100!

100. One-Hundred. Ciento. 50x2. Half of 200. 100.


That is how many days I have officially survived teaching. I can't believe it, but it is true! Now, I don't remember ever making a big deal out of the "100th Day of School" when I was in elementary school, but boy oh boy do they make a scene out of it now days. There are parties, treats, games, crafts, and anything and everything you can think of dealing with the number 100 (that almost never have any educational benefit other than seeing the number 100 everywhere). Well, because I am a "winger"(and because I had no idea it was the 100th day), I had no special plans for this day and my kids. So in true Erica fashion, I decided to just wing it.

In my Kindergarten class, I had them make paper chains. They each got 10 strips of paper, using the colors of their choice, and we went from there. We I decided that making a chain all the way to 100 was completely unrealistic and I was not ready to take that task on with 6 kindergarten kids. So instead, we made a counting by 10s to 100 chain *educational part #1*. The kids had to then think of a pattern *educational part #2* that they wanted to make with the colors they chose. From there we counted together by 10s to 100 *educational part #3*, and then went on to write each number on each strip of paper *educational part #4, practicing writing :)* Well after we got all of our numbers written, I took them and stapled them together to make a lovely, colorful, educational, paper chain. That was their 100 day celebration activity with Ms. Curp.

Now 2nd grade, I guess I had some kind of lapse in judgment and came up with, what I thought, would be an easy and fun activity for them. Boy was I wrong, thankfully it all worked out. Before I tell you what the activity was, I would like you to keep in mind that I have these kids for an 1.5 hrs, and while that may seem like a lot of time - it was not for this particular last minute activity.

If you couldn't figure it out from the picture, I had the kids come up with 100 things they learned in 100 days. That may not seem like much of a task, but I have a whopping 3 students in my 2nd grade class - so between the 3 of them, they had the daunting task to come up with 100 things they remembered/learned up to this point in my class. I was going back and forth cutting out various shapes to write their memories on (since I had not planned this activity prior to the moment they walked in the door) and I will tell you cutting out 100 shapes is no small task when under a strict time limit! Well I finally got all 100 cut-out, and I was letting the kids write down things they remembered on the paper. Well, cue mistake #2 (next to not planning this out before), my kids are not the best spellers, and the words they were wanting to write, like perimeter, were not easy to figure out... so I was having to spell them out for them one at a time as they yelled out ideas. After each wrote about 10 of their own with my help on spelling, I took over the writing gig (for time's sake) and wrote the next 70 as they came up with them. About an hour and 15 minutes later... we had 100 things we had learned in 100 days :).

Well the next task was to glue all of these on a large sheet of butcher paper so I could hang up and show off the work they were so proud of before the end of the day. We got them all cut-out,  written-out, and glued on in exactly 1.5 hrs. I have never been more proud. During my end of the day 30 min planning period, I went and cut out the letters for the title so people would know what on earth the big paper with random words was about and hung it above. All and all, this project turned out great and I have had so many teachers comment on how much they loved it and how, in a way, it served as a type of review having the kids think back to all the things they have learned and refresh their memories.

I will definitely do this again next year, but with a little planning in advance. I think I will have them come up with one thing they learned at the end of each day for the 1st 100 days, and then by the time that 100th day comes around the corner, all we will have to do is glue those one some paper and hang it up. That sounds much easier, and much less stressful!

Any other bloggers know of any fun activities I could do for this 100 day celebration next year? Would love to hear any ideas, even if you are not a teacher, feel free to leave any suggestions, I am always open to trying new things!

Kid's Say the Darndest Things: Ch.1

     As most of you know, I am a teacher. I teach 3 grades, Kindergarten-2nd grade Resource Math and Reading. While it tends to be a little on the hectic side some most of the time, I am lucky enough to be able to have many laughable moments throughout my day. I find it useless to truly get stressed, so when something just is not going the way I planned (which is every day) - I try and smile and find the humor in some of the things my kids say and write on a weekly basis. I figured I would start sharing some of these little comments/stories with the blogworld in hopes they can bring a smile to your face. Some of you may not find any of this funny, and that is understandable. A lot of times the humor in things is intensified when you actually know the person who says and/or does something funny, in which case you will not in my stories. Either way, I hope you find joy in some anyway.  No matter what - this will be a good way for me to keep track of all the nonsense sayings :) Here are 3 stories/comments that come to mind right off the bat, happy reading!


1.)Learning how to sound out and spell 3 letter words. Students look at a picture and tell me what it is of and then have to spell that word. In this instance it was a picture of a pen.Sidenote: I am trying to spell it how the kid said it. I don't actually talk or spell that way, in case you were questioning.

Student: "That's a pen! Like a ink pen! Now, now.. you don't wanna go and stick one-uh doze in yo eye!!"


