Tuesday, January 11, 2011
What's the most fun you've had without laughing?
Wait, is this a trick question?! What kind of fun is there to be had without laughing?! Oh....wait....I can think of an answer now, but I can't really share it here..... ;-)
I have a couple of quick giggles to share with you from today at the Hell-Hole. It's DIBELS time again (can't you just feel my excitement? NOT!) which usually means some funny moments.
I called my little buddy, MC, over to take his test. We got through the first test, where he had to tell me the sounds in words. We made it through the next test, where he had to use given words in sentences. The third test I gave him is called Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF), and basically just tests whether or not the babies know their sounds. (For example, the 'word' on the page may be moj. They can either just read it - 'moj'- or they can say each sound individually- /m/ /o/ /j/) There are 5 'words' on each line, and I don't know, about 10 or 15 lines on the page.
Anyway....the first two tests I gave MC didn't require the book. When we got to NWF, I opened the book to appropriate page. He takes one look at it, shakes his head and says, "So...we meet again..." I almost fell off my damn chair!!!! Sometimes I think MC has a 45 year old man trapped in his 6 year old body!
I got TWO new boys today. I'm up to 28 babies now, and we are really feeling crowded in our already cramped room. They are cousins, which now brings me to four sets of cousins in my class. The one little boy, KM, is going to be a challenge, I think. More on that later.
But, this is what I wanted to tell you about. I realize I've never actually put my name on this blog, in the interest of anonymity, but just this once, I have to. (I may just delete this post later.) My married name is Lopez. So, all day, little KM kept calling me "Mrs. mumblemumbleLopez." I couldn't figure out what the hell he was saying all morning. Then after lunch, when he did it again, it sounded like he was saying "Mrs. JordanLopez." I thought maybe his last teacher was named Jordan. I was going to correct him, but I figured, who cares. He'll get it eventually.
When we settled in to work on social studies (MLK unit) I sat across from him at his table. He had a question, and I heard, "Mrs. GeorgeLopez?" Huh?!? Wait, did I hear what I thought I heard? About 30 seconds later, I again heard, "Mrs. GeorgeLopez?" All one word, mind you. I thought I was gonna bust a gut! I managed to keep the roar just a giggle. But, the more he kept saying it, the harder I laughed. The poor baby! When I finally caught my breath, I said, "KM, just say Mrs. Lopez, ok? My name is Mrs. Lopez."
OK, so the next couple times he called me, he got it right. But, within five minutes, I was back to being Mrs. GeorgeLopez. Sheesh, I WISH!!! He's loaded!!!
I'm off to make some games for the babies. They've really been making me smile lately. I hesitate to put it out there, since I'm always afraid of jinxing myself, but so far 2011 with the babies has been pretty damn nice. I'm gonna just leave it at that.
This is seriously one of our favorite books. Last year, I must have read it, no exaggeration, 50 times in the month of November. I also have the cassette tape (yeah, I'm old school like that! We don't need no stinkin' CDs!) which was played at least once a day. I finally busted it out yesterday, as a little treat for the babies, and they went ape shit! We decided at the end of the story, that we would write our own book, that continues the story. Just in case you aren't familiar with the book (What?! You mean you aren't all primary teachers?!) the turkeys start off "foolin' on a fence," and then at the end, the fence is gone. On the last page, the turkeys move to a tree. That's were we decided to pick up the story.
My teacher is testing. Do not ! distract her or you will sit by the door or by her desk or by the corner. Do not talk.Oh my hell! Don't you just love the placement of the exclamation point? This made me laugh, and feel like an ogre at the same time. It's probably obvious by this little love note that I started to DIBEL my babies yesterday afternoon. (More on that later.) It's so critical that they stay quiet while I test, because just like last year (kdg) this test is completely oral. I need to hear EXACTLY what the baby I'm testing is saying. I set them all up at centers, which we practiced the first 3 days of the week. We did some serious practice, because I knew they really needed to know what to do without interrupting me. Or, "distracting" me, as my not-at-all-secret admirer likes to say.
Here's today's note:
I love my teacher because she's cute and beautiful and she loves children. But, BUT, do not talk, talk, talk, talk, talk or she will send you to Ms. Edmond's classroom and she will send you to the office.I love having him read his notes to me because I love to hear his inflections when he reads. I couldn't even write when he read, "But, BUUUTTT, do not talk, talk, talk, talk, talk...." I don't know what the hell he's talking about, though, when he says, "she will send you to Ms. E...." because I haven't sent anyone out of our room yet this year. I definitely have sent kids out in the past, lest I bust a foot off in some one's ass, but I haven't reached that point yet this year. Hell, it's only been 3 weeks that the kids have been there. So, maybe he's just remembering my M.O. from last year. tee hee!
