thirteenth schmirteenth

While I have never been much for superstitions, today the Friday the Thirteenth superstitions were crushed to smithereens. It all started with the mister shouting out at six this morning that we were on a two-hour delay. I had already gotten my workout in and was in the midst of getting ready for the day, so I progressed as I would on any other day.

I got to school with two and a half hours of sweet silence to myself. I finished lesson plans for next week, I prepped the classroom for next week, I made a new batch of salt dough to replace ornaments from yesterday that had been too wet and therefore broke when they were taken off of their plates, I revised our daily schedule to fit the late start, and I found time to start writing out lesson plans for the week following Christmas vacation. It was busy, I was running around like crazy, but came away feeling very accomplished.

My kinders showed up bright-eyed and bushy tailed and full of energy. After a sugary breakfast of syrup-infused waffles and saying the pledge we jumped right into learning. Our morning circle went off without a problem and the kiddos read the morning message without any help from me (they're good, I tell you)! We moved on to a quick review of the week with sounding out CVC words and going over our comprehension skill for the week - drawing conclusions. We moved right on to our weekly assessment and all of my little learners earned a 100% on their work! Yay! We cheered and everyone got a sticker for their hard work this week.

From there we moved right into a math review so that we could tackle the math assessment before lunch. We had big holiday plans for the afternoon, so we wanted to get the hard stuff done right away. We reviewed making and taking apart numbers four through ten and everyone was on their A-game. Each person was called on to give examples for different numbers and they were given guidance when needed. With all of my kinders showing off their smarts, we squeezed in the assessment right before lunch and were able to give ourselves another cheer when once again everyone passed with flying colors (there was one 94%, the rest earned 100%)! Stickers were awarded and we lined up for lunch.

When my class returned we worked on creating pony bead ornaments for them to take home. Wreaths and candy canes took up the majority of our afternoon. While the kinders were hard at work I pulled them for individual assessments in reading. Once again they did great. My lower leveled students are showing some growth and overall twelve of the sixteen that have been here this week scored 80% or better! I'm in heaven today. What can I say. To reward my kiddos they all received a roll of Smarties for being such smartie pants today.

To top things off, all of my students were picked up in a timely manner. I'm almost afraid to leave school for fear that my magical bubble of goodness will burst. But, as I mentioned, I'm not really one for superstitions. Off to my magical crafting world to knock out some of those looming Christmas gifts!

Some of today's ornaments

Our classroom tree!

who was that man

First off, this is the time of year when things are in go, go, go mode. In teaching, in personal life, even in my sleep I feel like I'm making plans for the holidays. Therefore, there is not a whole lot of blogging going on. It will return on a regular basis in the new year for sure. As for now though, I am busy planning, crafting, and trying to make some sense of the little bit of free time that I happen to find (which really is practically nonexistent - therefore, life doesn't make much sense right now).

This afternoon, during our math intervention time a random man walked into my classroom and poked around a little bit and then left. We have had so many people in and out of our building lately, and it's the time of year for observations and walk throughs, so I didn't think much about it. Then, after students were dismissed, I learned that the man doing walk throughs was our new superintendent. I can say, my assistant was observed. I was not. I was overlooked as I was working with my small group (extra small today due to absences). I'm not sure what he was looking for, but I hope he found it.

While my assistant was observed, I learned from other teachers that they had interesting happenings while the superintendent was in the building as well. One, who was free from teaching duties for a couple of minutes took a dying plant out to her car so that it could be given special care at home. As she hurried to take care of her errand she ran right into him. Oops! Another asked him who he was and told him that he was there for cleanup and wasn't going to see much. Then one of her students walked up to him and said, "Who are you?" in the manner that only little kids can. Sounds like a good afternoon was had by all!

In other news, my kinders are still saying incredible cute things. Today, while waiting for parents to pick them up, one of my students and his sister were simultaneously talking about spinach and singing Christmas carols. One exciting verse, sung to the tune of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer was 

"Popeye the sailor man, had a very shiny nose."

I started laughing at that and missed the rest. Love them! 

 

testing and snow

We returned to school on Monday and in the afternoon at professional development we learned that we had to do our next round of standardized testing. Our testing period is over next Wednesday, but as a grade level we decided to schedule our testing days for yesterday and today. Since my kinders are rock stars, we had perfect attendance yesterday and today. That means I am done. No make ups to do. Tests are turned in. Check!

To top off the excitement of finishing up testing, it started snowing this afternoon! And the ground was covered when we released students. They were so excited when we went out to wait for rides. They were running around, catching snowflakes on their tongues, laughing as snowflakes settled on their eyelashes, and of course making the occasional snowball even though it was explicitly stated that students were not to make snowballs upon dismissal. The joys of being in kindergarten. Actually, the joys of snow. I don't think it matters how young or old you are, if you enjoy the snow it is always an exciting experience to stand out and watch the flakes fall around you.

