Chapter 2: Tears of Love

Everyone is still here and doing well!

I was not able to post last weekend, so we have lots to catch up on!  This week was a short week, only 4 days, but it felt like it was so much longer than a regular week.  Any change in schedule throws the kiddos off, and makes this teacher a little crazy!

We have learned the letters H and K since last time we updated you!  Here's our poems:

"H says /h/

Horse in a house,

/h/, /h/, /h/"

"K says /k/

Kid in a kayak,

/k/, /k/, /k/"

These poems are all part of our Read Well program, and they build upon each other to create a fun song!  The kids are getting super good at recognizing letters, knowing the sounds we have taught (A, E, H, and K), and how to write them.  I am impressed with their little minds - they learn so quickly!

We also started learning about Rhyming Words, and read Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham book.  Rhyming is a difficult skill to master, so we will work on it for a good while!

We finished up our study of shapes.  We had such a fun time learning the names of shapes and how to describe them - how many sides and how many vertices.  (I know, vertices is a big word for Kindergarten, right?!) Here are some pictures of our Shape Anchor Charts:

We have started learning sight words, and we have also started learning how to write sentences.  We focus a lot of time on this:

"Letters make up words.  Words make up sentences.  Each word has it's own special space in a sentence."

The students can copy the sentence starter from the board, and then try to complete the sentence with their own word or words.  Here are some pictures of our "I Can..." writing.  The students drew a picture of something they can do, and tried to write the words to describe their pictures.  We also had a little fun with this writing activity...since we have been learning shapes, I put on my "brave hat" and let the kids paint circles onto colored paper by using toilet/paper towel rolls.  They had a blast!

Last, but certainly not least, we celebrated Grandparent's Day at school on Friday!  We had a few grandparents come visit our class, and I made sure to take pictures (of course).  Here's a picture of our sweet little craft we made for our grandparents:

"Grandmas and Grandpas are

everything nice,

Like presents and candy and 

raspberry ice.

And chocolate fudge sundaes,

with cherries on top,

And popcorn and peanuts and

grape soda pop.

In winter or summer,

In rain or in sun,

Grandmas and Grandpas

are wonderful fun!"

It happened...the kids saw their teacher cry....
One of my precious boys, who does not listen to Mrs. Murphy, at all, but adores Mrs. Henson, got into some trouble during Resource class one afternoon.  Mrs. Henson was explaining to him how she was disappointed in his behavior and how she expected him to do better the next day.
She said, "L, Mrs. Henson loves you, but tomorrow I want you to do better, ok?"
Me: "L, what do you say to Mrs. Henson? She said she loves you."
(no response....but not surprised!)
Me: "L, doesn't your mom and dad tell you they love you at home?"
(he shook his head no....)
So, I lost it.  In front of the class.  As they were walking out to go home.  There I stood, crying.  Mrs. Henson ran over to him and scooped him up into a big huge hug.
So, needless to say, Mrs. Henson and Mrs. Murphy tell every one of them that we love them every day.

Kindergarten Funnies:

AL: "Mrs. Murphy, I brought you some money.  But my momma said to bring her the change."

Me: "You brought me some money?"

AL: "Yep! I brought it for you.  But I gotta get some change."

Me: "Ok...I'm confused, though?  What's the money for?"

AL: "Just to go shopping with!"

Me: "What shape is this?"

LM: "That's a sware."  (square)

Me: "T, what does that 'fajita' taste like?"

TW: "It tastes like a tie..."

Me: "A tie?  What is a tie?"

TW: "A tie.  Like on a car."

Me: "Oh, a tire?!  How do you know what a tire tastes like???"

When the kids were leaving on Friday for our long weekend:

Me: "Goodbye children, I'm going to miss you all!"

KA: "Oh, please don't be sad, Mrs. Murphy.  You're too pretty to cry."

TW: "I got a dog at the house.  His name is Sawshit."  (Sausage)

TW: "Mih Henson, do you stay with her?"  (meaning, do you live with Mrs. Murphy)

Henson: "No, I have a house and Mrs. Murphy has her own house."

TW: "Oh, well I want you to stay with her, ok?"

Me: "Do you like those apple jacks?"

TW: "Uh huh, they got shugahs in it." (sugar)

"Mrs. Murphy, you got some more of them corn flake jacks?"

I fall more in love with my kiddos and my job every day.  Even on days when they test my patience and seem to be a bit difficult, I leave school loving them more and more.  I am happy, happy, happy!

That's all for this week, folks!

Please continue to pray for me, my assistant, and all of my sweet kiddos daily.

Believe me, they are much needed and appreciated.  

Until next week,

XOXO