Posts
Dear little ones,
Thank you oh so much for this cold. I truly appreciate coming to school feeling icky just because I dislike writing sub plans. Oh and a double thank you for coming to school sick and gluing yourselves to me because you feel crummy and just want some extra love. I hope you feel better soon but I really hope I feel better in the morning! At least be extra nice to me please because it depends on the minute whether or not I will be able to talk or not.
Love, Your very thankful teacher.
On to another note-I get to go back to college next week to talk to the seniors in the program I graduated from nest week! I'm super excited to get to talk to them and encourage them in their job search!
I have loved getting to know everyone better with this game of tag.I was much better at this version than I ever was with the playground version.
~Allyce~
P.S. This nerdy kinder teacher thinks its pretty awesome that I did my 90th blog post on my 90th day of teaching! Maybe I will work it out so that my 100th post is on the 100th day :)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tagged.
I was tagged by Elizabeth over at Twins, Teaching and Tacos for this super fun questionnaire! First of all I LOVE her blog. Second I wish I had taco Tuesday every week like she does! There are rules and requirements. Enjoy.
So here are the rules:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!
My 12 facts. As you know I am a random person-this will be no exception.
1) I turned 23 yesterday-I feel no different. Honestly I still feel older than my age says I am...
2) I am not capable of truly sleeping in. This morning with no alarm I was awake at 6:30. That does not mean that I am out of bed yet however and it is now 11:29.
3) I have always wanted to be a runner. I am seriously considering taking this up...at least a few days a week.
4) I am a vegetarian-no it's not because of fluffy bunnies its because I didn't really enjoy the taste of meat-now I don't eat it because my tummy doesn't like it-I would like to try to eat it again though-at least a little.
5) I LOVE taking pictures! But I do not like having my picture taken...
6) I have watched One Tree Hill since the very beginning- I have to see it through to the end.
7) When I drive to school in the mornings I sing...all the way there.
8) I HATE birds. and Snakes. and Bugs.
9) I am VERY ticklish. I mean it's ridiculous.
10) I love to bake (I actually love to cook too) but I hardly ever eat what I bake. I would rather see other people enjoy it.
11) I own a TON of books...most of them I have read...in my future home I would love to have a library room-with an entire wall of books. In fact my dream house has a turret and in the round room it creates I would have it lined with book cases and I would have a window seat where I would read.
12) I have collected spoons since I was about 7. I have a ton-they are currently in a box...
My questions from Elizabeth.
So here are the rules:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!
My 12 facts. As you know I am a random person-this will be no exception.
1) I turned 23 yesterday-I feel no different. Honestly I still feel older than my age says I am...
2) I am not capable of truly sleeping in. This morning with no alarm I was awake at 6:30. That does not mean that I am out of bed yet however and it is now 11:29.
3) I have always wanted to be a runner. I am seriously considering taking this up...at least a few days a week.
4) I am a vegetarian-no it's not because of fluffy bunnies its because I didn't really enjoy the taste of meat-now I don't eat it because my tummy doesn't like it-I would like to try to eat it again though-at least a little.
5) I LOVE taking pictures! But I do not like having my picture taken...
6) I have watched One Tree Hill since the very beginning- I have to see it through to the end.
7) When I drive to school in the mornings I sing...all the way there.
8) I HATE birds. and Snakes. and Bugs.
9) I am VERY ticklish. I mean it's ridiculous.
10) I love to bake (I actually love to cook too) but I hardly ever eat what I bake. I would rather see other people enjoy it.
11) I own a TON of books...most of them I have read...in my future home I would love to have a library room-with an entire wall of books. In fact my dream house has a turret and in the round room it creates I would have it lined with book cases and I would have a window seat where I would read.
12) I have collected spoons since I was about 7. I have a ton-they are currently in a box...
My questions from Elizabeth.
1. Where is one place you would like to travel? There are a ton of places. I would love to see some of the states on the other side of the country especially the somewhat southern ones.
2. What is your favorite thing about teaching? The kids and the fact that they are always so excited to learn!
3. What is one thing about teaching you would change? All of the politics involved. If we could just teach and people would realize that we are doing a good job then all would be good.
4. Do you have any hobbies? I love photography.
5. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?Spending time with friends and family. I also love to curl up by the fire with my dog and a good book.
6. What book have you recently read? I am very slowly reading Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand. I wish I had more time and energy to read it faster.
7. Do you have a hobby? I love photography. Can I add teaching to this?
8. What kind of technology do you have in your classroom? I have 3 desktop macs for the kids. I have a projector and a document camera. Then I have a school issued laptop for teacher use and I usually take my personal one too.
9. If you weren't a teacher, what career would you have?I honestly don't know. I have never wanted to do anything else-because everything I ever thought about included things that I could never do.
10. What is your favorite topic/subject to teach? Literacy I think. Mostly because in Kinder they are SO excited to be learning to read.
11. What is your favorite type of candy? Chocolate. Especially when you add some peanut butter or some caramel...
12. What type of music do you enjoy listening to? I listen to Country music. Ever heard of Reckless Kelly? I have many other favorites though.
Alright now it is my turn to ask the questions.
1) What technology do you wish you could have in your classroom?
2) What is your favorite grade to teach?
3) Do you eat in your staff room?
4) How many elementary schools are in your district?
5) What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
6) Where do you go when you need to think? Or just completely relax.
7) Do you use standards based grading at your school?
8) What is your FAVORITE dessert?
9) What is your guilty pleasure tv show?
10) Do you play a sport?
11) Pets?
12) What is your very favorite childrens book?
Now for the people I am tagging...
1-Mrs. Davis at Carried Away In Kindergarten.
2-Meredith at Keen on Kindergarten.
4-Mrs. Bell at A Place Called Kindergarten
5-Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle
6-Sarah at Waiting on the Butterflies
7- Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher
8-Mary at Adventures in Kindergarten
9-Kelli at Castles and Crayons
10-Erin at Eberharts Explorers
11-Kimberley at 1st In Maine
12-Bonnie at Living a Wonderful Life
Ok I think finding 12 people was by far the hardest part because I was having such a hard time deciding! Now it's time to go do some tagging-(is that against the rules? I know it is on the playground but does the blogosphere count too?)
~Allyce~
Saturday, January 28, 2012
for the next 15 minutes
it's my birthday. It was a good day. Relaxing for the most part-hey I even got to try to take a little nap! Hope you all had a good day.
Question for you-Do you go to High School sporting events in your town? What are your favorites? What are your least favorites? Just thought I would ask. I will give my answer probably tomorrow before my day late birthday dinner.
Question for you-Do you go to High School sporting events in your town? What are your favorites? What are your least favorites? Just thought I would ask. I will give my answer probably tomorrow before my day late birthday dinner.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
short and sweet.
I had a strange week. Full day Monday and Tuesday, half day Wednesday (for the kids at least) full day today and no kids tomorrow. I will be sitting in a district wide training on standards based grading... need something to keep me occupied-maybe I will take a coloring book and some crayons...do you think that would be frowned on? I will also be needing LOTS of coffee... Better get up earlier than I did today.
So the whole point of this blog was to sing you a little song. Did you see the moon tonight?! GORGEOUS!
Here is the song. it's cute.
So the whole point of this blog was to sing you a little song. Did you see the moon tonight?! GORGEOUS!
Here is the song. it's cute.
There's a wee baby moon
lying on his back
with his funny little toes in the air-r-r
but he's all alone in the big blue sky
and the wee baby moon doesn't care.
Baby moon keep shinin on me babymoon
The end. Time for bed. Hope you all have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
ok. This is not school related.
So several people. Like Kristin and Sarah I am a sucker for watching the Bachelor. And I decided to write what I thought while watching. Won't be as funny. mostly me complaining to myself so the roommates didn't have to listen to me. So if you don't want to hear it than close this tab now. If you want to see my thought reel please continue.Oh and sorry for grammar and typos-I didn't edit.
seriously did you just tell them to not waste their time talking about the weather?!
distracted by roommates-gummy bears were FLYING! and I couldn’t stop laughing.
let nature take its course?! honestly. Is he going to take these drama queens camping!?
you came on a show with 25 girls and one guy and you are still crying about it? I have absolutely no sympathy.
get over it! he will not only be dating you. oh goody you get to see him. you don’t get to hug him like she does. haha (sorry that was sort of mean.)
I would rather not ride in a helicopter-especially with Ben.
You came on a dating show-and you are so so nervous to spend time with this guy. If you were on a group date you would be complaining that you were not spending enough time with him.
seriously with the sparkly water scene…
peace and quiet and BUGS! oh my!
Pity party. Made me think of Willy Wonka with them on that couch foot to foot. haha Of course you don’t see the connection you think that he is automatically in love with you.
you are better at group dates. stop being so awkward! “We’ll have nice lines.” Don’t waste time talking about the weather! hehe. lagging conversation is an understatement. This is just plain awkward to watch.
(I hate commercials. Usually skip them…should have.)
you just sealed your fate-why waste time on a relationship you don’t see going somewhere.
ooh dig! someone who gets along with everyone else.
