Autumn joys

So apparently I'm finding it hard to teach full time and remember to keep up a blog. :)
Five for Sunday, anyone?!

The kids made doughnut monsters for their Halloween party treats.
I love the teeth!
Some kids put the pretzels underneath as legs to hold up the body.
Those were a little intimidating. ;)

The tree outside my classroom was RED this week.

Absolutely gorgeous.

And this leaf, one morning, with picture-perfect dew drops:

Happy teacher. :)

Our media specialist is due with her first child, a boy, at the end of November.  I've been working on this baby blanket since July. :)

It turned out HUGE (oops).  This picture shows the front (at bottom) folded over the back (the strip at the top).  I chose this pattern for the stripes on the front - the polka dots on the back were a happy surprise!

Left side: back of afghan.  Right side: front of afghan. :)

We live in a one-street neighborhood with two courts that branch off the street.  Total walking distance is almost exactly a mile, which makes it easy to calculate how far we walk each day, and since we live in the middle of woods, we see a variety of animals around the neighborhood on our walks.

We see squirrels, of course, but also deer, foxes, and the occasional dead snake (very flat when found on the road . . .).  There are a few rabbits at one end of the street and, lately, a single black cat.  Our first Halloween here, we were out trick-or-treating and watched bats flying overhead.

And then, last weekend, there was this friendly fellow.

Picture at left: I spot snake (about 4 feet long) and freeze in my tracks.  Then I take a picture.  

Picture at right: snake approaches, waving his head back and forth and hissing at me.

I decided, "I'm bigger than you, YOU should be afraid of ME," and started shouting and stomping toward it.  Snake decided, "She's nuts," and turned onto our driveway (dark pavement at left in pictures).  I realized, "Oh no, not toward the house!" and managed to head him off.  He slithered rapidly all the way across the street and disappeared in the grass heading away from our house.

Later, I thought, "I'll bet those neighbors across the street from us weren't too happy with me . . ."  :D

Have you ever seen oak leaves that changed color one half at a time?  I love the way these are half red, half green, split down the middle.


Next week are parent-teacher conferences.  We teach a half day Wednesday and Thursday and have conferences both afternoons.  Then, somehow, we teach a full day Friday (without specials that day).  Methinks perhaps a short video will be in order Friday afternoon . . . or some outside time if the weather permits . . . or just naptime. :D

This year I decided to make 15-minute time blocks for conferences.  I've always done 20 in the past, but realized last year that some teachers at my school do TEN.  (Why am I doing 20 minutes if others are doing 10?!)  So I shortened it this year.  We'll see how it goes. :)  Does your school have a specified conference time length?

And suddenly it's late October . . .

And suddenly it's late October . . . where have I been?!  

Oh, right, at school . . .  ;)

Don't you wish ALL of your students wrote this neatly on their spelling tests?!  Oh my goodness.  Thank you, child!

We started word problems a few weeks ago.  These used to be a huge hassle to me because they were so unfamiliar to the children that when they came up periodically in our curriculum, most kids were at a loss.  "How do I do this?"  "I don't get it."  "Is it recess time yet?"

So I decided they needed more practice.  

I researched different types of problems and learned that there are WAY more kinds of word problems than I realized. :)  There are join, separate, part-part-whole, and compare problems, all with the unknown number (the answer!) in different places.  Specifically:

• Join: Result Unknown (A had 1. B gave him 3 more.  How many does A have now?  1 + 3 = ?)
• Join: Change Unknown (A had 1.  B gave him some more.  Now A has 4.  How many did B give him?  1 + ? = 4)
• Join: Start Unknown (A had some.  B gave him 3 more.  Now A has 4.  How many did he have to start?  ? + 3 = 4)
• Separate: Result Unknown (A had 4.  He gave 1 to B.  Now how many does A have?  4 – 1 = ?)
• Separate: Change Unknown (A had 4.  He gave some to B.  How he has 3 left.  How many did he give to B?  4 - ? = 3)
• Separate: Start Unknown (A had some.  He gave 1 to B.  How he has 3 left.  How many did he have to start?  ? – 1 = 3)
• Part-Part-Whole: Whole Unknown (A had 1.  B had 3.  How many altogether?  1 + 3 = ?)
• Part-Part-Whole: Part Unknown (A had 4.  1 was red and the rest were blue.  How many were blue?  1 + ? = 4  or 4 – 1 = ?)
• Compare: Difference Unknown (A has 4.  B has 1.  How many more does A have than B?  4 – 1 = ? or 1 + ? = 4)
• Compare: Quantity Unknown (A had 1.  B had 3 more than A.  How many did B have?  1 + 3 = ?)
• Compare: Referent Unknown (A had 4.  A had 3 more than B.  How many did B have?  4 – 3 = ?)

