Helping Grandma

During a class discussion on how we can help our family out, one sweet friend says: 

"You can help your grandma get up the stairs...you know, like push her from behind."

Not exactly the type of help she might have wanted! 

She's gonna break a hip,

Laura

Animal Parts

When I was teaching in Texas, I had an adorable student whose mom had just had a baby. Fast forward a few months and we are learning about farm animals. The assignment was to choose a farm animal, choose a body part of that farm animal and tell me why it is important.

I was walking around the classroom helping and monitoring when I saw this sweetie's paper and, although I consider myself an expert at deciphering invented spelling, I didn't want to believe what I was reading. So I asked her to tell me about what she had written.

This is how the conversation went...

Me: So, tell me about what you chose!
Student : The pig.
Me: What part of the pig?
Student: Oh you know the (whispering) b....e.
Me: What did you say? I couldn't hear you.
Student: The part for the baby pigs, you know, the (whispering) b..b...e
Me: (Not willing to believe what I am hearing/reading) I'm sorry, sweetie, one more time.
Student: (As she cups her hands in front of her chest as though she is wearing a bra and she yells...) You know, the BOOBIE!

Here is her paper (pardon the horrible, in class, old iphone photo) and it clearly says, "So the milk comes out for the baby pigs."

Love my job!
Laura

Friday Funny

During good things (every morning I ask my students to tell me something good), my sweet friend told me that this summer he is going to have a lemonade stand. This is how the conversation went...

Student: "This summer I am going to have a lemonade stand in my yard!"
Me: "Oh, great idea! How much will you charge?"
Student: "$2.99 a glass"
Me: (looking very surprised by the price) "Oh, wow..."
Student: "Well, unless you want a kid's cup, that's $1.85"

Quite the entrepreneur we have on our hands here!

I better start saving to visit his lemonade stand,
Laura

Mothers and Fathers

I found some really cute, inexpensive ideas for my students to make for their parents for Mother's Day and Father's Day!

For the mommas, we are making them breakfast in bed! I am really excited to see how these turn out! Inside will be an apple, granola bar, napkin and tea bag.

For the dads, I am still deciding between this...

and this...

Fun!

I kind of want one of those road shirts...

Laura

The Real Meaning of Easter

Although all the festive holiday decor and treats are fun, the real reason for celebrating Easter goes much deeper than that. One of my previous students sums it up pretty well...

"Jesus got on the cross so we did not have to get dead. Bad people did it to him."

Remember the real reason for the season this weekend and celebrate Christ's death and resurrection for us! 

Amazing truth, 

Laura

Simple Math

My students were giving animal presentations and one boy, while presenting his facts about a tarantula, said, "Tarantulas have eight legs but sometimes they can lose their legs."

I was attempting to prompt him about how they can lose their legs but they grow back and I asked, "Well, what happens if they lose a leg?"

His immediate response, "Well, then they have seven legs!" :)

Maybe I should have been a little more specific in my questioning...

It's simple math Mrs. Ellison!

Gotta love it,
Laura

Ethel the Owl

It was the first week of my first year of teaching and in order to nip tattling in the bud, I had placed a owl beanie baby on top of the white board named Ethel. Whenever a child had a tattle, they whispered it to Ethel and she flew down to my desk after school every night and told me what had happened that day.

They were so into it.

There was also a bathroom in this classroom and, the first few months, I used this bathroom, as well as the students, so I wasn't leaving them completely alone in the classroom.

So, it was about 30 minutes before the end of the school day (maybe the 4th or 5th day of school) and I really had to use the bathroom so I told them that I was going in here to the bathroom and to keep working because Ethel was watching. (Scary, huh?) The second I start using the bathroom (TMI?) I hear the office calling to my classroom over the loudspeaker and so I hurry and finish up and bust open the bathroom door to see my entire class dead silent, staring at the ceiling where the speaker was located. One sweet friend looks over to me, terrified, and says, "Ethel says that Brooke needs to go to the office."

