A Stolen Idea...Or Two...

Another great day in Room 224!  We were back on our "regular" schedule...meaning, we are back to balanced literacy, writing, and Texas History...minus the test prep!  The one thing that I have been strongly lacking in is Texas History. ::hangs head in shame::

Now, I love history, especially that of our great state...but, it is not my focus most of the year.  I just cannot cover it the way I want AND prepare the kids for testing.  I'm not going to out anyone, but I am not the only teacher in Texas that feels that way.  (Yes, I'm a follower...) :-).

So, today we hit Texas History HARD.  We started with some vocabulary that my quarters learned at the beginning of the year.  We created this really cool foldable that lists different levels of government, their definition, and the names of the actual leaders!  This was fun!

Pretty cool, huh??  We compared the different positions in government to our classroom, school, district, and region.  But, the quarters still had difficulty comprehending the idea...so, time to "teach on the fly"!  I pulled out the construction paper and used an idea I have seen on Pinterest!!! ( I just looovvveee that site!)  I don't remember WHO came up with the idea, though!

I didn't have a lot of construction paper, so we used what we had left over! (In case you can't tell by the black and manilla!)  They had the chance to see how our neighborhood is part of our city, county, state, country, continent, and planet.  Pretty neat!

Now, before we moved on to our read aloud, I wanted to have my quarters complete an activity related to "empathy".  This idea is completely stolen borrowed from Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade !!! She has some of the coolest ideas!

I created a "new student".  His name is Horace Smith.  (I tried to figure out the weirdest name possible...no offense to any Horaces out there!)

All I had was GREEN paper!!!!!

Anyway, I asked students to welcome him to our class and talk to him like he was real.  We discussed what to do in the classroom, what our routine is, etc.  Then I gave him qualities...his lights are off and he can't wash his clothes.  His water isn't working because his mom is out of work.  These are actual things that many of my quarters have experienced at one time or another.  They are also things that they have teased others about!  And, just like Farley's classroom, the negative (even cruel) comments started coming!!  Now, many of them have said mean things to each other throughout the year.  There have also been some teasing incidents that my team teacher and I have shut down.  So this lesson had meaning...

I actually had one student say, "Horace, you need to get more popular clothes 'cause you look bad."  Then, she looked at me and said, "Well, I'm just trying to help him!"  And she was pretty condescending about it.  I was really flabbergasted!!!  They said he smelled and had holes in his pants.  Just. Plain. Mean. 

We have an issue with the "Cheese Touch" game from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Except our quarters take it even further...they add another quarter's name to it, i.e. the "Tammy Touch".  UUGGGHHH!!!  We have battled this all year.  This lesson really hit home!

As the quarters said ugly things, I crumpled Horace into a ball.  I then went on to explain (like Farley) that every ugly comment hurt Horace and crumpled up the way he felt.  Silence.  Literal...silence.  I could tell how they "got it".  Then, we began to say nice things to Horace.  We straightened him back out.

Then...we had to discuss how he was still "wrinkled".  We talked about the "Cheese Touch" game and how that wrinkles the person you are teasing.  And once you say those hateful words, it is impossible to make someone "flat" again.  Horace will never be the same.  Powerful.

Well, we were actually able to connect this lesson to our book, The Hunger Games.  (If you're new to my blog, please see my reasons for reading it HERE .)  We talked about empathy and how the Capitol has "wrinkled" the Districts.  We also talked about how empathy led Katniss to volunteer for her sister, Primrose AND how it helped her to make a connection with Rue from District 11.

I love when we can make LOTS of connections with just one idea!!!

"Compassion is the capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin...the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy for you." Frederick Beuchner

 
Always,

Yipee Yoo Hoo!!

What a great day! My quarters were so relaxed today!!  It was our last "fun day" for a couple of weeks.  Monday we go back to our regular schedule (minus the test prep...Yipee Yoo Hoo!!)  But, for the day, I let them have some free time.  Not all of them, mind you...I had a few that still had work to finish!!  ::shrugging shoulders::

One of the things they did was use my normal teaching materials to play school.  I LOVE watching them do this!  I was so surprised!  A couple of them used an old chart tablet to make some anchor charts!!!  (They got it...they really got it!!)  I just HAD to take some pictures!

The little things are soooo cool!  Another one of my students copied poem information from her poetry folder.