And then to make everything even MORE complicated for these little 7- and 8-year olds, to solve story problems, children need to be able to:

• Determine/visualize the story/problem
• Identify the question that needs to be answered
• Figure out what to do with the numbers given
• Do the math
• Explain what the answer means* ("4" doesn't answer the question:  Students must determine if the answer is, "Lisa has 4 cookies," "Caleb has 4 cookies," "Lisa has 4 more cookies than Caleb," "Caleb has 4 more cookies than Lisa," or "Lisa and Caleb have 4 cookies altogether.")

And then THIS mean teacher makes them write a complete sentence as their answer. :)

So we start with story problems that have lots of words but simple math.  Later in the year, we'll move to 2-digit numbers, but by that point the story problems will seem easy because the kids have done so much practice.

Here are two questions/answers from this week's page:

I love how this student drew all the doorways. :)

These problems are both from the "Mystery" page of one of my Reading for Math packets.  This packet has ten pages (with ten problems each) that can be used in any order.  So far, my kids have done the "Mystery," "Feathered Friends," and "In My Neighborhood."  Next week, we'll tackle "Let's Vote" in preparation for Election Day the following week. :)

Yoga ball meets pencil.  'Nuff said.

I love this tree outside my classroom.  In the morning light:

 And at the end of the school day:

It just makes me happy. :)

And then there's chocolate.  Which makes me very happy.  Until sometime in the wee hours of the morning, when I wake up with a splitting headache.  

It's taken me a while to figure this out.  I've eaten (too much) chocolate for years without incident, but this summer, I started getting headaches.  Bad ones that didn't respond to Excedrin, Advil, Tylenol, or any combination thereof.  I finally made the connection between yummy chocolate last night = bad headache this morning and thought, "Oh, no!"

But I'm learning.

But sometimes there are choices to be made.

I ate chocolate cake made by a teammate this week - a VERY thin sliver because I HAD to have some (she makes the BEST chocolate cake) - and had a headache the next day. :(  I knew I would; as I ate it, I thought, "This is tomorrow's headache," and I was right.

So the Halloween candy I bought two weeks ago is still unopened.  Victory.

Five for Friday: One bad decision (but only one)

Whew!  Busy week!

The privacy shields are to reduce noise - we don't all have headphones yet . . .

We started XtraMath this week.  I had used it for a couple of weeks at the very end of the year last year, but I didn't really get a feel for it.  So far this year, we've done it three days, and the kids and I are hooked!

They started with a placement test (three of them in a row on the first day, actually) which determined what they knew about addition and which facts to practice.  Each day, they do a practice session and a test session and play "Race the Teacher."

Engaged?  Yup.

When I log in, I can see how we're doing as a class.  Frankly, I'm a little worried, because on day 3, two of my kids were moved to subtraction.  That means they've mastered addition.  That means they're going to be finished with XtraMath very soon . . . and I'm going to need suggestions for challenging math sites where they can play while their classmates continue with XtraMath!  Help?! :)

Here's what I get to see:

If I click on the green/yellow/red shapes (which mean exactly what you'd think they mean: super/meh/yikes), I can see every math problem and how the child responded.  Pretty neat.

Seriously, though, if anyone has ideas for challenge/enrichment math for second graders (problem solving, logic, games, etc. using addition/subtraction), please comment below! :)

We learned how to do a blind sort in spelling yesterday.  That's when one partner, the "teacher," reads the word aloud but doesn't let the "student" see it.  The student points to where the word should go, and the teacher places it in the column.  Then the student gets to look at it and see if it's right, or if it needs to move.  

The kids loved it!  And I loved the collaboration going on. :)

Who loves assemblies?  We do!  Especially when the kids are totally engaged and the teachers are in hysterics.  (It was kind of like a Pixar film - humor for the kids, plus humor for the adults that went right over the kids' heads.)  

Thank you, Hal Trapkin, for the Percussion Discussion!

I introduced greater than/less than late on a Friday afternoon in the style of great teachers everywhere:  Here, play this game, figure it out.  

Hey, sometimes tired works.

Today it worked.

The children paired up and played "Recycle It" and those who didn't know about the greater than/less than signs taught their partners.  Nothing like a little one-on-one expert instruction, I always say.  Just like I planned it. ;)

Three well-mixed decks of cards later, I'd say it was a hit. :)

"Want to see a picture of a bad decision?" I asked my daughter.  She looked understandably wary. 

