Thanksgiving Community Service

Every year I try to do some community service activities with my kiddos. They are really good at making something cute! For Thanksgiving, we make placemats that I then drop off for them to deliver with dinners from Meals on Wheels. I asked them to color a pattern around the outside and then draw something Thanksgiving-y in the middle. I know they are much appreciated. (Did you know they do Meals on Wheels for pets, when I'm better I may have to go volunteer for them!)

Ethics and Holidays

I've been trying to work with my students on the concept of Ethics from Kaplan's Depth and Complexity. It's a hard question for younger students to understand. Even though they understand right and wrong, they don't really understand what to do with the gray areas. For example, we can have a discussion about how stealing is wrong, but then when I bring up the Jean Valjean issue-what if you are stealing food because you are starving? They don't know what to do with that-their brains are thinking "what's the right answer".

We have been talking about celebrations in our Social Studies objectives and this time of year we have a lot of different holidays that people celebrate. So my question to them was: is it fair to have this many holidays when there are people who can't afford to buy things for them? They can't afford the turkey, tree or presents-is that right?

We are still working on the concept and making an argument, but I think the ideas are coming along!

 

My favorite answer! I'm not sure where she got this idea from-I'm actually a vegetarian! :)

 

My 2nd favorite--he said it's right because it's a good opportunity to donate to poor people.

wrong because on New Year's people don't have food.

It's right but she'll feel sorry for them.

Wrong because it's mean to buy something when others can't.

right because it's fun.

right because we are allowed to go in the school (she said she was talking about getting the Thanksgiving lunch we do at school).

Wrong because we don't learn when we are off of school

 

 

Right because I love holidays.

Wrong because people do not have money.

Sharing a Very Cute Story

Once again my student book club allowed me to find a really cute story. The main character is determined that his superpowers come from his hair and when the evil villian (ie the barber) takes those powers from him, he has to find superpowers in another way. It's written in a funny tone and a great example to show kids about wordplay and clever titles. It's also one where you can get out your comic book voice to read it aloud and make it more fun. My kids LOVED it so I thought I'd share! 

Yoga in the Classroom

I'll be honest, I was never a big fan of yoga! I really liked Pilates, I think because you walked out feeling like you had a real workout. But I do love using it with the kids. With the cold snap coming through (I know nothing compared to what some of you had, but us Texans are fragile when it comes to cold weather :). We did not go out to recess, all the kids just did not have their jackets and I knew once we got out there they would just complain the whole time.

 

So when this happens, we do yoga. I know purists may not like these resources, but I think it's a great way to get young kids stretching and make it fun at the same time. When I introduce it I do discuss with them that this is quiet, serious activity-not like the JustDance Kids videos we usually do! I really like this Cosmic Kids series and there are a bunch of them to choose from, these are just 2:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also like to incorporate it into our workstations. I found this great poster online years ago and the kids spell out words with their bodies and their partner has to write down what they think is being spelled-they love it!

 

 

 

I have had 2 complaints over the years that I'm trying to convert their religion. I know!! I explain to the parents upfront even at Open House and say if you object I can send them out of the room when we do it.

 

I especially like the way it typically calms their minds a bit-we all could use a little bit of calm this time of year!

 

 

I Love Parents

My first day back since my knee surgery was yesterday and it was a very lllooonnngg day. :) I would have posted this last evening but I literally got my ice, climbed into bed and did not leave it until this morning.

These are my new best friends! I hate it because it slows me down quite a bit and makes even a trip to ancillary more challenging-but the kiddos love vying for the position of wheelchair pusher! :)

I have always been pretty lucky with supportive parents. All but 3 families were represented at my Open House this year. I had parents who attended my book club. They check the class website. While I was off I received at least one e-mail a day from one of the parents just saying "hope you're doing well", "take it easy" and "we're praying for you". 

Then this is what I saw on my desk when I got there yesterday:

How sweet! And the flowers are not even from a current student-they were given to me by a family-I taught 3 of their kiddos in the past 3 years. I got letters from the kiddos:

do you fill butter? :) And I know what she meant, but it still made me chuckle.

(forgive the Halloween paper-I was not there to make copies to switch out in our writing station)

My bucket filler!

I know teachers I read a lot about issues teachers have with their parents, but I have always had the best experiences! Just lucky I guess! :)

Make Your Voice Heard....

I've heard many colleague say "oh, I'm not into politics". I wouldn't say I'm "into" them either. I get most of my political updates from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show! :) I follow some amateur pundits on Twitter and mostly it just makes me mad. Typically only 30% of people vote in mid-term elections. I find that really sad, especially because it's going to make a big difference for us.

You may not know this, but there are a lot of changes afoot in education. I read an article the other day stating that in Massachusetts they plan not only to use student scores as part of the evaluation, but if you get low scores more than 2 years in a row they will take away your teaching license. Your teaching license!!! Rhode Island and Nevada are considering similar legislation. No other career path has the same tenuous licensing policies. Cuomo in New York has literally declared a "war on teachers", that education is a monopoly that needs to be "busted up". In Philadelphia teacher contracts were torn up for this year. It's nasty out there for teachers right now.

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/10/30/massachusetts-proposes-plan-to-chase-teachers-out/

Here in Texas this election will mean the difference between someone making budget cuts, implementing standardized testing to Pre-K students and the big one-making everything charter schools and someone who is basically promising to do the opposite.

I'm not telling you who to vote for-but please get out and vote! I know it's hard for teachers because they already work a long day-but it's going to make a big difference in our education policies. We need to use our voices!

Bloom's Taxonomy Resource

I hear about how we are supposed to be incorporating rigor into our lessons all the time! Sometimes I think it's hard for people to understand not just what that means, but how to do that on a regular basis. I found this posted on Twitter today from Larry Ferlazzo:

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

I love the videos! The Simpsons, Seinfeld--whatever you are familiar with, so if I was having difficulty figuring out what that "Application" stage meant, now I have a visual to go along with it. How creative! :)

Anyway, just thought I'd share.