Chapter 12: Pumpkin Patch

This update is going to make you laugh, at least once.  Guaranteed.

The 1st Grade classes took a trip to the Pumpkin Patch on Friday.
We had a blast!

Before our trip, the teachers decided to tie-dye some t-shirts for the kids to wear.  Two of the teachers found a recipe for tie-dye using kool-aid and vinegar.  We decided that since we are on a teacher's budget, we would give it a try!  We went to the local grocery story and purchased approximately 135 packets of kool-aid and a large bottle of vinegar, and away we went.  We had fun tie-dying the shirts, and we were pumped that we made it work!  The shirts were supposed to dry for 24 hours, then we were supposed to iron them, and finally wash and dry them.  One of the teachers called me Thursday evening in a panic, "Have you washed your shirts yet?"  Luckily, I had not.  She said, "Well don't.  My shirts are white."
All the dye had washed out......AH!
She ended up purchasing some t-shirt dye that you can put in the washing machine, and then painted pumpkins on each shirt.  She is so creative!  They turned out absolutely precious!

The other teacher and I decided that we didn't have time to re-dye our shirts, so we just put them in the dryer with some fabric softeners...

When we got to school the next morning, we laid out the t-shirts and were getting ready for our trip.  (I was a bit apprehensive about this whole field trip idea, seeing as how it was my first one as a real teacher...)
The shirts smelled terribly of vinegar...
"Mih Lemon, why my shirt stank?"
...excessive sneezing and coughing...
The other teacher came into my room laughing hysterically because one of her students said "this shirt smell like pickled eggs..."
All we could do was laugh...

For those of you who live near the area, we went to Fiddlin' Rooster Farm.  The owners and staff at the Farm are top-notch.  They organize field trip that will make even a teacher's head spin!
The farm is set up with 15 different stations for the students to visit.  Each station lasts around 10 or 15 minutes, and they have activities that engage learning at each station.  It was seriously awesome!
(I tried to get a picture of the kids at each station, but I am going to be cautious of posting due to privacy concerns.)

1. Animals:  We learned about pigs, chickens, goats, and donkeys.
Did you know that chickens with red ears lay brown eggs?  And chickens with white ears lay white eggs?
Also, a chicken can lay 5 to 6 eggs per day.  Pretty cool!
                                   Here's a neat picture of a chicken:

2. Roping: The kids could practice roping a pretend cow and hula hooping!
                       Here's a picture of Mih Lemon with the hula hoop:

3. Hay Ride: We piled up on a big tractor trailer and rode to the Cotton Field, Corn Maze, and Pumpkin Patch!
4. Cotton Field: The kids learned about cotton plants and each stage of a cotton bud's life, and they also got to feel cotton.  They learned about how people used to hand pick cotton and how they would weigh their daily wages.
5. Corn Maze: We learned about corn stalks and how they grow, the life cycle of corn, and some things that corn is used to make.  Then we had a "Corn Cop" lead us through the maze!
6. Pumpkin Patch: Here the kids learned about how pumpkins grow, what is inside of them, and what all you can use pumpkins to make.  Each student also got to pick their own pumpkin to take home!
7. Lunch Break
8. Butter: Each student was given a small cup of milk with a lid on it.  As the staff member told the students about cows and things their milk is used for, the students were instructed to shake their cups of milk.  The milk eventually turned into butter - way cool!
                              Here is a picture of the Cow information:

9. Corn: Here the students got to see how corn is taken off of the cob, how it is ground up, and learned about different things corn is used for.  They each got a small cornbread muffin to dip into their butter to eat!  It was very yummy!
10. Cow Train: The farm has a train of barrel cars connected together that are painted like cows.  I got some really good pictures of the kids riding the cow train!
11. Wagon Wheel:  At this station the students learned about how people used to travel in wagons.  They got to see where the luggage went, how bonfires were made, and how difficult traveling really was.  The staff member at this station also played the fiddle and taught the kids how to dance around him in a circle.  This part was lots of fun!
                                   Here is a picture of the old wagon:

12. Duck Races:  This station was made up of 10 water pumps.  The students learned about the advantages of now indoor plumbing and running water.  At each pump, there was a gutter going towards the other side of the station.  Each water pump had a little plastic duck in it, and the kids got to race their ducks to the other side.
13. Barn Slide: The farm has turned a barn house into a fun house!  They have a huge tunnel slide coming out of the barn - and the kids came out super fast!
                   Here is a picture of Mih Lemon coming down the slide:

14: Barrel Swing: They have a huge swing made out of a big barrel (like the slide) that the kids could take turn swinging on.
15. Corn Pool: On the side of the barn house, there is a big pool of corn that the kids can play in!  They had lots of fun playing in a pool of corn...who would have thought?!

