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A Teeny Tiny Teacher

Raise Your Hand if You Have a Question, I Said.

Well, Friday’s already here!  I have decided I am voting for the candidate who is instituting a four day school week.  Does anyone know which presidential candidate that is?   And where I might volunteer to call strangers up on the telephone to support this well-thought-out platform?

Before I left school today, I was gearing up for Monday.  As I always do.  I cannot leave school without knowing what I’m doing the next day.  Or being prepared.  This comes in handy on days like today.

Let me tell you what happened.

I sent off my All About Me books to be laminated at our Instructional Resource Center.  IRC for short.  That’s where I get my laminate for 10 cents a foot that everyone was all abuzz about earlier this summer. We have laminate at our school, too, but it requires a good ironing afterwards, and I’d rather iron clothes.  Well, that’s not true, but the one time I tried to “fluff up” unsealed laminate in the dryer, it didn’t quite work.

To make a long story short, (and not longer, as I tend to do) here are the bullet points.  Literally.

  • I had to drive across town to the IRC.
  • Then drive in the opposite direction back to school.
  • Before going to my classroom, I stopped to make copies in the workroom.
  • I heard my name on the intercom.
  • Apparently, I signed up to be on a committee that I forgot about.
  • And there was a meeting.
  • Right then.
  • I went to the meeting.  
  • Snooze.
  • Then I had to go to Recess Duty.
  • Sweat.
  • I picked my kids up from the playground and we all unlocked the room together.
  • I do not like that.
  • No.
My point:  I was all prepared and ready for the day because that’s how I have to do it.  So even though I felt flustered, I was all ready to go.  Which was especially good because I also had a parent helper waiting for me.  
(What do I do in the morning if I’m all prepped for the day?  Talk, of course.)

Hence, I got ready for Monday before I left school today.  Hence.  What a funny word.

We will be reading the Big Book, “To Be a Kid” in our Houghton Mifflin curriculum.

Ho Hum.

Not really one of my favorites.

BUT . . . the strategy next week is Question.

YES!

LOVE IT!

First, I will introduce Quincy, the Quizzical Questioner.

Yes, I have a microphone.  Of course.  It is one of my favorite toys to play with tools to use in the classroom.
Then I will teach the kiddos the Question Song.  I’ve shared this before, but now I’ve written it down for you.
AND THEN!
I am borrowing a game from my partner to help us practice asking questions.
We need practice.
We still tell stories.
Even though it’s supposed to be a question.
So when I say, “Does anyone have a question?”, I usually get a variety of, “One time, my mom went through the screen door!” Or “Ewww!  He farted!” Or “I have a wiggly tooth!”  “Me too!”  “Me too!”
We need practice.  Big time.
Here’s what we’re going to play.
(Source)
I’ll go first so I can model how to ask the questions.
You put the headband on your head (my partner gave me one that no one has worn yet so I can be worry free about lice) and stick a card in the holder.  Don’t look at the card.
Then you ASK QUESTIONS to figure out what you are.
There’s even a list of suggested questions!
My kids will see what’s on my card, but I won’t.  So I will model how to ask questions to figure out what I am.  And knowing me, I will probably model how NOT to ask questions so that I drive them crazy and they get exasperated with me.  I feel they learn better that way.  It tends to stick.  Especially if I’m outrageous.  Or if I talk in a funny voice.  Or if I make a funny face.  I never do all of that at once or they might explode.
Once I’ve modeled how to do it, I may have a couple of kids come up and be models, too.
And then, if it’s going really well, we’ll partner up and play the game for awhile! 
FUN!
The only problem?
We might run out of time to read the Big Book.  
Insert sneaky smile.  🙂
No.  Pee-shaw!  Really.  I hope to transfer their new knowledge of the question words to asking questions about the Big Book.  That’s the plan, anyway.
Click the pics to download Quincy and the song if you’d like.

Comments

  1. CarolP says

    Great game idea & I'll definitely use the resources you posted. I too cannot leave for the day unless I am set up for the next day. My brain doe not seem to function as well in the morning when I get to school as it does later on in the day. If I get to school early I usually end up visiting & get nothing done! I really dislike that story- To Be a Kid- too!

  3. Miss Foote says

    I love this game! I have two chickadees who color everything orange and black…not because they are Oregon State Beaver fans. Oh no they are Giants fans. Don't the first grade teachers know that can only be disaster…especially on weekends like this! We might have to be frenimies. Think Blue!

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

  4. Traci says

    LOVE the Hedbanz game AND the question song.

    Oh… and I hate ironing laminate… or anything for that matter. It IS too bad "fluffing" doesn't work on lamination ;-P

  5. Stephanie says

    I like you're thinking (as usual) I think I may have to start "running out of time" on certain things too! Great lesson ideas!!

