15 is for Minutes of Fame

(We interrupt the regularly scheduled letter program to bring you a number.)

I got my 15 minutes of fame on TV! Okay, so it was just the school's morning announcements, but hey! IT WAS TV and now, according to my class, I AM FAMOUS!

Everyone likes to feel recognized for the things they do. Yesterday, I got one more of those little rewards that comes with being Teacher of the Year.

So naturally, that means Ms. June (SRP of the year!) and I had to show off our awards to the whole school.

Mrs. Madagan asked everyone watching to tell us congratulations on this great honor. All day long, little ones were waving to me and saying CONGRATULATIONS! from their lines in the hallway.

The best part was at the end of the day. I am one of the people who like to "live" at school so I co-teach extended day third graders.

A little bilingual girl was having some vocabulary issues:
Her: Are you Ms. Butler?
Me: I'm Ms. Buck-ler.
Her: Yeah, whatever. I saw you on the morning announcements and I wanted to tell you...I forget that word...um....um... I'm happy that you got that award.
Me: Were you looking for the word "congratulations"?
Her: Yeah that! I'm that for you!

One of my other little friends and I had this exchange:
Him: Ms. Buckler, I'm sorry you're sick.
Me: Thanks, but I'm not sick.
Him: Oh, well I saw you on the morning announcements and you didn't look so good.
Me: (            )
Him: Well, congratulations anyway.

I am trying my very best to not let all of this fame go to my head.

P is for Proclamation

Receiving our Proclamations from Manny Funez and Mayor McDuffy

Cheesing in the wind and cold

It looks so official!

N is for Naughty List

I love the conversations kids have when they don't think an adult is listening. 

I ESPECIALLY love these conversations they have when they don't think an adult is listening at Christmas time.

My little darlings were debating the opinion that the "gooder" you are the more presents you get from Santa. They also did an informal survey of who has actually gotten coal.

One worried little friend came up to me after lunch with a very concerned expression.

Student: Ms. Buckler, can you get off of Santa's naughty list the same year you get on it?

Me: I think my brother did it one year. He was pretty naughty.

Student: The same year? Or did he have to wait till the next year?

Me: Why? Are you worried?

Student: Yeah, kinda.

Me: I guess you'll just have to wait and see.  

He would not tell me what he feels so guilty about.

T is for Thanksgiving!

I decided that if we had to go to school on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving while our neighboring counties did not, we were going to have fun!

There's not much time in the curriculum for learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans and other random Thanksgiving facts, so why not devote 2 days to it?

We read about the history of the first Thanksgiving feast which really wasn't called that after all. It was called the harvest feast. Did you know there was lobster and popcorn at this feast? I'm going to make sure someone in my family is told to bring that to Thanksgiving next year (not me!).

We also read how the men got to eat and play games while the women had to cook and clean and serve and take care of the kids. We learned that the children had to eat standing up and couldn't speak until spoken to (gasps).

We learned that the children had to forage for berries and nuts, so we went outside and tried it for ourselves.

I gave them 3 minutes to gather as many acorns as they could.

Then, they had to put them into groups of 10 to count.

Some of them had very interesting foraging techniques.

 There was the "throw everything you can scoop up with your hands into your shirt then pick out the acorns later" technique.

And the "grab some, throw them on the sidewalk for safety and go back for more" technique.

And of course the "bring them to the sidewalk in pre-counted groups of ten so I don't have to count them later" technique.

None of them thought it was funny when I pretended to be a hungry squirrel. Or a tornado. Or just myself.

So we went inside to do some arts and crafts. Despite what some of you think (Dad) we did not actually have time to trace our hands and make turkeys.

Instead we made "I am thankful for..." wreaths. We were learning about the suffixes -ful and -less and I thought "I am thankless" wreaths were not appropriate.

This one got a bad grade because they forgot to add "my teacher". That thankLESS little darling...

We read another story about what the actual trip on the Mayflower was like. We learned that the only thing they had for almost three months was hard biscuits, moldy cheese, dried beef, and water.

The week before, I told my class that I would be bringing in some food so we can have a "mini meal" of our own. We even made a menu of food we would have. After reading this story, I told them I decided to bring beef jerky, old biscuits, bleu cheese, and maybe they could have a sip of water from the water fountain.