Are you going to eat all of that food. Or just let it look pretty. “This fire is hot.” really?! that is what you say.
Communication is your flaw…REALLY?! hadn’t noticed. GEEZ.
if you want to know more then ask some questions! You have still gotten nowhere! Except saying ask questions to each other without asking any actual questions.
Did you seriously give her a rose! That was the WORST date ever!
a slow burn-like watching water boil or paint dry? That is what watching that date felt like.
oh of course it’s your knight in shining armor. Not. more like a guy in jeans-that are all wet now because he went through the river.
his hair-really-it just needs to be cut. (sorry long hair on guys just isn’t my thing.)
who is going to catch one of the other girls or ben first? Have you really caught a man before? Not sure-you are a bit loony.
group date into 1 on 1. Seriously. You are CRAZY girl! Those other girls are not going to like you.
fishing for compliments. (pun completely intended!)
a conversation about mustard?! my word. this is just plain dull.
Ben why didn’t you take that black thing off your back side? it does not look cute.
4 times? and you don’t fall in love easily. interesting.
third group date-don’t talk about the weather-you were warned. and you are not complaining about the group thing. really-yes you are. now you talk about death.
did he truly just tell someone she was crazy?! HOORAY! finally!I am very proud of you Ben! And telling her that she doesn’t take it seriously. YES! I like you more now Ben.
Your heart feels for her but in your mind you are celebrating-don’t deny it!
I really don’t like Courtney.-roommate called her a gold digger-I think she called it.
Does anyone know if Ben gets to see the commentary as they are filming? Nevermind. Figured it out.
lets hope that this accountant doesn’t live up to the accountant stereotypes.
ooh. Kacie B got to go back to his room. if you really want them to get along then taking one to your hotel room wasn’t really the best idea…I mean really think about it!
Courtney- GET A BIGGER TOP! This is uncomfortable for me to watch. She is showing the true her. He is freaking out a bit I thinkJ Glad he is catching on that she is NOT nice!
you seriously gave her the rose?! She is a mean girl. And you say you want all of the girls to get along!
must get some sleep. Will watch the second half tomorrow. Just can’t handle anymore tonight.
should you answer it. seriously?!
hiking.up. will she be afraid of heights too? Oh and no trespassing! well this could get interesting.
I don’t care who he is I would NEVER climb into a small hole and be willing to “drop” EVER! No thank you! Not even to make good tv. That would scare the cr*p out of me! oh and most definitely not in a bikini.
I will add here that I like Jennifer. She is a good one. A little less drama with her… thank goodness.
oh my word. do they really sit around their room and gossip the whole time that they are not on dates. and AWKWARD when Courtney walks back into the room and gives her evil grin.
one question-how do you get out of this crater? that is something I would have asked before getting in.
why is he jumping into the relationship histories with everyone already? Seems like he is asking these questions earlier than others did…
of course it’s raining. gotta say that wasn’t what I was thinking when I was sprinting to my car in the Costco parking lot this weekend. I was thinking about the fact that I was freezing and wet!
she got the rose. awww. I like her. But I also really like her scarf.
Oh geez a concert really. At least it’s not a private concert. those are awkward. I do love that song though. I may or may not have sang it REALLY loud in the car on my way to school this morning.
Now it’s cocktail party time. Not sure I am ready for the drama that comes with these…
Courtney I am pretty sure you are the bomb that everyone else is waiting for… or is that just me.
holy put those boobs away! yikes.
all I can think right now is “that’s a tattle. I don’t need to hear it right now.”—anyone else have that reaction?
Casey S. You are looking at Courtney through a rose colored glass. (apparently so is Ben. Since he fell for it and actually gave her the rose.)
The weather. Yeah not so bad. Looks like that here now- but add 50+ mph winds… and flooding. yeah. not cool.
Ok. Courtney and Casey-this is BAD. You are trying way too hard. You are good at trying to play it off to the camera but you are not good actresses…
ok it is not snow coming down here. darn.
Courtney is just plain mean. Please go away. I don’t like you. (I know I told my students not to say that today but this is just plain bad.)
Rose ceremony! Finally!
Got roses-Courtney, Jennifer, Lindsey, Jamie, Nikki, Kacie B, Elyse, Blakeley, Casey S, Emily, and one more but I can’t remember who.
Goodbye Monica-maybe if you put away your chest he would have kept you but I think he was a little uncomfortable.
There you have it. My thoughts. If you made it this far you deserve an award. I barely made it to the end.
Monday, January 23, 2012
a lovely day.
Today was a lovely day looking back on it.
I will say that my drive to school today was pretty scary...the road was frozen so I slid part of the way to school. SCARY.
But then we had our field trip this morning-now mind you this was supposed to be a walking field trip. So I went to school today prepared to walk (aka tennis shoes) in the cold (aka jeans and sweater) and rain (aka coat and I brought clothes to change into when we got back to school). Well due to the ice and the 31degree temperature WE GOT TO TAKE THE BUS! Hooray!!! (insert cheers from the staff when they announced that on the loud speaker this morning!)
Prior to knowing about this field trip I had scheduled my second formal observation of the year for this morning. And well I hate rescheduling and even more so I just wanted to get it over with. So I kept my time and so we returned to school at 10:00 (recess time! thank goodness). I had15 10 8 minutes to get my room ready (I had made my copies before school-not on the copier though because it hasn't worked correctly since Thursday. I printed them on the hall printer. You gotta do what you gotta do.) I found my unifix cubes, drew my pictures on the board and made sure that my desk was still clean (it was!) so my principal could sit there.
The lesson started out alright. Principal had two different people show up and talk to her in the middle of my instruction though which distracted the kids a bit more than usual. But the kiddos got the point. We measured things using unifix cubes. Pretty funny in some cases. We are going to discuss it more tomorrow. I also have my post conference with principal tomorrow after school-lets hope she thinks that the lesson was ok. I'm not too worried just hate waiting.
This afternoon we celebrate the Chinese New Year by making paper lanterns, reading a story and watching youtube videos of the Dragon dances. The kids absolutely LOVED these videos! I swear we watched 10 of them while they were decorating their lanterns. There was dancing and lots of "Wow!" "That is so cool!" comments.
Also did a little happy dance (yes in front of the kids, the substitute aid and the school nurse) when I got the all clear in my classroom for no lice! Just the word makes me cringe!
I love that I teach in a little district-I mean TINY. I got a birthday card from my superintendent today. 5 days early but it sure put a smile on my face this Monday morning!
I will say that I am EXHAUSTED today. I had too much fun this weekend doing non school stuff. Ever been to blue grass night at a small town tavern? If not and you are looking for some serious entertainment then here are my suggestions: find one, be the dd, and just watch the people and stay until the very end. This kinder teacher didn't get nearly as much sleep as planned this weekend but it was definitely worth it!
Hopefully I will get a chance to write again this week-maybe I will even remember to take some pictures-even better maybe I will get a chance to go to the beach that I can see from my window (since I haven't touched the sand since October. Awful I know!).
Hope everyone else had a lovely Monday too! Gung Hay Fat Choy!
I will say that my drive to school today was pretty scary...the road was frozen so I slid part of the way to school. SCARY.
But then we had our field trip this morning-now mind you this was supposed to be a walking field trip. So I went to school today prepared to walk (aka tennis shoes) in the cold (aka jeans and sweater) and rain (aka coat and I brought clothes to change into when we got back to school). Well due to the ice and the 31degree temperature WE GOT TO TAKE THE BUS! Hooray!!! (insert cheers from the staff when they announced that on the loud speaker this morning!)
Prior to knowing about this field trip I had scheduled my second formal observation of the year for this morning. And well I hate rescheduling and even more so I just wanted to get it over with. So I kept my time and so we returned to school at 10:00 (recess time! thank goodness). I had
The lesson started out alright. Principal had two different people show up and talk to her in the middle of my instruction though which distracted the kids a bit more than usual. But the kiddos got the point. We measured things using unifix cubes. Pretty funny in some cases. We are going to discuss it more tomorrow. I also have my post conference with principal tomorrow after school-lets hope she thinks that the lesson was ok. I'm not too worried just hate waiting.
This afternoon we celebrate the Chinese New Year by making paper lanterns, reading a story and watching youtube videos of the Dragon dances. The kids absolutely LOVED these videos! I swear we watched 10 of them while they were decorating their lanterns. There was dancing and lots of "Wow!" "That is so cool!" comments.
Also did a little happy dance (yes in front of the kids, the substitute aid and the school nurse) when I got the all clear in my classroom for no lice! Just the word makes me cringe!
I love that I teach in a little district-I mean TINY. I got a birthday card from my superintendent today. 5 days early but it sure put a smile on my face this Monday morning!
I will say that I am EXHAUSTED today. I had too much fun this weekend doing non school stuff. Ever been to blue grass night at a small town tavern? If not and you are looking for some serious entertainment then here are my suggestions: find one, be the dd, and just watch the people and stay until the very end. This kinder teacher didn't get nearly as much sleep as planned this weekend but it was definitely worth it!
