It’s about 2pm here and I just woke up.
Okay, not really. My body woke up around 8am and the rest of me joined in about five minutes ago. As in, 2:05pm.
I don’t know where I was or what I was doing, but when I walked into the family room, I saw Murphie reading on her iPad.
Ha!
We just went on a long walk — which is just one of the reasons I love Saturdays. 🙂
Picture day was this week and I had no clue what I was going to wear (but I wasn’t stressing about it, either). I ran into Target to get some soap (and about $100 worth of who-knows-what- because I certainly didn’t have it on any list or anything) and saw this cute dress hanging up.
I said to myself CUTE! and kept shopping.
When I was ready to check out, I said If they have your size, get it.
They had my size so I just threw it in the cart and didn’t even try it on. I always try stuff on . . . but I threw caution to the wind when I threw the dress in my cart.
The dress is super comfy and flowy. I was a little afraid that it might appear as if I was pregnant . . . but after several assurances from Steve that I didn’t look pregnant and then telling people when they said I looked cute that I hope I don’t look pregnant! I was told the dress didn’t make me look pregnant.
And the fact that I’m practically considered too old to be pregnant might have helped, too.
But honestly . . . $24.99 for a dress that I didn’t have to try on and that I instantly loved is a good day in my book.
It’s also a good day in my book when you throw a Take 5 candy bar in your cart, as well, because you know the dress will cover up any weight gain you might possibly gain from a candy bar. Or two.
We worked on a little bit of grammar this week — beginning sentences with capital letters! I LOVE LOVE LOVE A Teachable Teacher’s Grammar Cut and Paste pack. This was perfect for a little practice at their seats.
I introduced plays this week. I couldn’t wait.
I usually like to introduce them in small groups.
But I couldn’t wait.
So I paired up kids (all at the same time — the whole class was in pairs) and it was CRAZY.
Crazy good and crazy exciting. but very very very crazy. Let’s all be glad an administrator didn’t walk in.
I had a brainstorm earlier today (on my walk with Murphie – bonus!) and maybe you’ve already thought of this, but I’m going to reintroduce plays on Monday. I need a DO OVER.
I just finished printing THE SAME PLAY for all of my kids. I’m not making them into folders. I just stapled them in the corner. And, because I have HP Instant Ink, I printed them in color. But you could print in black and white and then hopefully the gray highlight will be easy enough to see or you can “manually” highlight the parts.
Anyways, I printed the play All About G from the Kinder pack. It’s an easy play, but I want everyone to feel successful and we’ll work on expression and fluency. And yes, you can have fluency and expression with this play. Trust me. And you can use movements, too.
There are two characters, a dog and a cat.
So I printed 15 copies of the dog’s part and 15 copies of the cat’s part and I’ll pass them out on Monday. And half the class will read the dog’s part and the other half will read the cat’s part. But we’ll do it ALL TOGETHER so that everyone GETS HOW TO DO IT.
GENIUS, I tell you! LIGHTBULB!
You’re welcome. I’m glad I went through the chaos to help you out. I’m a giver, don’t ya know.
I don’t have a picture of this one, but I received an email this week from a parent of a little girl I had in my class YEARS AGO.
I’m talking 15 years ago!!
And now the little first grader is a senior at Purdue University in Indiana and she is an Elementary Education major and wants to be a teacher because, apparently, I inspired her.
Say what??
I say all the time that I don’t think I taught my first few classes anything and I certainly hope that their second grade teachers taught them to read because I, for one, did not.
I mean, I was just drowning those first few years.
So this email was a huge relief! This student of mine GOT INTO COLLEGE.
Hallelujah!
Phew.
It was THE BEST email. I dug up my class pictures from my handy dandy files that I keep on all my school stuff and I found the little girl right away.
She looked adorable.
And I looked . . . frazzled. And young. And like I didn’t know what I was doing.
🙂
That’s my five for this week. How was your week?
LOVE the whole group RT idea! Last school year we read them in spring since that's when I purchased my first set, I know, I'm sorry, so doing them in small groups was great. BUT, since I teach Kinder, I think I'll introduce our first one on the pocket chart, once school starts, of course, and once I write one out on sentence strips. Now to go pick one! Thanks for the idea! <3
Murphie looks huge on that couch! Glad you had a good week. I am excited to use your plays right from the beginning of the year, this year. But I still have two more weeks of summer… so there is no rush! Enjoy your weekend!
Umm you need to scan your pic from 15 years ago as #5..,just saying 😉
Our first grade team had two teachers who were pregnant last year. Neither one of them was me, until one day when I wore a flowy top and all the kids asked if I had a baby in there. You've got to love those sixes!
2 days of 21 firsties (I feel guilty when I hear your number!) and it was fab u lous! Last year I had a boy who pooped his pants almost, yes almost, every day and a boy who got a kick out of screaming, throwing chairs, hitting, kicking, biting, and using quite profane language.
So for the past 2 days, the worst I've had was "may I get a drink, may I sharpen my pencil, can I go potty?" I'm on cloud 9,9999,9999! I can't wait till Monday! Am I really saying that?
And I can't wait to start your "Gold Tags"….."Pin It"…..and "Readers Theater". You're a genius!
And I love your Target dress!
:0)
Loved using your plays last year and I can't wait to break them out this year… but I'll need to wait until my Kinders are ready. Great idea giving them all the same play when you introduce them. Glad you had that lightbulb moment! I'm looking forward to using your Gold Tags this year!
Cheryl
KinderIrick
Interesting…we're doing cats the next 2 weeks… Pete the Cat and Splat the Cat. I bet they would love the dog/cat play to go along with it! ha!
As if your writing isn't great enough let me just say that I am so stealing Fraturday…if its ok of course because who has the time energy or DESIRE to write a Five for Friday after a week of school? I don't want to apologize for writing a Five for Friday on Saturday anymore so I am loving Fraturday! Can I borrow?!?
Of course!!! 🙂