    ❤ -Stephanie
    Falling Into First

  8. sopatty says

    My favorite comment from a student (a worldly but loveable first grade boy!) when viewing "To Be A Kid" (yawn…I like plots…): "That girl is HOT!" (find the page where there is a larger group of children—possibly near the end, can't quite remember right now!) Here's the thing. This little girl WILL probably be "hot" when she's older! She's beautiful! ha! But Seriously…the boy is SIX…the oxymoron of "To Be a Kid"…;)

  9. Jan says

    What a great idea to teach question words! I'm not quite there with my firsties…We've been reviewing beginning sounds- "No honey, "earring doesn't start with the /m/ sound"… sigh… We will start our basal stories next week- even though we have we have 90 books for 96 kids… and 5 sets of Teacher Editions for 6 teachers… bigger sigh…
    Thanks for sharing your great ideas and resources!

  10. KinderKapers says

    I need to be better at leaving with things prepared for the next day. My husband wakes me up at 4:00 each day. Since I can't always go back to sleep after he leaves at 4:30, often I am at school at 6:00, but usually by 7. I am wiped out at the end of the day. My goal: get more organized! Leave prepared! You are once again my inspiration.

    Another good questioning game (maybe for your fun Friday activities…Guess Who) Love the headbands. I hope I remember that when my Kinders are ready for it.

    Terri Izatt
    KinderKapers

  11. Christine Tignanelli says

    I had the same idea of using Headbandz for questioning. I never heard of the game until last school year when I had a game day and one of the kids brought this game in to play and I was like ah what a great thing to use for asking questions!

  12. Mary says

    My nieces are OBSESSED with Headbanz and I had to play it about 7598 times this summer. Loved it!

  13. Chrissy says

    I love your questioning song! And that game sounds like so much fun. It is so hard for the kids to understand the difference between questions and stories. I also agree with you- "To Be a Kid" isn't my favorite of the big books either. I like 10 Dogs in the Window and Charles Tiger. The Minerva Louise story is cute too. As always, I love reading your blog!
    Chrissy
    First Grade Found Me

  14. Terri Paulson-Sasaki says

    I swear we work in the same district. Same IRC, 10 cents a door. We have has the same inclement weather days and the same language arts program. Do you have envision for math?

    Terri
    thefirstgradeprincess.blogspot

  15. Jackie Abeyta says

    This happened to me yesterday. Well, it does every day. But I asked if anyone had a question and got "Mrs. Abeyta, there is an ant on the carpet!" Then a mad rush of firsties to try to see the ant.

    I LOVE these ideas. I'm so excited to use them with my class!

    Jackie
    Crazy Daze in First Grade

  16. Janine says

    I don't like that Big Book either. It might have to do with the fact that since we have the 2009 edition of HM, big books weren't ordered. So my classes for the past 4 years are introduced to the mini book version, the tiny pictures in my TM. This year I snuck up to the media center before everyone else (a post on this soon) and got an ELMO! I didn't even know we had them. Well, long story short, an administrator needs to install it. I am not an administrator of any sort, so it sits, next to my computer, turned off, and mocking me. At least I can show off my mini books…
    I am off to buy headbandz, I need it, NOW!

    faithfulinfirst.blogspot.com

  18. Reagan Tunstall says

    we play that game and I always get things like fire extinguisher that truly have 0 clues that are helpful. But guess who's taking that game to school and shredding the fire extinguisher card?!?! Yup me! thanks for the idea.

  20. Heidi Butkus says

    Hey there!
    You might want to teach them the "Is it a Question or a Story?" song from my new Classroom Management CD. It worked marvelously well for me last year! Once the kids all understood which is which, they policed each other. Every time a child started in telling a story, someone would call out, "STORY!" And then everyone would chime in with "That can WAIT!" in unison, just as if I had planned it and they did it on cue! It was really amazing, ha ha! (That's what they do in the song, you see.)
    If you want to try the CD out and review it on your blog, let me know and I'll send you a free copy. The same is true for the rest of you bloggers out there!
    Heidi
    heidi@heidisongs.com
    http://www.heidisongs.com

  21. IrisGoddess says

    They still can't remember what a question is in third.

    "Does anyone have a question about…(pronouns, multiplication, what a question is)?"

    *hands go up*

    "Yes, Joe?"

    Insert fifteen minute story. Arg! Instead I starting responding with, "Yes, Joe? What would you like to ask?"

    It's helped cut does on stories. As soon as the kid says, "Well, it's not a question but…" I can usually cut them off. Usually. And of course for some kids I always respond with, "Yes, Joe? What is your question about…?"

    I swear I *never* had a kid named Joe who I once timed with telling a story that lasted tn minutes. Seriously. I'm also *never* sarcastic in the classroom. 😀

  24. Unknown says

    Cute song! Thanks for sharing!

    ~Heidi V.

  25. Ms. Chrissy B says

    Even the big kids (fourth graders) pretend that they have a question by starting with 'I wonder' (which I don't like) and then continue by saying 'if the boy in the story is gong to go to school and then he won't have any friends and then somebody will help him find his class so he'll make a new friend and he'll be happier that he moved to the new school so he's not lonely anymore like he was before.'

    That's not a question, either. That's a prediction. A really really specific prediction. I make them choose which question word they're going to use before they start 'asking' their question. They have to say, "It's a who question," and then I interrupt them as soon as I see it's not really a who question. Not sure why this is so hard, except that I guess they always like to be right and know things instead of wonder things.

    Buzzing with Ms. B

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