Overall, this field trip was a success!  We got a little later start than originally planned, but everything worked out perfectly in the end.  The staff at the Farm was more than welcoming and helpful during our whole trip.  We had a wonderful experience!

On the 45 minute bus ride back to school, the kids enjoyed talking about what they learned...
while their exhausted teacher took a little nap.

Chapter 11: Snoop Frog

It has been a few weeks since my last update.  Finding time to update here lately has been tough!  So many things going on, and so little time.  Anyway, here is an update of the past 2 weeks:

What we have learned in 1st Grade:

-article adjectives (a, an, the)

-addition & subtraction

-classifying plants & animals

-reading can be fun!

-class pets are a lot of work...

Yes, you read that correctly; class pets...

We have a new member to our class family.  We already had Mr. Bojangles, you remember, I'm sure.  Well yet again, on the playground the kids caught another frog.  I figured it would be ok to keep this one so that Mr. BoBo would have a friend.

I let the kids vote on a name for the new frog.  I picked a few choices and then let them vote.  Here are the results:

Albert - 8

Buffy - 2

Lucille - 0

Snoop Frog - 9

Snoop Frog & Mr. Bojangles are happy in their new home with each other!  

                                            Here are a few pics of them:

               Mr. Bojangles & Snoop Frog in their new home: Planet Frog

                                               playing "Leap Frog"

                                  Mr. Bojangles having a nice swim

                   Snoopy is smaller and much more lady-like than Mr. Bo

One of my closest friends, who teaches 3rd grade at my school, came up with a great idea.  She brought her class of 3rd graders to my 1st grade class to have a "Buddy Read" time together.  We paired up one (a few groups of two) 1st graders per one 3rd grader.  The 3rd grade student read a book of their choice to a 1st grader.  And then the 1st graders got to choose a book and read it to their 3rd grade partner.  I have lots of pictures of the Buddy Read, and some pictures of all of us together.  I plan to do an article write-up and send it to the newspaper!  The students had a wonderful time meeting and reading with their partner!  We will continue to Buddy Read once a month.  It was a great success! :)

1st Grade Funnies:

Student: "Mih Lemon, I got a cricket in my neck."

Me: "A cricket?  How did you get a cricket in your neck?"

Student: "I don't know, but he hurts."

Me: "I'm sorry that silly ole cricket is in your neck, maybe he'll come out later today."

In one of our journal entries the students had to write a complete sentence about A Flying Alligator.  One of the sentences read:  "A big fresh flying alligator."

Do you know what the meaning of "fresh" in that sentence is?  "Cool."

Student: "Mih Lemon, I had a asident."

Me: (thinking to myself "not again!!")  "An accident?  Where?"

Student: "In my pants."

Me: "Why?"

Student: "Because I had to sneeze and it came out..."

Luckily, there was not much of an accident, so everything was fine!

We have been on Fall Break for the beginning of this week, and I have truly enjoyed the time off to rest and recuperate.  We have 3 days of school left this week.  And 3 days of school next week due to Report Card Day and a Field Trip.  

Thanksgiving Break will be here soon!   

Chapter 10: Potty Break

It has been a very busy, crazy 2 weeks since my last post...

1st grade has been learning:
-adjectives (what kind?, which one?, how many?)
-how to add & subtract 10 using your brain
-addition
-subtraction
-potty training is a necessity


Mr. Bojangles is 'Movin' On Up' in the world.  He got a new home!  I ordered him a "Live Frog Habitat" with some of my classroom money, and it is awesome!  Mr. BoBo absolutely loves it!  I'll have a picture update for you to see it soon.  It has little plants, hills, a sleeping cave, and lots of swimming room.  He is toadally cool now!  The coolest part is that now the kids get to watch him eat the crickets!  Their response to seeing him eat a cricket for the first time was, "Ew, Mih Lemon, that so nasty..."

Prepare yourself - these next few stories are a bit graphic...
3 of the 4 First Grade classes go to recess together everyday at 12:00noon.  All of the students know the rules and boundaries of the playground.  I looked around to see one little girl run around the side of the school.  I thought she was playing "Hide and Seek", so I told one of my students to run around there and tell her to come back to where we could see her.  My student came back and couldn't hardly talk because of the shock and laughter on her face.  I asked her what happened, and she replied "Mih Lemon, I can't tell you what had happened."  After a few seconds of me trying to get some information out of her, she said "That girl was ova there taking a pee."  ..................................
Oh my!  What do you say to that?  AH!
Sure enough, a few moments later, the little girl came walking around the corner with her pants unzipped.  Her teacher asked her what she was doing, and the little girl replied, "I had to use it real bad, and I couldn't make it to the bathroom."