I said that they all had to eat standing up and not talk unless an adult talked to them first. They did not find this funny.

One little wiseguy suggested the girls serve the boys. The girls did not find this funny.

But it turns out that our mini-meal was "delicious", "the best thing ever!", and "sooooo awesome!".

The menu:
Turkey (roll-ups)
Mashed Potato(chip)s
(pop)Corn
Green (jelly) beans
Cranberry (soda)
Mini pumpkin pies
Mini crescent rolls
Mini carrots
Gingerbread marshmallows that some one's grandmother sent in

I sent them to P.E. and they promised me they wouldn't get sick.

You can probably see why I needed that 5 day break. Only one change next year...we WILL make those hand print turkeys!

N is for Natural (Part 2)

In case you didn't read Part 1 of N is for Natural, read it first!

We had a writing prompt in October:

Pretend you are a pumpkin. Convince Farmer Buckler to pick you to be her jack-o-lantern.

They loved it. We chose a class favorite and that person got a pumpkin prize.

The darlings were more determined for this writing prompt because they knew there was going to be a prize (which I don't usually do - YOUR GRADE IS YOUR PRIZE!):

Pretend you are a turkey. Convince Farmer Buckler to NOT pick you for her turkey dinner!

I have decided there is not going to be a class favorite. There is going to be a TEACHER favorite this time.

I think Sassy really embraced the fact that we all (humans and animals) have a digestive system.

It's been on her mind all week.

This is her turkey letter. I have just realized that she did not have me correct her rough draft, so do your best to translate the words. I'm more about voice than conventions anyway.

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Cliffhanger! I know you want to read the rest!






You really want to know what you are not "abol" to do to that turkey!
 



I know you are wanting me to show you the rest right now!




Okay!

You will not be abol to...

I needed a brown bag to breathe in after this one!

Oh, but wait! She didn't have room for her closing.

You can read the rest of the letters if you'd like. However, I'm pretty sure you'll agree that this one is the best.

N is for Natural

I've had this picture on my camera. I was trying to find the words to put with it that would make it all make sense.

Well, I don't know if it will ever make sense, but we DID make a connection today.

When we were learning about energy, we talked about how animals and plants get energy from food. We talked about the Food Guide Pyramid. Then, we talked about digestion. 

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this...

I decided not to post the picture because I don't want any text book companies hunting me down and suing me for copyright infringement.  Not that any textbook company people read this blog.

Anyway, I decided I will DESCRIBE the picture to you. Teammates: we will know exactly which picture I am talking about. You'll probably even know the page number...

The picture was of a little girl. On this picture of a little girl, there was an illustration of the digestive organs. It shows that food goes in the mouth, down the esophagus, then to the intestines. It showed the END of the intestines in a way that looks like a totally different body part.

I knew this subject was coming, so I gave this little speech: "Okay. We are going to read about how our bodies use food for energy and there is going to be a picture that is kind of...interesting.  You are going to want to laugh, but we need to be mature second graders (as I laugh inside)."

We then turn the page and see the "looks like a totally different body part" end of the intestines right away. The looks on their faces are extremely comical. Some kids (mostly boys) snicker into thier hands. All of the girls look confused. They are pretty sure girls DON'T have "those parts" in on in our bodies.

I explained all of the parts (except for the little, round, green thing that looks like a jelly bean- I'm not quite sure what that is). We talked about where are stomachs and intestines are. 

Someone asked this:

"So if we have a rumbly right here (lays hand on lower abdomen) then it's NOT our stomach?!" 

Another student answered:

"Nope...that rumble means you need to go to the bathroom. Unless it's gas."

We all eww!-ed and giggled. Then I calmed them down and said, "Alright you sillies, all of our bodies do this. IT'S NATURAL."

(By the way, I think they all answered this part of the test correctly.)

Flash forward to today.

A mounted deputy visited us for the Great American Teach In. He was explaining how he uses his horse for crowd control. He said (and I paraphrase) that if someone doesn't move for the side of the horse, he shows them the BACK side of the horse. He then turned the horse around to show us its backside. 

Princess says, "Eww! What if the horse poops on them?"

One sassy little darling shrugged her shoulders and said, "Be mature...IT'S NATURAL!"

H is for Heat

We've been talking about Energy in Science. Yesterday, we we're reviewing heat (yeah, we're a little behind, teammates).