Now it's time to play the "What will tomorrow bring?" game. Will we have a normal school day? A two-hour delay? A snow day? Only time will tell.

welcome back

Today we returned to school from our week-long Thanksgiving holiday. It was a fantastic break. My parents came to town and we galavanted all over the southwest. I'll write more on that later though, when I have time to organize all of those happenings in my mind so that they can make sense to others.

This morning during sharing time we talked about what we did over Thanksgiving break. When it was my turn to share I was able to squeeze out an, "Over Thanksgiving break, I..." before my kinders shared with me just how well they have gotten to know me this year. They shouted out:

"went running!"

"made presents!"

"put up your Christmas tree!"

"decorated your Christmas tree!"

They've been listening, that's for sure! I also shared with them that I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and then had to climb all of the way back out. They got pretty excited about that, until someone reminded them of sharing limits and said that we had to listen to our next friend share. They're just precious. I'm glad to be back with them - even if it was only for a half day.

Beyond sharing time, here is a peek at our math centers from today:

Everyone hard at work, figuring out different ways to make 4 & 5.

i am thankful for

Today we rushed through Friday assessments so that we could move on to more exciting things - like learning about Thanksgiving! I read my students a story called Thanksgiving Day and then we shared what we were thankful for. My kinders had some great responses (surprise, surprise) such as:

"I am thankful that I can burp."

"I am thankful for my friends, family, and neighbors."

 "I am thankful for God in my life."

"I am thankful for my mom because she wants to take me and my sister to Phoenix to see my cousins and eat a lot of food for Thanksgiving."

"I am thankful for no school tomorrow."

"I am thankful for my cousins."

"I am thankful for my baby brother."

"I am thankful that my sister lets me play her games."

"I am thankful for my mom teaching me to eat chicken."

I wrapped things up by saying that I was thankful that my mom and dad are coming to Gallup to celebrate Thanksgiving with me. It was a pretty good sharing circle.

In the afternoon we read Bear Says Thanks. We had read Bear Snores On earlier this year and the students loved the characters. Therefore I splurged this morning at the book fair and purchased the book to read to my kinders this year, and all of those that are to come. When we finished reading, we made some hand and foot turkey crafts. I think that they turned out pretty darned cute and that families will love them.

Self Proclaimed Turkey King and Turkey Queen

cause and effect

The kinders are going crazy. They can taste the looming Thanksgiving vacation. One more day. We can do this.

Today I salvaged our day today by introducing Rube Goldberg machines. We're studying cause and effect this week, so it fit with the curriculum and it enchanted my kinders. They were in heaven. Anyone walking past my classroom at several points during the day would have heard my students oohing and aahing. To make things better, at the end of the day, they could tell me what cause and effect means!

We were without specials this afternoon, so I moved our math interventions to specials time, and then we experimented. My kinders used materials from the classroom to create their own "Rube Goldberg Machines." Now, being kindergarteners, these machines were really more like a mess of materials, but a lot of cause and effect was going on. 

Here's a little snippet of the end of my day. I hope yours was as exciting!

Now that you've seen what my kinders made of Rube Goldberg, if you have never seen one, or didn't realize what you were watching, here is the video that entranced my class.

you work

Yesterday morning, during sharing time, we talked about things that we like to do. My students talked about liking to play, ride bikes, play sports, and do art. When it was my turn to share, my kinders immediately said, "You like to run!" (They've been paying attention!) I said, "Yes, I like to run, and I will go run this afternoon after work." They looked at me flabbergasted. "You WORK?!?" 

I suppose that it is a good thing that they do not think of school as work. And for the most part, I don't really think of school as work either, unless I have been here for over ten hours. I love my job. My kinders are fantastic and they surprise me every day. If this is what work is, I'll take it!

* This was intended to be posted yesterday, but I got a little carried away with said run!

tech tech tech

I'm a fan of technology. I find that it keeps my kinders a little more engaged with a new component of their education, it provides to hook to deeper learning. Today, there are so many different ways of incorporating technology into education that you could drown in it. As a new teacher, I think that I float on top of the pool pretty well, with only the occasional wave to leave me sputtering and wondering what on earth is going on. I think that for many others however, this is not the case.

This semester I have been taking a Technology in Education course as a part of my graduate degree plan. A lot of the activities have been mundane and mostly just time consuming, mindless activities. I came to the realization throughout the course though that this was not the case for all of my classmates. I feel as though I have been fortunate in being able to grow up with technology surrounding me in one way or another. My grandfather had a computer for almost as long as I can remember. My family got a home computer sometime when I was in middle school. In elementary school I was one of the fortunate ones that was able to play the original black and green Oregon Trail on giant floppy discs. I've just adapted and adjusted with the changes as they have come. When I don't get it, my mister does, and I'm happy with that.