Yes, the poor bee is INSIDE the hummingbird feeder (which was just about out of nectar).  I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then he got up inside and couldn't get a grip on the glass and kept sliding down into the nectar.  And no, I didn't open it to let him out, because I knew how it would end - and I didn't want to be the second one to make a bad decision that morning!

Have a great weekend!

Coffee, anyone?

Apparently there's overwhelming evidence out there that soda is bad for you.  Like, really bad.  In a number of different, scary ways.  Baaaad.

But I like Pepsi.

I like Pepsi a LOT.

The nectar of the gods, I've always said.

Plus, caffeine!

But it's bad.  Bad bad bad.  So I'm trying to find alternatives.

For a while last year, I just thought I'd drink my water at lunchtime.  Problem solved.  Until the afternoon headache, when I wasn't just a tired teacher, but a tired and unhappy and b****y teacher.  So that only lasted about, um, one day.  

Back to the Pepsi at lunchtime!

And back to the guilt, because of the sugar and what it does to the brain and everything else.  So this summer I decided I had to find an alternative.

Enter iced coffee.  (Which I cannot drink black - it needs sugar and creamer.) (Lots.)

I tried making it in coffee mugs and pouring it into the thermos.  Messy, messy, messy.

I tried making it in the carafes.  Very hard to stir.

So I make it in the coffee pot.

And I mix the sugar and creamer in with a serving spoon, which I find hilarious.  (SERIOUS COFFEE MAKING GOING ON HERE, PEOPLE.)

Then I pour it into the carafes and eventually, when it's cooled a bit, it goes into the fridge.

On school mornings, I put some ice in my awesome Thermos, fill it up with cold coffee, and head off to school.  Five hours later at lunchtime, it's absolutely perfect.  

And wow, am I peppy in the afternoons.

Come on, kids, keep up!

Five for Friday: Back to School Night!

Yesterday was Back to School Night.  Whew!  I must say, it does get easier as the years go by, but I still feel far too many butterflies while I wait for the parents to walk down the hall. :)

This year, BTSN seemed early to me - or maybe I'm just taking my sweet time getting things going in the classroom?! - and I realized at the beginning of the week that there were still a LOT of things I wanted to introduce to the kids before telling their parents about them Thursday night.  So we squeezed in a few things that might have otherwise waited another week or so . . .

On Tuesday, I introduced the yoga balls.  I had already introduced the bouncy chairs during the first week of school, but I knew the parents would see the yoga balls "hiding" behind my desk on BTSN and ask about them.  So I brought them out on Tuesday, explained the rules, and drew two names.

Lo and behold, they make ominous grinding noises on a tile floor.  Several children, not knowing what was making the noises, were truly alarmed.

Sigh.

Not going to be at all distracting . . . nope.

Didn't even notice the zebra stripe thing going on
 in this row until I downloaded the picture . . . :)

I was so impressed with the two cherubs who got first dibs - they were so responsible and careful with the balls (and themselves!) and even tucked them neatly under their desks when we left the room. :)  So far, so good!

We love the bouncy chairs.  I won't be adding any more of these simply because they take up a lot of space, but we love them.  Every day I draw two names and those lucky children get to sit in a bouncy chair any time we come to the rug as a class (which is often).  Other classmates may sit in them during work times, Read to Self, etc. - but the "bouncy kids" have first dibs.

I asked the parents at Back to School Night: "So, who's heard about the bouncy chairs?" Every hand went up. :)

I started spelling (Words Their Way) Tuesday, too.  Four groups, all new to the concept of sorting words, all new to the procedure in second grade, and - honestly - it went much better than I dared hope.  Lots of room for improvement, of course, but everyone met with me and discussed and sorted their words together; everyone cut out their own words and sorted them; everyone got their words into their spelling baggie and their spelling baggie into its pocket; and only three words were found on the floor five hours later as we cleaned up for dismissal. :)  Success!!

We keep our spelling words in a sandwich-size baggie with a slider tab (second graders tend to open regular ziploc bags so assertively that they rip open both sides as well).  Each baggie is labeled with the student's name and goes into a pocket also labeled with his/her name.  Ah, organization. ;)

I picked the last (read: second) pepper today.  It's redder than I'd like, but I kept hoping it would get bigger.  Maybe next year I'll have more luck with them!

Don't you just love fall?

Ah, those colors. :)