Hopefully I will get a chance to write again this week-maybe I will even remember to take some pictures-even better maybe I will get a chance to go to the beach that I can see from my window (since I haven't touched the sand since October. Awful I know!).
Hope everyone else had a lovely Monday too! Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
My week. (it was a strange one)
Monday we had the day off. It was lovely. I of course didn't get any school work done.
Tuesday we had a 2 hour delay because of snow. It was nice because I got to school pretty much at my normal time so I got a TON of work done!
Wednesday we had NO SCHOOL because it snowed in the town where I work...but no snow at my house. So it was a bit boring.
Thursday we had a regular day-except I only had 15 students again:) Fabulous number.
Friday we went to school on time. But it wasn't a regular day because at the end of it we had a district wide Pep assembly. (Note: nearly all of our pep assemblies are open to K-12 but this was the first time I was brave enough to take my kiddos.) Well lets just say I don't think we will do that again. I had one little one laying her head on my calling me mom (YIKES! "I'm not your mommy-your mommy is at your house waiting for you." that was my response each of the million times she said it.) And another one laying her head on my shoulder crying the whole time because she was tired (hey so was I! Does that mean I could have cried through the whole thing-IT WAS SO BORING! One of the activities was watching high school kids put puzzles together-can you say zzzzzzzz...)
Which brings me to the part of my day yesterday when I was seriously ready to declare naptime for everyone because they were all tired, grumpy and unfocused.This may or may not have included me...
So last night I went out with the girls when I got home was just the perfect way to end the LONG day. But not until after my mom and sister +3 of her friends came by my school and helped me clean my classroom! HOORAY for help on a Friday afternoon! I may or may not be doing a little happy dance when I walk into my classroom on Monday morning. ( I will be sure to let you know.) One of the friends looked at me-completely seriously- and said, "How do you teach Kindergarten and not lose your mind?" I laughed out loud. My response, "Well I can't say that I still have my whole mind. But pretty much I just laugh my way through the day. Truly."
Today as my roommate was unpacking a bag of our new roommate she found cream of tartar-my first thought "PLAYDOUGH!" So yes I do believe that I will be making some playdough today. I think I need to make a list of things titled "You know you teach Kindergarten when..." and include "You see cream of tartar and your first thought is 'I can make playdough!'"
I will also be making Chicken Enchilada's today. (Yes I am a vegetarian-but my friends aren't. So I will pick around the chicken and everyone will be happy.)
Hope you all enjoy your Saturday! Sorry for the LONG rambling post-again. Here are a few snow pictures.
Tuesday we had a 2 hour delay because of snow. It was nice because I got to school pretty much at my normal time so I got a TON of work done!
Wednesday we had NO SCHOOL because it snowed in the town where I work...but no snow at my house. So it was a bit boring.
Thursday we had a regular day-except I only had 15 students again:) Fabulous number.
Friday we went to school on time. But it wasn't a regular day because at the end of it we had a district wide Pep assembly. (Note: nearly all of our pep assemblies are open to K-12 but this was the first time I was brave enough to take my kiddos.) Well lets just say I don't think we will do that again. I had one little one laying her head on my calling me mom (YIKES! "I'm not your mommy-your mommy is at your house waiting for you." that was my response each of the million times she said it.) And another one laying her head on my shoulder crying the whole time because she was tired (hey so was I! Does that mean I could have cried through the whole thing-IT WAS SO BORING! One of the activities was watching high school kids put puzzles together-can you say zzzzzzzz...)
Which brings me to the part of my day yesterday when I was seriously ready to declare naptime for everyone because they were all tired, grumpy and unfocused.
So last night I went out with the girls when I got home was just the perfect way to end the LONG day. But not until after my mom and sister +3 of her friends came by my school and helped me clean my classroom! HOORAY for help on a Friday afternoon! I may or may not be doing a little happy dance when I walk into my classroom on Monday morning. ( I will be sure to let you know.) One of the friends looked at me-completely seriously- and said, "How do you teach Kindergarten and not lose your mind?" I laughed out loud. My response, "Well I can't say that I still have my whole mind. But pretty much I just laugh my way through the day. Truly."
Today as my roommate was unpacking a bag of our new roommate she found cream of tartar-my first thought "PLAYDOUGH!" So yes I do believe that I will be making some playdough today. I think I need to make a list of things titled "You know you teach Kindergarten when..." and include "You see cream of tartar and your first thought is 'I can make playdough!'"
I will also be making Chicken Enchilada's today. (Yes I am a vegetarian-but my friends aren't. So I will pick around the chicken and everyone will be happy.)
Hope you all enjoy your Saturday! Sorry for the LONG rambling post-again. Here are a few snow pictures.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
SNOW DAY!
Ok so you all know I work an hour from my house. Well my school district had a snow day today! But the district I live in was the ONLY district in Western WA that went to school today because...it was RAINING. So there wasn't even anything to keep me busy at my house today...so what did I do. I went and visited my roommates at school. (I know you are thinking "WHY would you do that?!) Well a person can only watch so much news about the snow, look at so many pictures of people playing in the snow and read on facebook about all of their friends enjoying the snow for so long.
I was awake at 4:30. And couldn't fall asleep so that wasn't an option. So after roommates left for school this morning(they did get a 2 hour late start) I got ready for the day and headed to their school. They both teach HS so I was there for their lunch and prep time. Then I spent the remaining 2.5 hours sitting in the office with one of the secretaries. We had a great time watching the security cameras and chatting. It was way better than sitting at home twiddling my thumbs! I am TERRIBLE at sitting still and having nothing to do. And I was all caught up on school stuff (due to getting 2 extra hours to work while at school yesterday morning).
So who knows what will happen tomorrow. Now there is a flood watch (not warning-but watch-meaning it will probably happen) which would either delay, cancel or cause us to close school early most likely.
Anyone else have a weather day today? Any snow out there? My house is getting rain and nasty wind. But hey I did get to have some starbucks today! (big deal here as that is 20ish minutes away-actually in a different state)
Hope you all survived your Wednesday!
pictures of what snow we did have to come-maybe tomorrow.
I was awake at 4:30. And couldn't fall asleep so that wasn't an option. So after roommates left for school this morning(they did get a 2 hour late start) I got ready for the day and headed to their school. They both teach HS so I was there for their lunch and prep time. Then I spent the remaining 2.5 hours sitting in the office with one of the secretaries. We had a great time watching the security cameras and chatting. It was way better than sitting at home twiddling my thumbs! I am TERRIBLE at sitting still and having nothing to do. And I was all caught up on school stuff (due to getting 2 extra hours to work while at school yesterday morning).
So who knows what will happen tomorrow. Now there is a flood watch (not warning-but watch-meaning it will probably happen) which would either delay, cancel or cause us to close school early most likely.
Anyone else have a weather day today? Any snow out there? My house is getting rain and nasty wind. But hey I did get to have some starbucks today! (big deal here as that is 20ish minutes away-actually in a different state)
Hope you all survived your Wednesday!
pictures of what snow we did have to come-maybe tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
I love my kiddos...but...
I have to say that only having 15 kids in class today was sort of like heaven. They were all so quiet and lovely today! We have had some snow the last few days so we started 2 hours late this morning. I left my house at 7 this morning thinking the road was going to be bad (we didn't start until 10:30) so I thought I would give myself plenty of time to get there. Well the road was fine and I ended up with 2.5 hours to prepare for the day! It was fabulous! I even got the chance to clean off my desk and teacher area at the front of the room-kids saw that I had thrown things away and tried to take them out of the garbage! It was seriously garbage! goodness.
We had a busy day. When they got there we had PE first thing. Then lunch. then we had our quiet time as usual combined with our calendar time. Then recess. Then we had Healthy Strides. At which point one little one came up to me and said, "Miss Bruncke can we do some work now?" This made my day! Of course I said yes! So we did our family letter books for the week. It was SO QUIET! Then they had a little time to play/inside recess then it was time to pack up and go home! (I did add the option of playing the card game 'war' so practice bigger and smaller numbers.)
I am also pretty sure that today was the first time that I didn't mind having inside recess. I have come to the conclusion that 15 is pretty much the perfect class size! Oh and they were silent in the hallway!
Hooray for them finally understanding that the hallway is a NO talking zone rather than a free talk zone!
Here is to hoping for no school tomorrow. They did already call a 2 hour delay for me! Hooray!
We had a busy day. When they got there we had PE first thing. Then lunch. then we had our quiet time as usual combined with our calendar time. Then recess. Then we had Healthy Strides. At which point one little one came up to me and said, "Miss Bruncke can we do some work now?" This made my day! Of course I said yes! So we did our family letter books for the week. It was SO QUIET! Then they had a little time to play/inside recess then it was time to pack up and go home! (I did add the option of playing the card game 'war' so practice bigger and smaller numbers.)
I am also pretty sure that today was the first time that I didn't mind having inside recess. I have come to the conclusion that 15 is pretty much the perfect class size! Oh and they were silent in the hallway!
