Grad School, 4 Weeks In of School & We Tried Saving Fred!

So I totally have been MIA these last few weeks. My graduate school assignment due date schedule didn't expand even though the class time line did, ugh. Instead of weekly assignments and 2 projects due in 7 weeks, they were all completed and done in 5 weeks. Now I like the idea of having like 3 weeks off, but dang-it I was supposed to have 7 weeks to devote to churning out good work!

I had intended to post this about 2 weeks ago (see previous paragraph :-/) But the first week of school one of my sweeties mentioned something about not wanting to work with a classmate at his table. I thought this was a perfect time to remind them how much we're going to need each other these next 9 months, and how much time we're going to spend together (more than they will with their families). I pulled out the Save Fred activity a day early so we could talk about teamwork.

Here's a few shots of my sweeties trying their darndest to Save Fred there. I had them start in pairs first and they were struggling. One pair said they did it without using their fingers, but were promptly called out :-O

Once they realized that they couldn't really truly do it with only 2 people, I mentioned that maybe they could help the other pair at their tables and save one Fred at a time. Oh yeah! One group was able to Save Fred when using all their table mates help.

We then journaled in our Science Notebooks about how important it is not to give up, like Edison, to keep trying, work hard and work together as a team.

So I'll definitely use Fred again next year :)

~Darnee~

September Currently

I was totally stalking Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade & hoping to get in on the Currently all this holiday weekend, but alas, no such luck :( But then I read she's running the linky backwards, so the last to sign up will show up first, whoot whoot!

Here's my currently for September:

Listening - It's one of those underrated flicks when Rosie O'Donnell was still the Queen of Nice before Ellen was crowned. I love the battle of the sexes banter throughout the entire movie. But my absolute favorite is when Rosie is going off on Timothy Hutton & Matt Dillon (who both btw look small town gorgeous, swoon) in the drugstore. I can't repeat or quote the speech here, but trust me, it's funny.

Loving - My students this year are great. I'm already in love with them all. What a great group of kiddos. I made a few phone calls this evening to give parents some updates and everyone I talked to said their kids come home and say what a great day they've had in class, sigh....warms my heart ya'll.

Thinking - Yeah, I should totally need to get back on a better sleep schedule, but let's face it, I'm a night owl at heart. Between 11 & 1 is my magic go to sleep window, haven't been able to get it any earlier, plus add in graduate work & whew! Not gonna happen anytime soon, thank goodness for a great group of kids, otherwise I'd be struggling.

Wanting - B2S isn't the same without umpteen meetings on top of B2S responsibilities, ugh!

Needing - So I have crazy amounts of lesson planning to complete, not to mention a pretty intense graduate class with 2 projects due around the same time, eek! Any volunteers, anyone....anyone....?

Love Yourself Spot  - 1. I began reading The Happiness Project last year and then through some internet surfing I found this website called Happify, where you complete Happiness tracks to help you cope with life's little stresses and incorporate more happiness into our lives.
2. I spent the holiday weekend with an old college friend, not that we're old by any means, but in the sense we've only seen each other 2 in the last 12 years, OMG! As we were catching up we realized how much we haven't talked about over those 12 years, so I want to try and make it a point to connect with my girlfriends beyond facebook and really talk and catch up more often, like at least once a month.
3. My dogs were so happy during the summer and all the time I was home with them. I'd play with 'em and roll around on the floor. They loved all the extra attention and were so sweet & affectionate. I need to make sure they're not gonna lose too much time since school's started back up.

I Survived The First Week, Yay!

I got super excited about my class after Meet The Teacher on the 22nd. I was really looking forward to this year. I always get excited, nervous about a new school year, but this one for some reason has me all twitterpated. I'm crazy about my kiddos this year and can't wait for all the cool things we're going to do.

So I took a few pictures of just a couple things I did this week, I kept forgetting to break out the camera.

I began using Reagan Tunstill's Rise & Shine Binder with my class this year and we started on the 2nd day so I could give the kids their number of the day the rest of the week. Okay, the kids love it. I only started with a few of the pages I'll add more as we go through the year. I also bought the Rev Up Your Gray Matter that has some higher level activities for my kids when they reach that level.

Then later that same day we read Do Unto Otters, one of my absolute favorite 1st Week books to read to my kiddos because of the golden rule and it has OTTERS! I lurve otters ;)

After we read the book I introduced the class to Oswald the Otter, he watches over our class to make sure we're Doing Unto Otters as we'd like them to do unto us! I sent the kids back to their desks & we proceeded to talk about toothpaste. I know some of you already know where I'm headed with this, but for those who don't don't spoil the surprise.

They squeezed out the toothpaste onto a plate & tried to get it all back into the tube with toothpicks. On the plus side my room smelled minty fresh :-) After we cleaned up we talked about how while we can probably forgive someone for saying something mean, the words can never be taken back, there's always a little reminder in the person's mind, ie leftover toothpaste on the plate.

On Thursday I got my SLANT box (see button on the side over there ---->) from Jessica over at Covered in Glitter & Glue in California. She got me ya'll.

The hand made card was precious. Not to mention the photos of my childhood & current obsessions New Kids on the Block and Bruno Mars. The yummy Skittles are a nice little pick me up in the afternoon. Another childhood reminder from the 80's Care Bear stickers, how cute are those, love. And some brand spanking new Ticonderoga pencils ready to be sharpened in my new sharpener. There was also a Starbucks card, but I er um...used it to feed my pumpkin spice latte indulgences ;)