Friday, September 27, 2013

Yesterday was: Thursday, Today is: Friday, Tomorrow will be: SATURDAY! Hallelujah!

Well, friends! Here we are at another Friday.... Can I get an amen?!
There were certainly some shouted out in our school at 3:00 today! It feels like this week was long across the board. But really, when my calendar board looks like below..I'm all smiles!
It's been a couple of weeks since I've written on this little blog of ours... I'm sure all you teachers can understand- the first year is just plain CRAZAYYYY! There's so much to think about, to do, to plan, to manage... my list gets longer by the minute (typical, I know) but I'm starting to get into a routine that I think both myself and my kids are really enjoying. This week we also had Open House. Now that that is over I feel like I can breath a little bit more easily!
All of that is really nothing I can complain about though because I really love my class. They're coming together so well and I really feel like we're working as a team now.

Just a little story about how awesome my kids are... The other day we were working in our groups (always working on social skills and friendships) and I noticed one group was getting a little chattier than the rest. I play pandora radio all day in my classroom- I call it quiet working music. I think it really creates a calming sense and feel in the room and my kids just love it. Now they even ask for it when Miss McBride forgets to press play. Anyway- my words are always the same... "If you can't hear the music, your voice is too loud". Well, this group's voices were too loud... but I kept hearing things like "Me too!" or "I know! Best ever!" or "That's my favorite".... I went over to the table to ask them to lower their voices and remind them to listen to the music and one of my sweet munchkins jumped out of her chair and gave me a hug saying "Miss McBride- sorry we're so loud... we're all talking about how you're the best teacher ever!" Welp... warm my heart right up sweet girl. Gosh I love them. And I love that they love school!
Today, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for a good 'ol Five for Friday! 
Let's get right to it! This one is really gonna be random!
 It's officially fall. The leaves are changing, the air is cool and it's sweatshirt weather which just makes everything amazing. I love this time of year! And I love pumpkin everything. Sooooo it's a win win.  Read more about why I love it here!
Yesterday, we celebrated my momma's birthday! Happy birthday Mom! I love you!
Class Dojo is my new favorite thing. My kids LOVE it and I do too! They all went home the day I introduced it and made their own little avatars! I keep Class Dojo up on my SmartBoard all day. About a week ago, we had a discussion on positive and negative behaviors that I am either looking for or looking to avoid and we plugged those into the website. Now, whenever I see someone demonstrating one of those behaviors I can click on their little avatar and award points and my SmartBoard will make a little sound that all my kids just know to listen for. Obviously, my goal everyday is to highlight the positive behaviors in my class. I find that if I notice a negative behavior occurring, and I give a point to someone who is demonstrating a positive behavior, the child demonstrating the negative behavior checks themselves and turns it around. The picture above of the 98% donut was my class' record for today! So proud of them!! :) 
Last weekend, I went on the Youth Group's Fall Retreat. It was such a wonderful time and I loved being away for the weekend. The teens had a great time too. The funny thing is, my church shares the camp that weekend with another church from Boston. A woman from my school leaned over to me at assembly this morning and asked me if I happened to have been in New Hampshire last weekend at the exact camp that I was at! She was there as a part of the other church we were sharing the camp with! Such a small world! Pretty cool :)
This morning, right before school started, my friend Tom from Kenya called me! My heart just flipped around in my chest as I answered and heard his voice! AND! I got to speak with a bunch of the kids from Flying Kites- the organization that I was working with in Kenya. The boy in this picture is named Benson. I call him Benny and he just stole my heart. You can read all about why on my personal blog here! Anyway, it made my morning to talk to Tom and Benny, Lucy O and Mary! Really, I couldn't stop smiling. It made me yearn for Kenya even more than normal. But my heart is so full!
Last but not certainly least.... This week in Fundations we've been reviewing digraphs and blends and I just knew that our Sweet Tooth Crush set was beyond necessary for my classroom. I was so excited to use it and my kids just loved it! We typically share our stuff and explain that everything comes with a week of reinforcing activities but over the last two days, I had some good chunks of time in my schedule since Guided Reading groups haven't started yet and I couldn't wait to use this bundle of goodies for centers! I set up my room in 5 centers. It was perfect! To start, we all played Scoot! What a fun game. The kids loved it AND the OT teacher was in my room to observe- and she said my room was super OT friendly and she loved being in there. YES! And... when we had our Fundations assessment today, most all my kiddies got all their words right! Again, I'm so proud of my kids!

I set up my centers as follows:
1) I Have Who Has
2) Board Game
3) Word Sort
4) Word Search and Ladder Page (copied back to back)
5) Read and Illustrate and Word Shapes (copied back to back)

I spread out my centers around the room and put a rotating list on the smart board of how they should move. When the kids heard the bell, we switched. It took us 2 days to get through all the centers because it was our first time doing it. Everything takes longer the first time- all that explanation and modeling that's SO vital just takes up a good chunk of the lesson. The kids had so much fun over the last two day and I did too!

Grab your set in our store! It's so worth it!
What an awesome (but long) week! I just love being a teacher. I love the struggles and the challenges that lead to new understanding and ah-ha moments and today I realized I love love love Friday hugs before dismissal.

Happy Weekend Everyone! The weather here in New England is supposed to be beautiful! Enjoy :)
And just because I'm obsessed with both Fall and Melonheadz....  


5 comments:

  1. You are precious ....your kids are so blessed! !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Stacy,
    I'd love to participate in a literacy blog hop! Count me in. :)
    ReadWithMeABC {at} yahoo {dot } com
    :)
    Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm thinking of using Class Dojo in my middle school class too haha

    ALSO. Your little calendar board is ADORABLE. I wish I could create cute things haha

    ReplyDelete