Brain Dump - Fall Edition

So as much as I have been loving reading other blogs, I've really been neglecting my own. This school year has been really rough. Right now school is sucking the life out of me. So this is going to be a little bit of a brain dump... I promise I have some more positive posts with some of the cute things my kids have been doing soon.

My principal said in a our last staff meeting that we need to find balance in our lives so that we are not so stressed out....here are some of the reasons why I can't find balance right now...

- 28 students and one teacher

- My commute takes an hour each way on a good day...the weather has not been good lately.

- I have had at least one parent late (we are a walking school) and have had to call to find out when they are picking up their child almost every day for about 2 weeks. This cuts into my planning time, which is already limited because I have to leave at the end of the work day to go let out my dogs.

- The grading police sent me an email on Friday when we are suppose to have until Sunday to enter grades (Don't even get me started on the fact that I have to enter grades in the first place.)

- I had a parent approach me in the front hallway (We were doing a water/bathroom break and the other bathroom near my classroom has 3 other K classes using it) Anyway, this happened last week the conversation went as follows:

Mom: Are you T. teacher?
Me: Yes (Thinking in my head...We did meet on the first day of school)
Mom: I want to know why he was on the wall yesterday. Why is he being treated so unfair?
Me: Well I was not outside for recess duty yesterday, but if another teacher had a major incident that they would put him on the wall for then they would have told me.  T. come here. Did you go on the wall yesterday at recess?
T. : Um....no
Mom: Well he told me that he was on the wall.
Me: Look I can't really have a conference with you right now and we need to get back to our classroom.
Mom: But I want to know why my baby is being treated unfairly.
Me:  I would love to sit down and have a conference with you in fact I have sent a few notices home about meeting for a conference, but you never replied. What would be a good day to meet after school? I'm free most every day.
Mom: What about tomorrow?
Me: Tomorrow we don't have school because of the Thanksgiving break. (HOW CAN SHE NOT KNOW THAT!!!!!)
Mom: Well I have to look at my work schedule.

- Yesterday we had to split up another teacher's class because she got sick at school. It was 9:00. We thought especially since there was only two other teachers out that they could find someone for the afternoon. We find out today that they didn't really call anyone and instead our administration came down to check on us (in the chaos right before lunch with coats and lunch tags, plus 5 other kids who needed to track down their stuff) and what did one of them say...jokingly "Looks like you've got your hands full today" No appreciation for the fact that all four of us will have our day completely disrupted. How hard is a little thank you?

- GROSS ALERT! Poop. Yes you read that right poop. Chunks of poop all around my room. And there goes my planning time. I will spare you the rest of the details.

And on that note. I'm done with today...tomorrow is a new day.

Patterns

This is a favorite unit of mine since the students really get it and there are always a few creative ones that surprise me.

We start our unit by asking what is a pattern and what makes it a pattern. Then we practice making patterns with manipulatives. Here are some of the patterns my students made using some fun Target Dollar Section and Dollar Tree finds...

Target Fall Table Scatter

Puff Balls from the Dollar Tree

Erasers from the Target Dollar Section

Sometimes they use things in ways you never thought about.

Other students put beads (Dollar Tree) onto pipe cleaners. This is great because you do not have to tie a knot and it is good fine motor practice (I actually moved it into my fine motor center because the kids loved it so much even over the oh so popular playdough)

 The next day we did the same centers only this time they had to record their pattern (which we later glued into their math journals).

Though it isn't all unicorns and roses. I still have a couple giving me this when they work independently...

To be continued....

So...

Have you ever had a day like this...

because I did. Tomorrow is a new day. I have some good stuff on patterns I want to share this week.

Freebies

I found this great freebie while blog surfing tonight from Homeschool Creations

There are tons of things for fall both literacy and math printables. I know I'll be using some in my centers.

Kindergarten Gems

In science we have been studying living and nonliving things.

After a lesson about things that grow and change a fellow K teacher got an...interesting entry...(when you have 27 students you've got to laugh...to keep your sanity)

She said later it was a person and a hippo.

The funnest game ever! - Graphing

We started our graphing unit this week. Here we are collecting data.

 Here is the graph we then made.

Later in the week, we played Shake and Spill ("The funnest game ever!" according to one of my students). I put 5 two color counters in a cup. They cover and shake it 3 times (The best part) and then spill onto a math mat. Their partner sort the counters by color and the cup holder asks "Which has more and which has fewer" after answering they put the counters back in the cup and the other person shakes and spills.I wish I had snapped some pictures of them playing, but we still need a lot of practice working with others and I was just too busy. (We play this game a lot and I try to make it a math center so hopefully I can get some pics then)

The next day we played again only this time they sorted onto a graph page that was in a sheet protector.

After playing on their own for a while they each got a graph page and their own counters to shake, spill, and record so I could assess some skills. I took some dictation to see where they were with the concept of more and fewer and as expected there are still a few that need practice with drawing graphs and many of my level 1 ELL students need more practice with the vocabulary.
 

 

Kindergarten Gems

Student: I need a God Bless You
Teacher: Huh?
Student: (points to the tissues) A God Bless You.

This came from another kindergarten teacher in my building but it made me laugh so I thought I'd share. Can you tell we work with ELL students?