Today I wrapped up my final assignment for my technology class (and am now essentially done with grad school for the semester, woohoo!) and I led a technology training for the teachers that work with me. The state of New Mexico is making changes regarding how it evaluates teachers. A part of this is to upload artifacts to a state website so that those who are removed enough from education to be called policy makers can judge whether or not I am an effective teacher by looking at a couple of PDFs. Making and uploading PDFs is now easy as can be with a couple of apps (Tiny Scan and Dropbox). I opened my mouth last week at a grade level professional development session with my principal about how easy this was and next thing I knew I was on the agenda for today's staff meeting to teach everyone how to do it. Overall the training went well. I prepped the other teachers with an email encouraging them to sign up for Dropbox and come prepared with questions. Most of them did and we worked out any remaining glitches this afternoon. I do however, have some teachers that did not grow up with technology as I have. As a result, small group trainings will now ensue and hopefully the technology that our school has purchased for us (including iPads) will be used more often and effectively. Of course, we'll see how much of my free time that I am rejoicing in by having finished grad school for a little while is now used up by helping others. I guess that's the price I pay for opening my big mouth.

Today was not all new-fangled technology though. Some of my students earned innovation time today and as a result I was presented with this fantastic water airplane!

My faceless inventor!

fun friday

It's that day of the week again! Fridays are always a breath of fresh air. They may be really crazy, but they are also fulfilling in that I can see how much progress my kinders are making. Some are jumping leaps and bounds, others are moving forward like inchworms. Either way, they are making progress.

Once success story from today came during reading assessments. At the end of the first quarter I gained a new student. She came without strong foundations in any subject area, but she is catching up  quickly. Today our assessment was on blending (sounding out) C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonat) words that began with 'r' and also on reading the words she, with, me. 

During the first couple of weeks that this little kinder was in my class she would look at me and say "It's too hard," when we did reading assessments. Then she started picking up sight words and would get points for those. Today, she sat down confidently and sounded out her words. She ended up receiving an 80%! After six weeks in our class, she earned a proficient score! I was (and obviously still am) really excited. We high-fived and I told her how proud of her I was. 

It was a good day.

go with the flow

This morning I was working with a small group on letter identification and they just about had me rolling on the floor with laughter. While they may be slow in picking up their letter names, they are pretty quick on their feet when it comes to other funds of knowledge.

The activity that we were doing involved me showing students letter flash cards. They take an imaginary picture of the card and then write it in the air and identify it. When I showed the letter 'p' the following conversation ensued:

Me: "What letter did you just write?"

Student: " 'q' "

Me: "That's close. This letter is standing on his leg. The 'q' is balancing on his tail."

Student: "A cow has a tail too."

I eventually just told the students that the letter was 'p'. I heard all about animal tails in the meantime. Perhaps it was just a method of distraction, but I was amused and had a good time. I think they did too. Sometimes you just need to go with the flow and have a good time - otherwise, you may just miss out on a learning opportunity. I'm not sure if I found mine today, but perhaps tomorrow they'll remember that 'q' has a tail like a cow and that 'p' stands on his leg. I'll just have to wait and see.

long day

It's been a long and full day. Teaching then grad school. But here's a look at what I did today!

Building sight words

Math manupilatives

back at it

Having a three day weekend was such a blessing. I had time to do a little bit of grad school work, to begin making Christmas gifts, and to run a lot. In essence, I had me time. Sometimes as a teacher it is so easy to get wrapped up in the little ones that surround you day in and day out that you put your own needs on the back burner. I was able to rejuvenate and jump right back into the swing of things this morning.

We had a great Tuesday. We talked about the plot in stories, about verbs, about citizenship, and the numbers eighteen and nineteen. The kinders picked up on some of the things, others (such as plot) will take a fair amount of review. Whatever the case, we're back into the swing of things. We have a week and a half to keep on swinging until we're off for a whole week to celebrate Thanksgiving. We'll need to see how quickly we get back into the swing of things after that!

One highlight for today was having one of my little learners write her first name all by herself three times unassisted! We have been working so hard and it seems like this little break was what her brain needed to make things click. Wahoo! Success! This same little learner was also a rock star in small group around the world today. She is finally getting her numbers (1 - 10) down (with the exception of 9). Progress!

friday

It's Friday. More importantly, it's a Friday before a long weekend. The kiddos were acting as if they were ready. So we did what all kindergarteners should do. We played blocks and kitchen and made the most out of the final 20 minutes of our school day.

just another day

Not a whole lot of excitement in Room 1 Kindergarten today. We're in a groove and gliding to the end of the week - which is tomorrow! And then we have a three day weekend. Thank goodness for that. And thank goodness for the Veterans that we will be celebrating on that day.

