Exciting Happenings

        I should have gone to Wal*Mart tonight. I had every intention of going up right after school. Really. But I didn't. I didn't even do laundry or dishes or clean house ... woops! Nope, instead, I came home and took a nap. An hour and half nap people! And then my (oh so wonderful) hubby cooked dinner. And the dirty dishes are still sitting around my sink ... and I'm sitting here. Blogging. And I am soo okay with it.
     

                                                            I am exhausted.

       

         But it's a good kind of exhausted. You know, the kind that comes from having to much excitement. And I think I am on excitement overload. This week at school we flexed. It is a ton of work. I don't know how it is all going to go yet. We're still playing with our schedule we're still shuffling kids. If I'm being honest, on Monday I was ready to scrap the whole thing. But then Tuesday was better. And Wednesday was great. And today was PLC's....

         It is going to be an adjustment for me. I have ran a pretty structured classroom. I'm all for talking and cooperative learning, but I also like some structured quiet time where we work independently. There is suddenly a whole lot less independent work time happening in my classroom. Having another adult in the room means an extra noise level because we both pull groups (more kids talking) and we both run a group (and adult voices are loud). Angie and I work great together (or at least I think so) and I adore her! But we do have somewhat different styles and we are working to "marry" those. 

         It's a challenge. I love it. I love that it is WORKING. I love that the kids seem excited about the project we are starting. I'm excited that we are trying to find out what works best for kids.

         But, no matter how much I love school and adore my kiddos ... I am perhaps (okay, I AM) more excited about this next part: 

                                                We have a contract on a house!!

          I am so in love with the house - it's huge! It's just out of city limits and sits on 2 acres of mostly woods - it's close to town but secluded and lovely. And I am so excited! It will be fun to have a yard to work in, some small "fix-it-up" projects to do. And our own house!!!!! Today the termite inspection came back clean and wonderful. The house inspection also happened today so hopefully we will get the inspectors typed up report tomorrow or Saturday. I know there could still be glitches - things could even still fall through. But we are so hopeful and excited and thankful.

 .....and all of this makes me sleep a little less well at night, so therefore I must nap. Ha!

                                                What are YOU excited about?!

Thanksgiving Flop

I haven't said anything about Thanksgiving ... yet! I have approximately 5 billion things to be thankful for - all year round. And that is almost not an exaggeration. :). Seriously. Life is great - I have a splendid family, a wonderful husband, a great job, a marvelous Savior, a forgiving God ... I have no room to complain. Ever. But if I did, here is what I'd complain about tonight:

Why does this pintrest idea .... come out looking so much less awesome when I do it?!

 Okay, so at least some of them really did come out looking like different colored leaves - even if they weren't quite as good looking as the mystery person who I stole the idea from.

But, since after like 2 hours of baking pretty much all I have to show for it is this:

this Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for my momma, grandma, aunts, and sister. Because seriously, if my family was counting on me to deliver some amazing deserts tomorrow we'd all be in trouble. BUT since I have all these wonderful women to cook some splendid dishes to share, my sad looking leaf cookies can be ... well, hidden behind some tasty pies. =).

Yertle the Turtle

 

     Our school librarian sent out a page of questions about books to answer. If a class answers all the questions correctly you win a free book from the book fair we have going on this week. Soo, we were working on them yesterday. One of the questisons was "What turtle wanted to be king of all he could see?" (or something similar to that). Do you know the answer?

My kids didn't!! They didn't know Yertle the Turtle! This Dr. Seuss, people! It's like the building blocks of education!! ...okay, so that may be a *slight* exaggeration ... but I still couldn't believe it! So, we stopped everything and watched this:

 



...which, of course, is when another teacher (my mentor teacher) walked in ... go figure!  Ha! I told her this was some seriouse RTI  --- they didn't know something, I'm teaching it to them! :) Because, yes, Dr. Seuss IS that important! =)

 

Written Expressionless

        If you haven't read yesterday's post, read it first. Please. Let me sign like an excited, enthusiastic teacher before you see me sound like a frustrated, whiny teacher. Also, this is a long one ... you might want to pop some popcorn or something. Sorry =(.

        Now, with yesterday's post in mind .... prepare yourself!

This is one of my kiddo's journal entry's today.

      Can you read that? It says "I didn't like the field trip. I didn't learn anything, or see anything new. I hardly got see anything any way. It was a total waste of time and money." OH MAN.

       My kids came in today excited, as I hoped they would be, to talk about the field trip. Always looking for an excuse to write and build "writing stamina" I set my timer for 8 minutes and asked my kids to write the entire 8 minutes and fill at least half a page (though I told them most of us could at least write a full page - or two!). After all, we had a lot to say! After we wrote we had plans to use some awesome Kagan structures (like mix-pair-share) to share our writing with each other. Not a hard thing. In fact, we added more time to the timer because they wanted to. We mixed-pair-shared our hearts out. Except for this one kiddo.

      

       This one kiddo had the same 8 minutes. The same 2 extra minutes. The same amount of me walking around prompting *tell me more* *great writers expand!* *why did you like that part?* *why didn't you like that part?* (between writing my own entry because I wanted to share, too!). This student chose to write 5 sentences. And not expand. And not tell why. And chose to say "I don't feel like sharing" and "no, I do not want to write more".

