It's Been a While. . .

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming and going so quickly I realize it's been quite a while since anything has been posted ~ sorry for the lapse in updates :(

It was great talking to everyone during parent conferences!  I think this was the smoothest year of conferences I've every had.  We truly have a great bunch of students who work hard so they can play hard.  I hope I was able to answer all questions and concerns during conferences; but, remember, at any time you can e-mail me any questions and I can clear anything up.

I just sent home a notice about our Calico fundraiser and how well we did!  If you didn't receive that, please check your child's backpack to get that information as there are details on what I would like to do with the money if we can bring in a little more!  So far we have brought in $656 through the Silent Auction ~ way to go parents!

Another fundraising opportunity has fell in to our laps and I'm jumping on it!  Check out the attached flier below for more information; but, basically there's a parent bringing their store to the school cafeteria where you can shop for Christmas gifts and 30% of your sales will be donated to the class of your choice (of course I'm hoping you'll say Mr. Price in Room 14!)  This is an amazing opportunity to fund raise for the class with shopping you would do anyway ~ no pain fundraising :)  Be sure to print the flier out and post all over.  Share with family and friends and make sure they remember to say my name so our class gets the credit!

I hope everyone is doing well and keep your eyes open for Christmas party information coming home later this week!

Amazing Thinkers

I keep getting amazed at this class and what they are capable of accomplishing!  We were taking a math benchmark test and a word problem came up that I really wanted to scream over.  Here's the word problem:

Kate uses three pieces of wire for a project.

• The blue wire is 34 inches long.
• The red wire is 15 inches shorter than the blue wire.
• The green wire is 7 inches longer than the red wire.

How long is the green wire?

Okay, most of us can figure this out no problem; however, the kids are a bunch of 2nd graders barely learning to add and subtract in simple one step problems and here we have a multiple step process that kids have to analyze out.  I was ready to cry for them and as I read the question I saw the blank stares looking at me like I'd lost my mind!

But, the amazing thing, our of 22 students, 14 got the right answer!  I didn't expect but maybe 1 or 2 to figure it out; yet, over half the class was able to figure this complex thinking problem out.  Very impressed they broke the problem down and took the time to think it through.

Brooklyn

On today's morning announcements, our very own Brooklyn got a huge shout out from Ms. Fagundes!  During Calico, someone lost an iPod Touch in the staff lounge couch.  Miss Brooklyn was sitting in there during the post-Calico meeting and found it.  She knew it wasn't her's and did the right thing by turning it in so it could be reunited with it's owner.  Great job Brooklyn!  You showed trustworthiness and responsibility!

While I'm talking about Brooklyn, I have to share her comment to me from the other day.  We were working away in the classroom and the class was silent ~ a little too silent ~ and I started "singing."  Anyone who knows me, you know I'll NEVER be a singer, but today's singing was over-the-top horrible, high pitched (all done on purpose to break up the silence).  Brooklyn, doesn't miss a beat, and says, "Are you on the internet?  You should Google 'how to sing'."  Hmm, this girl who shows such trustworthiness and responsibility earlier, where's the respect?  Of course, I know she's full of respect, I love the sense of humor and having students in the class who can give me a hard time right back as I give it to them.  I'm still laughing at her comment to me days later!

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having with this group of kids?  I don't think I'm going to let them advance to 3rd grade, I may just need to keep them in 2nd!

Calico Art Festival

I can't believe I didn't have my camera out at Calico yesterday!  It's the first time in years I wasn't accused of being paparazzi :)

I had a late start on Calico as my two younger boys desperately needed naps before coming out.  But, what an turn out we had!  It seemed the silent auction and carnival areas were a little less full than usual; however, it didn't stop any of the fun!  We had plenty of vendors to shop from, great food to eat (only time of the year I get a tri-tip sandwich!) and amazing baskets to bid on.