We read how even our bodies have heat inside and we have a normal body temperature. This question came up:

Doogie Howser, Jr: Ms. Buckwer, what does it mean when we have a fever?

Me: It means that our body is working really hard to fight off germs.

Doogie, Jr.: Wewl, does that mean we get more cowlds in the winter when it's cowld outside cause our body is too cowld inside to burn up the germs?

Me: Quite possibly...I'll check into that for you.

That's all of this story right now...I'm going to go Google some stuff...

D is for Door

Red Ribbon Week is always fun. This week, we've gotten to wear sports themed clothes, slippers, and hats.

The students' favorite Red Ribbon Week activity is to decorate our classroom door with an anti-drug message. I find it a little stressful to come up with a new idea.

Last year, my class won the contest. We went with the Sponge-Bob theme:

Easy cheesy lemonade squeezy!

This year's idea was easy, too. The best part was that my "now a northerner" friend, Mrs. Dudley, sent us some leaves from a place where they actually see them change colors! I think she is a mind reader. They were beautiful:

The kids were most impressed with the "Big Daddy" acorns. I was told Florida acorns are puny.

The bag of leaves had a note: I hope there aren't any critters in here.

Well guess what we found!

Look closely!

Anyone who has read THIS knows that we don't need extra critters in my room!

We decided the best thing to do was to release him to the wild. I really, really, really, hope the little buggie doesn't find a mate and make a new annoying type of bug.

Anyhoo...

We used fake leaves to make ourselves into Leaf People and wrote anti-drug messages. I slapped them on the door and voila! Door done.

The leaves got their own special place of honor.

I am very glad I got a picture of the door because, as of this morning, everything was covered in dew and all the colors were running. The poor bag of leaves was full of condensation (but the leaves are still pretty!).

Gotta love "fall" in Florida.

Public Service Announcement: Don't do drugs. (Unless they are prescribed by a REAL doctor.)
(Unless they help you not be mean.) (Unless they help keep you focused in my classroom.)

I is for Indigestion

You've probably heard about that crazy old lady who swallowed a fly.

But, did you know there is also is an even crazier old lady who has swallowed a chick, a shell, some leaves, and snow?

Did you also know there is a little old lady who was crazy enough to swallow a BAT?! Imagine that!

As soon as I read the title of the book, my students' hands shot up. Now, I do encourage interactive read alouds, but sometimes we have to limit our sharing. For various reasons.

These are two comments the title of the story brought up:

"My sister swallowed a penny once! She pooped it out though."

"My brother once swallowed so much soda that he puked it up later."

I'll stop there. I can't handle reliving any more of them.

In the story, the crazy old lady swallowed a bunch of things to take care of the previous things she ingested. And at the end...SPOILER ALERT!...she burps them all up and says "Happy Halloween"!


One very profound observation:


"I bet she burped it all back up because she had 'any-jestin' (indigestion). She shoulda drank some of that pink stuff."


The kids are always into these stories, but this time we did an extra little activity.

It's hard to see, but there is a plastic baggie behind the little old lady and it holds all the things she swallowed. I heard 18 different versions of the same story that day, but I think all of them remembered the correct order.

I am also posting this picture of a Haunted House that was made lovingly for me. I love it.

B is for Buttered

Princess came up to me this morning. She handed me a red envelope decorated with black ladybug spots (she knows I love ladybugs). It was labeled To: Emily Love: Princess

She said, "Ms. Buckler? I worked on something really, really, really hard at home for you. You can open it now."

I opened it. It was a picture of Princess, myself, and a ladybug. It was pretty. I thanked her and asked her to unpack her things and get to work.

She lingered.

And then said....

"Ms. Buckler you are my most favorite teacher of my whole life. Do you know why? Because you're so nice and sweet and you help me with my work and you like ladybugs and you let us do fun things and you let us borrow your books and we have fun and we get to do fun centers and you're the only one in my family besides me that loves butterflies. I love you so much!" (Big hug. Almost lost my breakfast.)

My reply, "Thanks Princess. You're pretty cool yourself when you remember to talk nicely to your friends and do all of your work. Speaking of...go unpack and get to work!"

I hung her picture on my bookshelf. She came back up to me 10 minutes later.

Her: Ms. Buckler? Can I show everyone the picture I drew you?

