America Before Columbus

Happy Columbus Day!  I'm enjoying a nice day off.  We've never had Columbus Day off and it's more a matter of coincidence with the way our calendar fell this year, but I am celebrating (brunch & a massage, what, what?!)!

I also thought I'd share a great resource with you, America Before Columbus, produced by National Geographic.  This video is engaging and informative and a great tie to our curriculum.  It really does a nice job telling about life before Columbus and his crew landed at San Salvador and showing the impact of their expeditions.

Here is a link to view the full video

Wishing you a day of good retail sales and no infectious diseases.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you are out celebrating our beautiful country with friends and family.  In honor of our nation's birthday, I have a wonderful resource for you, "Today in History" from the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress. 

Today's entry is hopefully pretty obvi... buuutttttt add it to your bookmark list for great primary source documents throughout the year.

 

 

 

God bless the USA!

April Fools

Today one of ATP's sweet students brought in cupcakes for her birthday! 

They sang and wished her a great day, and then she said, "April Fools!"  I was so impressed with the wit of this fifth grader!  What a fun (and yummy!) way to play a clever joke.

Any other teachers out there have a great April Fools story?  I'm always stumped!

I Am Lucky!

Check out our latest project:

Thanks to our snow day last week, I came across this super cute project from Sunny Days in Second Grade.  Her project was adorable and totally adaptable to fifth graders.  On Monday we journaled in response to the question, "How are you lucky?"  Then I gave students a copy of a shamrock and some pretty open ended directions to complete it at home.

I encouraged students to work on it WITH their families and be as creative as they wish.  The rule was that it had to include some writing.  How cute are the final products?!

My example.  Don't you love "Pose C" from my school pics?  Ha ha.

 

Have a LUCKY day!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day ATP and I did a fun writing activity with our students using conversation hearts.  I apologize for forgetting to take a picture of a student sample, but here is my recreation.

 

It's a fun and creative way to express love for family members on Valentine's Day.  And even my "non-writers" enjoy the challenge of trying to work in as many conversation heart phrases as possible.

 

Note: For our students we used this free printable from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Enjoy!

Well, Hello

Sorry I have been MIA over the past few weeks.  I will make it up to you soon!

A few fun things have been going on at school lately that I will be sharing.  One of which was my birthday.  My students and coworkers were so good to me! I think my afternoon group sang to me four times in the course of our class.  It really warmed my heart when one student wrote me a card saying, "You were born to be a teacher."  Aw.  And another wrote an interesting interpretation of our slogan "Kiss your brain," "Kiss your brian!"  Ha ha.

Kids are the best.

Make Your World a Little Bigger

I'm watching the inauguration and marvelling at the poetry of seeing President Obama sworn in for a second term as he looks out on the crowd, and just beyond, the new MLK Jr monument and hears the beautiful invocation of Myrlie Evers-Williams, wife of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

...and of course I'm scrolling through Facebook while I watch :)  Once again, my buddy Cynthia Lord nails the sentiment of a day like today by sharing this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Every stretch, every risk, every new experience changes you. I encourage you all to try something new with me this week in honor of MLK. To take that first step on the staircase, even if you don't see where it leads. To risk reaching out to people and experiences outside your usual comfort zone.

As Cynthia put it, "To make the whole world a little smaller.  And your own world a little bigger."

Martin's Big Words

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr, Day!

To celebrate this amazing man, ATP and I created a lesson integrating primary sources and the text Martin's Big Words.

We started with reading the book My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.  This sweet book details MLK's childhood and tells about a time white friends in his neighborhood suddenly decided not to play with him.

Then we shared images from The Library of Congress.  We also shared a shortened clip of the "I Have a Dream Speech."  Students had a copy of the text to follow along with and added their own thinking and questions as we watched.

 

After discussion, we read Martin's Big Words.  The students each selected one quote from the book to analyze and reflect on.  [By the way, if you want to hear the text of the book, check out this video. The quality isn't great, but it is the full text and images.]

 

These reflections will become part of a display in our wing with a timeline of important African American figures.  It's a great way to talk not only about this time period, but how we can continue living out the 'big words' of MLK.

I really enjoyed teaching this powerful lesson on a important topic.  What are you doing to keep the dream alive?

Gifts of Writing

Every year at the holidays my students create gifts of writing.  I've done it ever since student teaching and have even made sure to practice what I preach each year.  (Mom says it's one the highlights of Christmas when she recieves hers!  Aw, shucks, Mom...)

It's a fun way to encourage creative, authentic writing.  Plus it's always a great way to get to know my students when I see what they want to capture as they write to loved ones.

This year, for some reason the trend in my afternoon class became writing parodies to popular songs about ME!  They were all hilarious, some more creative, others more awkward.  Here's a sampling....

This one is the ending of "Sheets Style," of course to the tune of "Gangnam Style."  (I'm a sucker for a student calling me 'funny.')

This one is to the tune of "Black and Yellow."  The sweet introvert that gave me this tune does an awesome job of performing it. 

I'm partial to the line about Kathleen's laugh.  They cracked up when I imitated it one time.

This one is to "Party Rock" and realllly long.  (Four pages!)  But I love it!

 

I haven't been able to obtain the rights to "She's Funny and She Knows it."  That's right, it's to the tune of "Sexy and I Know It."  By the way, what is the correct way to respond to a fifth grader performing THAT parody?  Laugh uncomfortably?  I thought so. 