It took everything in me not to start busting out laughing but I somehow held it together enough to say, "Ok Brooke, you heard Ethel, grab your backpack and head to the office."

It was silent the rest of the day.

Teaching is a lot like acting,
Laura

Heels vs. Flats

Some days (especially those spent mindlessly wandering DSW), I wish my job was the kind where it made sense to wear shoes like this...

or this...

or even this...

But then I remember how much I love my job and my students and that my feet would kill me if I wore heels all the time. Instead, I can wear shoes like this...

or this...

and especially this...

I'll take them all,

Laura

The Chimpantie Breed

After discussing Jane Goodall and chimpanzees in kindergarten this week, we did a journal entry about what we know about the topic. At the end of the writing time, we were sharing what we had written and one sweet friend says,

"Chimpanties make and use tools."

I wasn't sure if you all were aware of the rare breed of Chimpanzees called the Chimpantie!

Made me smile,
Laura

Comprehension Pinwheel

I love switching things up in the classroom to keep myself growing as a teacher and to keep the kids engaged. I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be such a fun, new way to assess comprehension after read-alouds.

Does everyone else love the Target dollar section as much as I do? I found these cute little pinwheels there last week and knew I had to give this a whirl (pun obviously intended)!

I decided not to write the questions directly on the pinwheel for two reasons.

1. The polka dots could intrude on the words.

2. I like the idea of being able to take off the questions and switch it up for different books, purposes and differentiation throughout the year.

I don't want to commit too much here, you know.



We decided whichever question lands at the top by his eyes is the one we will answer. I love having the kids blow at the pinwheel or spin it and get excited about answering the questions!

I love thinking of other ways to incorporate this pinwheel idea....

-Math facts

-Spelling word review (read it then use it in a sentence)

-Shapes

-Blend/Chunks (have them name a word that contains that blend/chunk)

-Money (after two spins, add up the amount you have together)

Teachers, any other cute ideas to share about how to spice things up in the classroom based on this pinwheel idea?

Who knew a pinwheel could be so inspirational?

Laura

An Excellent Brain

I couldn't help but smile when I was going over my student's homework and I saw this...

(the parents write down how their child got the answer)

"He had 8 hamburgers and three buns and I know he needs 5 more because I have an excellent brain."

I love that the dad added "He really said that."

He's adorable,
Laura



100's Day Can Drive

100's day is one of my favorite things that we celebrate in Kindergarten! Besides dressing up like we are 100 years old (hysterical!), we also hold a can drive to try and collect 100 cans for the 100 days!

We ended up collecting over 250 cans and when I delivered it to the Food Bank of the Rockies, it weighed in at 327 pounds!

I love this project because it is a simple, inexpensive project for the families and a fun activity for the kids to watch the can pile grow larger and larger each day!

Love my job,

Laura



Valentine's for Kiddos

Loving these ideas for Valentine's to give to my students...

I "Wheelie" Like You



Stache and Lips

I Dig You

You Make My Heart Glow

This time of year is so fun!

I think I will go with the glowsticks,

Laura

Cowgirl

A teaching funny...

My sweet friend came up to me this week and whispers, "Were you a cowgirl in Texas?" And I smiled and said, "Oh, yes" (I couldn't help myself!) and he whispers, "That's what I thought!" and walks away.

And I immediately grabbed a post-it note and wrote that down.

Happy Friday!

Your resident cowgirl,
Laura

Just Not The Same Guy Anymore

A teaching funny...

We were making a chart about Teeth and what we already know about them, what we want to know about them and then after our unit we fill in a third column about what we learned (a KWL chart in teacher lingo!). We were on the "W" column and my smart, little friend who had just lost a tooth that morning said, "How come when you lose a tooth, you just don't feel like the same guy anymore?"

I never realized losing a tooth could warrant such a dramatic change in one's life! Hope this made ya smile today!

I love my job,
Laura