Judy Moody goes to College
Posted by: eiela on: 1 September 2008
Also Posted at The Picnic Basket.
This book is a definite winner. I read it to all the second graders at my school, and it makes a great read-aloud. When Judy Moody visited the art class and called it the “Naked Lady class,” she had them rolling with laughter. The story moves quickly, and it’s full of humor that the kids loved. Almost all of them know someone going to college, and it made for great real-life connections for them. Every single Judy Moody title in our library has stayed checked out ever since. I’ve been recommending it to students who love Junie B. Jones by Park and Clementine by Pennypacker.
Judy Moody Goes to College
As a teacher, I thought it would be a great novel to build a curricular theme around—you could work in math by talking about the topics Judy Moody discusses with her tutor, art through the art class Judy attends in the story, and even some environmental science topics. You might even take a field trip to a local college and see how it compares to the one Judy Moody visits in the story.
Freddie the Rainbow
Posted by: eiela on: 29 August 2008
I love Kindergartners sometimes.
ME: What’s your name?
K student: “Freddie the Rainbow.”
Turn to my assistant to see if she heard the same thing I did. She did. (She has the best faces!)
ME: Could you tell me that again?
Second try reveals that his last name does rhyme with Rainbow, but is not, in fact, rainbow!
Back to School by the Numbers meme
Posted by: eiela on: 25 August 2008
- In: teaching
- 2 Comments
I’ve been tagged for an interesting original meme by Where’s the Sun? (More numbers! ack! I just finished counting about a bajillion pennies for our Book Fair One for Books change drive!) Really, though, this is the first time Ive ever been tagged for a meme, so I’m excited.
Back To School Meme
Completed in Reference to (Self or Child): Self
1. Number of years teaching or your eldest child has been in school (k through college) ? 6
2. Amount approximately spent on Back to School Items so far including clothes? $100.00
3. Number of Days until school starts in your area (+ or – if it’s started)? 15 days down, 165 to go!
4. Approximate distance school is from your house? 4 miles
5. Amount of time it will take you or your child to get to school from your house by car or bus? 9 minutes
6. The actual or approximate number of students in the class you teach or your oldest child’s class? 27 classes, 500ish students
7. The number of classes in your grade or your oldest child’s grade level? see above (I see all grades!)
8. The price to buy a full student lunch at school? $2.25
9. Number of schools in your district? 21
10. Early dismissal days already built into the calendar? 3
11. Price paid for the most expensive back to school item so far? $20 for some new pants
12. Time school day ends? 2:45 for the kiddos, 3:00 for me
* Just for fun and since this is a numbers meme try to match the number of people you invite to try this meme with your lowest answer to any of the questions minus one whichever you choose. My smallest answer was number was 3 (half-days in question 10), soooo. . . subtract one equals two. Two cool bloggers I like to read. (The Count laugh here ah, ha, ah):
And somebody else, soon I hope!
*Back to School by the Numbers Meme created by: Wheresthesun.org
Meet the candidates
Posted by: eiela on: 24 August 2008
Found this via the teachers.net chatboard. Wouldn’t this be a cool tool to talk about the presidential candidates with students? The presentation style really lends itself to a discussion of whether or not the president actually has the power to do what the candidates are promising to do. Which is one of my huge pet peeves–when they promise stuff that anybody who can READ the constitution knows they don’t have the authority to actually accomplish. (Speaking of election stuff, I’ve pre-ordered these comic books for my library. I couldn’t resist. A COMIC book! About our future President! Neat-ola).
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Posted by: eiela on: 19 August 2008
I read The Boy Who Cried Wolf by B.G. Hennessy to one of my classes today, since they’re studying fairy tales and fables in reading this week. Before reading we talked about how a fable is a story that’s meant to teach a lesson, and I asked them to be thinking about what lesson this story was teaching while they listened.
Afterwards, I had the kids share their answers with a partner before talking as a whole group. (Good way to get all to participate, and to eavesdrop and see how many in the class get it). Then, anybody who wanted to could share their answer with the whole class. My favorites:
“Don’t lie, ’cause nobody will believe you.”
“Don’t scam people, it makes them mad.”
“No pranking.”
Side note–I love this version of the story! It has captivating illustrations (down to the lazy shepherd boy lying on the grass picking his nose!) and fun text to read aloud. Check it out on amazon.
When I’m in charge of the world
Posted by: eiela on: 4 August 2008
Here’s the school schedule I’d implement. I’ve often thought that BOTH the students and teachers would be so much more relaxed and ready to learn/teach in the afternoon, if the kids could get outside for at least half and hour and run around like nuts in the middle of the day. Better yet if everyone got a break from the work of learning for at least an hour, plus time for lunch. So I started thinking about how to make that happen. Here’s my idea, what do you think? (My system uses block schedules starting in middle school, but in Middle, you have Language Arts & Math all year, 2 “specials,” and Sci/SS share a block.
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High/middle schedule
8:30-10:00 First block
10:10-11:40 Second Block
11:40-1:40 Lunch/activity block
11:40-12:10 1st lunch/activity period
12:10-12:40 1st lunch/activity period
12:40-1:10 3rd 1st lunch/activity period
1:10-1:40 4th 1st lunch/activity period **sports teams lunches (no yakking on the field!)
1:40-3:10 Third block
3:20-4:50 Fourth block
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Students who are not in a club/sport are assigned to three choices of activity periods during the lunch/activity block.
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Any school assemblies take place during this block.
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Almost all teachers have the lunch/activity block “off”–1/2 hour lunch & 1 ½ hour planning/meeting time. Staff meetings occur here, but are no more than 45 minutes.
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Teachers assistants/ community volunteers supervise the activity blocks, or teachers who want to end their day at 3:30 & have a “traditional” schedule, or want to earn extra pay for supervision duties. Or supervision duties could be rotated, like bus duty is now.