After recess, later in the day, a little boy in another 1st grade class decided he wanted to show a little girl his "middle spot" (which is what they refer to their privates as).  While sitting at the table, he unzipped his pants, pulled his "middle spot" out, turned it to the side, and tee-teed on the floor.  On. Purpose.
He knew good and well what he was doing!  Thankfully, he was not in my class, because I would have had a nervous breakdown...

The very next day, after I had laughed about other teacher's having to deal with bathroom incidents, it happened to me.  I had 2 students wet themselves in the same day.  Yay me.
One little girl was sitting at my reading table and got this "Oh NO" look on her face.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I'm peeing.  I didn't know I needed to go."  I was in such shock I didn't know what to do.  (in her defense, she has started taking a new dosage of medicine, so she was not able to control her bladder)
Then, after recess, my class was in line at the restroom and the little girl who was literally next to walk in looked at me and said "I can't hold it."  I hurried her into the bathroom so she could make it in time.  (she never once told me she needed to go, and that it was an emergency)  As she was walking into the bathroom, I saw it.....She tee-teed standing right in the doorway of the bathroom.
Lucky me - 2 in one day!

Hopefully we have gotten over our bathroom issues, and no more accidents will happen.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Here are some 1st Grade funnies:
One of my reading groups is learning about dinosaurs and fossils.  In the story there is a section about a scientist.  The scientist is studying dinosaur fossils, so I asked the students if they were scientists what they would want to study...
"cats
grass
dinosaurs
doctors"

We have been learning about plants and how to classify them.  I asked the kids to tell about some of the plants they have growing at their houses.  One little girl said, "I have a pineapple tree in my backyard."
"WOW!  Pineapple tree?!  I love pineapple!  Will you bring me one?!" - me
"mmhmm, I'll bring you one tomorrow."
The next morning she comes to school and is so excited to bring me my "pineapple."
She reached in her backpack, and with a very proud smile, she pulled out a pine cone.  :)
(we learned that pineapple trees don't grow in Mississippi)

We made bracelets out of pipe cleaners and beads that had letters on them.  I told the students to get a bead for each of their initials.  (MKL would be mine)
Some students have more than one middle name, so they were allowed to get as many beads as they needed. However, some students didn't even know their middle names.  Before they could make their bracelets, I had to walk around and make sure they had the letters in the right order.  I also wanted them to tell me their full names.  One little boy, the one we call "grandpa" had the letters (JDW).  I asked him what "D" stood for, and he said "Dawoosie; that's what my momma call me sometimes."  We then had a mini-lesson on the difference between a 'nickname' and a 'middle name'.

Before leaving school on Friday, the same little boy looked at me with the sweetest eyes and the most precious smile and said, "Mih Lemon, I wuv you."
That is why I am a teacher.  :)

We are starting our 8th week of school on Monday.
2 weeks until Fall Break
7 weeks until Thanksgiving
10 weeks until Christmas

Time is flying by!

Chapter 9: Accident Report

1st grade has been a little stressful these past two weeks...

Even though this week was a 4 day week because of the Labor Day holiday, it was the most stressful yet.

On Tuesday I had a student get injured while on the playground.  She was playing with a group of kids on the slide, and someone fell on her arm.  She came to me and said her arm hurt and had some tears, of course.  I asked her to move her arm and I gently touched it to see if I felt anything odd.  She moved her arm and everything seemed fine.  I had her sit beside me for a few minutes to make sure she was going to be alright, and then asked her if her arm felt ok.  She said yes, so I asked her if she wanted to go back out on the playground and play.  She said yes, and that was the end of it.....so I thought.

The next morning when I got to school I found out that the little girl had to go to the emergency room for x-rays on her arm, and ultimately have 2 pins put into her elbow.

I was sick at myself all day because I somehow felt responsible.  I did not fill out an accident report or notify a parent of the accident - it completely slipped my mind.  However, in my defense, I asked the little girl a few times throughout the day if she was ok and she kept saying, "yes ma'am."

Let's face it - accident's happen.  I now know to call or notify a parent if a student complains of a headache, stomachache, or even sneezes too hard.  Better safe than sorry, right?