Hooray for them finally understanding that the hallway is a NO talking zone rather than a free talk zone!
Here is to hoping for no school tomorrow. They did already call a 2 hour delay for me! Hooray!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
A day in my shoes...
Well this could be interesting. I am going to pick Wednesdays. (Because my schedule is different each day of the week. It is sort of a nightmare to keep track of.)
4:58: Alarm goes off and I proceed to hit the snooze button twice then the off button.
5:25: I get out of bed and decide what to wear then hop in the shower.
5:45ish: Out of shower and dressed get hair and makeup done in bedroom so as not to wake anyone else up with noisy hairdryer and its quieter when I drop things on the carpet than the bathroom floor.
6:05 ish: Pack lunch-usually a hot pocket (5 cheese) or some other frozen meal (lean cuisine have been the meal of choice lately.) And I always include a rice krispie treat and some other things. (I am a vegetarian so honestly my lunch is mostly carbs.
6:25: At least no later than this. I am out the door and into my new car :)
7:20ish: I arrive at school and walk into the building with a quick hello to our wonderful Secretary as I walk by.
7:23: I get my computer out of my bag and set it up. Put my purse and lunch box in their respective places (ok just on the floor under my desk) and find the papers I need to copy for the morning.
7:28: Head for the work room to make my copies. Nearly get hit by door to work room (almost every morning). Say hello to the Preschool teachers-they will make another appearance later. Then make copies.
7:35: Return to room and put papers somewhere that I will remember where they are usually directly on my teacher chair in the circle area.
7:36: Begin morning clean up. Get distracted by something or someone. Begin cleaning again. (repeat about 6 times)
8:00: Wait for the announcement that this will be an indoor recess due to either rain or ice. Groan and unlock my door while kids say each time they walk into my room, "It's indoor recess."
8:02-8:25: Try to get odd jobs done in the room while kiddos tell me all sorts of things that I am bound to forget.
8:25: I am officially on kid duty. I say put all the toys away put your lunch sticks away and come sit on the rug. (no there is no punctuation because I have said it so many times it all comes out in one breath)
8:30: The ""you better be in class" bell rings. Then 5 more kids walk in.
8:33: We start our calendar/circle time. There are always some completely random stories about Ellie (one little guys stuffed elephant), Swiper (sniff sniff, no more of these stories about the little girls cat because she moved. sniff sniff), a bad dream, I need to go potty, etc.
8:45: We finish our calendar and I have to have the kids talk to eachother for a minute so that I can put the attendance in the computer before the secretary comes over the intercom and says, "Miss Bruncke could you please enter your attendance." (it is so embarrassing.)
8:46: I get them quiet again and explain their morning work.
8:50: Begin morning work. With me circulating and making sure that one little one isn't hiding under a table or doing somersaults in the hallway (yes this is seriously what she was doing the other day. scared me to death when I couldn't find her!)
9:11: Reading teachers come into room (yes they should have been there 1 minute before that).
9:30: Students continue work on their morning task. (usually some form of writing practice)
9:38: Pull kids to rug to get ready for music so that they are already quiet when music man arrives.(this is a new time or us. We used to have music on Monday afternoons...but it wasn't working for the kids and it was just one big disaster. So before break music man and I had a talk and decided that a morning music time would be MUCH better. HALLELUJAH! It certainly is!)
9:40: Music man arrives just as kids are finally all quiet and sitting still.
10:00:RECESS. Let me tell you I am just as excited for it by this time as the kids are. I make sure all coats are on and shoes are tied on the way out the door as music man chats with me before he leaves.
10:17: Kids return from recess. (This time is not exact because it depends on how long it takes them to line up. ) Then we either continue their morning job or do another literacy based lesson.
11:10: Get ready for lunch. Highlight hot/cold lunch list. Make sure cold lunch has their lunches.
11:15:Walk down the hall in our version of ABC order. With several stops to remind them that the hallway is a NO TALKING zone!
11:17: Walk into staff room to sit with my Preschool teacher friends. Let me tell you these ladies are HILARIOUS! We talk about kids-they have had most of mine. They try to get me to take a few of theirs off of their hands, etc.
11:50: I slowly make my way back to the classroom and turn off all but my reading light and wait in my chair for mysilent kids noisy elephants to come down the hall. They slowly trickle in after using the bathroom.
12:00: I finally get to start my read aloud. My kids LOVE Ramona! We read Ramona the Pest first and we just finished Ramona Quimby Age 8 on Friday. They are begging for another Ramona book. I just need to figure out where I put them.
12:25: They go out to recess. I get ready for math lesson. Run copies. Talk to teaching partner. Check email if time.
12:45: Kids come back in and we either have snack or start math lesson.
1:15 ish: Math stations usually.
1:45: Either a read aloud or some playtime. Depending on if I am prepared for more noise and if they cleaned up all of the math stations.
2:15 Recess. I fill out sorry got distracted, mom called me to say drive safe to my friends house because it's snowing. Well there is no snow at my house yet. DANG! behavior contracts for 5 of my kiddos. These are my way of communicating with these parents. Works great in some cases-completely pointless in others.
2:30 Kids come back from recess to stack chairs/complete their jobs (clean up the room!)/get their mail and pack up.
2:45 Kids meet me on the rug for our end of the day wrap up. Usually me talking about the next day trying to remind them to come to school "Ready to Learn" the next day. Giving out prizes and certificates to the kiddos who made it to purple. Then I tend to try to do a read aloud.
3:00 Head to the bus! We leave before the end of the day so as to not get trampled by the big kids on the way. It is a VERY small district so kids ages 3-seniors ride the buses together. I walk kids to buses and on the last bus in the row I have to carry my last kiddo on because he HATES riding the bus. Then I have to sit there and wait on the bus with him until it is time for the bus to drive away. Goodness sakes- I could NEVER be a bus driver!
3:15 get back to classroom unless I stop in the office and get chatting.
3:30 (usually more like 3:45) I am out the door. With a whole pile of stuff to get done at home. got up to check again and now it is actually snowing here! not really sticking but it's still snow :)
4:45 usually: Arrive home and plop on the couch. Or head to the high school to help run the concession stand for the basketball game (but this usually happens on Tuesdays). And sometimes I even get the stuff done that I brought home. But more likely I spend too much time on pinterest, facebook, blogger, and watching tv. Oh and I usually make and eat dinner in there somewhere too.
10:00 go to bed!
So that is my day in a nutshell. Super exciting huh. (did anyone notice in my school day that there is no bathroom break. ugh. People warned me about not getting one but seriously I don't usually have a chance. )
Hope you enjoy your 3 day weekend! Time for me to head to a friends house to watch Grimm! Does anyone else watch that show? If you don't I definitely suggest you do. It is awesome!
 |
| A Wednesday in my shoes. |
4:58: Alarm goes off and I proceed to hit the snooze button twice then the off button.
5:25: I get out of bed and decide what to wear then hop in the shower.
5:45ish: Out of shower and dressed get hair and makeup done in bedroom so as not to wake anyone else up with noisy hairdryer and its quieter when I drop things on the carpet than the bathroom floor.
6:05 ish: Pack lunch-usually a hot pocket (5 cheese) or some other frozen meal (lean cuisine have been the meal of choice lately.) And I always include a rice krispie treat and some other things. (I am a vegetarian so honestly my lunch is mostly carbs.
6:25: At least no later than this. I am out the door and into my new car :)
7:20ish: I arrive at school and walk into the building with a quick hello to our wonderful Secretary as I walk by.
7:23: I get my computer out of my bag and set it up. Put my purse and lunch box in their respective places (ok just on the floor under my desk) and find the papers I need to copy for the morning.
7:28: Head for the work room to make my copies. Nearly get hit by door to work room (almost every morning). Say hello to the Preschool teachers-they will make another appearance later. Then make copies.
7:35: Return to room and put papers somewhere that I will remember where they are usually directly on my teacher chair in the circle area.
7:36: Begin morning clean up. Get distracted by something or someone. Begin cleaning again. (repeat about 6 times)
8:00: Wait for the announcement that this will be an indoor recess due to either rain or ice. Groan and unlock my door while kids say each time they walk into my room, "It's indoor recess."
8:02-8:25: Try to get odd jobs done in the room while kiddos tell me all sorts of things that I am bound to forget.
8:25: I am officially on kid duty. I say put all the toys away put your lunch sticks away and come sit on the rug. (no there is no punctuation because I have said it so many times it all comes out in one breath)
8:30: The ""you better be in class" bell rings. Then 5 more kids walk in.
8:33: We start our calendar/circle time. There are always some completely random stories about Ellie (one little guys stuffed elephant), Swiper (sniff sniff, no more of these stories about the little girls cat because she moved. sniff sniff), a bad dream, I need to go potty, etc.
8:45: We finish our calendar and I have to have the kids talk to eachother for a minute so that I can put the attendance in the computer before the secretary comes over the intercom and says, "Miss Bruncke could you please enter your attendance." (it is so embarrassing.)