Today we continued our practice in comparing and contrasting in language arts. We reviewed our numbers 11 - 17 by playing a fun dice rolling game and filling in ten frames. We practiced writing our numbers and did some thank you cards for a donorschoose.org book project that was funded this summer. (I thought that we were all ready for this - there are some great pictures, but we tried writing without lines. I hope you enjoy them funders!)

All in all it was a good day. Now I'm happily at home and settling in to do some Christmas crafting since the mister has a family involvement night at school and won't be home until late, late, late.

venn diagrams and counting beads

Today pretty much consisted of more kindergarten awesomeness. In language arts we are learning how to compare and contrast. My kinders compared two of their classmates and came up with a fantastic Venn Diagram. My favorite similarity is that both of the students were wearing their shoes on the correct feet.

I recommend zooming on on the "same" category.

In math I have some that are still struggling with their numbers one to ten. Today in their intervention group they practiced number identification and counting. They had to name the number at the top of each pipe cleaner and then string that many beads on to it. They did pretty well for it being the first attempt, but we will need to keep on keeping on and really stress these numbers (still, after 13 weeks). That's just what we do in Room 1 Kindergarten.

My nifty bead charts (sometimes Pinterest has such fantastic ideas)

assembly

Today our school sponsored an African Dance and Drumming assembly in the afternoon. There was a troupe of four brothers from Senegal that were energetic, entertaining, and engaging. They danced, teachers danced, and students danced. We all had a great time. (And yes, I was one of the teachers pulled to dance.)

Dancing Duel

Getting the teachers to jump (I'm the one in teal).

After the assembly came to a close, I seized the opportunity to answer my students questions about Senegal and Africa. Then they did a journal writing entry about what they saw. At the end of the day the conversation turned to a more serious note when one of my students told me that she liked the dancing but she didn't like the Africans. When I asked her why she told be because they were black. I asked why it mattered and she wasn't sure. I asked her if she would like me if I was purple and she said of course. I said good, because I would still be the same person. Our skin color doesn't matter, it is who we are and how we act that matters. We were on our way out for parent pick up at that point and her mom got her right away, so we couldn't talk for long. Hopefully a seed of equality was planted though.

early release

Today we had a half day. Since it's hard to have any meaningful instruction on half days, kindergarten decided to use the day to do unit benchmark tests for both language arts and math. I am happy to report that my kinders did a pretty awesome job. Of the thirteen students that came to school today (another reason to avoid meaningful instruction - poor attendance) ten scored proficient on both the math and language arts assessments. I can now alter my strategic intervention groups to provide more intensive support to those students still needing to master skills from our first quarter (plus a couple of weeks) of instruction.

I wish that the day had remained pretty awesome. However, our professional development was teaching other teachers how to use the online resources for our content area materials. I played on my computer. Oh well, at least we were out early.

To end on a positive note though, we played some sight words around the world this morning while we were waiting for busses to arrive. The kinders were super excited and cheering one another on. Every student won at least one word. They're rock stars!

And, as an added bonus, I had a great "things they say" this morning:

" Mrs. Hall, do you know what I did yesterday? We had dirt in our house. And I dug in it. And I found a T-Rex bone. Then I found another one. Then we found two skulls. Then my dad said that we had to burry them again after he fixed the pipes."

I'm not exactly sure what was happening, but this kiddo was super excited about his story. He shared it as soon as he walked into the classroom. Then he told all of his friends during breakfast. Then he shared again during our morning sharing time. Either he's going to be an amazing author or story teller one day, or there just happen to be dinosaur bones in the foundation of his house.

everything but the kitchen sink and then some

What a busy couple of days! On Friday we were go, go, go in Room 1 Kindergarten. We had our weekly review sessions followed by our end of week assessments in reading and in math. I was observed by my principal for our lovely new state evaluation system for teachers. We had a rushed special at the computer lab and then wrapped up the day with a parade to celebrate the close of Red Ribbon Week (a week against bullying and drugs).

After school was over I squeezed in the finishing touches on prep work for the coming week as well as a little bit of grad school work, and then I was thrown back in the trenches. My school had our annual Fall Festival Friday night and I was on the face painting crew. With my iPad on hand I was able to look up whatever designs the kiddos wanted and then tried to carry them out with the horrible face paints that the school provided. Grease paints may wash off easily, but it's really hard to get any color to show up when they are dollar store grease paints. Oh well, everyone walked away happy with their transformer, vampire, zombie, and kitty cat faces. In the end it was a fantastic evening - even if I didn't get to leave my table until 15 minutes after Fall Fest ended. I was able to whisper a quick hello to the mister when he stopped by, but didn't have a break to say much more as I had a little one that just kept asking me to paint different colors on her face. She had no clue what was going on, other than the fact that people were getting their faces painted and she wanted in on the action.

