I like winter because..

We are making a special writing project today. Everyone wrote "I like winter because.." and then filled it in. I am so please with how many children are inventive spelling. Some are still only hearing the beginning sound of a word (e.g., "M N M B P I D S" for "me and my brother play in the snow"), but others are working really hard to spell out whole words (e.g., "snou" for "snow").

That and the fact that 6 people had birthdays in November makes me feel like they are all growing up.

the first three months of teaching are like the first trimester of pregnancy

• Morning sickness
• Extreme tiredness and fatigue
• Mood swings
• Weight gain/loss 
• The “Oh man oh man oh man is this really happening? Can I survive these 9 months THAT LEAD INTO A LIFETIME OF CHILDREN?” thoughts

via We've Got a Diem to Carpe

I have officially survived the first three months of teaching.

things I have done today

- Slept until lunch time
- Ate a big breakfast (which I did not have to make)
- Laid in bed and read a book that was not required by anybody for anything
- Rode the holiday train around the loop
- Watched most of Season 4 of himym
- Ate apple pie

And I still have two days of vacation left. 

so excited for my next project!

Today I was reading a professional resource book on reading with children in small groups (guided reading) when I came across the sentence.. "Order the following supplies through your school in order to enhance your literacy centers." I loled. 

However, I did just finish selecting the literacy materials for my next DonorsChoose grant. Just thinking about how I would use all of the supplies makes me so excited! A lot of these materials would take me hours and hours to create on my own. Others I simply could not reproduce.

Check back in just over one week to see what our classroom needs!

thankfulness

This morning at creed meeting our AP invited some children to come up and share something they are thankful for.

"I am thankful for my school because a long long time ago black people weren't allowed to go to school."

-- Third Grade Student

I don't know who is more upset

Me or my kids.

"Ms. Haley, all of your kids need their clips moved. They had a lot of trouble lining up [at the end of recess]."

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them."

And if there is one thing I have learned, never say a promise you don't intend to keep. I stood in front of them and moved every damn clip down. Silently.

Now, it's one thing if my kids are bad and that's that. But then another teacher came and found me to tell me that they really weren't that bad (probably because my face was twitching). And now I'm mad because another adult just forced me to punish my kids, and they apparently didn't deserve it.

Thank goodness for quiet time. Hopefully when it's all over everyone will have forgotten and that will be that.

save the date!

In two very short weeks, DonorsChoose is running a double your money event.

For every dollar you donate, they will match it! All you will need to do is enter a code, which I will happily supply to you.

Stay tuned for my latest project request. I'm going to hold off posting it until December 5th, when the Friends and Family Event begins.

This is basically a sale, and generosity is half off. Get ready.

one.

Only one day stands between me and four day bliss. My longest vacation since September.

And, my administration cancelled PD for tomorrow. We get to leave when the kiddies leave at 1:50.

One has never felt so good.

9 day 9 leaf challenge

We have 9 leaves to go on our tree. Nine students who are close but have not mastered letter recognition. So, I offered them a challenge. If we can help each other get all of the leaves up on the tree in 9 days, I am going to give them 5 marbles for their prize cup. They're pumped and we even made up a dance. I think we can do it!

word wall

A lot of people have a lot to say about word walls: height, size, letter font and color, etc. (Clarification -- when I say word wall, I mean the enormous part of my classroom devoted to the display of alphabetized target high frequency words.)

When I first started I did not see what the fuss was about. I hung my alphabet traditionally, above the white board and added words above each letter.

However, I recently read that you can tell what a teacher prioritizes from the way their classroom is arranged. With a pretty strong foundational in the alphabet at this point, I'm beginning to rethink all of my priorities. We need to read!

I stayed late last night, erased my objectives and schedule off the whiteboard, and here we are.

shake shake shake

And butter we did make!

butter

Today for science we are making butter... like the pilgrims. Although as of last night I wasn't entirely sure that the pilgrims churned butter. What I do remember is that when I was in Kindergarten, Mrs. T let us shake cream to our hearts content. And that is exactly what we are going to do today.

I can't wait!

reason #693 education is messed up

The people who make the rules are apparently ignorant of any actual classroom experience, and also have never spend a single hour with a child. 

How is it that I never noticed the tension between standards and developmentally appropriate practices before? How is it that I have taught Kindergarten for nearly four months and I'm just now getting really angry?

And all almighty, I am angry.

You know when my kids are happiest? When they're playing. You know when I have the fewest behavior problems? When they're playing. You know when I see the most enthusiasm for learning? When I'm lecturing at them while they sit still in their chairs. When they're playing.

We as a country are falling behind fast because we are FAILING at educating. So how do combat it? More standards. More tests. More of the same. Quantity over quality, America. That's your specialty.

k under pressure

Pressure? This is kindergarten, the happy land of building blocks and singalongs. But increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging. If children don’t meet certain requirements, they are deemed “not proficient.” Frequently, children are screened for “kindergarten readiness” even before school begins, and some are labeled inadequate before they walk through the door.

-- Boston Globe