CRCT Week

This week was one of those weeks in life that was the best and the worst, which is my justification for not writing more :) So, here's the rundown!

Monday:
Best - We had sausage rolls, grapes, & Caprisuns for breakfast - yum! We also played baseball on the field. Things like this make me feel like I'm at home in my skin and my job. I'm not sure anything makes me smile bigger.

Worst - Took reading portion of CRCT... OMG! It seemed like we were pulling teeth. There is nothing like forcing 17 kids to sit quietly for two hours, no restroom break to take a ridiculous test. I mean, "REALLY!" Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that the test only shows if a child tests well.

Tuesday:
Best - Similar to Monday... breakfast casserole... mmmm!!!! With a side of "Horton Hears a Who" and another round of baseball. Also, had my TOTY ceremony. It was amazing! I believe there is something special about spending several hours in a room full of people that are as passionate as I am when it comes to teaching. For once, I didn't feel surrounded by the 90/10 ratio (90% negative/10% positive).

Worst - 1 Guess... That's right! Language Arts portion of CRCT! Do you know how difficult it is to watch kids miss questions and KNOW they should know the answer! AAAAHHHH! That is the most difficult thing in the world!

Wednesday:
Best - Last day of CRCT! We had these things called breakfast rolls this a.m. OMG! Amazing! I have got to make them in the next week or two... I may even make them for my class at the end of the school year. We also had grapes, Caprisuns, and finished up with some more "Horton Hears a Who" and some more baseball.

Worst - Watching some of my kids forget what a rectangle looks like! I mean, really? Pre-K! I think we officially hit testing burnout! This is why I find it ridiculous that some idiot thinks 6 and 7 year olds should be able to test two to three hours a day, three days in a row. Duh!

Thursday:
Best - Where do I start? Today was all about playing games! I believe it was probably the BEST day I've ever had with any class I've taught! We had an awesome time, especially hooking the Wii into the Promethean board. We took turns playing MarioKart for half the day. We also had cereal & grapes for breakfast :)

Worst - I kind of told my kids if any of them beat me at MarioKart, then I would get ice cream for the entire class... believe it or not, two kids beat me! Oh! and I didn't lose on purpose! So, you guessed it... I owe ice cream to the whole class (LOL).

Friday:
Best - We started our day off with donuts, had popcicles after lunch, and had pizza mid-afternoon. However, the best part was Club Wheeler after school. I had eight kids hang out and play the Wii, eat leftover pizza, donuts, and popcorn until around 5. I don't know why, but it definitely helped me push past all the BLAH! stuff going on in my life.

Worst - Realizing that on Monday, we will be back to normal. We won't be playing so much because we will need to get back on a routine.

Books

Today we read "The Cow that Laid an Egg". My kids LOVED this book. It was very cute and silly. They said that the book was very interesting with a lot of details and colorful pictures. I liked it because it was cute, great illustrations, but it was also not extremely lengthy. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great book to read.

Here is what one of my kids wrote in their journal.

April 16, 2009 - Today is warm. We read "The Cow Laid an Egg". It has a lot of Imagion in it and it is funny. There are 5 other cows, Marjorie, chickens, and an egg. It was a grate story beacase it was funny! I liked it beacase it had a lot of detil.

Candy + Top 3 Moments

Last night, while at Target, I discovered Easter candy was 50% off. I am sure that the older ladies back near the candy thought I was odd, but I didn't really care. Candy on sale can be gold for a teacher, especially a teacher that gives out jelly beans & M&M's for almost anything! I loaded up my cart with six or seven bags of jelly beans & M&M's and called it a night!

This morning when my kids arrived, I asked them what they wanted me to put in our bubble gum machine - jelly beans or M&M's. The consensus was jelly beans, that is until several children asked why they should get their agendas signed if they are getting candy they hate. So, I decided that we would put M&M's in the bubble gum machine & we would win jelly beans for answering CRCT questions correctly. That was just the beginning of our morning!

