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.