 

Anyway, my favorite lines in that ditty go, "She walks in the room, a confident teacher staring back at me" and "She's got knowledge in her head and she ain't afraid to teach it, teach it, teach it."  Classic.

 

I crack up at this pic taken at today's pizza party... Wishing you and your special friends a very happy holidays and a wonderful (restful) break! 

Autism Speaks pt 2

We had crafting day #2 and made close to double the amount of ornaments we did last time!  Plus we're up to $130 raised so far!  All for the great cause of Autism Speaks. 

By the way, did you know autism now affects 1 in 88 American children? With the prevalance being 1 in 54 boys!? By comparison, more children are diagnosed with autism each year than with juvenile diabetes, AIDS, or cancer, COMBINED. We need to raise money to help with research, education, and support of children with autism and their families.  Please join us!

 

I also was able to get out to some local retailers today and three shops are now selling these lovely creations.  If you're in the area, stop by Kidd Coffee, Mims on Main, or Main Street Sweets for your very own ornament.  Thanks in advance for your support!

 



Autism Speaks Fundraiser

Autism is a cause that is close to my heart.  I've had close to 20 students with Autism or Aspergers in my 6 years in the biz, all of whom have been special and awesome in his or her own way.  I've loved learning about fish, Jedis, cats, trains, Shamu, American Idol, Legos, the Babysitters Club, and tiaras through their eyes.  Their sweet spirits and unique ways of seeing the world inspire me.

So I wanted to do something to support them.

A few months ago I saw this image on Pinterest from Lisa's Craft Blog and it made me think about the puzzle piece as the symbol for Autism awareness. 

And voila, our fundraiser was born.  Even better, we were able to get all the supplies donated by Scrap4Art or school staff members. 

Sweet students volunteered to stay after school and help make the ornaments.  (By the way, we had just as many or maybe more boys than girls, woot! Go, boy crafters!)  We made about 90 ornaments following the blog directions, with some creative twists.  Some students went with the small pieces, others got a little crazier with large puzzle pieces.  All were decorated with glitter and fun ribbons. 

 

 

I love the flair that only kids can bring to a project like this.  It went so well that we scheduled a second session for this week.

Now comes the fun part!  We're selling these ornaments to local retailers, families, and staff for $5.  I hope it goes well and that we're able to make a difference for individuals with autism and their families.

By the way, if YOU would like to support the cause, leave a comment with your email and I will hook you up!  Thanks in advance for your support.  I hope it helps inspire you to do what you can for the cause that is closest to your heart.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving.  Currently, I'm enjoying the down-time between food prepwork and full-on cooking before all of the family arrives.  It's great to celebrate a day of reflecting on all of our blessings, big and small.  Today I'll share some of the items on my school thankfulness list.

1. I'm thankful for my teaching team.  They are hard-working, gifted, passionate educators.  They are supportive and yet challenge me to grow and get better every day.

2. I'm thankful for my past teammates.  I've worked with some wonderful teachers who have all made me a better teacher.

3. I'm grateful for administrators I respect and trust.  I am aware that is the exception in education and I don't take it for granted.

4. I'm grateful that there are professional communities like the Ohio Writing Project.  I love the way my experiences with them have grown me as a teacher.  I am grateful to still be involved in the work they are doing to teach, support, and empower teachers.

5. I am thankful for my classroom.  I love the smell and the coziness and knowing it's my own space to create community that impacts kids.

6. I am thankful for books.  For the chance to share them with my students and to have discussions everyday about great literature and characters.

7. I am blessed by my department.  There are so many amazing ideas and resources housed in that group of dynamic women. 

8. I am grateful for days off that reenergize me for the days ahead!

9. I am thankful for moments with students that remind me why I became a teacher.  This past week we had our first poetry slam competition.  We had a student with autism who "hates writing" perform his original poem about Bengal cats and another sweet girl share publicly about the recent death of her father.  Neither won, but it was amazing to watch them confidently share with our team.

10. I am grateful that even on the hardest days I know I am still called to teaching.  Very few enjoy the blessing of not only knowing what job God created them to do, but actually get to do it in a place they love.


Thanks for letting me share some of the reflection this day brings.  Enjoy your day!

Happy Veterans Day!

On Friday we celebrated Veterans Day at school.  It's one of my favorite days of the year as we honor more than 300 special vets, some of whom have never recieved proper recognition.

My favorite sweet visitor to our team is a 92-year-old veteran who came to visit one of my students.  Her dad works at a nursing home and had a special connection with him.  He spoke a bit about his World War II experiences and even brought in mementos to show the students.  It was awesome to see so many 10-year-olds crowded around to look at his photos and treasures.  (And funny to help him get out to his bright red Camaro after the program!)

After a parade through the building, the vets enter our packed gymnasium and are honored with songs, thank you's, and poetry.  Two great teachers established a "Just Three Words" slideshow the students help create.  It's a special part of the program and you can view it here.

Thank you, Veterans.  Thinking of you today, Grandpa Ted!

Happy Halloween

 

I hope your day at school was mostly good and calm, but I doubt it. In the spirit of what can be one of the craziest days of the school year, a laugh for you:

 

 

Have a great day (and sneak some candy from the kids)!