8:46: I get them quiet again and explain their morning work.
8:50: Begin morning work. With me circulating and making sure that one little one isn't hiding under a table or doing somersaults in the hallway (yes this is seriously what she was doing the other day. scared me to death when I couldn't find her!)
9:11: Reading teachers come into room (yes they should have been there 1 minute before that).
9:30: Students continue work on their morning task. (usually some form of writing practice)
9:38: Pull kids to rug to get ready for music so that they are already quiet when music man arrives.(this is a new time or us. We used to have music on Monday afternoons...but it wasn't working for the kids and it was just one big disaster. So before break music man and I had a talk and decided that a morning music time would be MUCH better. HALLELUJAH! It certainly is!)
9:40: Music man arrives just as kids are finally all quiet and sitting still.
10:00:RECESS. Let me tell you I am just as excited for it by this time as the kids are. I make sure all coats are on and shoes are tied on the way out the door as music man chats with me before he leaves.
10:17: Kids return from recess. (This time is not exact because it depends on how long it takes them to line up. ) Then we either continue their morning job or do another literacy based lesson.
11:10: Get ready for lunch. Highlight hot/cold lunch list. Make sure cold lunch has their lunches.
11:15:Walk down the hall in our version of ABC order. With several stops to remind them that the hallway is a NO TALKING zone!
11:17: Walk into staff room to sit with my Preschool teacher friends. Let me tell you these ladies are HILARIOUS! We talk about kids-they have had most of mine. They try to get me to take a few of theirs off of their hands, etc.
11:50: I slowly make my way back to the classroom and turn off all but my reading light and wait in my chair for my
12:00: I finally get to start my read aloud. My kids LOVE Ramona! We read Ramona the Pest first and we just finished Ramona Quimby Age 8 on Friday. They are begging for another Ramona book. I just need to figure out where I put them.
12:25: They go out to recess. I get ready for math lesson. Run copies. Talk to teaching partner. Check email if time.
12:45: Kids come back in and we either have snack or start math lesson.
1:15 ish: Math stations usually.
1:45: Either a read aloud or some playtime. Depending on if I am prepared for more noise and if they cleaned up all of the math stations.
2:15 Recess. I fill out sorry got distracted, mom called me to say drive safe to my friends house because it's snowing. Well there is no snow at my house yet. DANG! behavior contracts for 5 of my kiddos. These are my way of communicating with these parents. Works great in some cases-completely pointless in others.
2:30 Kids come back from recess to stack chairs/complete their jobs (clean up the room!)/get their mail and pack up.
2:45 Kids meet me on the rug for our end of the day wrap up. Usually me talking about the next day trying to remind them to come to school "Ready to Learn" the next day. Giving out prizes and certificates to the kiddos who made it to purple. Then I tend to try to do a read aloud.
3:00 Head to the bus! We leave before the end of the day so as to not get trampled by the big kids on the way. It is a VERY small district so kids ages 3-seniors ride the buses together. I walk kids to buses and on the last bus in the row I have to carry my last kiddo on because he HATES riding the bus. Then I have to sit there and wait on the bus with him until it is time for the bus to drive away. Goodness sakes- I could NEVER be a bus driver!
3:15 get back to classroom unless I stop in the office and get chatting.
3:30 (usually more like 3:45) I am out the door. With a whole pile of stuff to get done at home. got up to check again and now it is actually snowing here! not really sticking but it's still snow :)
4:45 usually: Arrive home and plop on the couch. Or head to the high school to help run the concession stand for the basketball game (but this usually happens on Tuesdays). And sometimes I even get the stuff done that I brought home. But more likely I spend too much time on pinterest, facebook, blogger, and watching tv. Oh and I usually make and eat dinner in there somewhere too.
10:00 go to bed!
So that is my day in a nutshell. Super exciting huh. (did anyone notice in my school day that there is no bathroom break. ugh. People warned me about not getting one but seriously I don't usually have a chance. )
Hope you enjoy your 3 day weekend! Time for me to head to a friends house to watch Grimm! Does anyone else watch that show? If you don't I definitely suggest you do. It is awesome!
80th post. Thankful for a 3 day weekend to relax!
So here I go this will be a combo post-my clutter free plan as well as my post about yesterday because I was too tired unable to concentrate too focused on catching up on last weeks tv shows I missed last night to write it.
First I have to add a little not about Thursday!
I needed to do some MLK activities with my kiddos. So We read Martin's Big Words. THE KIDS LOVED IT! And they understood it! We finished the book and decided to make a list of words that described what Dr. King did or words that described him. One little one raises her hand and says, "He respected all people but one day a man didn't respect him!" She (really all of them were) was so irritated about the fact that someone shot a man who was trying to do the right thing! Then we drew some pictures of Dr. King and wrote "Martin Luther King Jr. was a good person." I was impressed with their pictures.
Yesterday was the last day for one of my little ones. (I'm sad because she was one of the easiest students!) So we had a little special snack, I kept it a secret snack all day, cupcakes. Then we gave her the book we made the day before and we had some play time. I brought in the puppet theatre that I got for christmas for the first time. They loved it!
As they were at the puppet theater little one in the hat was trying her absolute hardest to get them all to sit quiet while the shows were going. My para of the day (this is a long story) and I couldn't help but laugh. She tried everything: "If you can hear me touch your ears, if you can hear me touch your knees." "1, 2, 3, Eyes on me." She even found my bell and tried that. Then she looked at me and said, "Miss Bruncke can you please make them be quiet! They are not listening!" I said, "Now you know what I have to do all the time to get everyone to listen." Her response, "I am so frustrated!!!" To which I couldn't help but laugh. Then I talked to them about how they need to listen. Then little teacher decided to try taking on the role of our school librarian who talks about theater behavior all the time. I spent the whole playtime laughing.
Now I am celebrating the fact that I have a three day weekend to use my OLW:Relax. It is nearly 10am and I am still in my pajamas on the couch watching last nights Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They are in Joplin and they are going to build 7 houses! Great episode so far!
Now my plan to de-clutter my classroom.
1-stuff I do not want will go to the staff room or I will send out an email to the staff listing what I have to get rid of.
2- Stuff that I don't need and nobody else wants will go in the trash! (My janitor will be THRILLED! She absolutely loves it when people get rid of stuff.)
3-I will be bringing in a new filing stacker, getting rid of my filing cabinet I think (I don't ever use it and it is so big!)I will definitely be looking in the attic to see if maybe there is a small bookshelf that could take the place of the filing cabinet. If not I will go to my dad's house and get one-since I have 3 there. I will also be finding a way to organize my front counter and hopefully find a new home for my giant orange math crate that takes up half of that counter. Cleaning out my desk and making it useful again. Deciding whether or not I want to keep my big red table...
Now back to my relaxing and listening to the wind howl. Or maybe I will get up and get dressed for the day...
Enjoy your three day weekend!
First I have to add a little not about Thursday!
I needed to do some MLK activities with my kiddos. So We read Martin's Big Words. THE KIDS LOVED IT! And they understood it! We finished the book and decided to make a list of words that described what Dr. King did or words that described him. One little one raises her hand and says, "He respected all people but one day a man didn't respect him!" She (really all of them were) was so irritated about the fact that someone shot a man who was trying to do the right thing! Then we drew some pictures of Dr. King and wrote "Martin Luther King Jr. was a good person." I was impressed with their pictures.
Yesterday was the last day for one of my little ones. (I'm sad because she was one of the easiest students!) So we had a little special snack, I kept it a secret snack all day, cupcakes. Then we gave her the book we made the day before and we had some play time. I brought in the puppet theatre that I got for christmas for the first time. They loved it!
 |
| There were about 15 kids who wanted to play in the beginning so the little on on the left took on the role of teacher/bossy pants. It was very entertaining. |
 |
| These are the kids who got tired of waiting to perform their show and decided to play in the kitchen or watch the computers instead. |
 |
| I think in the end there were about 5 shows performed total. |
Now I am celebrating the fact that I have a three day weekend to use my OLW:Relax. It is nearly 10am and I am still in my pajamas on the couch watching last nights Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They are in Joplin and they are going to build 7 houses! Great episode so far!
Now my plan to de-clutter my classroom.
1-stuff I do not want will go to the staff room or I will send out an email to the staff listing what I have to get rid of.
2- Stuff that I don't need and nobody else wants will go in the trash! (My janitor will be THRILLED! She absolutely loves it when people get rid of stuff.)
3-I will be bringing in a new filing stacker, getting rid of my filing cabinet I think (I don't ever use it and it is so big!)I will definitely be looking in the attic to see if maybe there is a small bookshelf that could take the place of the filing cabinet. If not I will go to my dad's house and get one-since I have 3 there. I will also be finding a way to organize my front counter and hopefully find a new home for my giant orange math crate that takes up half of that counter. Cleaning out my desk and making it useful again. Deciding whether or not I want to keep my big red table...
Now back to my relaxing and listening to the wind howl. Or maybe I will get up and get dressed for the day...