Me: They can see it for themselves if they look on my bookshelf.

Her: Can I tell them all to look?

Me: Get to work!

I found myself questioning her sincerity. I think she may know I'm working on report card grades. I feel sufficiently "buttered up" for something.

N is for Nutcracker

Ha! I know what some of you thought when you read that title!

I got a message the other day that kind of went like this:
"This is going to sound crazy, but I'm mailing you a package. I had to mail the card separately. So, don't open the card till you get the box!"

It was from my middle sister, Christen, on October 14. I couldn't believe she would torture me like that. I do not like waiting! And to tell me I had to wait for both things to be together?! As if!

I was the kid who would lay under the Christmas tree and shake all the boxes. I got really good at un-taping the ends of presents without getting caught.

Okay, I still do that.

Anyway, the BOX came Saturday. No card in the mail. My youngest sister, Hilary, put the box right on the couch where I would see it.

I stared at it, shook it, and tried to get the dogs to "accidentally" open it. About 20 minutes after getting home, I had to leave this message:

(The rule follower part was sarcasm...)

Believe it or not, I went to sleep WITHOUT opening the box.

I am trying to improve my self-control.

I wanted to wait for the card to come and open them both at the same time. And I wanted Christen to tell me I could open it anyway. Yes, I was prepared to whine if she didn't give me permission... I get my way like that a lot.

To be fair, she DID tell me not to open the CARD until the BOX got here. The box got here first!

FINALLY, on Sunday, I got this response:

Yay!!!!!! Permission!

I pushed the cat off the box, wiped off the dog drool, and grabbed the corner of the tape.

It came of VEEEEEERY easily. So easily that if any postal workers had tipped it sideways everything would have fallen out.

I thought nothing more of that and started digging through the packing material.

It was THIS:

An awesome, cool, hand-crafted TEACHER NUTCRACKER! It even says 2010 so I can always remember what year I was the T.O.Y!

Her glasses can even move to her head! Exactly like I like to wear my sunglasses!
And when you lift the lever on the back, her bow comes down! Exactly like I...nevermind.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. I think it was very thoughtful and sweet of my middle sister.

Here is my response:

I don't think the cat could open it. And the dogs wouldn't be that sneaky. Or neat.

Hello! Remember this? I got really good at un-taping the ends of presents without getting caught.

You can NOT fool the MASTER, Hilary!

By the way, it's Monday and I am still waiting on that card. Maybe I'll be the one that gets to open it first.
 

Thank you for the awesome gift, Christen.

P is for Poultry

We had a visitor last week. His name is Chicky Chick E. Chickey Chiky.

He was shown to me by my newest student before school started.

Newbie: Ms. Buckler! I brought a chicken to school!
Me: Please tell me it isn't a real chicken in your backpack!
Newbie: He's real! His name is Chicky (spelled Chiky)!
Me: Can I see this chicken please?
Newbie: Sure! (shows me a small, FAKE chick of the Easter decoration variety) He came to school today so he can learn with me.

Now I don't know Newbie that well yet.  (Newbie will be called Newbie just because he came to me after the first day of school.) I do know that there is still a "warming up to" period for all of us. So, I decided to let Chicky hang around with this rule:

Me: If you are playing with Chicky instead of learning and listening, Chicky will have to learn from the comfort of inside your backpack. That goes for your classmates, too. Not a PEEP from Chicky (I make corny jokes because second-graders find them hilarious).
Newbie: Yes ma'am!
Me: Oh and maybe you should read about Junie B. Jones and the peep in her pocket...
Newbie: Er...sure... (I can dream!)

So Newbie got his morning work done faster than normal. During my walking around and checking of work, Newbie calls me over. This is what I saw:

Chicky got his very own desk with his very own eraser seat!
(a la Twiddlebugs you Sesame Street fans!)

If you look veeeerrrry closely, you will see that Chicky got his very own name tag complete with a number line, shapes, and his name C-H-I-K-Y. 

During Reading, a few kids do a little switcheroo between me and Mrs. Barrentine's class. Before Newbie left, he gave his teammates strict instructions to "WATCH CHICKY'S EVERY MOVE".

Princess took this very seriously. During reading centers she was "shh-ed" for saying "STEP AWAY FROM THE CHICKEN!" too loudly.