Around 8:45, my students had visitors. A second grade class decided to join us for CRCT practice. I was so proud of my little guys! They answered the first grade questions and the second grade questions with ease. On top of that, we quit doing CRCT practice and decided to do our journal writing for the day. If you had walked into my classroom, you would have never guessed there were two classes in the room. The second grade class continued to do OAS on the Activboard and my class easily transitioned into their journals. I have tons of funny stories about my kids, but lately I am so proud of them that I find myself wanting to focus more on their sweet hearts more than the funny comments they make.

However, they have come up with several funny things over the past few weeks so here's a list of the Top Three Moments for the past few weeks.

Books

I know I'm writing today, but I was thinking there are so many times that parents do not know what kind of books to get for their children. So, when we read books in our classroom, I'm going to start trying to post the really cute, goofy ones on here and the really boring, not so great books on here! Since we read probably a book or two a day, I'll probably only write one paragraph on each book.

This book, "Oops!" is a really cute book of poems. Most of the poems are very short and extremely goofy. They also usually cover things that are silly or gross to little kids (Sloppiness, smells, eggs, baldness, etc.) We read several each day and if I try to skip it, my children kindly remind me that I need to read our poems! At this point, everything I've read seems to be clean and rated G.

Love, Lights, & One Dragon Webkinz

Today was our first day back from Spring Break! It was the hardest thing getting up and dragging myself out of bed. Sure, I didn't do a thing towards the end of the week, but still, all I wanted was to chill at home a day or two longer.

Then, this morning, I was reminded of why I love teaching so much! Seriously! Other than teachers, who gets to go to work on a daily basis and receive notes like this? Not to mention, who gets to go to work and laugh all the way through their day. Yes, it wears me completely out, but I don't know anyone else in my life that loves me more than the 17 kids in my class. I could hurt their feelings by moving their clip or not letting them have pretzels instead of animal crackers and they will still love me!

So, now that I've shared the sappy part of my funny day, let me share the interesting, hilarious parts of my day! First, we have been drilling, drilling, drilling... oh, have I mentioned we've been DRILLING CRCT stuff into our brains. Well, today, once again we were drilling away and the next thing you know, flutter, flicker, power out, power on! Most classes would have screamed, but my kids acted like it didn't matter. I informed them that if the power went out again, not to worry because I thought I had a flashlight. Funny part - One of my kids looked at me and very matter-of-factly said, "Mrs. Wheeeher, you haf flashlights. Dere over dere in de box." I looked and he was right. I had completely forgotten we had received six flashlights with our science kits. Who knew the science kits may actually have something useful for every day life? :)

That brings us to the end of the day which was one of my "Light Bulb" moments. I'm straightening my desk because for some reason, I do this every day right before the kids go home. I'm coming back to do more work, but for some reason I still feel the need to do this before busses instead of after busses. Anyway, I'm rambling now, so let me try to get back on track. I'm straightening my desk, the announcements are going off, and four of my girls are asking me if I can find out if the Dragon Webkinz has been retired. I guess I look like a child in an adult body because why in the world would they think I knew about Webkinz. Just because I have three for the classroom doesn't mean that I'm an expert. Yes, I know... I am a grown up child and I actually know quite a bit about Webkinz. So, while I am writing bus numbers, listening to the announcements, and organizing my desk, I'm also looking up Webkinz. "Light Bulb" moment - I wonder if there is another teacher in my school building, in my county, that would help a child find out if a Webkinz has been retired? I'm thinking probably not, but hopefully that's what makes me unique and special (Unique and special sounds better than silly and goofy). Oh, by the way, drum roll please... the Dragon Webkinz is not retired at this time! However, to my dismay the Monkey Webkinz is :(

The "Purplelicious" Let Down

Last week, before we got out for Spring Break, I spent a lot of time organizing all of my Scholastic books. If you're a parent, Scholastic books are some of the cheapest, funniest books you can get for your children, especially if your teacher does book orders!