I am so excited about our class baskets!  Donations were down all throughout the school ~ people just can't give like they used to; but, our room moms did an amazing job putting together our items.  I'm not sure how they did it, but we were very successful at the silent auction.  I don't have a definite number yet; but, from just the little I saw and quick math, I think our class raised around $600!  This is amazing and I am so thankful to all those who donated to the baskets, placed bids and helped us reach this amount.  The money we raise through this fundraiser helps provide your students with special extras we otherwise wouldn't have the chance to give the kids!

Joey ~ Math Whiz Extraordinaire

Ahhh, with Calico taking over my house and taking my wife from me; I'm falling behind on our class blog while I run after my kids.  But, I had to take time this morning to give a huge shout out to Joey!  He amazed me with his math skills!

Background:  We are currently working on our addition and subtraction skills.  Obviously, with the common core standards taking over, we are not doing this as it has typically been done in the past and we are attacking problems in a very different way ~ focusing on the HOW and not the WHAT.

Yesterday students were given 2 story problems to do on their own after we did some whole class examples.  While looking them over I learned quickly, we need to a do A LOT of practice!  We went over them in class and for the most part I could see the thinking process in those who shared; but, Joey's was not clear to me.  Well, it wasn't clear until we went over it in class and then I realized he wasn't confused, I was!

Joey attacked his word problem in a way I had never seen done before but made so much sense ~ I think it also helped the rest of the class understand the concept better!  I had originally highlighted the "Show your work" portion of his instructions but then had to write him a note on his paper saying he was just too smart and even "out-thought" his teacher.

Of course, humble Joey just looked at me and told me that he just did as I had taught him!  Go figure, I taught the kid to do something and then didn't understand it myself.  He actually made a connection from our place value unit to our operations unit and I am very proud of him and his thinking skills!

Calico Around the Corner

With Calico just around the corner, the Parent Booster Club has announced a new contest!  The top 3 classes with the most parent volunteers helping work Calico will win a pizza party!

I hope all of our parents are signed up to work a shift at Calico in one of the many areas available!  Not only will it help earn our class a pizza party; but, the annual Calico Arts Festival is an amazing opportunity for our classroom and school to raise money needed to provide our students with many of the special things other schools do not receive.  By working a couple hours on this day, you are making a HUGE impact for the school.

If you haven't signed up and need to know how to get connected, please contact me and I'll get you an extra copy of the volunteer form that was sent home a few weeks ago.

Also, remember, our class basket can't be a success with your help!  Please have all donations in as soon as possible!

Amazing Kids

Wow, this group of students continues to amaze me!  It's not about who has mastered what standard or who will score the highest on the next test; it's about them growing as people and taking responsibility for their actions, and many did just that this morning!

Today was the first fire drill of the year.  We worked through the procedure and reviewed what we were to do during the fire drill.  As you can imagine, children are children and several did not do things the way we reviewed.  When returning back to the classroom, we talked about the things I saw and heard that were not part of the drill (covering of ears, talking, running, etc. .  .)  When we make poor choices, we move our clips down on our clip chart.  Two students stood out and were told to go move their clip down for their behaviors during the drill.  I then asked 3 others if they were involved with the explosive talking that I heard, they all 3 admitted they were and went and moved their clips down.  That honesty was enough to give me the pride I needed for the day ~ I love when students are honest.  But, it didn't stop there!  I made a blanket statement to the class stating if others were involved in that huge uproar, then I expect their clip to be moved as well and if anyone else needed to move then please do so.  I had FIVE students walk to the clip chart and move their clip down!

Can I just say, WOW!  Most people would be so irritated to have had half their class need to move their clip down during a fire drill; but, I had to focus on the positive.  I have a class of students who know being honest about their actions is much more important than possibly getting in trouble!

My praising their honesty just wasn't enough, I called in Ms. Fagundes to report to her the "amazingness" of these students.  She also praised their integrity ~ yes, she explained what that was :)  But, I can't stop gushing over it, so I'm letting the world know how awesome these kids are!  Yes, they make mistakes as we all do; but, the important thing is to own up to those mistakes when they are made!

In case you are wondering, all clips were moved back up due to their display of trustworthiness!  Please join me in bragging on these kids and reinforce how proud we are of them for making the right choice to be responsible for their behavior ~ I may not like how they acted during the fire drill; but, I respect and admire their honesty and responsibility afterwards!