Yesterday the mister and I took some time to soak up the sun and get a good hike in before our trails start to be covered by ice. He took me on some new trails and then we wrapped up the miles by coming back on an old standard. We saw tons of animal tracks and while we were hopeful to see some mountain lion tracks (there is a warning sign up that mountain lions have been seen on the trails this year), all that we got to see were those of giant rez dogs that were chasing after deer and some jack rabbit prints. The afternoon consisted of some grad school work before going out to try a new (and delicious) restaurant. When we got home we watched some Dr. Who (a new favorite for me) and I finished up a birthday present for one of my adorable nieces.

Today I've been back at the grind. I started out by getting a good workout in, but then had to go about my usual cleaning routine. After that, it was all grad school. However, I won't complain because I am now done with one of the three courses that I was taking this semester. With any luck I'll be done with the other two before Thanksgiving!

Hope you had a restful weekend and are ready for the week to come!

trick or treat

Today was the day. Halloween. Some say it is the worst teaching day of the year. I think that the worst part of the day is the party. Teaching went really well, our field trip went really well, the students were amazing. Then the party hit. Then all of the monsters and goblins come out of hiding and the kinders go crazy. Mine actually weren't as bad as they could have been, but classroom parties are still something that I just haven't figured out a system for. It was better than last year, but still not perfect. We all survived though and at the end of the day there were still two and a half pizzas left over from our pizza party so Mrs. S. and I both went home with dinner after an exhausting day.

The most exciting thing about today was our field trip. The kinders rocked it! They remembered their words, their actions, they were all smiles, and they used their manners. The residents of the nursing home were also rockstars. They loved the little guys and cheered at the end. Everyone was excited. The performance was followed by some trick or treating on our way out of the home.

Here is our final song from the performance, "Oh, my monster." Enjoy!

oh hail

Literally. This afternoon my kinders kept on telling me that it was going to rain. In the desert, you can smell it coming. Today we had a bitter chill though, so when the rain did come, at student pick-up time, it was not liquid, but solid. At first everyone was excited because it appeared to be snow. Then it came down harder. So hard, in fact, that it hurt. We rushed all of the kiddos inside to look for their rides and signed them out from the warmth of the building.

I hope that this weather doesn't continue through the evening. While I would appreciate a late start, I really don't want it to be tomorrow. With two thirty minute practice sessions a day for our trip to the nursing home tomorrow, I really want to make sure that it happens. The kiddos are so excited about performing and riding the bus. Right now the fact that they get to trick or treat while we are there hasn't even crossed their minds. They just want to meet the special grandparents. 

Fingers crossed for a whole day of Halloween havoc tomorrow.

number sense

Numbers can be quite confusing to kindergarteners. With some numbers such as seven and eleven sounding so similar I frequently hear my little learners counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13... As you can probably imagine, this gets quite frustrating for all parties involved. It is hard to make things click. 

With this in mind, today we brainstormed different ways that we can show the numbers 11 and 12. I was quite impressed with some of the things that my students came up with. We did the number 11 together, then they did number 12 all by themselves. I have faith that they'll get it one of these days (hopefully sooner, rather than later).

overheard

Kimberly: Did you know that my sister doesn't live at home anymore?

Emily: Oh yeah, because she's big now, right?

Kimberly: No, because she got married.

Emily: Eww! I'm never doing that. I'm going to live alone with my dog. ... Or my parrot.

***

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my kinders? They are pretty incredible little people. Today when we were doing calendar time they got all excited about Halloween - but not because of the reasons you would think. They got excited because they get to go visit the "special grandparents" and sing to them. I can't wait to watch them perform and see how they interact with everyone at the nursing home. I have a feeling that it is going to be great. How could it not?

the things they say

"Oh, my gosh! Today is P.E.! I forgot my sweaty pants!"

It's Saturday, my running day. I just had to share these fantastic words from one of my students yesterday.

Happy Saturday!

around the world

It is recess and I am coming off of an Around the World high. I know that I keep bragging about how awesome my kinders are, but I need to do it again (and I am sure that it is not for the last time).

This morning my kinders were a little full of Friday energy and ended up moving into the "yellow light" as a result. This meant that our class lost five minutes of recess time. To fill that time, and the fifteen minutes before, we did sight word work. First we worked on their word lists for study at home, then we did the high frequency words that we have been working on in class. The students had them down, so we extended our small group Around the World games into a whole group Around the World.

I wasn't too sure how this would work with mixed levels, but all of the students' practice has paid off. We had high levels competing against low levels, and to my surprise and delight, the high levels didn't always win. It was fantastic. The class had tons of energy, sight words were flying, the kinders were having a learning party. It was fantastic. I think that I see more around the world in the future!

the things they say

"I wish we had all five days this week. Or six or seven, or more. I love school."