2.) I have a certain student that I work with every day. He is quite a handful to say the least. He has this odd fascination of pushing on my hard-earned love-handles and jiggly arms. He likes that squishy feelin' I guess (talk about a self-esteem booster). Well I went to go pick up this wonderful, wonderful little boy yesterday and he had decided to write all over himself. He had marker on his face - had a bit of that Harry Potter mark going on, all over his chin- like he was trying to look like he had facial hair at the tender age of 5, and on his hands, arms, and clothes. I didn't even know what to do, I could hardly be mad because it looked so ridiculous. It was like the kid got in a fight with a black marker and lost MISERABLY! I am hoping we got it all cleaned up for today :)

3.) In my 2nd grade class, we were talking about adaptations and ways we adapt to our environment. I had gone around giving some examples and then had the students do the same.  


*When asked how we adapt to cold weather, student 1 responds, " You can put on a jacket, or cover yourself with a blanket." -- good start, at this point I feel the kids are all going to get their question right.

*When asked how can adapt when it is raining, student 2 responds, "You can wear an umbrella or jacket." -- maybe not the correct verb usage with umbrella, but you get the point... still on the right track!

*When asked how we adapt to hot weather, student 3 responds, "You can, um, you caaannnn.... uh, pooooop??" -- and JACKPOT (slap in the face for actually thinking they were all going to get it right that quickly). I had no response, no words, nothing. I was trying not to laugh, and I think I did ok, but for goodness sake, where did that even come from, what was the thought process there?! I am still baffled by this comment, and wish I could figure out what went on in that child's mind.

4.) Every Friday, if the kids have filled their sticker chart, they get a treat. Well this just happened to be the Friday before Christmas break so I gave them all their treat and a candy cane. As I am passing them out one little boy is talking about his girlfriends to the class.

*When I give this one child his candy cane, he says: "Can I have anuffer 2 candy canes so I can give tim (them) to my girlfrins. They like candy canes and I want to make them happy."

*I say: "I am sorry, but everyone can only have one treat today, it would not be fair to give you more."

*His response: " Ok, I will just have to share my candy cane withs them so they don't cry and get not happy withs me."


Happy Friday, hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Measure, Yea, Measure

Good Morning and Happy Friday!
   
     I swear, for being a 4 day week (with kids), it sure did seem to crawl by. The last week before Christmas break, 2nd grade learned about measurement, and this week it was Kindergarten's turn to start learning. Here a couple of the activities I did that the kids seemed to really enjoy :)

     In second grade, we learned about height, width, length, and perimeter. Conveniently enough, this was the week before Christmas break, and also the week I had my unannounced drop-in evaluation. Luckily, I had some fun activities for the kids to do that involved moving around so it turned out just fine.

*Day 1: I introduced measurement by having the kids lie down on the floor, while I proceeded to put down a piece of tape that reached from their head to their toes. They were pretty confused as to what I was doing, but eventually they started to figure out what our new topic was going to be. We then went on to discuss how we measure, the different things you can use to measure, and so on. Eventually, we integrated our reading skill for the week of comparing and they had to compare to see who was the tallest and shortest. It was fun, and a great way to relate it to real life.

I let them mark of my height as well, they got a real kick out of that. Fortunately, I can say I am taller than all of my 2nd graders... but it is definitely not by much!

O

     Over the next couple of days, we learned about width, length, and height and what standard form of measurement you would use to measure various things. The last half of the week, we explore perimeter. I taped down 3 different shapes, and used the tiles and drew dots to signify the "units". Each shape had a different color. Each student started in the color listed first on the note card I made for them, and had 1 minute to find the perimeter of that shape. After the minute was up, they switched to the next color on their card and continued rotating until they each had the perimeter of all 3 shapes. Once they had this, I had them record their answers on a chart on my SmartBoard to see if they all got the same answer, and so they could defend their answer if need be. Once we wrote down the results, we went back as a group and counted to find the perimeter to double check our answers. It was a lot of fun, and the competition aspect really had the kids into it! (Unfortunately, I did not get to take any pictures of the perimeter activity because it was the day I had my evaluation. )

     Now to Kindergarten. We have been learning about measurement all week. First thing I did was find a video on all types of measurement... low and behold I found this gem Measure, Yea, Measure (YES YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS, it's kind of catchy...). Oh. My. Word. I need to find who comes up with these things, but either way, the kids loved it and we ended up watching it 2 days in a row! The first activity we did was taping down their height (as I did with 2nd grade) and we found various things in the room to measure with. We used markers, cubes, our feet, and a couple of other things. They had fun finding things to use and seeing how tall they were :)

Not the best picture, but they measured using dry erase markers and linking cubes. (The linking cubes were put together in groups of 10, to reinforce the use of counting by 10s)

     Then we decided we wanted to measure something even bigger! So, after a little deliberation, the kids decided they wanted to measure the length of the classroom. We discussed what would be the best thing to use, and talked about why cubes wouldn't be good because they are so small, and eliminated a few more options. I then showed them this video, Sid the Science Kid , and they decided they wanted to make paper bodies, like in the video, and measure it that way. So we got to tracing bodies and cutting them out.

Tracing them out.

The finished paper bodies, with names.

