Book Review Take 2

Amanda and Her Alligator is a fabulous, light-hearted book as are most books by Mo Willems. If you haven't read anything by Mo Willems for children then you are missing out on so much fun and laughter with your kids and students. I'll probably review other books, but I really just wanted to let everyone know the wonderfulness that Amanda and Her Alligator is. If you are looking for the meaning of life or a really complex plot, then don't read this. But if you are looking for some laughter and to enjoy reading about a sweet friendship between a little girl and her stuffed alligator then look no further. I read this to my class this week, and it's the cutest cross between a picture book and chapter book I have read in a long time. I sorta think I enjoyed it more than my students, because I understood all of the jokes and humor that maybe they didn't quite catch (but they still laughed and wanted their own stuffed alligator by the end of it). This book has everything I hoped for: just the right amount of humor, tenderness, and great pictures all rolled into one.

Seriously...I could write a book about this cute book, but I think I did a pretty good job not giving away the plot. In a nut shell: cute alligator belongs to cute little girl...they have too much fun together and now I want an alligator.

Until the next pickin'

Mrs. L



It's a Small World After All

I know. I get it. I really do. It's not called an apple a month, it's an apple a week. I know. But, (yes, an excuse is coming your way) I've been extremely crazy busy. Right after my last post, my sister had her baby (almost 3 weeks early), and I was there until school started. And then of course the beginning of my school year was CRAZY busy, but now I am back in business. I'll be posting a couple times a week in order to make up for the month I was MIA.

Today, I'm going to just tell you about a really fun history/geography project to do with your students. I've done this two years in a row and it's a blast! (Could be literal too, I suppose) And it's *drum roll please* BALLOON GLOBES! At the beginning of the year we spend some time just learning where the continents go, how many there are, what and where the equator is and just some general map skills. After a few days of discussing and learning about the globe, we create our own!

What you need:
blue balloon
black sharpie
world map reproducible

Each student is given a balloon. This project is all about taking turns! I pair my class up into groups of 2 and they take turns. One holds the balloon, while the other works on the balloon. First, they take turns using the sharpie marker to draw their equator on their "globe". We then cut out each of our continents out of the world map reproducible. Students then take turns gluing their continents on the correct spot on their globe until it's all complete. Make sure they hold each piece on for 10-15 seconds so it will stay on. Then voila! You have a super neato globe (For the next 3 days or so) This is great for 1st-3rd grade. First grade requires a lot of assitance and help finding the right location, but really is fun and worth it!

I'll try posting again before the weekend!

Until the next pickin'
Mrs. L

Breaking the Ice

We as teachers know that it's important to do or play something that breaks the ice. It's not something we usually leave up to the students to decide how to do. Somehow, someway, we as teachers know it's our job to make our students as comfortable with each other and with us as quickly as we can. It always seem best to do something that may produce a giggle or two from the students. 


A game I did last year that I'll do again this year was Candy Introductions (I love anything with candy involved). I bought a bag of gummy bears (you can use m&m's if you prefer or any other colorful candy) and assigned a different question to each color. For instance, red might be tell everyone your favorite color and green might be tell us your favorite thing you did this summer. The student closed their eyes and picked out one gummy bear and answered the question that went with that color. I let them each go 2-3 times. They got to eat candy and meet each other in a fun and easy way that didn't make them uncomfortable. I also did it because it involved COLOR which as you know is a big an important theme in my classroom. :-) 


I'll post again in a couple more days with another back to school post. Let me know if there is something you specifically want to know about what I'm doing for "back to school" with my class.


Until the next pickin'
Mrs. L

$Cha- Ching$

It's that time again! It's officially Back to School season. I have mixed emotions, just because I had sooo much more I wish I would have accomplished this summer. Oh well. The best part though about back to school is buying fun stuff for my classroom. And you know what? I got most of my stuff at Target! The dollar bins are incredible. Some of the things I bought (each for a dollar) a pack of nametags, a grade book, homework chart, easy readers, whiteboards, dryerase handwriting sentence strips, weather chart, super sized reward stickers, and post it notes. Other fun things I found in there but didn't buy were lesson plan book, stickers, nameplates, and all kinds of goodies you could use for a treat bucket. So if you haven't checked it out, you REALLY should! Even if you aren't a teacher, I highly recommend the dollar bins right now!  


I'll be posting again in a couple of days (maybe even tomorrow) with some more back to school ideas and goodies! So check back!


Happy Pickin'
Mrs. L

Quiet Mouse

I think as teachers we all tell our students at some point to pretend they are mice in order to get them to be as silent or quiet as possible, right? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. However, with the help of the quiet mouse puppet...we accomplish being quiet in the hall pretty well if I do say so myself. :-)


I got this idea from my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching kindergarten a little over a year ago now. I love it and so do the kids. If you are a lower elementary grades teacher and happen to take all your kids to the bathroom at the same time; this is a fun and great little way to have them wait patiently and quietly in line for the bathroom. 