Some days they just make me smile. The one that said this really needed to make me smile too. He's gotten two "yellow notes" home this week, and we've only had two days of school. At the end of the day when I was exhausted from running around and teaching all day, he turned to me and said the aforementioned words with a big grin on his face. 

I love that my kinders are loving school. I love that I have such amazing students this year (even the ones that keep on pushing just a little too far). I love my job (even though it leaves me feeling exhausted when the last child is picked up for the day). I cannot imagine doing anything else.

five little jack o lantern ghost witches

Oh goodness. Next week is Halloween. The kinders are super excited. Lesson planning for next week is rough and plans this week have gone out the window. Thank goodness it is only a three day teaching week.

Next Thursday, all of the kindergarteners from my school are going to the local nursing home to provide some entertainment for the residents. That means that starting today we have roughly 7.5 hours of practice time that we were able to fit into our schedules. This means that I have crazy Halloween songs going through my head all day, we have props to make, and the kinders are going to complete some art projects to decorate the halls of the home. 

Everyone is excited about meeting the "special grandparents that live in the special home" and so in the time leading up to and immediately following our song practice sessions the kinders are amped. That means our learning takes a hit. But, they are loving it and I think that the folks that we visit will love it too. In the meantime I have jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, and Frankenstein running through my head. 

As an added bonus though, this field trip will also count toward a service learning project that I need to do for grad school. Sure, it may be double dipping, but my students are being reminded of the Navajo tradition (and hopefully every other culture out there's tradition) of respecting and honoring their elders. I think that this is an important tradition to instill in our youth, and so we're talking about why we're visiting the home - it really is about more than the fact that we get to trick or treat while we're there and show off our fancy costumes.

Oh life, sometimes you work out so well!

inspiring

Today we had parent teacher conferences at my school. It was a busy day, with parents missing appointments then squeezing in later in the day so that I had a line down the hall. In the grand scheme of things though, 15 out of my 18 students' families showed up for the big day (I even completed my final conference in Spanish - always exciting for me). My other three students ended up having to go out of town for family emergencies and so I will check in with them tomorrow afternoon since they are all pick-ups.

When I was talking with my neighboring teacher during a break from the madness, she told me one of the most incredible stories ever. Below is my paraphrasing of this story.

My student's grandmother came in today for her conference and expressed how excited she was that her granddaughter was learning how to read. The grandmother had gone to school and struggled to complete the third grade. When she stopped going to school she also stopped reading.

Now that this woman's granddaughter wants to read, she is needing to learn how to read once again. She pre-reads all of the stories that she will read to her granddaughter and then walks the 1/4 mile down the road to ask her neighbor what the words are. Then she practices so that she can read her granddaughter a bedtime story. The woman expressed that she is beginning to remember the words now and that she is learning how to read again.

How amazing is it that a kindergarten student can inspire an elderly woman to take an interest in reading and re-learn this valuable skill? I feel inspired, to say the least.

productivity

This weekend has been a productive one. I was sick for the majority of the week and therefore spent all of my time at home asleep or mindlessly watching Netflix. I didn't have the energy to do anything, but all of that has changed this weekend. Thanks to a quick trip to the doctor's on Thursday and a round of antibiotics to clear up a sinus infection my green light has come back on.

This weekend has been spent catching up on the cleaning that I did not do last weekend due to not feeling well (and of course our trip to Canyon de Chelly on Saturday), writing papers for grad school, and working on a birthday present for one of my nieces.  It's nice to have some energy again and to be back at life.

Tomorrow it's back to school for some good old professional development, followed by parent teacher conferences on Tuesday. That's right, we have another three-day week here. Then we have Halloween, an early release Monday, no school on Veteran's Day, and then a week off for Thanksgiving. When will I find time to teach you ask - I am asking myself the same thing. The year is going so fast that I don't know what to do with myself, and with all of the days off coming up I am at even more of a loss. If you have any ideas, feel free to share!

crawling

I made it through all of last year without having any students get the lovely, crawling creatures that we call lice. Today, that streak ended.

I was testing one of my student on her reading level and sight word recognition and I saw a bug crawling around at her hairline. I would point to a word and then look up, it was still there. I would read another word and look up, it was still there. We had just come in from recess and I was hoping with all my might that it was just a little fly that got caught in her hair. Unfortunately it seemed right at home. I took her to the office and sure enough, that little creepy crawly was lice. And it had a big family. Her family was called and she was picked up and I let out a sigh of relief.