Mrs. L is so sweet and good and fun and she gets activites. She has spelling words and she loooves the Kids at Hope.As I was writing down what he told me this said, I said to him, with a laugh, "Wow, there's kind of a lot of Os there in love, huh?" I know for a fact he knows how to spell it correctly. He said to me, "THAT'S because you looooove the Kids at Hope!" This kid just cracks me up!
(Kids at Hope was a program we had at the Hell-Hole during Big Cheese's last year there. We still say the Kids at Hope Pledge every morning, though - I am a Kid at Hope. I am talented, smart, and capable of success. I have dreams for the future, and I will climb to reach those goals and dreams every day.)
Translation: My teacher is sweet and good, and mad, but good. She gives us new stuff, problems, math stuff. My teacher really loves to sing, sing, sing.How smart is this kid?! The last line made me laugh out loud. Funny cuz it's true!!
I discovered a few new teacher blogs this weekend. There were a couple of 1st Grade blogs that I found particularly interesting. Mrs. Larremore over at Chalk Talk posted about these Word Helpers that she found over at Sarah Cooley's blog, First Grader...at last! I immediately set to work, making a set of my own.
I also put together a power point slide show, that I plan to show the babies tomorrow. From that, I printed out a page with all the slides, that I plan to copy for them to keep in their homework folders. This color copy will stay at my group table. I plan to make a few more to keep in some of my centers.
Look what I bought at Sam's Club!! 
This is the first time I decided to do something completely frivolous with my $100 supply allowance. This laminator was $99.98. It's something I've always wanted, and after the past few months of HELL, I decided it was time to treat myself to something nice. (Yes, only a nerdy teacher would think THIS is a treat. What about it?!) It came with 50 different laminating pouches; 10 ID badge pouches (complete with clips!), 10 5"x7" pouches, 10 'menu size' pouches, and 20 letter size pouches. For another $20.68, I picked up a pack of 200 additional letter size pouches.
One of the "projects" I plan to make with my new laminator (woo hoo!) is dry erase "boards" for the kids to keep in their desks. This laminating film can be written on with dry erase markers, so I'm going to put a piece of cardstock in the pouch and laminate it. Oo, wait! I can put lines on one side for them to write on, and leave the other side plain for them to draw or whatever. Now I'm excited!
Oh, AND I'm even more excited about this....Pissed Off posted about these amazing Dry Erase Crayons from Crayola the other day. Hallelujah! What the hell took so long for someone to come up with these!! Do you have any idea how many markers I've had to throw away because the babies either pushed the tips in from writing too hard, or they didn't cap them correctly and they dried out? These things aren't cheap. Sure, I've bought the cheap ones from the dollar store, but they don't last.
This year, for the first time, I put dry erase markers on my supply list for parents. I decided to go with a very nontraditional list this year (you know, to go with the nontraditional grade!) and asked for dry erase markers, sanitizing wipes, index cards and hand sanitizer. The only 'supplies' I asked that the babies have are 3-5 sharpened pencils and crayons. That's it. I have scissors and glue, and I don't allow the babies to have markers. (Occasionally, we use markers for projects, but if they have them in their desks, they try to do EVERYTHING in marker, which means my desks, chairs and students also get covered in marker!) I told parents that they should have scissors and glue available at home for homework and projects, but please don't send any to school. The more they have, the more they play with. I know, I'm mean. Eh, I'm over it!
Anyway, I think if each of them had a personal dry erase board and crayon in their desk, there would be a whole lot of writing going on, not to mention the number of trees we'd be saving! (That one's for you, Suz!) I'm a little too excited about this now. I will be bringing card stock to school with me tomorrow to put in the copy machine to put the lines on one side. I'll probably bore you with the finished project later. You've been warned!
Translation:
I'm terrified of monsters. Please help.
It made me laugh out loud, and I was actually really proud of this particular baby, as this was a pretty impressive sentence. However, given that this child is about to enter 2nd grade in 2 weeks, you can see why she's in the summer program. :(
P.S. MY DADDY WILL BE HOME IN 17 HOURS!!!!!!
(The bookmark, yo-yo, Hershey Hugs and Kisses are missing from this picture. I need to make one more run to Walmart tomorrow!)
"Love is for me n my mom. To day we is having hotdogs. " ('hotdogs' is written backward, from right to left, across the bottom.) How cute is this? It's amazing to me how far my kids have come this year. This particular baby couldn't even write her name when school started, and here she is writing sentences.