My class lines up outside the restroom for a bathroom break together twice a day to prevent accidents and also to limit the constant bathroom interruptions while I'm trying to teach. And the way I try to keep them silent in line is through the use of a puppet. Ours last year happened to be a mouse (which worked well with the idea of quiet mouse). I choose one student who walked down the hall quietly and correctly to start with the quiet mouse. They take the mouse, stand in front of the class for a couple of minutes and look for a friend who is also being a quiet mouse and they then pass it on. This continues until everyone has used the restroom.


 It's amazing how well this works and how excited they get over getting a chance to hold the mouse. And the best part? It works ALL YEAR LONG. At least it did for my class. They never got tired of using it. It was always fun and exciting to be chosen. However..you will have to disinfect poor little mouse often...And probably replace him every year.. I'm thinking I might go with Quiet Bunny this year...since I have an amazing book calling Quiet Bunny..hmm..sounds like a book review in the making to me. ;-)


Happy Pickin'
Mrs. L

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Hey everyone! Hope you all are still enjoying your summer. I cannot believe how fast it is going. I wish it would slow down just a bit as I'm pretty sure I was designed to be a summer creature. But that's besides the point.

If you read my last blog, (if you didn't click here...I'll wait..*taps foot* Done? Good!)I was talking about how even though I established my "crayon crowd community", that doesn't mean everything goes swimmingly now does it? No, of course not...as much as we would like it too. I mean even us, as the teachers, get cranky and have to ask for forgiveness from others, so naturally our students aren't going to get along all the time.

My solution? Drum roll please.

*ahem*

The Peace Table.

I designed the concept of the peace table in college when I had to create my classroom setup and ways to manage my classroom. The peace table in my room is a tiny table off to the side that is designed for two friends. The purpose? To get students to resolve conflict...on their own. I have two reasons for this. The first is (to be quite honest with you)..I'm selfish. Tattling can drive me absolutely CRAZY! And I'm pretty sure every teacher (at least the lower grades) would agree with me. You could spend all day dealing with tattling it feels like. The second reason is because students need to learn to work out their problems on their own..without me. There are adults who don't know how to resolve conflict...and it is important to learn to work problems out rather than gossip, hold a grudge, or lose friends over an argument. Am I right?

So how does it work? Students who are arguing or frustrated with another student may at an appropriate time (indoor recess, free time, quiet work) discuss with the other student what their problem is and work it out. Now for the first few weeks of school..I walk them through it and we discuss as a small group. But as the year goes on..they don't need me anymore. They learn to calmly and kindly share their opinions and feelings with each other. When they are done discussing, they come and tell me what they talked about and how they found peace with one another. It was sweet to watch kids who were so frustrated with each other..leave with a hug and a smile and run away to play together. Obviously, this might need modified with whatever grade level you are teaching. Fortunately..I work with first graders and they haven't figured out how to manipulate the situation to make it the "talking table", so that's a major plus with this age group.

My sneak preview for next time has TWO words: Quiet Mouse....


Happy Pickin'!
Mrs. L

Building Community- Through Crayons and Colors!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

When I think of the 4th of July, I think of the obvious things like our nation's freedom, hotdogs, watermelon, and of course fireworks. Fireworks are beautiful-made up of many different shapes, sizes, and of course...COLOR! And it is color that leads me back to my classroom theme of community through the use of the crayon box.

In my last post, I did a book review on The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf. In this post, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I used this book and its theme in my classroom the whole year. The first thing I did when my students first came in my classroom was give them 1 crayon and one piece of paper. I asked them to draw me a picture using only that one crayon. I gave them about 15-20 minutes to color as other kids were settling in. Afterwards, I asked them how it was to create a picture only using one crayon. They commented that it was difficult and not as fun. I then pulled out the wonderful and magnificent book and read it them. We talked about how a picture needs lots of colors to be completed. I then showed them how our classroom is like that. We're not all created the same way (I teach at a Christian school, so I talk about how God's created us differently, but even if you don't teach at a Christian school..you can obviously still talk about celebrating differences) and each of us has gifts and personalities that form the beauty of our class.

At the end of the first day of school, together as a class we made a giant mural of our classroom and classmates to hang on the wall using many beautiful colors. The students really enjoy creating the mural, and it is a good reminder for them when they see it, that our differences are something to be celebrated, and not criticized.

But I'm not finished yet...oh no...we can't forget the CRAYOLA PARTY! At the end of the first week of school, we have a Crayola party. Each student signs up for a color and a food or party item and brings it in for us to have a crayola party where we eat and celebrate our differences. We enjoy our snacks and colorful decorations, and then students get to share with one another what they have like about their friends.

But unfortunately...as we all know..children squabble and children tattle...so where does that fit in with my crayon class? Find out in my next blog! :-)

Until the next apple pickin'
Mrs. L