Then the school nurse screened the rest of my class. Six students were sent home with notes saying that their checks had shown signs of lice. One of the student's parents are not native English speakers, so I was able to use my Spanish skills to break the news. Thankfully all of the parents that I talked to said that it was just a part of being a child and going to school. 

It's true that that is the reality, but that doesn't mean that my head didn't suddenly start itching upon hearing the news (my hair is typically braided or in a bun, so hopefully I don't have anything to worry about). While I love my kinders I do not necessarily the ease with which they seem to share everything. And now I will go home and break the news to the mister that he needs to check my hair so that I don't go crazy.

real or fantasy

Sometimes I think that kindergarteners float on a fine line between reality and fantasy. They have such vivid imaginations that sometimes it is hard to tell if something that they are sharing is real or not. Last year I had a student that worried the whole school by telling us that he could not get off of the bus at home because no one was there - that his whole family had been arrested. After sitting with him for about fifteen minutes, he got around to sharing that this had been a bad dream that he had and that his family was not in jail. I did eventually get in touch with his dad who had been worried sick when my little kinder did not get off of the bus and he hurried himself over to the school and all was good. Reality versus fantasy, it can be a valuable piece of knowledge, even at five years of age.

This week, we have been focusing on realism and fantasy in stories. My kinders seem to have picked up on this skill pretty quickly, and so today we decided to have some fun with it. Each student was paired with a classmate and they had to come up with something that was real and a way to make it fantasy or make believe. Then the pairs drew their ideas on a piece of chart paper. We may not be fantastic artists, but we had some great ideas. School buses with wings, dolphins wearing shoes, books with faces, and the list goes on. We had a great time expressing ourselves and now our classroom has a new piece of art to adorn its walls for a while.

In other news, this morning one of the fifth grade teachers approached me to say that one of her friends sent her boxes of books for the students at our school. As a result, my minders were able to go on a "field trip" this morning to her classroom and select a book to take home with them forever and ever. My kinders were in heaven and were so excited when I told them that they would be allowed to use their books during independent reading time today, even if they were too hard. They practiced reading the pictures if they chose more difficult books and were so engaged that it was a sight to be seen.

Yay for art and books!

writing

Today we wrote and I just could not resist sharing some of my students' creation. This week we are reading a story called Bear Snores On and my kinders are loving it. We decided to take our bear conversations one step further and write about what we would do if we were bears. Some of them got it, some did not. Whatever the case, we wrote happily for 30 minutes.

"I would sleep."

"I would eat fish." (I'm pretty sure no caption was needed here.)

"I'm going to take care of my cub."

"I find berries."

"I went fishing. I got lost because my mom wasn't with me."

Don't you just love it! I know I do!

progress

We have been in school for 10 weeks now and progress is being made. In preparation for parent teacher conferences I have been wrapping up quarterly progress reports on foundational skills. My students are making headway on learning their letter names and sounds. Some have made the jump from zero letters recognized in a minute to fourteen, which is really incredible when they entered school not knowing letters from numbers. Others, that entered school with basic letter knowledge are now approaching sixty letters in a minute. Progress!

While these numbers are fantastic, the thing that has really gotten me excited is seeing actual progress in my students' reading abilities. Today, I had each of my independent readers (13 of 18 in my class) read a new text to me. The story included high frequency words that we have been working on all year along with some new CVC words (words made up of consonant-vowel-consonant combinations) that were composed of letter sounds that we have been working on, such as cap. 

One of my students, one that struggled quite a bit at the beginning of the school year, blew me away today. He nailed his sight words and then successfully sounded out each of his new CVC words. He was a rock star. He read the story from beginning to end and was even able to tell me the main idea of the story. As I said, I was blown away. 

I love that progress is so noticeable in kindergarten. I love my job.

id

Today student picture proofs were delivered, and with them came student IDs. The kiddos loved getting their ID cards and were busy showing off their picture day hair styles to the friends at the end of the day. The room filled with compliments and good manners. It was a pretty fantastic thing to observe.

When dismissal time rolled around I walked my pick ups outside to await the arrival of their parents. One of my kinders looked around excitedly for his sister. I asked him if anything was wrong and he replied, "No, I just want to show her my driver's license. Now I can drive anywhere I want to. Even McDonalds. And, I can buy stuff from McDonalds too. I have a bank." It was pretty precious. What a great way to begin the second quarter.

success

On Friday we left town and began our Navajo adventure. We began our journey by stopping in Window Rock, AZ, the capital of the Navajo Nation. We walked through the zoo and enjoyed seeing some of the animals that live in our area - porcupines, owls, elk, mountain lions, black bears, wolves, and bobcats (to name a few). The Navajo Zoo has done a good job of providing the animals with the space and natural environment that thrive in as the park is build into one of the numerous canyons in the area.

Porcupine!