Character Counts ~ My class showed trustworthiness & responsibility!

So Proud

I am so proud of this group of students!  I was out of the class today as the K-2 teachers had a planning day to prepare for our math units.  The day was very productive for us; but, the best part of my day was coming back to the classroom and finding the note from the substitute.  The note was a great reflection of the day they had and showed what a great group of kids we have in this class!  I'm proud to say 2 group teams will be rewarded tomorrow having won a challenge the sub put before them and only 2 students will be sitting on the bench during recess ~ 2 out of 21 isn't a bad day in my book!

Great job students, you make me proud to be your teacher!

Playdough Fun

Sometimes you just need some time in the day to sit back, relax and squeeze some good play dough!  I am so thankful to the preschool teachers for sharing their recipe for the BEST play dough around.  I picked up the ingredients and made my own play dough for the very first time and brought it in for the kids.  I was amazed at the creations they made in just a short amount of time given.

My goal is to have a new batch of play dough every now and again for students to just mold in to whatever they can think of.  Maybe next time, they'll create something and have to write a few sentences about it.  I can always find an academic purpose for play :)

Alicia created an amazing butterfly!

Several students created snails.  I believe this to be Jonna's work ~ check out the details of the feelers!

Kaden and his snake!

Gavin made a waffle that looks real enough to pop in my toaster!

Joey showing off his bumblebee ~ amazing details not seen in the picture!

Smurfy Traits

Anyone who knew me as a child would not find it surprising that I have found a way to bring Smurfs in to my classroom teaching!  They'd probably be more surprised to find it took me this long to figure it out :)

While working on character traits in class, it dawned on me.  My favorite childhood cartoon and toys were all based on character traits!  Greedy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, and the list goes on and on.

I have taken the opportunity to capitalize on this and the kids are loving it!  We've begun charting different traits we have found in smurfs, in stories we've read and in ourselves.  Why the emphasis on character traits?  Well, when students begin understanding personalities, they can begin thinking deeper about the characters they read about and why they behave the way they do.  I hope this will easily cross over in to their writing also.  We'll begin seeing them develop characters who act a certain way to display a personality.

In the process of looking at different characters, our classroom has been overrun by Smurfs!  They are all over the place and it definitely makes me smile as it reminds me of my childhood fun!

How I'm feeling after this long day!

Oh This Class!

Oh the sense of humor with this batch of kids!  I previously posted about how funny they found that the Rainbow Fish was sel'fish' ~ they laughed at that for quite some time.  Today, as we were going over this week's spelling words the students just start giggling away.  I look over the words and it took me a few moments to realize they were giggling about the word 'bun.'  In all the years we've had these words I don't think I've had a single group make THAT connection!  But this group, I tell you!  They were enjoying that spelling word way too much this morning.  So, as your students begin practicing their spelling words, be warned, the word 'bun' brings about fits of laughter ~ I'll have to think up a REALLY good sentence for this week's spelling test!

2 Weeks Down

Two weeks under our belts and where are we now?  The students are doing an amazing job getting adjusted to the start of school.  They are tired and restless at times; but, most are beginning to be familiar with my expectations and how I like things done.

This past week we started our first reading theme on Friends.  We have been exploring characters and how they can change in a story.  We've discovered the Rainbow Fish was a very selfish (and yes, the kids loved laughing at the fact that 'fish' was in the word 'selfish' ~ little goobers!) and greedy; but, by the end of the story, he changed and became a friendly, giving character.  It is very important for the students to begin to think of the characters and how they develop.  They need to also begin to think of what type of person the character is ~ we are working on getting away from 'nice' and being more specific with our answers.

I think the biggest challenge students are facing right now is in math!  Students are beginning to explore math concepts and many are doing great with the new ideas; however, when it comes to explaining or defending their answers, they struggle.  This has been very fun to watch them figure out how they want to explain how they got the answer!  Several think if they just stare off for a bit, they'll be off the hook.  WRONG!  No one is off the hook in Mr. Price's class, no wallflowers in here.  The students took a couple days, but they are now getting used to having to explain their thinking and aren't as worried about being right or wrong as they once were.