Enjoy your three day weekend!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wednesday! (sort of can't believe it's only Wednesday..)
So this will be random. (like my other posts aren't.)
I got my new car and got to drive it to school today! It was FANTASTIC! Lets just say that this car is a whole lot quieter-my other one had a lot of rattles. Here is a picture. The only downside to the car that I have found is that it doesn't have cruise control-which in all honesty isn't a big deal since you aren't supposed to use it in the rain and well it isalmost always raining here.
I am losing a student on Friday :( She is one of the easiest students too! She is adorable and I will miss he stories about her cat Swiper so much! We start almost every morning circle time with, "My kitty Swiper is so cute. He sleeps with me. He made my nightmares go away last night. Then he got out of my bed." etc.
I also heard that I will possibly be losing another one in 30 days. (its a strange situation, can't really go into details.) It would be very sad to see her go too because she has really come a long way from the beginning of the year-but she still has a long way to go.
I also watched the Batchelor tonight finally. IT WAS AWFUL! I have watched all of the previous seasons but I am not sure I will be able to watch this one it is so awful! But we all know that I can't seem to stop watching dumb shows so I will probably watch again next week and hope that it gets better.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great day! Enjoy the rest of your week!
Allyce
I got my new car and got to drive it to school today! It was FANTASTIC! Lets just say that this car is a whole lot quieter-my other one had a lot of rattles. Here is a picture. The only downside to the car that I have found is that it doesn't have cruise control-which in all honesty isn't a big deal since you aren't supposed to use it in the rain and well it is
sorry it's sideways.
Now on to school. We read "The Crayon Box That Talked" yesterday and drew self portraits. I turned them into a big crayon box today that says "The Many Colored Crayon's of Room 7." Tomorrow I plan to read Martin's Big Words and do an activity-which activity I am not sure. Still deciding.
Today we had a very hectic morning. I had planned on having our first day of reading starting at 9:10. Well the reading people showed up at 8:45. (I had JUST sent the kids to their seats to complete their morning work. ugh. and they were actually being quiet and were excited to work!) Well reading went well but long. So they then had about 6 minutes to continue their work before we had music at 9:40. They were very well behaved in music! (This has been a struggle for both me and the music teacher all year. We decided right before break that we would switch our music time from Monday afternoons to Wednesday mornings and it has been SO SO SO much better! And today was even better than last week! HOORAY! This means that I got to have my planning time today! Excuse me while a celebrate this a little more!.............................................................................)
My class has come so far since the beginning! I am still tired at the end of the day but not nearly like I was. Thank goodness! Makes me so so happy and proud when they sit the right way on the rug! We decided today that since we have been in school for 80 days that we should all have it stuck in our mind that we have to do all 5 of our jobs when we are sitting on the rug.
I also heard that I will possibly be losing another one in 30 days. (its a strange situation, can't really go into details.) It would be very sad to see her go too because she has really come a long way from the beginning of the year-but she still has a long way to go.
I also watched the Batchelor tonight finally. IT WAS AWFUL! I have watched all of the previous seasons but I am not sure I will be able to watch this one it is so awful! But we all know that I can't seem to stop watching dumb shows so I will probably watch again next week and hope that it gets better.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great day! Enjoy the rest of your week!
Allyce
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
today is a big day in my book!
Ok so this post will be short...I think.
Lots happened today!
First-reading got cancelled for the day so I had to make spur of the moment lesson plans to fill that time. ugh. Yay for always keeping an extra book in my bag for a read aloud and it just so happened to be a book about talking crayons that have a hard time getting along. So it fit with diversity a bit too. DOUBLE BONUS!
then-my sister came to see me at school! I love it when people come and visit and so do my kiddos! One little girl was talking to my sister. This was the conversation.
Girl- "Is Miss Bruncke your mom?" (seriously?!?! I am 3 years older than my sister-do I really look that old?! GAH)
sister- "No silly she's my sister."
Girl- "Oh. When's Miss Bruncke getting married?" (really as if I don't get this enough from other people-my sister included!)
sister- "I don't know ask her. But soon I hope" (she needs to just hold her horses here.)
Hope that gave you all a good laugh.
And then! I got my new car!!!! I got a Jeep Patriot! and I LOVE it! It's big but not overly so and it's so comfortable to drive! I am excited for the hour drive for school tomorrow!
AND I NOW HAVE 40 FOLLOWERS!!!! I am so excited!
Now I NEED to get some sleep. This has already been a REALLY long week. Anyone else out there with me on this? So SO SO glad there is a 3 day weekend at the end of it!
Hope you all have a FABULOUS Wednesday!
Lots happened today!
First-reading got cancelled for the day so I had to make spur of the moment lesson plans to fill that time. ugh. Yay for always keeping an extra book in my bag for a read aloud and it just so happened to be a book about talking crayons that have a hard time getting along. So it fit with diversity a bit too. DOUBLE BONUS!
then-my sister came to see me at school! I love it when people come and visit and so do my kiddos! One little girl was talking to my sister. This was the conversation.
Girl- "Is Miss Bruncke your mom?" (seriously?!?! I am 3 years older than my sister-do I really look that old?! GAH)
sister- "No silly she's my sister."
Girl- "Oh. When's Miss Bruncke getting married?" (really as if I don't get this enough from other people-my sister included!)
sister- "I don't know ask her. But soon I hope" (she needs to just hold her horses here.)
Hope that gave you all a good laugh.
And then! I got my new car!!!! I got a Jeep Patriot! and I LOVE it! It's big but not overly so and it's so comfortable to drive! I am excited for the hour drive for school tomorrow!
AND I NOW HAVE 40 FOLLOWERS!!!! I am so excited!
Now I NEED to get some sleep. This has already been a REALLY long week. Anyone else out there with me on this? So SO SO glad there is a 3 day weekend at the end of it!
Hope you all have a FABULOUS Wednesday!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Here we go. Step 1 to a clutter free classroom.
They say the first step is admitting you have a problem...well I have a problem with keeping my classroom organized! So I have decided to join the Clutter Free Classroom challenge. I am going nuts in my room! I love to have organization but I have to say with 24 5 year olds all over the place it makes it hard to get it organized and keep it that way. So here are my slightly completely embarrassing pictures of my messes. (I will say this just happened to be a somewhat clean day-minus my desk.) I have actually been seriously considering dumping the teacher desk...just not sure where I would put the things that I keep in it..
Looking from my desk to the front of the room.
From my desk looking a little bit left
To the opposite wall from where my desk is...
More of same area...toys etc.
The beginning of my disaster of a teacher area...embarrassing!
Teacher stuff. ugh. snack storage, my books not available for student destruction.
When people walk int he door and look left this is what they see...
The under part of the easel. ugh. An you can see my messy counter too.
Hope you had a great Monday. My kids were good today except for the end of the day...that was a whole different group of kids that came back from recess I swear.
Tomorrow we begin the reading program...wish me luck. Oh and last night I never did do any planning. But today went well. We worked and read "The Heart of a Snowman" which was ADORABLE! then we made some pretty darn cute snowmen. Will try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.
Off to bed!
Goodnight computer, goodnight chair, goodnight bloggy friends, goodnight world.
Allyce
Sunday, January 8, 2012
sorry two in one day...again
Decided to link up for the Currently linky party this month! Super excited. (oh and I still don't know what to do with the kiddos tomorrow...
Goodnight to all!
I found a car and I liked it! (sorry not school related...)
So I was successful in my car search today! Very exciting stuff here because it usually takes me FOREVER to make a decision (I mean I can't decide what to have for dinner let alone what kind of car to buy). Well I went in thinking that I wanted a Ford Escape-and I liked that one. Then we looked at another dealership (actually as a joke for my friend to look at his car that he really wants to buy) and he pointed out the Jeep Patriot. I drove it-I loved it except the seat was too low (hey I'm short) so that sort of broke that deal. But I found another one at another place with the seats that can be raised and lowered! HOORAY! Called the first dealership back (it was a friend) and said if he could find me the Jeep Patriot in my price range I would buy from him. He found it we went back I am now just waiting for it to get to town this week! I absolutely can't wait!
On the car note it made me feel more confident today after I had the nightmare about my old car last night. Lets just say that all of the gauges started going nuts and lights were blinking and it was 6:30 in the morning on my way to school (this road has very few cars and is very dark). It was a BAD BAD dream!
Now it is 9:07 on a sunday night and I have absolutely NO idea what I will be doing with my kids tomorrow... I have no specials... Haven't even been told if we are starting our new reading program tomorrow or not...maybe I will check my email to see if there is anything there...otherwise I think we will be practicing some new sight words. Oh and we have to write in our family letter books. I need to think of some activities for MLK day.
I had a good Saturday too! This has been one busy weekend here! Had a teacher friend from where I work come to town for the day so we did the tourist thing (I hadn't done that in a LONG time) but I still have yet to put my toes in the sand or ocean. That will once again be my goal this week!
I live right near the border of WA and OR (I can be in Oregon in about 15-20 minutes) so there are lots of historical things to see. Lots of Lewis and Clark History.
Hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend! I know I have read far too many blogs.
What are you doing in your class to explain Martin Luther King day to your kids?
Allyce
On the car note it made me feel more confident today after I had the nightmare about my old car last night. Lets just say that all of the gauges started going nuts and lights were blinking and it was 6:30 in the morning on my way to school (this road has very few cars and is very dark). It was a BAD BAD dream!
Now it is 9:07 on a sunday night and I have absolutely NO idea what I will be doing with my kids tomorrow... I have no specials... Haven't even been told if we are starting our new reading program tomorrow or not...maybe I will check my email to see if there is anything there...otherwise I think we will be practicing some new sight words. Oh and we have to write in our family letter books. I need to think of some activities for MLK day.
I had a good Saturday too! This has been one busy weekend here! Had a teacher friend from where I work come to town for the day so we did the tourist thing (I hadn't done that in a LONG time) but I still have yet to put my toes in the sand or ocean. That will once again be my goal this week!
I live right near the border of WA and OR (I can be in Oregon in about 15-20 minutes) so there are lots of historical things to see. Lots of Lewis and Clark History.
Hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend! I know I have read far too many blogs.
What are you doing in your class to explain Martin Luther King day to your kids?
Allyce
Friday, January 6, 2012
well this will be random...
So I have been contemplating this post all day. Couldn't decide what to write about but I have a bunch of different things floating around and I am just going to write them down. (disclaimer: this could get long as I have no idea what all I will include...so if you are not in the mood for random or long or possibly boring although I will try to make it exciting. Then you might want to stop reading now.)
I have a list floating in my mind of some extra reasons why I love my job.
1- You can go to school on Friday (casual) in jeans, a zip up college sweatshirt and tennis shoes and a student will say, "You look pretty today Miss Bruncke." Made me smile that was for sure. ( I will say that I was finally having a good hair day for the first time this week. )
2- you can declare pajama day anytime you want (can't decide what the next reason will be).
3-you can decide that they need some time to just play and go for it. Yes my students got to play this afternoon-they are 5 years old we had been working all morning and into the afternoon and we were all tired. I will say that I was VERY impressed with how few tattles I heard during playtime today AND THEY CLEANED ALL OF THEIR MESSES UP! (Don't know if I mentioned before but I have the MESSIEST kids around. Maybe all of the stories this week about messy rooms finally clicked. hehe.)
4-I get to watch parents come into the classroom and play with plastic food with their kids and others while sitting at little tiny kindergarten tables.
5-5 year olds will ask you ANYTHING. I love the things that they come up with.
6- I love it when they catch on to the funny little parts in books. Usually only a couple do but it always makes me laugh.
QUESTION: Do you have computers in your classroom? How do you use them? Do you have any fantastic sites that the kids could navigate?
I have 3 macs in my room for student use. They love them-I have trouble letting them just use the computers (I worry they will break them-even with the reassurance from the principal that the superintendent would rather the kids use and break them than have them not be used.) And I really don't like it when the kids argue about whose turn it is. But they didn't fight about it at all today! Hooray!
I think I need to join the clutter free classroom challenge. My classroom is driving me nuts! I have small piles EVERYWHERE! Except my teacher desk where the pile has exceeded small. It's embarrassing. I MUST FIX IT! ASAP. We have an early release on the 25th-hopefully I don't wait that long but if I do it MUST get done that day. I will take some before pictures next week though.
It has been a crazy long week. But there have been many good things that have happened. When I was hired at my school I was told that the staff feels like a family. Until this week I wasn't really feeling it. But this week something clicked in the building. People seem to be in better moods and people are communicating more-makes me smile!
I am watching the final episode of the Oprah show right now that they replayed on new years eve. Can I just say that she is pretty darn amazing. I could watch this episode over and over! I love it when she talks about being responsible for the energy you bring into the room. This is so important especially in teaching when YOU have the chance to make it a great day or a not great day. We work hard and go to school tired but can't let it change how we teach. I was frustrated today-the kids were not settling down, I had a parent in the room (another story for another day), my aid was not there but I had a sub, my high school aids didn't come today. But I didn't let it get to me. I just waited, and waited and waited. Eventually we got to read the story and the kids loved it. It was about snow! Then we talked about what we like to do in the snow. (can you tell that I want it to snow here already! But not on a school day because I don't want to make it up on the 27th-we have a teacher work day scheduled for that day and I need it! and it would be lovely to have that day as a quiet day-we do have meetings scheduled-since my birthday is the next day.)
Well here is to a great weekend for all!
Oprah just talked about how important her 4th grade teacher was-she even had her at her last show! We do make a HUGE difference!
Hope you all made it through the week with some sanity! Oh and thanks for all the input with my car search I really appreciate it! Enjoy the weekend!
Allyce
I have a list floating in my mind of some extra reasons why I love my job.
1- You can go to school on Friday (casual) in jeans, a zip up college sweatshirt and tennis shoes and a student will say, "You look pretty today Miss Bruncke." Made me smile that was for sure. ( I will say that I was finally having a good hair day for the first time this week. )
2- you can declare pajama day anytime you want (can't decide what the next reason will be).
3-you can decide that they need some time to just play and go for it. Yes my students got to play this afternoon-they are 5 years old we had been working all morning and into the afternoon and we were all tired. I will say that I was VERY impressed with how few tattles I heard during playtime today AND THEY CLEANED ALL OF THEIR MESSES UP! (Don't know if I mentioned before but I have the MESSIEST kids around. Maybe all of the stories this week about messy rooms finally clicked. hehe.)
4-I get to watch parents come into the classroom and play with plastic food with their kids and others while sitting at little tiny kindergarten tables.
5-5 year olds will ask you ANYTHING. I love the things that they come up with.
6- I love it when they catch on to the funny little parts in books. Usually only a couple do but it always makes me laugh.
QUESTION: Do you have computers in your classroom? How do you use them? Do you have any fantastic sites that the kids could navigate?
I have 3 macs in my room for student use. They love them-I have trouble letting them just use the computers (I worry they will break them-even with the reassurance from the principal that the superintendent would rather the kids use and break them than have them not be used.) And I really don't like it when the kids argue about whose turn it is. But they didn't fight about it at all today! Hooray!
I think I need to join the clutter free classroom challenge. My classroom is driving me nuts! I have small piles EVERYWHERE! Except my teacher desk where the pile has exceeded small. It's embarrassing. I MUST FIX IT! ASAP. We have an early release on the 25th-hopefully I don't wait that long but if I do it MUST get done that day. I will take some before pictures next week though.
It has been a crazy long week. But there have been many good things that have happened. When I was hired at my school I was told that the staff feels like a family. Until this week I wasn't really feeling it. But this week something clicked in the building. People seem to be in better moods and people are communicating more-makes me smile!
I am watching the final episode of the Oprah show right now that they replayed on new years eve. Can I just say that she is pretty darn amazing. I could watch this episode over and over! I love it when she talks about being responsible for the energy you bring into the room. This is so important especially in teaching when YOU have the chance to make it a great day or a not great day. We work hard and go to school tired but can't let it change how we teach. I was frustrated today-the kids were not settling down, I had a parent in the room (another story for another day), my aid was not there but I had a sub, my high school aids didn't come today. But I didn't let it get to me. I just waited, and waited and waited. Eventually we got to read the story and the kids loved it. It was about snow! Then we talked about what we like to do in the snow. (can you tell that I want it to snow here already! But not on a school day because I don't want to make it up on the 27th-we have a teacher work day scheduled for that day and I need it! and it would be lovely to have that day as a quiet day-we do have meetings scheduled-since my birthday is the next day.)
Well here is to a great weekend for all!
Oprah just talked about how important her 4th grade teacher was-she even had her at her last show! We do make a HUGE difference!
Hope you all made it through the week with some sanity! Oh and thanks for all the input with my car search I really appreciate it! Enjoy the weekend!
Allyce
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
seems like winter break was ages ago...
Well I have had a BUSY week so far. We went back on Monday-we were the ONLY district in the area that did. But hey I got a jump start on the rest of the world and overall we had a pretty good day in room 7. The kids were listening-we got some work done-they remembered the rules. We read a new book that I got while on break. It's called The ABC's of Thank You and Please. I HIGHLY recommend it! The kids loved it and they said some of the cutest things! It even talks about what to do when there is a new student. My favorite was the little guy who said, "Even when something doesn't go right it can still work out." Made me smile and feel good inside to hear him truly understand what we were talking about! (Oh and one of my little ones-who tends to be a handful-brought me a new necklace. On one side it has an old time picture of a teacher with the word "teacher" on the back it says, "You can't scare me I teach school" She handed it to me and said, "We thought you would like this. It's sort of funny.")
