March started off and continues to be a bit crazy! We spent a week celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss and the love of reading! Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? He's one of my favorites!!
Rhyming is so important when learning to read. Starting your munchkins on nursery rhymes is the best thing ever to introduce your child to! So many of my munchkins didn't know the classic nursery rhymes. Now they do! They're reading so much more now and yes there will always be a few who still aren't ready and will struggle.
During our week activities we had pajama day. Who doesn't love pajama day? We do!!
We also had funny sock day, dress as your favorite character day, door decorating, guest readers and we ate green eggs and ham with a green shake. ~Yummy!!
One big surprise was we won the door decorating contest for K-1st ~Yay! I'm not sure how but we won!!! Woohoo!!
Not all of my munchkins dressed up for favorite character day and I always feel bad because they say they wanted to but they didn't have any money. Well, whip out the scissors, butcher paper, tape and Ta Da, instant costume!!
The munchkins always enjoy guests in our classroom and they definitely enjoyed our guest readers. We had a friend who is a local TV sports reporter, a lady from a bank, and a firefighter. It's funny to see how adults interact with little munchkins who only reach them half way. They all gave a wonderful effort when reading but if I had to rank them... one out ranked all the others. Not that I'm biased because he's a friend and not bad on the eyes either, but to my surprise the TV sports reporter blew away the other readers. I assumed "dumb jock"...sorry all my jock friends... Well, I was the dumb one sitting with my jaw on the floor.
Reading aloud to kids is not an easy task to do. He totally had the kids engaged and knows how to read to kids probably better than most teachers I know. He read with enthusiasm, inflection, you name it, he did it. He asked them questions that had them infer, questions that made them think! Such a great job! The munchkins made him a thank you video using his catchy rhyming lines that turned out really cute. They ask about his next visit and they like to hear that he thought their video was "awesome."
The lady who read to them did a good job too but she read way too fast and seemed to stop after every sentence to ask questions. I think someone told her to ask them questions but she over did it and the questions she was asking...yikes! Someone gave her a book on feelings...~hello Dr Seuss week people?! ~Just because they all raise their hand to answer doesn't mean you have to call on EVERY child...you'll never finish reading!! I didn't want to jump in and tell her that but I should have because she never finished the book!!! She was there 30 minutes and had to go to her next stop! I give her an E for effort because it's not as easy as it may seem! She did send word back that she had a great experience and loved doing it and apologized for not finishing the book.
Our other reader was a friend of my student intern, the firefighter. Bless his heart! My intern picked what I think is one of the hardest Dr Seuss books for him to read...Fox in Socks!! ~Eek! Heehee! Total tongue twister book! He did a good job and was pointing as he read cautiously to every word! Haha! He was also a hit because he brought his boots and pants for the kids to try on! Poor guy probably had stinky boots after letting some of these stinky munchkins put their stinky feet in his boots! ~Pee-Ewww! ~Yes, we, my intern and I also go into his pants and boots! Haha! Yikes that sounds bad!
Lesson to anyone reading... When reading to children, they love the interaction you give them when reading a story. Change your voice to fit the characters even if you feel silly doing it! Ask questions about what's happening, ask them to make up a different ending, ask them how do the characters feel and how do they know he/she is feeling like that. Ask them questions about the story that the pictures don't answer. Last but not least...have fun reading! If you show your child you enjoy to read they will grow up loving to read! Ok, enough on my soap box!
I won a new computer for the class!!! Yay!!! 15 of us "won" a new computer for opening an email! Woohoo! Thank goodness I checked my school email and didn't delete it! heehee! I wish I could take it home! Darn!
Spring Break was a nice time to recharge and get ready for the craziness that's about to hit!
Monday was the first day back and it was heaven! ~Yes, you heard me say that! Heaven!!! My munchkins were so good and quiet but in a scary and weird sort of way. As someone mentioned it was the calm before the storm! Boy were they right! Today was a totally different story! It didn't help that my day started off with me waking up late! I don't like that feeling one bit! My whole day gets thrown off track. The kids were a little wild today...maybe it's the weather? Ok, so I can't keep blaming the weather. I pulled out the big guns today...~hmm...that's a thought...water guns! Squirt the ones who don't listen or practice my skeet shooting on those munchkins that forgot to stay in their seat! Heehee! I'm just joking folks! But I really do think schools need a velcro wall somewhere...let them run, jump, and hang out for awhile! ha! Yes another joke. The big gun today was...BRIBE!!! They're earning reward coupons for their behavior and can "buy" items every other Friday! Let's see how that works for now...my quiet twin who never speaks will probably have the biggest loot! We have an Easter egg hunt coming up next week so I'm dangling that over their cute little heads! It's only day two back and the March madness is starting. So much to still do and time is flying fast!
To continue with my crazy day...I got a NEW student! ~NOOOOOOO!!! as I screamed in my head! Why? Why? Why? Why at such a late time of the year?!! The first thought that ran through my head was ~He probably got kicked out of his last school for behavior!! Great! Yes, sad to say that's what I thought but usually that's the case. This time it wasn't. He moved from San Antonio but their are weird and strange circumstances behind him being here. Oh well I have to get over it and help him adjust into our class! I assessed him to see where he's at and to learn what he knows and does not know. Well...can I scream now or later?! ~AHHHHHHH!!! He's super, super low!!! I thought my low babies were low...no way!
He's really a cute little boy and very polite...military little munchkin. He was a little aggressive playing with one of my munchkins and kicked his little marbles! When I heard what happened at lunch and saw my little baby crying...watch out! ~Oh no you didn't! Let's just say he quickly learned that's not acceptable. Do you think he learned?...nope...in class I caught him bending a little girls hand back and said he was playing a game with her. ~Oh no you didn't again!!! Spoke to him again and sent him to put his head down. I know, I know...what a first day! Well, too bad so sad. If he's accustom to behaving this way, well he just entered boot camp and that's going to change. My munchkins are great kids and great to one another and he's going to fit in perfectly as soon as he learns that. Don't worry I didn't make his day that bad. He actually earned a reward coupon before the day was up, so I guess he realized ~Oh crap I better behave in here! He did tell me while I spoke to his step mom after school that he liked this class and made some friends! So I guess I'm not that mean after all! His step mom made a comment that seemed odd,~He's very affectionate. My response was ~that's ok, hugs are great! ~No, he's VERY affectionate, OVERLY affectionate. Hmmm...she made it seem like it's a problem. Either I'm not very smart to pick up what she was insinuating or just plain dumb but how can affection be bad. He gave me a hug and walked away!
Spring is in the air! Stay tuned for more adventures in munchkinville!
XOXO's