I'm especially proud of how this class is shaping up and treating one another.  As we begin to explain our thoughts, sometimes it makes us nervous because no one wants to be laughed at.  Only once have we had 1 student laughing at someone (luckily it was me being laughed at and I can handle it!)  The nice thing with that, the other students learned real fast that Mr. Price will protect them and not let them be made fun of when they are trying their best!  This class is beginning to trust one another and that's a great thing.

In closing, please be on the lookout for permission slips coming home soon.  I'd like to start putting photos on our class blog and class web page.  It will take me some time to get the forms together to include all I'd like to do this year; but, I think it will really jazz this site up and get the kids excited!

1st Day of School

The first day was a success!  We started the morning with nervous kids, excited kids, sleepy kids, and hungry kids; but, they all came and they all left with smiles on their faces!

The day was a long day; but, it was a fun day and I can tell this is going to be an awesome group of students.  I love when the day takes a turn and you just have to abandon those lesson plans and take the class in a different direction than planned.  This happened yesterday on our 1st day of school and it allowed me the opportunity to introduce the class to our theme song for the year:

This has to be the BEST resource to help students learn the idea of tolerance and accepting others as they are.  We had the chance to have our class talk about how we may not all be friends but we do need to always show each other respect.  Please take time to view the video above.  The pictures are the actual illustrations from the book; so, if this speaks to your family, you may want to find the book for your home.  (I have it in the classroom!)

I'm looking forward to a great year with this group of kids and I think we'll have a lot of fun learning!  I hope they are as excited as I am.

14 Days and Counting

Spent a great deal of the morning working on my new class web site and I have to say, I'm loving Google Sites!  They have this great countdown feature that will automatically keep a countdown to an upcoming event.  Love the feature, but didn't really enjoy seeing 14 days until school starts!

I've been spending the past few weekends working in the classroom and I am glad to say, I think it's just about ready for the kids to come!  I have the finishing touches of name tags and setting out individual materials; but, the basic preparation is done and I am ready for the doors to open!

With the classroom prep ready, that leaves the planning.  With the upcoming common core standards, I feel the pressure to be more organized than ever before.  I've spent the past few days prepping an organizational binder and I think I have my perfect tool to keep me prepared and focused!  I'll spend tomorrow planning math with my grade level and will continue next week planning reading.

It's a good thing I'm feeling ahead of the game right now!  This will help ease the stress of the weekend before school starts because I'll have a busy non-school related weekend celebrating Austin's 7th birthday and getting to see Tyler's first return home from college!

Schedule Changes

Got the e-mail with the new schedules for this coming school year.  Anyone who knows me knows I don't like change!  First, I'm losing the BEST enrichment time primary grades could have :(  It was great while it lasted but I knew it was bound to go away.  The hardest change will be lunch.  Our lunch is now 45 minutes later than it has been for years.  Boy, these kids will be HUNGRY come lunch time being so much after their schedule ~ and so will their teacher! 

I'm sure these changes will be great once we get used to our new schedules and in a routine.  A big positive is that the kids will have less time in the classroom after lunch.  We'll have an hour less of class time during the time of day when students begin to tire and check out.  Just be sure the kids have snacks to eat during recess!

Now that I have my set schedule, it's time to start scheduling the classroom reading and math times.  I love this part of my job, the planning and scheduling!  Only 30 more days until school starts!

Best Week Ever!

This has probably been one of the best weeks I have had in a very long time!  Teacher Appreciation Week started off with a group of parents surprising me and my students with my favorite breakfast of all time.  Then, National Day of the Teacher was a huge hit as our admin and parent booster club gifted us with iPads and Apple TVs!  Although I've had the Apple TV for a month now; I'm excited because I've learned we are now switching over to Google in Education for so many of our resources.  Many people wouldn't be as excited as I am, but it means I have new technology to learn and I love exploring and learning new things (especially if they will help make me more productive.)!  At this moment in time, I am feeling very blessed to be a teacher at my school and very thankful to our admin and parents!