Creative Rodeo Events

The Rodeo and Livestock Show is a big event around our parts. Many of the students go at least one night and some even participate in activities like Mutton Bustin' (the kids try to hold on to the back of a sheep). We have been reading books and doing activities about farm animals and fair events. I asked the students to create a new rodeo event-some of them were very creative! :)

This is Blast Whack. The way he explained it to me, it sounds like of like Whack-a-Mole except you are whacking elements from the periodic table. If you hit Helium, it explodes.

You have to run faster than a bull

Bull Coaster-you ride a rollercoaster and then you get to ride a bull.

Stay on a camel without falling off.

A cowgirl flying on an eagle.

Chasing a chicken

Boys!

I was a psych major-I think it's because human behavior just fascinates me. I'm always wondering why people act the way they do. Every year the dynamic of my class is different. Sometimes the kids are super-compassionate, empathetic, helping each other. Sometimes they have to learn how to cooperate with each other and I have so many strong personalities that most of the time I'm just resolving conflicts.

This year I have a dynamic I have not had to deal with before. Out of my 20 students-15 are boys. We always talk about how in teaching we have to be flexible, I have had to change a lot of my thinking this year. My classroom has never taken such a beating. This is what most of my bulletin boards look like-no matter how many times I fix them:

They can't just line up at the door-they lean. Luckily I'm not one of those with pristinely decorated classrooms. :) I've put the border back up at least 20 times, now I can't even find what they did with the rest of the border. One of my wooden blocks that I've had for years was broken in half. How do you break a wooden block?

Our room is always a mess! I go through and pick up all the backpacks and jackets that somehow all missed their hooks and 10 minutes later, they have jumped off all those hooks again. They don't seem to mind crayons and pencils on the floor and don't get me started on how they clean up after breakfast!

We also seem to have that lack of compassion I spoke of. It's something we work on regularly. They constantly argue with each other and even though we use community supplies and have about a million pencils, they have to fight over one that I guess has magical powers or something.  They do not stop talking either-whether it's in the hallway or the middle of a lesson-getting everyone to listen at the same time is a struggle every single day! The first Friday into the school year this year I had my first chemo treatment. On Monday when I came in I made it through the whole day until about a half hour from dismissal. I started to feel like I was going to pass out, so I laid down in the class library, put on a BrainPop video and called the front office to see if someone could relieve me. One of the students came over and yells "Hey, Miss Trayers is asleep!". I explained, that no I wasn't asleep. But my thought was, if you thought I was asleep, why are you yelling? That's been my year this year.

The one other adjustment I have had to make has been in channeling all that energy. And they are full of energy! I actually divide my recess time in half-we go out in the middle of my reading block for about 10 minutes and run around. Then we go out again 2-ish when they start to be losing steam again and I've been teaching them how to play games like What Time is it Mr. Fox and Red Rover. In between I play Dr. Jean videos, JustDance Kids videos-just to get those wiggles out.

Don't get me wrong-there are also positives. We have some real charmers. I have a few students that everyone on campus knows by name-future politicians, I think. I also have some truly gifted students. One knows the whole periodic table already, one is reading on a 5th grade level.

Writing from the Perspective of Horton's Egg

I love the story of how Dr. Seuss came up with the story of Horton. He had his papers on his desk, a wind blew through the window and when he looked down there was a picture of an elephant on a tree. And he was inspired to write:

Since we are working on thinking from multiple perspectives, we wrote from the perspective of the egg. It's mother left him with an elephant. There were trials and tribulations that they both suffered through. How did it feel, what did it hear, what would it wish for, etc.....

I would see no light and wonder how the world looks like.

I would feel delicate.

Love the illustration here with the egg though bubble!

I wish I could walk and feel disappointed in my mom.

I would wish I had long legs. I would feel sad because I have no friends.

And of course, one of them had to write it! :)

I would be outrageously mad and I would be frustrated.

I would never give up.

I would not want an elephant on me. I would be scared to see a circus.

I would wish my mom never left me.

Fun With Adages

My class has a favorite adage: that's the pot calling the kettle black. They use it all the time particularly when someone is telling on a student for something they did themselves. Like when they get out of their seat to come tell me Johnny is out of his seat. One day a student asked me if there were more sayings like that-so it's something I'm going to start incorporating into our lessons. I found some picture cards at Lakeshore that illustrate the sayings which I can utilize in workstations as well.

So as a kind of pre-test activity, I asked the kids to fill in the rest of some common sayings. Their answers made me smile. In the next few weeks, I will teach them how they really end, but I actually like some of the ones they came up with. The consensus by the way is that you shouldn't count your chickens until night time. :)

Don't count your chickens until they "bawk"

Every cloud has an angel.

to flip

Beauty is in the eye of love.

Don't count your chickens until when they eat.

Performance Assessments

I believe in giving kiddos different ways to apply what they are learning. Everyone is not the same kind of learner, so everyone should not be expected to show what they are learning in the same way. I'm a big believer in performance assessments. It takes a little bit more time to put them together, but I can tell right away who gets it and who needs a little more reteaching.

Since February is Black History Month, we wrote skits portraying the lives of the historical figures we have been studying. I chose 5 team "captains" who then chose their "team". They sat down together and decided who they wanted to write about. And then they decided who would play what role (it took a lot of cooperation) and wrote their lines. This is one example:

MLK-Everyone should have the same rights.

Coretta Scott King-Yes, that is the only way to be fair.

MLK-I am going to do a big speech today, I feel sad that I have to make a speech for equal rights.

Protester-yes, we shouldn’t have to fight for our rights.

Police officer-I will protect you at your speech today Martin.

MLK-thank you, I am grateful that you will protect me.

Coretta Scott King-Good luck in your speech. I’m happy for you.

We performed them for our parents today-a short and sweet little performance. No costumes, no backdrops-just their stories.

Painting Jazz

Our students no longer go to a music teacher for their specials. My school decided that since we were beginning a Dual Language program that they would offer Spanish as the elective instead. I feel like instruction about the arts is really important. So I've tried to pick up the slack a bit in class and still introduce musical concepts. We talked about jazz music this week. 

I love the story of Louis Armstrong and how a police officer gave him a trumpet which started him down a road that would end up making him very successful. It's amazing to me how sometimes one little act of kindness can change someone's whole life. Brainpop has a pretty good video about him and about how jazz is different from other music.

So we listened to some different jazz songs and then I let the music play and asked them to paint what the music made them think of. I got a lot of rainbows and butterflies-but I also got some who I think were very creative in their responses.

"people in the past"

"a calm day and peaceful"-this little girl worked way after everyone else was done putting in all the details.

This one looks like a stained glass cave to me-my favorite painting of the day!