One thing I found interesting.  Some of my girls were writing names on the board for talking. (Yes, I know...they have obviously remembered that talking results in a warning by putting your name on the board...)  My girl is an ELL.  I was stunned when I saw what she wrote:

Hmmmm....do you see what I see?  What she meant was "people in trouble" ( I do NOT write that on the board...hahaha!!).  But, what she thought and heard was "people introuble".  Wow.  Just...wow.  I never realized, though I should have, that ELLs sometimes hear things in a much different way!  She's a fourth grader, so seeing this took me by surprise!  It's common with primary kiddos.  This will definitely be on my mind when I reflect and plan for next year!

On another note, we received an email from our district on information that was released by TEA.  We will get raw scores at the end of May.  I don't understand exactly how we will read them...I think we will only find out how many questions there were and how many each student missed.  Now, the good thing is that I will see what I need to work on to be a better teacher.  Here's the kicker...we won't get the final scores until January of 2013!!! Yes, you read that right...2013!!  These kids will be half way through their 5th grade year!!!  Geezy sneezy!!

I do have one concern that I'm not sure how to address.  My homeroom has 13 ELLs.  My partner's homeroom has 14.  Now, she is a former bilingual teacher, so of course her class is listed as ESL.  I teach language arts, I am certified to teach ESL, but on my roster, my class isn't listed as ESL (the individual students are, though).  Make sense?? (nah, not to me either.)  Anyhoo...when those scores come back and, IF they are not too hot, anyone looking at my scores will think I have a standard classroom that didn't do as well as the others.  What should I do about that?  It never bothered me not to have my roster listed as ESL because I knew, my team knew, and admin knew that my kids were ELL.  But, when I think about future job opportunities, I wonder how this will affect me.  Selfish, I know. Not extremely important in the scheme of things...I'm not planning on moving any time soon.  Just curious...

Have a fabulous weekend!! 

"You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it."--Oprah Winfrey

That's ME!!!!

Always,

Moving On...

Well...the STAAR has burned out.

Burned out my students, burned me out, burned out my friends.

Burned, burned, burned.

However, I will fix that with a new haircut, some new clothes, lunch (and maybe dinner), and a few couple of glasses of Moscato with a friend I haven't talked to in 10 years or seen in 14!!! I'm driving to meet her on Saturday.  She was one of my closest, dearest friends for many, many years.  She was in my wedding  22 years ago.  But life took her one way and me the other.  The best part...and I know this sounds cruel...but she is NOT a teacher.  So I will not talk about school, curriculum, testing, students, etc. for one whole day!!! (My husband is thinking, "What the feathers???? I have to listen to it all the time and I'm not a teacher!"  Too bad, kemo sabe!)

Sometimes I am a "immediate gratification" chick.  I admit it.  I love my Kindle for that reason.  But the waiting for the test scores is craaaazzzyyyy.  We may not find out until next school year.  "What?!", you may ask.  I thought the same thing!! How do I fix what I "broke" this year if the new school year is already upon me when I find out my scores???!!! ::: rant, rant, rant::

My quarters worked hard...and as usual, I'm second guessing every single decision I made when it comes to teaching.  I know, I know...I can't change a thing.  But, ya know, I can't let things go sometimes...just ask my husband!!!

It is time to move on...

My quarters are soooo ready for some fun.  And, of course, they will get it.  Our campus has so many activities going on this time of year.  We have our field trip, a party day...need I say more?  But today, we just relaxed, read, and wrote.  They actually did really well "out of the routine."  They talked A LOT.  But, what should I expect?  They are kids for crying out loud!  (I did have to take two Motrin, though.)  One of my major talkers sweet boys didn't wear his glasses today.  I asked where they were and he told me they were in his locker.   I asked him why and he said, "The STAAR test is over and I don't need them anymore."  He had the evil grin sweetest, biggest smile.  In my best teacher's voice I said, " Go. Get. Them. NOW."  I can only imagine the next few weeks.

Most of my quarters finished their free verse poems today!! They were so gooooood!!!  Over the last couple of weeks, they wrote poems about many things.  They chose what they wanted to write about.  One day, we had a "classroom tools" write.  We played "I Spy" and wrote a poem about that.  They wrote about family, friends, food, feelings...you name it.  Today, I let them choose their favorite piece and take it to final copy.  Here are a few samples:

A lot of them liked their "stuff at school" one the best...I don't know why.  But, for having two classes of 21 with 13 ELLs in each class, I'm liking what they've got going on. (Well, there's the STAAR...back on topic, back on topic....)

I found this great quote...I only wish the people who concocted these crazy tests for kids "got it"!!

"But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance."--William Julius Wilson

Preaching to the choir!!! 

I KNOW, I KNOW!!!!  Letting....go....now.....

Always,