Later that day, we finished our math lesson and did centers. I asked my darlings to take out their math practice books so we could pull out a page for homework. Page 57 to be exact. Here is what I saw when I got to Newbie/Chiky's desks:

I have NO IDEA where the hat came from! Notice the math book is titled properly. Also, there is a tiny Page 57 inside that we taped to Newbie's homework folder.

At dismissal, I heard conversations about what Chicky will need for tomorrow in order to be "cooler". Little did I know...

Flash forward to the next morning. This is the new and improved Chicky:

Chicky was all bling-ed out with his Mr. T style necklace. He also was prepared for the cooler fall weather with a sock vest. That black jewelry bag? Yeah, that's his drawstring backpack that held Page 57.

Needless to say, I lost my composure. I think I laughed so hard I snorted. If I were drinking my breakfast Pepsi it would have been out of my nose!

At the end of the day, I told Newbie that I am thankful for Chicky's visit, but I think his last day should be Friday. He was okay with that after I promised to read "The Perfect Nest".

Maybe Chicky can come back again in the spring when we read "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick."

W is for Wow (Results)

I really can't believe it. I work with some fabulously wonderful people. We should all be Teachers of the Year every year. I really would like to share my teacher of the year-dom with all of those people who help me become better every day. Those of you who remind me that we teach because there's nothing else we'd rather do. Thank you from all the parts of my heart.

You should all get one of my flowers, but this picture will last longer.

These flowers were from my mom...She says she's proud of me.

Walking to my classroom this morning, I got a bunch of cheers and applause from my students. It made me a little teary and one of my teammates a lot teary.

One of my bestest friends and coworkers made a hat for her daughter to wear.

My little darlings asked me, "So what do you get for being Teacher of the Year?"

My reply, "Well, probably the best part is...A DAY AWAY FROM MY STUDENTS! YAY!"

I got a lot of pretty pictures today like this one: 

Front: You are teacher of the year! (With TWO suns) Plaese...Plesae...don't

Back: don't take a day off.

D is for December

As a reward for good behavior, my students may choose a trip to the treasure box, a free homework pass, or lunch with me. Usually, they pick lunch with me. Little do they know I get a kick out of their conversations and material for my blog. And I always wonder what 7 and 8 year olds talk about at lunch. Well, the innocent ones anyway.



Yes, today is October 4 and we just put up a few Halloween decorations, but December is on my little darlings' minds.

This is a snippet of our lunch conversation:

Mohawk: Ms. Buckler, I know why December is called December.
Me: Oh yeah? Tell me!
Mohawk: Because Santa needs December to get ready to deliver all the toys. All the other months he sleeps up for THE BIG DAY!
Me: Okay, but that doesn't really tell me where the name December came from.
Mohawk: Yeah, that's not really important.
Me: (sighing) (shaking my head in speechless confusion) (eating another carrot)

(awkward silence)
 
Blondie: I think Santa goes shopping at Wal-mart at night when kids are sleeping because there's no way he can make all the stuff.
Snaggle:  I think his little men do it.
Doll Baby: They're called midgets!
Mohawk: No they're ELFS! Ms. Buckler, how much do you think Santa pays his elfs? And where does he get all his money?
Me: Aww man! It's time to go!

This conversation is 100% real. I swear I'm going to start bringing a tape recorder on Lunch Bunch days.

I'm linking this to Tiny Talk Tuesday.

W is for Wow

Wow! Huh?! Really!? Hmm...

These were things going through my head when I was told I was nominated for Teacher of the Year.

I am totally flattered and honored. I know there are teachers at school who deserve my spot and I can only hope to grow up to be like them.

But, just so I don't feel guilty, I would like to remind you of a few of my shortcomings:
(click to reread and refresh your memory)

1. I obviously don't teach enough Social Studies.

2. I fail at science experiments.

3. I sometimes spell things inappropriately.

4. I harbor plant killers.

5. I accept bribes and give them.

6. I play tricks on my students and coworkers.

And let's not forget my many misadventures with Mr. TV!

7. Like this one.

8. I squash love connections like this one I read on a Bucket slip:
   I would like to fill Princess' bucket by saying: I love yur hare a lot I love you. From: History Buff

9. I have "unappropriate" books on my shelves about princesses who toot and farmers in Bremen that murder their animals.

10. I don't encourage students to love all kinds of music...
Prudence: Ms. Buckler, have you ever heard of Bon Jovi?
Me: I think I've heard their songs once or twice (in person).
Cutie: Have you ever heard of Justin Beiber?
Me: That's not real music! I don't listen to that junk!