This week (and the week before) in 1st grade we learned:

-adverbs (how, when, where)

-addition

-subtraction

-how to write a sentence composed of a noun, verb, and adverb

-basic idea of classifying animals

-accidents happen

Here are a few 1st grade funnies:

One of our journal topics for this week was "A Pig at a Party."  The kids had to write the sentence "My birthday is ______."  Then they had to illustrate a picture of a pig at their birthday party.  

One student decided to draw a pig boo-booing all over her paper...

She had to re-do her entire journal entry (and I kept the boo-boo picture for myself).

I had a note from a parent on her child's progress report to please call her regarding a test grade.  This parent is wonderful - always stays involved with homework and is very supportive.  I received the note on Wednesday, and honestly, I have no free time during the day, so I forgot to call her on Wednesday. And I forgot to call her on Thursday.  So I made it my priority to call her on Friday.  When I apologized for it taking me a few days to call her, she said "It's ok, he said he kept reminding you to call me, but that you would probably forget anyway; you were probably on the phone with that little girl's parent who drew the pig boo-booing on her paper..."

*I use inventive spelling in my classroom - meaning I tell the students to write the sounds they hear when sounding out a word.  The only time I correct their spelling is when they write in their journals.  If they misspell a word, I write it correctly underneath their word and tell them that if they saw that word in a book or on paper that's how it would be spelled.* (you need to know that for these stories!)

I decided to do some cute crafty ideas for Grandparent's Day.  I had a "Super Grandparent" ribbon for the kids to color.  They made their own "Happy Grandparent's Day" cards with construction paper (where they were allowed to write or draw anything they wanted).  And I painted their handprints on a sweet little poem.

Some things the cards said: "You all way giv me ane thing I wont.", "I will nevr furgit you.", "You mak me smil."

Also, the handpaint was obviously not a good idea...one little boy decided to go in the bathroom, and instead of washing his hands like I instructed him to do, he decided to put blue handprints all over the wall....Yay.

Don't worry, he paid the consequences - he had to clean the walls, change his face on the behavior chart, and was no longer allowed to be the 'leader' for the day.

We teach Health on Fridays.  We have been talking about healthy foods for a few weeks now, and this week we had the students create "Healthy Menus."

I put the students into groups and gave each group a poster board.  One group was Breakfast, another group was Lunch, and the last group was Dinner.  They had to talk together about healthy foods for their meal, and each student had to write at least one food on their poster.  They did a really great job with this project - but here's why I can't hang the posters in the hallway:
Breakfast

eg  (egg)

biskit  (biscuit)

bakin  (bacon)

semwich  (sandwich)

sirel  (cereal)

soushit ................... (sausage)

Even though I have been stressed, I still love going to work every day.

Next week is our 6th week of school - my, how time flies!

Chapter 8: Still Hopping

Another week has passed, and we are still hopping along...
Mr. Bojangles, the frog, is still hopping, too.  The kids are having so much fun with our class pet!  We have learned that Mr. BoBo will not eat crickets that are already dead, so we have to make sure to only put live crickets in his cage.  We have also learned that Mr. BoBo loves to swim.  We had a small cup of water in his cage for him, but I started feeling bad when I realized he couldn't even stretch out his legs.  We got him a bigger "pond" and some fresh grass and dirt, and he seems to be adjusting well.  He usually only comes out from hiding and hops around when the kids are not in the room.  He must not like all of their noise....

This week in 1st grade we learned:
-verbs (a word that shows action)
-how to classify a sentence with nouns and verbs
-greater than & less than numbers
-how to label the parts of a flower/plant

We experienced some sad news this week in my class - one of my students lost everything in a house fire.  Luckily noone was in the house during the fire, so noone was hurt.  But, they did lose everything.  My heart breaks for him every time I think about it.  I wanted to bring him home with me, but of course I couldn't.  The fire happened on Wednesday, so Thursday and Friday I spent a good bit of time talking to him and loving on him.  He did show some emotion on Friday when he told me that he was sad because they didn't get any of his stuff out.  I told him that it is ok for him to be sad and upset, but he should also be happy that noone was hurt in the fire.  I know time will help him heal, but I still want to fix it for him now.  My sweet parents helped purchase some necessary items for him until the family gets back on their feet.
Please keep my little guy and his family in your prayers.  He is my sweetheart.

We had a special visitor on Friday!  Ashleigh came to my class to meet the kids and experience a day in my life.  The kids absolutely loved her!  They kept asking "Mih Lemon, is she yo sista?"  The answer we found easiest to explain was, "yes."  They had lots of stories to share with Miss Ashleigh, and one little girl even said:
"I love white people and mixed people 'cause they hair is so long!"
I think Miss Ashleigh had a nice visit - and hopefully she will come back to visit us again soon!

