. Were definitely ready to get going!  Being with experienced 3-Day walkers on our team, they knew to get us to the front and center of the holding area.  This meant we were some of the first to get started.  We left the area walking through the cheers of 1800 men and women as well as countless spectators.  They scanned our badges and we were off!

Days 1-3

There is so much to talk about the remainder of the 3 days.  So I'm going to sum it up with this list...

10 Things I Learned on the 3-Day

1.  Porta Potties are heaven sent

2.  Blisters can be dealt with

3.  Horn honking after mile 12 is annoying

4.  Women can do the impossible

5.  A high five can get you at least one more mile

6.  there is 1 weekend a year when all thing "boobie" is ok (even if your 7!)

7.  there are more names for boobies then you might think

8.  Fanny packs are Gods gifts to walkers.  They can hold everything, 

and I mean everything you need to survive!

9.  Stickers are fun and motivating.  We will stand in the long line for a smiley face!

10.  When you think you can't, you can! When you know you can, you will!

 There you have it.  My 3-Day experience rolled into a list of 10.  Of course there are many more like how powerful twizzlers are, how the cheesiest song soon becomes your favorite, how flip flops never felt so good, how a piece of cardboard can make the most comfortable of seats!

The closing ceremonies were pretty fantastic.  My entire family surprised me by showing up (mom, dad, mother in law, husband, aunt, uncle, 5 cousins, 1 best friend and my inspiration for walking, Denise).  It was a beautiful experience. 

I will definitely do it again and I encourage any of you to do it also! 

Back in Action

I'm back! I know that I've been gone for a while, but with good reason...a fever :(

I was out of commission for about 8 days, 5 of which were school days. I never, ever thought I would have to miss an entire week of school. But I did, and the kids survived. I had 2 amazing substitutes that were able to fill in the blanks on those lesson plans. There are no words to describe how fantastic my fellow teachers were. They printed my lesson plans, came up with activities, kept care of my pets and even rearranged their schedules to make mine work.

It's no fun to be out for a week, but I realized that the world won't come to an end if I can't be there, it make get off kilter, but it won't end! Not only did I miss a week because I was sick, the following week was Fall Break. Many said "you're so lucky to have 2 weeks off" but in all honesty, I would have done anything to be at school instead of sick! Seriously!

When I got back, I was exhausted. It wasn't so easy to come back, get organized and get back in the swing of things. Not to mention, it was the week of report cards, conference set up, benchmark grading among other things. Which brings me to my next subject...report cards!

WOW! I thought they were hard to do for big kids, boy was I wrong. What really threw me off, was that the report card was exactly the same, word for word, standard for standard. Most of the report card could work for any grade, but the reading and writing section should be worded a little bit differently. Perhaps it's just cause I'm new to the little ones, but it was a challenge. After about 6 hours all together, report cards were done (thanks mom for copying and stuffing them for me!)

Next up are conferences, which I quite enjoy. I love to meet the parents and it really gives me a great idea about why their kids are the way they are. It will be a busy week for sure, collaboration day, conferences, half days, field trip, picture re-takes, and of course Halloween!

Halloween, for those of you that know me, is my least favorite day of the year! So of course, when I realized that the kids would be dressing up for Halloween on Friday, I took the day off. I have full confidence in my wonderful sub and my room parents. I can't wait to see pictures (it's live and in person that freaks me out!) and hear all about it, but this week, as Halloween quickly approaches, I'm steering clear of all things Halloween.

I promise not to stay away as long this time, I'll be back next week to update you all on this crazy week, see you then!