Wow. Maybe I should have reminded you of these things BEFORE the nominations.

Thank you to all my readers and supporters. I love you and your hare.

C is for Chris Garrido

Have you ever had a boss/supervisor that is totally awesome? I have been lucky enough to have quite a few. (Hi Sherri! Hi David! Hi Ed!)

I have two great administrators at my full-time job. They pretty much let me do whatever I want. And they bring doughnuts.

This post is about my part-time boss/supervisor. His name is Chris Garrido. He has an adorable son. He just got married to a beautiful lady (who I hear can bake like an angel.)

His half birthday was two days ago. Hap Birt, Chr!

He trusts me. He believes in me. He appreciates me and even gets my sarcasm.

Even though he is a Red Sox fan, he's pretty awesome (at least he's a Gator fan).

I think my feelings for him can best be expressed through a song (random SNL reference):

Here's the story of a lucky lady,
Who was tutoring some cute little kids. (2008-2009)
All of them did very well, because of their tutors.
Then the next year we had no dough. (Thanks a lot feds!)

Here's the story, of a man named Chris,
Who was busy with tutoring as well.
He was trying to keep us all together,
From the other side of the world (seems like it).

Till the one day when the lady got a call from this fellow,
And he knew he wanted her to work for them again.
That she could somehow find him more teachers.
That's the way we all became the HLC Bunch!
The HLC Bunch, The HLC Bunch.

That's the way we became the HLC Bunch!

Okay, that song is probably a little more about me, but I like it.

I'm not trying to suck up for "Tutor of the Month". I'm just felt like RANDOMLY writing a blog about an awesome person. 

S is for Social Studies

I've decided to spend a little extra time on Social Studies this year...

Here are the top 10 reasons:

1. "Abraham Lincoln sneaked into a theater and shot George Washington."

2. "The teworwists fwew an aiwerpwane into the Empiwer State Buiwlding."

3. "America is a part of Florida."

4. "Cavemen and Indians hunted for dinosaurs to eat."

5.  English is a language. Spanish is a language. French is a language. British is a language.

6. Judges are the same as presidents.

7. People in a jury are called "Jur-mans". 

8. I am a "Zephyrhillian" and it is considered to be a BIG city.

9. "The capital of California is Hollywood."

10. I kid you NOT... (I called a few students up to my desk this morning to sing with me) here is a compilation of "America the Beautiful":

O beautiful for space in skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountains magically
Above the fruit in pain!
America! America!
God’s head is great on me!
And crown my good with brotha-hood
From sea to shiny sea!

(you should try singing this at the top of your lungs...it's inspiring)

I just hope we have time to set some records straight before 'they' create a Social Studies FCAT.

O is for Overwhelmed

So I felt a little like a hamster in one of those little plastic ball thingies. Kind of running around haphazardly, bumping into stuff, pretending I knew what I was doing so no one picked me up and put me in a cage.

And then...I got a box. It had my name on it and it was from OUT OF TOWN!

Wow! I thought to myself. Buckler, what did you forgot you ordered now?

Well, it wasn't something I forgot I ordered. It was a surprise gift! A beautiful, wonderful, super fantastically awesome gift! From my former "Valentine" and teacher friend! Sewn with love by a tiara finding friend. Both of whom have moved far, far away to places I hear have all four seasons.

Here it is:

It is a hall pass holder/sign that has LADYBUGS on it!!!!!

I want to laminate it!

I want to spray 10 layers of Scotch Guard on it!

I want to put it in a glass box my top shelf and tell the kids they can just LOOK at it!
(and maybe have some lazers protecting it...)

That is how much I love and adore it.

Here is a picture of how I feel about it:

Here is the note it came with:

Notice the cute little jar/milk bottle it came with! I know these took some hard work to clean-up. They are going right on my window sill with my collection. Love, love, love them!

I also enjoyed the packaging materials. Here is what the kids saw when I opened the box:

An ad for 99 cent underwear and comics from a Yankee newspaper. It was like a gift inside a gift!