Tomorrow is Monday, and I am ready for a new week!

Chapter 7: Class Pet

As of today, at 12:05pm, we have our very first class pet.

We found this cute little guy hopping around the playground during recess.  I hate to admit this, but it was actually my idea to catch him; and of course the kids did not think twice about it.  Some of the boys were trying to catch him, and some were too chicken to even try!  One student caught him and immediately threw him down because it scared him... (As you can tell, this is already amusing.)  I, of course, go to screaming, in excitement and panic, for kids to find him and pick him up again!  One student found an empty cup-which is what we decided to put the little guy in until we went back to our classroom.  

He stayed in the cup for about 5 minutes, then quickly found his way out....

Well, here I go screaming again!  

Don't worry - we got him!

As we went back inside from recess, I had the boys go outside by our classroom and collect grass, crickets, and grasshoppers for our little friend while I found him a water dish.

The kids were absolutely ecstatic!
(I was secretly enjoying this experience, too!)

Once we got the little guy into our class terrarium, complete with grass, water, and bugs, we decided to name him.  As the teacher of some very opinionated first graders, I chose the name without any discussion:

                                                   Mr. Bojangles

                                                Can you see him?  

Poor little guy; he was scared silly!

This was the best picture I could get of him today - but there will be many more to come (hopefully)!

The kids love the name Mr. Bojangles,
but like to call him "Mr. Bo" or "Mr. BoBo" for short.  :)

We are having so much fun in 1st grade!

Chapter 6: Tough Week

I have heard from veteran teachers that there will always be tough days and weeks, and now I actually believe and understand those words.  I have been challenged a great deal this week.  My students are getting comfortable with me and how I teach, and have decided to see how far they can push me.  Well, let's just say, even though I'm in a first grade classroom, my fuse is short.  I am working hard on my patience and understanding traits, but when I pray for those things God does not hand them to me on a silver platter.  Instead, he puts me in situations where I have to use patience and understanding.  It has been tough, but I know I will thank Him in the end for the lessons I've learned from Him, my teacher.

This week in 1st Grade we learned:
-Nouns (person, place, or thing)
-Verbs (a word that shows action)
-how to count and represent 100 using base 10 blocks
-how to plant seeds
-how to care for our teeth
-how to follow directions............(this will take a while)

Here are a few scenarios from my week for you to picture:
Me: "Friends, a verb is a word that shows or tells an action.  Run. Walk. Sing. Dance. Shake. Jump. Those are examples of verbs.  Things that you can actually do."
I then read some sentences and had the students tell me the verbs in the sentence.
Next, I had students tell examples of verbs.
Student: "Lamp."
Me: "Please stand up.  Ok, show me how to lamp."
The student stood there, blank-faced, and very confused.
Me: "Ok, lamp is a noun because it is a thing, right?!  Show me how to jump."
After a few practice words, she understood why 'lamp' was not a verb.
Verbs can be difficult to understand...

We have Creative Writing journal entries two days a week.  This week our journal topics were "Me as a Sandwich" and "Me on Television."  The sandwich journals were entertaining, but he television journals topped the cake.  I will try to upload some pictures of some student work so you can enjoy!
My favorite journal article of the week:
Me on Television - "I would be a single lady."

I had 2 students miss their bus on Thursday....I was not a happy camper.  A teacher stands in the hallway and calls the bus number, then I repeat it so my kids can hear, and then it is announced on the intercom.  The 2 kids that ride that bus number decided to just sit in my room and not move.  So, they missed the bus.  I had to call 18 different phone numbers to contact people to come pick them up from school - and it took quite a while for this process to play out.  Needless to say, I won't have any more students miss their buses - that's for sure!

I have a picture of me and Josh as the background on my phone.  One student (my little sweetheart that I call 'grandpa') saw my phone and said, "Who that is?"
Me: "That's a picture of me and Mr. Murphy."
Student: "Who Mr. Murphy is?"
Me: "He's the man I am going to marry, silly."
Student: "Oh, well I have the Smurf's movie at home!"
Me: "Not Smurfy....MURphy!"
Student: "Oooh, my bad, Mih Lemon."

The good far outweighs the bad, that's for sure.  I really am happy with where I am and what I'm doing.  I love my school, and I love my kids.  I am praying for patience and understanding, especially for those few students in my room that smirk and grin when I reprimand them.....That's what I mean by needing patience.

But, Monday starts a new week, and I am determined to make every new week better than the last.

Please pray for my patience and understanding, my students and their home environments, and my classroom to be an inviting and exciting place to learn and to love.