Linking up with Doodle Bugs...Dr. Seuss Week

 

Wow! I have been out of the loop for a while, it is time to rejoin the Teacher Blogging World and what better way then to link up with

Doodle Bugs Teaching

 

 

 

 

FIRST, This week we celebrated Read Across America and Dr. Seuss. Our school always has a decorating door contest, this year it was expanded to include bulletin boards/walls. There were some GREAT displays, I'm glad I wasn't on the committee to judge. Here are some of my favorites that I have pictures of.

 

 

The teacher gave the students this assignment: write about how you would like to make the world a better place. There are some great ideas.

 



SECOND,  our door.....

 

THIRD, this one has a little of everything! It was the winner.

FOURTH, I just celebrated my 4th week on Weight Watchers and have lost 6 whole pounds. It's going to take a while that's for sure!
Here's a way to have healthy, fast and easy smoothies.

 

For any WWs out there, one half serving is 2 points. The one half serving is about 8 oz. made with water. It is pretty good, of course, it would be better with some more sweet!

 

FIFTH! It is SPRING BREAK for us next week!!!! WOOOOO!

 

 

Have a great week, I plan to!

 

Later,

 

 

Paula

Five for Friday!! Spring Here we come!

Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Wahooooo! A whole week off from that place of learning and structure! Now should I plan my week off or just let it flow? If I don't plan things, nothing will get it done! If I do, it will be a lot like work!

There were many special events this week! Our schedule was off, grades are due, special ed. progress reports due..... and the students were vibrating...you could feel the hummmmmmm when you entered the building!

So the regular stuff wasn't working, who wants to sit through Reading Mastery lessons when  it's almost Spring Break?

We read The First Dog by Jan Brett....

They loved the book, I asked them what happened first, and then next and so on and typed it on the Promethean board as they reported each part.

The next day I  printed out their sentences, folded up some paper, stapled it...and set them loose on it! They did awesome of course!

The NEXT day, we read another book about dogs and a cat....

Danger the Dog Yard Cat

by Libby Riddles

(dog sled musher/ Iditarod Champion extraordinaire and first woman to win the 1049 mile race)

and made these simple and fun puppets.....

(they LOVE puppets)

and of course....Dr. Seuss.....here's our hallway bulletin board.....

It's a collage of Dr. Seuss characters from years past, and a  "Read across America" vintage poster with Garth Brooks! I've had THAT awhile.(he is still awesome!)

Our WINNING DOOR!

Great Day for UP by Dr. Seuss

The idea is to have the students do as much as possible....They cut the grass tufts, they decorated their own balloons and baskets, cut out the clouds, cut out the mini UP signs and of course posed for the pictures!

....with the upcoming break we thought the faces of the adults who work out of our classroom 

belonged on the bed next to the ending quote from the book.

There are so many creative people in our building! Here are some more doors and hallway art. I didn't get upstairs to take pictures so there are some missing.

and now I'm watching the Iditarod ceremonial start on TV! 

It's a good start to Spring Break and it's been snowing for a couple of days! Feels normal.

Later,

Paula



Five for Friday...March 7, 2014....Dr. Seuss...and a fun word game

 It's the Doodle Bugs Party! (AND I have never linked this early on a Friday!)This is an especially sweet Friday because it also marks the beginning of Spring Break! Yeaaaaa! So link up with Doodle Bugs here and join the parrrrrttyyyyyy!

Naturally, since Spring Break is around the corner, our incredibly mild winter has decided to dump some snow on us.

Of course, we celebrated Read Across America this week as I'm sure many of you did! 

Crazy hat day

I have a great team of people to work with! This lady is also very creative, the net on her hat is a child size tutu!

Crazy hair day

and here is my co-worker again with the most awesome Dr. Seuss character costume!

Crazy sock day

New Game: Green Eggs without the ham

For practicing decoding words, I made up this game!

Materials: pan or skillet, spatula, green construction paper with words on a contrasting color.

Lay the "eggs" word down, scoop up one, turn it over...

Read the word and place it in the pan! Slide the pan to the next person. The students really liked it, but asked me where the ham was!

Door Decorating contest

I found this idea on Pinterest, thank you Trisha Cox!
The best thing about this door is that the kids created most of it!

The grass: nice easy fine motor skills being practiced, using scissors to cut short straight lines. 

The socks: Students were presented with a variety of materials and told to create! They did not disappoint!

The fox: I traced the fox, one of the students took it over, added the socks and made the eyes. He did awesome!

and here's the really awesome part....we won! Here are our  prizes.....

nice...right?

We had a workday Friday to give us some time to put in grades and in my case, complete IEP progress reports. This is my least favorite part of my job, and I appreciate a paid day to work on it!

I am so looking forward to NOT setting my alarm clock!

Five for Friday......February 28, 2014

It is time to link up with Doodle Bugs! I have been lapse in joining this party lately because my weeks didn't look like something anyone wanted to hear about and I like to have pictures, which I haven't been taking...and I'm still not taking...but oh well!

I will begin with the

NEW KITTEN!

who is at this very moment sitting behind my head batting at everything that moves including my hair! (I am trying not to move my head)

ahhhhhh!

She looks very docile in this photo, but you can see it in her eyes, can't you?

Second

Weight Watchers Online

Two weeks into it and 4 pounds down! yea! I haven't began to exercise (yuck) I don't like to exercise, I don't find an inner thrill to exercising! But I'm really going to try to find something I might do regularly....stationary bike in my living room maybe?

        

Knowledgeable friends recommend the one on the left, it is easier on the back.
The weather is improving...I can start walking....

Third

Next week is Dr. Seuss time! fun fun fun! we are having crazy hat, socks, hair and so on going on, as well as a door decorating contest. I looked online for some ideas, there are lots! Here are a couple......

   

Source: http://hwh.grsc.k12.ar.us/pages/Departments/Communication/Press%20Releases/Press%20Release-6.html

I'm looking for an idea that the variety of students who pass through our doorway can help create. I'll let you know what we came up with next week.

Fourth

The Iditarod is tomorrow, well today is the ceremonial start in Anchorage, but real Alaskans know that's just for show, the real deal is tomorrow out at Willow! We haven't gone for a few years and I kinda want to, but it's a lot of trouble and a lot of traffic, so.....I don't know!

They have an awesome website, and for some $$$ you can follow the whole race through video updates:

http://iditarod.com

But there is nothing like standing on a frozen lake, listening to hundreds of dogs bark excitedly, people watching and waiting for each team to run by!

This year will be harder on the mushers and their teams, our weather has been too warm with less snow!

You people in the lower 48 have been getting all the good stuff!

Fifth

Preparing for the end of the third quarter! This one has gone very fast! Only one left! woooo!

I began assessing this week and am very happy with the students' progress. One in particular who has struggled with learning letters, sounds, and blending words is doing awesome! We have been working one to one using Reading Mastery and in a small group using Zoo Phonics! 

He can now identify all the common letter sounds and 24 out of 26 letters by name! He also is blending 3 letters into words for 3 out of 5 words. I am very proud of him.

Now the next step, phonics readers! The small group is ready! The decodables at their grade level that come with our core reading program are too difficult for them at this point, the lower grade level is too easy and they have already been through those. My friend and co-worker uses Learning Pyramid readers and I'm going to try those. I checked for them online and they seem to be out of print so I will be borrowing hers!

That's my five for Friday! (even though today is Saturday).

Have a great weekend,

Paula