Yesterday I had big plans to make my new January calendar numbers during the kids PE time (planning time). Well I made the mistake of going down to the office (after I had gotten distracted and made new name tags for their desks). At this point the secretary comes into the work room and informs me that I have a new student being enrolled "right now, do you want to meet him?" Of course I wanted to meet him! Turns out he moved to the town of my school from the town that I live in! I actually knew who his mom was. He seemed to be a very quiet little guy but he also seemed very excited to be coming. Not nearly as excited as the class was when I told them! And they said "Hey we know what to do when there is a new kid! We have to be nice and help them out so they know what to do! Just like the book said!" (I am not even making this up. My kids actually said this! I was so so so excited!)
Today we started the day with inside recess (which continued ALL day! Can you say restless!). This actually worked out ok though as it made it easier for me tostop slow the kids from swarming the new little guy. He fit in just fine. And he lived up to the warning I got from a friend about him being a handful. (pretty sure he was just testing to see what I would do-took care of that) We did some other stuff. Then we had math stations. At which point I was going around observing what kids were doing (ok I may have been cleaning at the same time-multitasking is the only way to survive in Kinderland) I overheard a conversation at the frog sorting area. Two girls had made frog families (hey they sorted them so the families were all the same kind of frog!). They were making them talk. Here is a few snippets of the conversation.
A: eeeeeee!!!
B:I LOVE Justin Bieber!
A: He is so cute! He is a pop star!
And I am currently forgetting the rest-even after I repeated it about 100 times in my head on my drive home today.
Other funny for the day. New little guy raises his hand during story time. I finish the story and ask him what his question was. He says, "It's not a question it's a wish." I say, "You have to keep wishes secret so that they will come true." Him, "I'm going to tell this one to everyone." Me: "ok..." Him, "We wish you a Merry CHristmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year." Oh how I love the Kindergarten mind.
Oh and yesterday one little girl whispers in my ear "Why don't you ever teach us about Jesus?" I have to say this question left me a little bit speechless. My response, "There is a law that says I'm not supposed to. Why don't you ask your mom about it." She says, "Well I went to Sunday school but only two times but I was in a play....etc. (she acted out her whole part)"
So how has your week been? Any especially interesting stories? Anyone else feeling like it has been AGES since winter break?
On the super exciting side I'm going car shopping this weekend! Suggestions? (I drive about 100 miles a day, need room in the back-not the seat-for a 75 pound dog. And I would like to have four wheel drive, and sit a little higher up.)
Happy hump day (Wednesday)!
Allyce
Yesterday I had big plans to make my new January calendar numbers during the kids PE time (planning time). Well I made the mistake of going down to the office (after I had gotten distracted and made new name tags for their desks). At this point the secretary comes into the work room and informs me that I have a new student being enrolled "right now, do you want to meet him?" Of course I wanted to meet him! Turns out he moved to the town of my school from the town that I live in! I actually knew who his mom was. He seemed to be a very quiet little guy but he also seemed very excited to be coming. Not nearly as excited as the class was when I told them! And they said "Hey we know what to do when there is a new kid! We have to be nice and help them out so they know what to do! Just like the book said!" (I am not even making this up. My kids actually said this! I was so so so excited!)
Today we started the day with inside recess (which continued ALL day! Can you say restless!). This actually worked out ok though as it made it easier for me to
A: eeeeeee!!!
B:I LOVE Justin Bieber!
A: He is so cute! He is a pop star!
And I am currently forgetting the rest-even after I repeated it about 100 times in my head on my drive home today.
Other funny for the day. New little guy raises his hand during story time. I finish the story and ask him what his question was. He says, "It's not a question it's a wish." I say, "You have to keep wishes secret so that they will come true." Him, "I'm going to tell this one to everyone." Me: "ok..." Him, "We wish you a Merry CHristmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year." Oh how I love the Kindergarten mind.
Oh and yesterday one little girl whispers in my ear "Why don't you ever teach us about Jesus?" I have to say this question left me a little bit speechless. My response, "There is a law that says I'm not supposed to. Why don't you ask your mom about it." She says, "Well I went to Sunday school but only two times but I was in a play....etc. (she acted out her whole part)"
So how has your week been? Any especially interesting stories? Anyone else feeling like it has been AGES since winter break?
On the super exciting side I'm going car shopping this weekend! Suggestions? (I drive about 100 miles a day, need room in the back-not the seat-for a 75 pound dog. And I would like to have four wheel drive, and sit a little higher up.)
Happy hump day (Wednesday)!
Allyce
Sunday, January 1, 2012
End of break and an award!
First of all I haven't been to blog land in a couple days and just about had a heart attack when I saw that I had 11 comments to moderate and I now have 34 followers!! There may have been a little happy dance-if I was not already in bed (well being honest here I spent the entire day in bed relaxing and finishing the 5th season of Army Wives on Netflix. Side note: If you have not watched that show only do so if you have enough time to sit and watch all 5 seasons-which is best done in your pajamas :) and you will want to have some tissue handy for a few episodes.) Anyway. I was so excited!!! It makes me smile that this small town girl (I mean there are only two buildings in the entire district that I teach in and they are across the street from each other.) has this many people reading what she has to say. So thank you to my new followers! I really appreciated all of the comments!
On to other things. I go back to school tomorrow...I am not ready. All of the other schools in the area don't go back until Tuesday but I get to go back tomorrow. I guess I should check my school email...haven't done that indays ok maybe a week. I am glad I spent this last day in my pajamas not doing a thing. I will admit I am looking forward to a few little Kinder hugs and smiles tomorrow though. I missed those little people!
I had a good new years. I hosted but it was very relaxed and just fun. I made way too much food as usual. (I blame this on my mother because she taught me to cook and well we always give her a hard time about always cooking enough for the whole neighborhood.)
Now on to the award. I got the Versatile Blogger award from Tanya over at Ms. Solano's Kindergarten. There are rules with this award. That say I'm supposed to thank the person who gave it to me. Write 7 facts about myself and list 15 blogs Istalk read. So...
THANK YOU TANYA!!! I truly appreciate it!
I did the facts and nominations post back in September . But I am always up to share about myself so here are 7 completely useless facts about myself for you to read.
1- I do not like cookies with milk. I think its the whole soggy cookie thing. (I don't like fruit with Chocolate either.)
2-My roommate and I watch General Hospital nearly everyday (yes we DVR it...we are in our twenties and well laugh all you want. I really need to catch up since I haven't watched at all this break!)
3-I still write letters all the time. REAL letters-they are way more fun than email. But I am TERRIBLE about remembering to check my PO box...
4-My feet are ALWAYS cold. Drives me crazy.
5-I watch too much tv. I mean this. I have posted before about all of the shows I watch and well I regret to write that the list hasn't gotten any shorter.
6-I live at the beach but my toes have not touched the sand in probably 2 or more months. I know this is pathetic. I think I will have to fix this issue this week because it is just not acceptable.
7-I love watching rodeo! Anytime someone wants to talk bull riding I am all for it.
I am not going to find 15 more blogs tonight because I really should get ready for bed since I need to be up at 5am. (this could be a brutal morning...wish me luck. Just hope the coffee stand has some good coffee in the morning.) But I nominated 15 back in September and I stillstalk read all of them often!
Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and blessed new year! Good luck as you go back to school! (Yes I am jealous of the people who don't go back until the 9th!)
-Allyce
On to other things. I go back to school tomorrow...I am not ready. All of the other schools in the area don't go back until Tuesday but I get to go back tomorrow. I guess I should check my school email...haven't done that in
I had a good new years. I hosted but it was very relaxed and just fun. I made way too much food as usual. (I blame this on my mother because she taught me to cook and well we always give her a hard time about always cooking enough for the whole neighborhood.)
Now on to the award. I got the Versatile Blogger award from Tanya over at Ms. Solano's Kindergarten. There are rules with this award. That say I'm supposed to thank the person who gave it to me. Write 7 facts about myself and list 15 blogs I
THANK YOU TANYA!!! I truly appreciate it!
I did the facts and nominations post back in September . But I am always up to share about myself so here are 7 completely useless facts about myself for you to read.
1- I do not like cookies with milk. I think its the whole soggy cookie thing. (I don't like fruit with Chocolate either.)
2-My roommate and I watch General Hospital nearly everyday (yes we DVR it...we are in our twenties and well laugh all you want. I really need to catch up since I haven't watched at all this break!)
3-I still write letters all the time. REAL letters-they are way more fun than email. But I am TERRIBLE about remembering to check my PO box...
4-My feet are ALWAYS cold. Drives me crazy.
5-I watch too much tv. I mean this. I have posted before about all of the shows I watch and well I regret to write that the list hasn't gotten any shorter.
6-I live at the beach but my toes have not touched the sand in probably 2 or more months. I know this is pathetic. I think I will have to fix this issue this week because it is just not acceptable.
7-I love watching rodeo! Anytime someone wants to talk bull riding I am all for it.
I am not going to find 15 more blogs tonight because I really should get ready for bed since I need to be up at 5am. (this could be a brutal morning...wish me luck. Just hope the coffee stand has some good coffee in the morning.) But I nominated 15 back in September and I still
Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and blessed new year! Good luck as you go back to school! (Yes I am jealous of the people who don't go back until the 9th!)
-Allyce
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