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Sports/band/choir practices are scheduled during the activity period.
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Coaches could have another block off, to make up for time spent coaching their sport.
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Club meetings occur during one of the activity periods.
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Students who could drive could leave during activity period? (Maybe just seniors?)
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Parents encouraged to schedule Dr. appointments during this time, so as not to interfere with academic time.
Activity periods available:
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Tutoring *students could be assigned to this block if necessary.
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Library reading/research
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Quiet study
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nap/rest/quiet
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Educational TV (PBS, TLC, CNN National Geographic—if this is legal)
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Computer Lab
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“recess” (outdoors or gym)
Elementary schedule
7:45-10:45 Morning Session
10:45-12:45 Lunch/activity block
12:45-3:45 Afternoon Session
Lunch/activity block options:
10:45-11:15 K & 1 lunch 2 & 3 recess 4 & 5 tutoring/lab/library/quiet
11:15-11:45 2 & 3 lunch K & 1 Quiet time 4 & 5 recess
11:45-12:15 4 & 5 lunch K & 1 Recess 2 & 3 tutoring/lab/library
12:15-12:45 4th lunch period if needed/Extra recess/Schoolwide assemblies/Club meetings.
Blog love & Parent Power
Posted by: eiela on: 30 July 2008
- In: teaching
- 2 Comments
I stumbled across Current Education Issues via a link from this week’s Carnival of Education at The Chancellor’s New Clothes. Lots of good posts made it into the Carnival, so be sure check it out.
Current Education Issues had several posts that really got me thinking. He’s probably aggravated with me right now, as I just finished writing a small essay about my thoughts on tenure as a comment, but the thoughts were bubbling over. His writing is clear and concise–unlike mine! Talking about education issues without a trace of educationese is quite a feat. You should go see it in action.
So after commenting on the tenure post, I found this one. Here’s a taste:
Those who experience ineffective education are parents who refuse or fail to take steps to ensure that their child gets quality learning. Don’t like the teacher or the school? Get a new one. Don’t like how your child’s behaving in school? Change their behavior. Is your child not making the grade? Spend more time with him on his school work.
What did you say? You don’t have school choice? You can’t change their behavior? You can’t spend more time with her?
Hog-wash.
He then explains what parents have the POWER to do to make sure there child gets the best education possible. Teachers and schools don’t get a free pass, but parents are important. He just points out that there are some things parents have more influence over than the school does.
The parent power to change behavior is the one I see the most. If parents insist that their kid behave, 99.999% of the time, s/he will. Everybody has bad days, but when a kid knows their parents will hold them accountable at home for their behavior in school, those days are fairly rare.
When I taught middle school and had issues with one of my darlings, I would call home. Usually from my room phone with the kid listening.
You know how I could tell when I would most likely never have to call about a problem again? When the parent said something like “I’ll take care of it. Can I speak to My Darling Sunshine right now?” Sometimes I could hear what they were saying (once, the whole class could! That was a bit much–but that girl worked like a demon for me the rest of the year. All I had to do was wander towards the phone if she started to get off task). Those parents used their power to change behavior usually got results.
You know how I knew when to go ahead and start the discipline paperwork? When the parent said, “When she’s at school, she’s your problem.”
I don’t call parents much now–one of the perks of being the librarian is not having to “discipline” much. I see 500ish students every week, but, really, how much trouble can you get into in a half hour? I think I’ve “written up” maybe one kid in two years, and there was blood involved. But I do keep the in-school suspension kids when there’s an overflow. They often have “she’s your problem” parents.
I just discovered that…
Posted by: eiela on: 15 July 2008
- In: jott
- Leave a Comment
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Posted by: eiela on: 25 June 2008
I’ve just finished The Lightning Thief, and its sequel, Sea of Monsters, and loved them. The basic premise of the story is that the main character, Percy Jackson, discovers that not only do all the ancient Greek gods exist, but he is the son of one of them. (Telling you which one would spoil the first book a bit, so I’m not gonna). He goes to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for heroes–children of gods and mortal parents. The camp director is Dionysus, or Mr. D. On his way, he is attacked by the Minotaur. The adventures get better and better . 
I’ve been teaching a summer enrichment program for rising sixth graders, and I wish I’d discovered these books while planning! They’d be a great introduction to Greek mythology.
American Girl
Posted by: eiela on: 19 June 2008
Morning Edition did a story about an upcoming movie based on the American Girl series of books. I just listened to it now, and got a thrill in the middle of doing the dishes. (Mark this day on your calendar people! Thrilled while doing dishes–an historic event!) Now, I wonder what I can promise my husband to induce him to take me to this movie?
I LOVED these books as a child. I think I read through the entire series multiple times–Borrow my limit from my school library, read them THAT NIGHT (or better yet, during school), return them in the morning, get more, lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat. I rediscovered them in my school library, and it’s still really difficult for me to read through that section of shelves without reading a couple. AGAIN.
As a kid, I got the American Girl catalogs in the mail. I’m not sure if this was a failing in their marketing research or not. There was no way in heckola my parents would have ever paid that much for a doll for me, much less for any of the stuff that you can get to go with it, but I loved drooling over the catalogs when they came. If I’d been in charge of the checkbook, the company would have been well repaid for their postage. Alas, it was not to be. Couldn’t even talk my grandparents into one of the dolls. Sigh.
In the Morning Edition piece, a 26-year-old woman talks about her doll, Kit, which the movie is based on. She still has it, of course, and recited some of the details of Kit’s story. Even though I never owned one of the dolls, I still remembered a lot about my favorite one–Samantha. She had the best clothes. I wonder if there will be a series of movies–I hope they do her story next.
