WWAR: Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!

I didn't really want to start our WWAR series with this book. Don't misunderstand, it's a delightful little story that follows the life of puppies. It's filled with adorable illustrations, rhyming, and predictable text; an overall great read for early childhood kids. It's just not a book that I find particularly spectacular.

That is until it saved my tail this afternoon.

The air conditioner in our classroom went out this morning, making our classroom an oven. We were given the option of relocating to another room in our building (the staff meeting room) while we waited for the a/c to be fixed. So while my little heroes were at lunch, I hastily rehashed our plan for the afternoon, packed up whatever materials we needed, and schlepped it all down the 1/4 mile long hallway to the other room. The long walk+disrupted routine+a new environment+a frazzled teacher made for very, very high strung kindergartners this afternoon. We struggled through our afternoon lesson. We completed it, but not without 4 timeouts, 3 band-aids, and 2 tantrums.

In an effort to regain focus before shipping them off to activity, we sat down for some DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time. I had grabbed a stack of books, and on top was Puppies, Puppies, Puppies. To my utter surprise, my little heroes were completely captivated. After a few pages, they were anticipating the predictive text and reading with me (which I usually don't expect until a little later in the year). By the end of the story, both the heroes and myself were calmer and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Who would have thought? I guess I should have known, never judge a book by it's cover!

Even on hot and unpredictable days, I love my job!

A bad case of the Mondays

All in all it was not a terrible day....just a super frustrating one.

I leave my house at the usual time to make it to school 10 minutes early. I get on the highway and it's at a standstill due to an accident. I make it to the next exit a mile up the road and take the back roads, however, I am now 15 minutes behind schedule and 5 minutes late. Not the best way to start a Monday.

I get to school and get all of my belongings to lug inside: teacher bag/purse, lunch, and random box of teacher-y things I found in my spare room. As my hand reaches for the door to enter the building, the door is slammed open (into my foot) and two boys run out of the building. Using every single bit of teacher sweetness in me, I ignore my now throbbing toe, gently remind the boys to not run in (or out of) the building, and redirect them to the gym.

I head down the hall to my classroom where my students are already lining up. I get in, hastily set up morning work (all the while thanking the Good Lord I stayed late Friday to set up), and welcome my kinder heros with a smile.

Unfortunately, I was not the only one with a bad case of the Mondays. Today we had:

3 I-miss-my-mommy crying moments
5 I-will-not-hit-other-people timeouts
3 Non-green-happy-faces on behavior reports
1 completely-unprovoked-super-big-crying-tantrum

Tomorrow can only get better.

Even on super long, frustrating days....I love my job!

What We Are Reading: Intro

One of the new ideas that a group of teachers is implementing this year is posting what they are reading (personally) outside their classroom on the news board. The purpose of this is two fold; 1- two model being a life long reader to our students, and 2- to start conversations about books. Of course, I jumped on the bandwagon as soon as I found out about it, and posted my current read (the Harry Potter Series). It also gave me an idea for a series on this blog...the What We Are Reading series, hereafter referred to as WWAR. I will post and review books that we read during our DEAR time at school; be it a book I read, or one selected by our guest readers. I love hearing about, discussing, and of course reading new books,  so I thought I would give my little piece of the blogosphere a forum to do so. Please feel free to recommend titles as well.

Happy Reading!

Superhero Walking- The first two days of school

Last Thursday, I welcomed 20 new kinders to our school. On Friday, I welcomed 2 more. I am thrilled to have these precious ones in my class this year, but I always forget just how little they are when they first arrive. Everything is so new and exciting, making sitting and listening quite a challenge. Our theme this year is superheros, so we concentrated on learning two things that Kindergarten Heroes need to learn how to do: listening and walking in the halls.

We discussed how Kindergarten Heroes use 5 Star listening skills. Their eyes are watching, ears are listening, mouth is quiet, hands are still, and feet are quiet & still. We practiced what 5 Star listening looks like, feels, like and sounds like. My little heroes did very well for the first time, and I know we will master 5 Star listening very soon.

While 5 Star listening was hard, Superhero walking was an even greater challenge. Just like 5 Star listening,  we discussed and practiced what it looked, feels, and sounds like: Our bodies stand straight and tall; our heads are held high; our hands our on our hips; our feet on brown and white. We practiced, and practiced, and practiced some more. It's quite a task for my little heroes, but I know we will master it as well.

Other than working on those two skills, we read wonderful books like:

  and   and   and   .

We wiggled and danced to:

  and  and   and  .

It was a thrilling, exhausting, amazing two days. And I can't wait to do it again on Monday.

Now, if I can only get rid of this cold.

I love my job!!!

It's that time again...

That's right folks, I have a job for the fall, which means I''m back. And even better, I now have tenure! Whooohooo! I can now breathe a tad bit easier when the end of the year comes.

However, I have moved schools once again, this time back to my "old" school. I am super pumped for this upcoming year, I can tell it will be a great one!

I am also looking forward to growing this blog. I have some great posts planned and some great resources to share.

Well, that's all for now, off to cut some laminate.

I love my job!