Horned Owl

After leaving the zoo we continued our journey to Chinle, AZ, the home of Canyon de Chelly. The mister checked in for the race and then we set up camp. Thanks to dual management of Canyon de Chelly, we were still able to camp near the mouth of the canyon and the start line of the race. Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation has stepped up in this time of the government shut down and has kept activity in the monument running smoothly. We were able to explore the north side of the canyon after setting up the camp, enjoying that none of the overlooks had been closed as we have heard happening in other areas managed by the National Parks Service.

After our quick tour of the north rim, we returned to the park for the pre-race meeting and an introduction to the Navajo culture by the race director, his father in law, and a resident of the canyon (at other times, a park ranger, but for now, just a resident he pointed out). The Navajo tradition of running was explained to the race participants and their families, a brief history of the canyon and its significance to the Navajo people was described, and a fair number of jokes were shared, and everyone had a great time.

We all retreated to our tents, campers or hotel rooms and prepared for race day. The mister and I ran into town to get some food and then climbed into our tent for a fantastic night of sleep in the cool fall air. When the alarm went off in the morning we were ready to roll. 

The race began with a blessing and prayer ceremony around a bonfire. The racers gathered around to keep warm and to receive a blessing to stay with them throughout their journeys into and out of the canyon. The race course went 17 miles into the canyon, ending at the top of bat trail, and then came back out of the mouth where racers were greeted with mutton stew and fresh fry bread.

Preparing for the blessing and prayer ceremony

At the starting line

The race began at roughly 7:00AM, with the rising of the sun and a great yell by all of the runners. In Navajo tradition, the Gods come out with the sun, and so the people run to greet the Gods. The great yell is a way to clear the lungs after a night of sleep and to present yourself and say, "I am here."

After the runners took off, I drove out to White House Ruins, and hiked down into the canyon where I would be able to see the mister as he came through mile 5.5. He was looking good as he ran through the water and subsequently through his clothes from the cold morning start at me. He continued his journey into the canyon and I stayed at the Ruins for a while talking to the family members of other runners and cheering as more people splashed through the muddy water at the bottom of the canyon.

The mister running at 5.5 miles

White House Ruins

After I while I climbed back out of the canyon, only to hear Shaun, the race director finish up a conversation with two of his cross country athletes - the truck for the next aid station had gotten stuck trying to go up a hill and was only about halfway to where it needed to be. He quickly made a plan with his runners and sent them running back to the truck to execute the plan for providing aid to the runners as they progressed through the canyon.

I climbed out of the canyon and drove further down the south rim and pulled into the Spider Rock overlook. I hiked down to the edge of the rim and stood with a Navajo family for a long time, cheering on the ant sized runners as the passed the base of Spider Rock. I believe that cheering from this location was one of the most enjoyable cheering experiences that I have had at a race. From the top of the canyon you cry out your support and then hear it echoed back about 10 seconds later as it makes its way into the canyon and to the runners. It was fantastic!

Spider Rock

After spotting the mister's bright red cap running back from the turn around I returned to White House Ruins. The hike is so beautiful that it was hard to resist another chance to descend into the canyon. My efforts were blessed with these views:

As I waited at the bottom of the canyon for the mister to come running back through, I kept checking my watch. Based on the times that I had seen him running earlier, his pace had fallen off. At first I had thought that perhaps I had been too slow and missed him coming back through, but I checked with the Navajo family that I had been cheering with earlier and they said that all of the runners that they had seen come through were wearing shirts, so I knew the mister was still out there. He eventually came through, but was hobbling along thanks to an old knee injury that had flared up. However, he pushed on, and eventually made it out of the canyon, rounding out the top third of runners.

The mister coming through the finish line

Receiving his hand beaded turquoise finisher's necklace from Shaun, the RD

After the runners crossed the finish line, they received hand beaded turquoise necklaces. Shaun's (the race director) grandmother made all of the necklaces, with some help from Shaun and other family members. All of the prizes were created by family members and included moccasins, star quilts, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and photographs of the canyon. After all of the prizes were handed out there was a traditional toss out of other gifts to the runners, including magazine subscriptions, runner's vests, posters, and t-shirts. Not to be forgotten, all of the runners also received their fill of homemade mutton stew (or vegetable stew) and fry bread. Family members could also enjoy these delicious creations by giving a donation to the local cross country programs.

All in all it was a fantastic event, culturally rich and centered on the community. All of the proceeds from the race are going to the local cross country programs, and thanks to some amazing sponsors, I believe that the programs have been really blessed by this event. We cannot wait to go back next year, and I am already thinking that I want one of those finisher's necklaces too. We'll see!

As a follow up to my post prior to our trip, the federal government shutdown has not been able to shut down the Navajo Nation. In this we were truly blessed on this adventure, and look forward to exploring many more cultural landmarks throughout the nation.