Anyway, I put my pathetic, OCD skills to work and organized my books. I put all the AR books together, all the books about frogs, dogs, pigeons, and dinos together, and all the holiday books together. As I was going through the books, I pulled out books that I just HAD to read to my class! The first book I pulled was "Purplelicious" which is the follow up book to "Pinkalicious". I could not wait to read this book because I just knew it would be amazing! My kids couldn't quit laughing when I read "Pinkalicious" so I assumed this book would be just as great!

The next morning, I had my kiddos sit on the floor, and showed them the book. Just like me, they were extremely excited about reading this book! So, we started reading! We read one page, then another, then another - not a single word or event that made any of us think of purple. We read pages 13, 14, and 15 - no purple! Finally, we reach the last page of the book and what do you know, purple! Really! The VERY LAST PAGE OF THE BOOK!

So, I realize at this point it probably appears that I'm rambling, but I'm getting to my point. We get to the last page and my little six and seven year old kids inform me that this book is boring, lame, and doesn't have anything to do with purple. They ask if they can rewrite it and make it funny like "Pinkalicious". My students were completely let down!

Now, you would think this would be the end, but it wasn't. After reading the story, it was time for journal writing, so my kids asked if we could write about the "Purplelicious" let down. So, we did! The end? Nope! The next day, I read another book to my class and what do you know? My students compared it to "Purplelicious" and informed me that it was much better and even expanded on why they liked it better!

You've got to love first graders! They are always honest! Oh! By the way, if you're the author of "Purplelicious" which I doubt you are, take notes! My kids may only be six or seven. They may come from different races, religions, or academic levels, but they definitely all know what they like, and it's the same thing. They want stories that are interesting, funny, colorful, and more than "See Spot run." My kids also expect the best! So, if you ever do a "Greenalicious", "Yellowlicious" or "Orangelicious", go back to your original setup :) Otherwise, I may have a riot on my hands! Please! None of us need another "Purplelicious" let down!

Week before Spring Break

Well, if you stumbled onto this site, congratulations! You're about to learn a lot about my classroom :) If you didn't stumble onto this site, and you chose to come here, congratulations! You're also about to learn a lot about my classroom.

So, this week is actually Spring Break! It is the time of year where I am sent home to collect my thoughts, catch up on television, sleep in, and get ready to head into the busiest time of year! However, it is also quite a boring week because without my seventeen munchkins running around, life isn't nearly as interesting. That being said, I'm going back a week.

Last week was an extremely fun and hectic week! It started with trying to complete my Teacher of the Year paper. Yes, I consider it a great honor and I am still amazed by it because I know A LOT of great teachers! However, winning meant completing a chunk of work.

In the middle of completing my paper, I also had several dinners out with friends, softball games, my best friend having a baby, and more rain than we've seen in a year. I'm sure you're wondering why rain matters. Well, it matters a ton when you have Field Day planned for Friday and God has rain planned for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Usually, I love Field Day, but this year I was completely stressed out! I was frustrated by the wet ground, by the noise, and by the confusion. Okay, now I'm not sure what all the other classes did in the building, but at 9:15 when the chaos got to me, I took Room 116 back to Room 116.

No, we didn't skip Field Day and I followed all the rules as usual. However, we were done 15 minutes before our next station - ooohhh! Restrooms! Fun! Which by the way, was overcrowded with 50 other first graders! So, we went back to our room and chilled. I'm not sure if it was more for my kiddos or me, but I felt 100% better and they enjoyed watching a movie and snacking for awhile.

The rest of the day went great - had lunch, played outside, hot dog party, best friend had baby, etc. However, the most important lessons were learned that morning.

1st Lesson: Always be willing to be completely disorganized... life is less stressful
2nd Lesson: When you're not willing to be disorganized, change plans to fit your needs... you can do this without breaking laws :)
3rd Lesson: When the 1st & 2nd Lessons fail, drink a Coke and call it a day! There isn't anything that is going to make you happy (LOL - I'm talking to myself)