Happy Easter... And Some Big News

We had lots of Easter fun this past week!  

"Egg Hunt" - there is no Easter because it is considered a public school - blah
      Anyway, I had parents bring in eggs filled with candy, and as with each sets of new students every year you get new set of parents so I was not sure what the outcome was going to be.  I have to say that I was very impressed, and they did not disappoint.  Each students ended up collected about 25 eggs a piece (yeah that's a lot).  I debated over and over how I wanted to conduct the hunt in order to make sure that everyone got the same amount of eggs, and to top it all off Friday was a very wet day or the playground.  I decided to number each of the eggs, and then assign each of the students a number.  They had the number tapes to their hand, and when we went on the hunt they could only gather eggs with their number.  Not only did this make it fair, but it also put a little learning into it (without them even realizing it of course).  The class and I decided the a little water wasn't going to hurt us, and we headed outside for our egg hunt.  Finding the specific numbers made it last longer as well, and I think everyone had a really great time.  We had cupcake that afternoon so all the goodies went home for them to add to their Easter candy collection.

      The thing that I love most about a holiday I the day when we com back when they all have stories to share.  I always make sure I give them each a chance to share what they did on their holiday with the class,  and many of them told about their egg hunt adventures, their visits to the Easter bunny, and gathering with friends and families.
      Later in the morning when the students were at centers I heard a couple of them talking about the "Easter Bunny" and could not resist writing down their conversation...

     "Did you know the Easter bunny that I saw was not real?"
     "Yeah, I know, he was just in a costume."
     "I saw his neck when I was sitting on his lap, and that's how I knew he wasn't a real bunny."
     "The Easter bunny doesn't even talk, he just waves!"

   Anther girl who was sitting by listening, but not quite convinced finally joined in.
      "Oh no, the Easter bunny doesn't talk?  That's bad!"
   She was so shocked, and I am sure her parents will have to do some explaining tonight.

The Big News...

         I also found out on Friday that at the end of this school year the state will be shutting down my classroom (boohoo).  We all knew that GA pre-k was cutting costs, and I guess this was one way they decided to do it.  My director is in the process of looking for a school for me to transfer to, but in the mean time if anyone knows of any elementary teaching jobs (haha) please let me know!

From The Mouths of Babes...

 This week is spring break, and so far I have not gotten much relaxing done between school work, and the electric being out for 14 hours causing me to clean and work on lesson plans.  Oh well, why complain when it could be worse.  However, since I'm not at school I didn't have much to write about so I thought I would share some of the quotes from past students that made me want to start this blog in the first place.  The thing I love about teaching is that just about everyday I my students make me laugh.  Here are some examples...

My first year teaching I had a girl in my class who had two older brothers.  Her brother enjoyed playing guitar hero, and she would often sit in the room and watch.  This led to her constantly singing Guitar hero songs in the classroom, and her favorite was Eye of the Tiger.  One day she was singing the song, and right in the middle she stopped and said, "Ms. Lisa, do you know why the song is called I Owe the Tiger?" I said, "well I think that it is called Eye of the Tiger."  To this she replied, "No, it is called I Owe the Tiger because someone owes the tiger money." all I could say was, "No, I did not know that."

Last year I had a students that after seeing a picture of my husband on my cell phone she decided she was in love with him.  She told me, "Ms. Lisa I am going to get married to you husband." I told her, "But he is already married to me." She then looked at me like she was going to cry and said, "But I love him!" 

It is things like this that make the noise, arguing, and tying shoes all day seem like not such a big deal.

One last thing I wanted to post is a video that is pretty old so I am sure a lot of people have seen it, however, it makes me laugh every time.  If you are having a bad day it will turn right around when you hear this little boy, and watch the facial expression that go along with it.  click here to watch    

Sorry I didn't have much to say, but I am going to get back to enjoying my spring break.  Next week we will be talking about bugs so I am sure there will be some interesting things to share...

Lisa

Welcome Spring...

As I expected most of the students did not even notice that we no longer had a fish, and although they were a little disappointed they were very excited when I explained our caterpillar project.  So rest assured are class is moving on right into this beautiful Spring...

As Promised, I have pictures of our planting projects we have already started.

We are Trying to turn our carnations red.  we have them in water with red food coloring. It is supposed to work like celery, and go up through the stem to make the petals red.  I have don it before with celery, but not with carnations.

Today we planted lima beans.  We placed the seed in a zip lock bag with a wet paper towel, and then hung it on the window.  Hopefully be Monday we will start to see some growth.  Each students planted their own seed.

This is our new long term plant project.  When we were having trouble keeping our normal class plant alive (apparently I am not that good with keeping things alive) I ordered this to replace it.  Since then my assistant has been able to bring our plant back to life, and we have a lovely new addition.  there are 5 different kinds of plants in here, and each one has to do with the 5 senses.  Aloe = touch, palm = hear, polka dotted plant = see, eucalyptus = smell, and herbs = taste.  I am really curious to see if this plant take on life in our class...

Our home living theme is a garden center.  Here the students can buy plant and seeds, and then pretend to plant them wherever they like.  I am trying to introduce the concept of money.  They are having a lot of fun pretending to plant, but they told me they wished they had real dirt and water.  I let them know that we will be doing more of that outside.

Lastly, we are trying an experiment with grass seed.  Apparently, if you put the grass seed in any shape, it will grow in that shape.  We decided to do our initials, however, we aren't seeing much growth.  We'll see how that works out, and I will keep you posted on everything else as well.

Lisa

P.S. - Wish me luck I start grad school on Monday!!