        This is a high student. This is a kiddo I expected would especially enjoy the field trip becasue it would feed some need for knowledge. It would be different. Exciting. This is an excel student. This is a kiddo who can do better. Who does do better. Just, apparently, not today. 

I think a piece of my heart broke. 

         

         I probably didn't handle it well. In fact, at one point I looked at her, said "okay" and walked away. I walked away from a kid. Because I didn't know what else to try. I could have cried. So, as we transitioned to the next thing, I literally gave myself a "quit taking this personally and teacher up" pep talk. We worked on our awesome research projects. We read A.R.. And at conference time I went flying into a coworkers room for some ... therapy. 

         By the end of the day, this is what I had come up with:

•  I needed to not be so offended. I needed to let go of the fact that she didn't like the                      field trip. And, I needed to let go of the defiance, the refusal to write. It wasn't a personal attack on me.
• This wasn't the first time this kiddo had not preformed well with writing. In fact, she often struggles with writing and I've tried (what I feel like is) lots of different things. So, I decided I could not, would not, let this go any farther.
• I didn't want to punish. I wanted to prompt.
• I needed a challenge. So, after some advice from a couple different teachers, this is the letter that went home with  my student. Attached was a copy of her notebook page. After all, her mom had gone with us on the field trip ... and I wanted her to know what was going on.

    For the record, we (the student and I) also had a heart to heart talk. I was in excel to. I know sometimes its hard to have people expect a lot of you. I get it. We talked. We bonded. Then I handed her the letter ... and she wasn't very happy with me! I am excited ... and terribly nervous ... to see what I get tomorrow. I'm afraid it will be a very unhappy phone call or visit from an unhappy parent. But if it is, it is. Read the letter. Then tell me How would YOU have handled this situation?!

Dear kiddo,

After 8 minutes of “free write” time to write about our field trip, I was very disappointed that this is all you got down on your paper. I know you have way more thoughts than this. I expect more from such a smart girl like you! I know Mrs. O has you write every time you are in her class, and we write a lot in my room as well. Mrs. O and I both know you can do better than what I saw today.

I’m also disappointed you think you didn’t enjoy our field trip! Of course, I want everyone to love our field trips and learn a lot from them!
Good writers always expand on their writing … tell more, tell more. Good writers also back up their opinions with facts and information. So, since I know you are a great writer, here is my challenge:

Write me a persuasive letter or paper expanding on your writing this morning. I want to know why you didn’t like the field trip. Why do you think you didn’t get to learn anything or see anything? Give me the information to back up your opinion! I’d also like you to tell me what field trip would be a better use of our time and money.

          I am excited to read your ideas in the morning. Remember, it is great to have opinions, but you have to back them up with information and facts!!

Thanks,
                                                                                  Mrs. Moreland

    

       

Mixed Feelings

We had a field trip today (my first as a "real teacher"). And it was SPLENDID. I love watching the kids experience new things, learn new things, go new places. I even enjoyed listening to their conversations on the bus rides to and from Jeff City. I did NOT enjoy the fact that busses make me sick. And the ride to Jeff City makes me sick. So, therefore, the bus ride to Jeff City had me feeling pretty nauseous from about 8:45 to ... well, I still am. And we've been off the bus for over an hour. :P. BUT that didn't effect our day - and we had a wonderful time.

Experiences like this help me remember why I love teaching:

They were doing MATH (long division in fact) on the window!

This is my favorite room in the capital - and I LOVED watching the kids listen and stare in amazement at the pictures!

Lots of walking meant the kids were pretty sure they were going to die of hunger ... thankfully Mrs. Giacolone had done this field trip before and new to bring snacks!

We ran into another group (2 of our other 4th grade classes) on our way to the Governor's Mansion -- you'd have thought the kids never get to see each other! ha!

Listening at the Governor's Mansion

Checking out the awesome museum!

Conked out on the bus ride home =)

Class picture!

My mixed feelings?! We don't teach social studies. There is no way to make that sound better than it is. Yes, I try with all my heart to "squeeze it in" to our CA class ... I try to pick reading passages that touch on government issues, bring in current events, teach history ... but it is NOT the same as having a time set aside for teaching social studies. And they desperately need that time. We went on this awesome field trip. My kids learned all kinds of stuff. But, when the lovely tour guides asked them questions like "Do you know who this picture is of? He was the only president from Missouri..." they didn't know the answer. And then the tour guides look at you like "uh, lady, did you know your kids don't know history?!" and you feel like the worst teacher of the century. Seriously. I OWE my kids more than that. They deserve to know. They NEED to know! *those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it*. 

So, while I definitely LOVED our field trip and am excited to talk to my kids about it tomorrow (we got back to school at 3:02 pm which left us zero time to talk about our day!), it also left me feeling a little sad and a touch guilty. Or a lot sad and a ton guilty, whichever :S. 

Guess I'll look for more time, more ways to "squeeze in" more social studies. Because seriously, "Science" is NOT an acceptable answer to the question "What do you learn in social studies" (that one wasn't in my class ... but still!!)

How do YOU cover everything you know your kiddos need to learn?! Any and all great tips welcome!!!