     Today was the last day on measurement with Kindergarten, so we measured our classroom with the paper bodies and recorded how many "insert students' name here" long the classroom was on each cut-out. For example, "The classroom is 10 Ms. Curps long". I think this is a great activity and it is a good way to get them up and moving, as well as working together!

The finished product.

      That is all for now, I hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and an even better weekend. Hopefully it doesn't fly by too quickly :)

Life of a Teacher

     Here I am, sitting at my kitchen table putting together this dreaded thing known as the "Subfolder". This is basically a folder that outlines every last detail of my day, in the unfortunate incident that I am absent (it is weird to me that I will forever have the ability to be considered "absent"). Anyway, that is the first of many things on my to-do list for this evening- so what do I do? I decide it is time to update my blog!

     I have officially been a teacher for 1 week and 3 days, and I can honestly, without a doubt in my mind, say that I absolutely love my job. Not only do I have the luxury of almost 30 pre-determined days off (NOT including summer break). I have a group of absolute sweethearts to work with each an every day. I have the opportunity to help mold these children into effective citizens in our society. This opportunity is present for any teacher of any grade, but I honestly believe that elementary school is the most influential time for kids. They are going to get either a good, or a bad taste in their mouth for school - almost all based on the experiences with their teacher(s). All it takes is one bad teacher to really mess things up. One teacher, who is only teaching for those glorious days off (especially summer) and/or because they figured it was an easy profession. I'll give them this- it is an easy profession, IF you're a bad teacher. I say this because if you are a bad teacher you don't work outside of the hours of 8-3 (or whatever the schools hours may be) M-F. You don't go home at night and think about what great activity you could do to help the kids understand something better while having FUN doing so.  You don't take time out of your day to simply smile and make your students feel like they are the most important kids in the world to you, which is one of the most crucial things you should do. Some of these kids don't get that kind of attention and support at home and school may be the only place they really feel loved and feel like they are good at something.  But that is enough of my rant on BAD teachers... I will go on to tell you about my class!

     I have a grand total of a whopping 7 kids. I have 3 kindergartners that I see twice a day for reading and math, and 4 2nd graders, 3 of which I pull twice a day for Reading and Math, and the 4th for Math only. These kids are wonderful and hysterical. In fact, right before leaving my class yesterday, one of my kindergartners ran up and gave me a big hug and said " I love you!"-- that was cute, but the best part was, as he was walking out of the door he turned and said " I'll see you later cutie-baby!" I almost died from laughing so hard. It may not seem that funny to you, but I am telling you this kid is full of comments like that. All of my kids are great and my only goal and hope is that I am able to leave a good impression of school with them. I want them to enjoy school and enjoy learning, and I will do anything in my power to make that happen.

     With all of that being said, even with the absurd amount of paperwork I have to take care of due to being a  Special Ed teacher, and all of the other random assignments and papers I have to get done for the administrators - I would not trade my job for anything. It is quite the feeling to know that I have chosen the right profession for me and that it is something I love so much. I just wanted to share a little update and some feelings about this new chapter of my life, and I will leave you all with this quote that I am sure you have heard a million times but is perfect for me:

“If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life"





 

Classroom

     Hello fellow bloggers! This past week has been spent doing in-service, working registration, and setting up my room. Of course, my favorite part thus far has been setting up my very own classroom! I am extremely excited about school starting and can't wait to meet my kiddos. Speaking of kiddos, it looks like I am only going to have about 6 kids TOTAL. Two kindergarten resource and four 2nd grade resource. It is going to take some getting used to, but I know it will be a wonderful experience; and like I have said before, I am so glad to have familiar faces around to help guide me through my first year. Here are a few pictures of my classroom up to this point. It is about 85-90% complete, but there are a couple of things I still need to add and I am sure as the year goes on I will add little odds and ends.

This will be the pick-up and turn-in table. The 3 bins on the left are labeled by grade, the 2 small are sharpened and not sharpened pencils, and the 3 flatter bins will be used to turn in math and reading work.

My wall shelving where all the textbooks, games, and craft supplies are. This will soon be more organized once I get all matching containers. Yes, I have a problem :)

This is one side of the classroom. Still have to add some sort of "Behavior Chart" sign above the bear paws that will be used for conduct.

Here is the other side of the room, my SmartBoard, and the table has all of my Math program materials on it, separated by grade level.

This is near my desk, just filing cabinets and then a "mailbox" type system to help separate student work at the end of each day.

If anyone has any other ideas they think I should add in my room, let me know :) I am always up to try new ideas! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I'm a Big Kid Now :)

     Hi bloggers! I just received some absolutely FANTASTIC news! I have officially been offered and have accepted a job as a resource teacher at Ellendale Elementary. I could not be more excited or feel more blessed to have already been presented with such a wonderful opportunity in a wonderful school. While I have never actually had any experience in the resource area of Special Ed, I know it will be a great journey with a lot of wonderful people to help me. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! I am so excited I just had to share this news anywhere I could :)