R.I.P Sapphire

There comes a time in every man (or fish's) life when their life comes to an end. Unfortunately for Sapphire that time came all too soon...

Yep, our second Beta fish died, and yes that is also after the two miniature crabs.  I swear we are feeding it the amount the container says, we keep them clean and happy, and they still die?  If you are wondering we will not be getting another fish (or crab) so don't try running to Peta about me.  I do feel bad though, and even worse when I have to tell the students, again, that our pet has died.  However, I am also wondering what they may be doing to that fish when I am not looking.  After one of these unfortunate events I usually wait about a day to see who notices that the fish is missing (don't worry I already flushed it), because I love seeing how observant they are.  I will probably break the news to everyone tomorrow afternoon.

As for a new pet...
Well, we will not technically be getting a new pet this time, however, since it is Spring we will be having several creepy crawlers visit our class.  Yesterday I ordered our caterpillars which we are going to feed and take care of until they make their cocoons.  Once they are in their cocoons we well place them in a butterfly habitat to live in for a couple days as butterflies before we set them free.  This is one of my favorite things about Spring, and an awesome way to teach the students about life cycles.  Also, the good news is we recently brought our class plant back to life, and with the beautiful weather we are beginning to grow many more.

I will update tomorrow on how the students took the news, and will also show pictures of some of our news planting projects.


Lisa

Culture Fest 2011

So sorry I haven't written in a while.  In that past couple weeks I have attended a couple trainings, found out the I am starting Grad school in a week, and with the beautiful Georgia weather it is just really hard to be inside sometimes.  Anyway, here is what went on in our class today, and next week we are going to be starting some planting project.

Today wrapped up the end of our "Earth" discussion, and we celebrated with CULTURE FEST 2011.  I am sure you, like many of my parents, are asking "What in the world is that?".  Well during this theme we discussed different parts of the world, as well as, many different culture.  Every Friday is show-and-tell, and therefore the children brought in show-and-tell items from all over the world.  We had the following items: an African doll, a Mexican flag and water pitcher, chopsticks, Bindi (Indian jewels that the women wear on their forehead), an African drum, German chocolate, and Alaskan bear, and one of my students brought in pictures of his parents Indian wedding.  Now, I know that this probably would have been interesting and exciting enough, however, we also gave the students the option of bringing in a food dish from another culture.
Here is a list of the food we had:

Roti and curried green beans


Sushi and Korean popcorn


Asian Ginger rolls

Mexican cookies and pastries

A Mexican hibiscus drink


Nachos and Cheese

Jalebi (Indian sweet fried dough)


and Pigs in a blanket


Overall, this day was a lot of fun, and I believe the children got a lot out of it.  I was impressed with how much they were actually willing to try as my students are pretty picky eaters.  However, I thin there were too many sweet because they were a little wound up afterwards.  It was a good thing it was about 80 degrees today so we could go outside and burn of that energy.

I am also really impressed with the parents in my classroom as they were great sports in bringing in food.  I know I have several parents telling me their kids were bugging them everyday for two weeks about bringing something in, and know it isn't always easy to shop pr cook during the week.  I really have some great family involvement, and that is so beneficial not just to me but also to the students.

Favorites of the day determined by a students vote: Mexican cookies, and Korean popcorn!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss...

This week has been incredibly crazy as I was at in trainings Tuesday and Wednesday.  I was great to get back and see my students today, although they did not understand why I had to leave them to go to trainings.  I explained to them that teachers have to go to school as well.  One little girl told her mom the previous day, "Ms. Lisa had to go to training so she could teach us new fun stuff."  While at the training I heard a couple funny teaching stories, and really wanted to share one.  The trainer told this while we were talking about how children are not only trying to find an answer for us, but they are also looking for the answer that they think you want to hear.
        This takes place during a church Sunday school class...
        The teacher was introducing a book and while trying to explain the animal in the story she said, "There is a small animal with a bushy tail."
         Nobody answered
         "He as a bushy tail, and jumps through the branches of the tree."
         Nobody answered
         "He has a bushy tail, jumps through the branches of the tree, and gathers nuts."
         This time a little by raised his hand and said, "I want to say a squirrel, but I thin I better say Jesus."

Yesterday was my favorite author's birthday, and since I was not in school we celebrated it today.  We started the day with reading several books by Dr. Seuss, and then we made green eggs and ham.  Lastly, before lunch we watched The Cat in The Hat, and I don't think I have every heard anyone laugh so hard during a movie.

Here are some pics...

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

In our classroom (and just about every pre-kindergarten classroom) there is an area called the dramatic play area.  This area is set up for children to pretend play.  My dramatic play area has child sized  furniture such as washer, sink, refrigerator, small cabinets, table and chairs, couch, high chair, crib, and a closet.  There are also babydolls, dress-up clothes, and a lot of play food.  While there materials are permanent and stay around all year I also have a secondary theme that get changed out about every other week.  This week since we are talking about transportation our theme for the dramatic play is a train station.
Here are some pictures of our train station.

Train with chairs behind it for passengers

complete with tickets, and cash register

Conductors hat

 I was taking some observations in this area, and I would like to share some of the things that are being said as he students are pretending to be at a train station.

"Tickets, who needs tickets?"

"Excuse me, where's the ticket line?"

"We gotta go to the dance in Alaska, let's get our tickets."

"I was workin the ticket line Ms. Lisa."

"Passengers need to get tickets from the train man, the conductor."

"I drive the train and take the passengers to America."

"I was the ticket helper, but then I was the son riding on the train."

There were some interesting conversations going on, and we were using a lot of new vocabulary.  All in all we are having a lot of fun with this theme.

Lisa