One of my darlings, which I shall call Type A, said that my gifts were a wonderful example of bucket filling. She also applied the Second Step lesson for the day: "Ms. Buckler! You're feelings changed just like Tonya's did. First you were feeling a little stressed out, but now you are so happy!" She was exactly right, that observant little Type A.

Public Service Announcement:
"If you ask Emily Buckler to help you with something, she is GOING to help you. Maybe it was growing up on a farm before child labor laws or maybe she is trying to get some good Karma. Nevertheless, you do NOT need to repay her. She hopes you do not feel as though you need to do so. She is just thankful for all the help she's received in her lifetime and is trying to pay it forward."
(this message is approved by Emily Buckler)

Thanks from the deepest depths of my heart, Mrs. Campbell. And the "little help" from you, Mrs. Dudley!

P in for penCil

So the other day, I accidentally made a typo on my facebook status. I got a lot of comments on it.

The funny thing that none of you knew... "pencil" was one of our Challenge Spelling Words this week. It has a short e.

Thankfully, I've written it correctly everywhere my students can read it.

Here are some alternate spellings of the word "pencil". I'm sure you will notice that NONE of them were spelled MY way.

pencle, peincl, pintsol (my favorite)

pensol, pennsly (say what!?)

pencill, pensl, pecil

Cutest work to date:

U is for Unexpected

I guess this whole blog thing could be called U is for Unexpected since I write about the crazy, unexpected things that happen. These are some that happened today.

Unexpected Rate 1
I stepped on the hem of my pants and so I used some paper clips to fix it.
(I took a picture to share, but you couldn't see the black paper clips on the black pants. You just had to see it in person.)

Unexpected Rate 4
I cried over something sweet. If you know me, you know I only cry when I am seriously frustrated...or when something is abused or dies. Or when the Red Sox beat the Rays.

We were talking about making friends and what being a friend means to us. Some kids said that a friend is someone to play video games with or someone to text. But, my cute little darling with the nervous laugh said it the best. She said, "a friend is like a sister if you're a girl (or brother if you're a boy) that belongs to a different family (nervous laugh)." It was a deep moment for us. She got nods of agreement from her classmates and tears from me. I couldn't help it. It was just so profound.

Unexpected Rate 9.5
Our science experiment didn't work. It did last year! We are learning about how scientists work (aka the scientific process) so we did an experiment called "Dancing Raisins". We had to predict if the raisins A) dissolve, B)sink to the bottom and explode, C)dance up and down, or D)float when put into a glass of 7-up. I guess it's because I was being cheap and used seltzer water. But, it's the bubbles that make it work and there were tons of bubbles! Anyway, I digress. Most of us chose D, but some were hoping for the blowing-up one.

I put the cups of seltzer water on the desks, we counted to three, and dropped in the raisins. This is what happened:

Nothing. They just sat there.

Here is what happened after about two minutes:

Nothing. The same picture could be used for what happened after I stirred them up a little.

While I was working with this team. I hear, "READY? 1-2-3" Then a really loud, "REDUCTO!" I turn around to see this:

Apparently, one of my most creative students had arranged for everyone to use their pencils as wands to put a spell on the raisins...to make them dance (or blow up). I was laughing so hard I almost choked! I think the wrong spell was used though, because I'm pretty sure Harry used REDUCTO! as a reduction spell. I guess we are plain Muggles. (Is plain Muggles redundant?)

Unexpected Rate Infinity
I hear there was a "troll" under my portable today. Hiding from his first grade teacher. But, that's not my story to tell...

P is for Pseudocolus fusiformis...I think

So we were walking to lunch today and one of my new little darlings (which I will probably refer to as Princess) says, "EWWW!!! What is that smell? It smells like someone p**ped in their pants!" We are right by a drainage grate, so I figured she'll have to get used to it.

Thankfully, she was at the end of the line and I shushed her and we walked on.

During our Specials time today, some of my teammates and our Tech Specialist stopped to talk in the general area of the stinky spot. I was pretty sure it wasn't me, but I checked the bottom of my shoes anyway.

Well, our TS pointed out the culprit. She called it a "Devil's Tongue." I was pretty impressed that one little plant could be so malodorous (that was on my Word of the Day screen saver...). So, on the way back from Specials, I thought it would be a teachable moment to point it out to the class. I showed them the plant (which was growing close to the wall and through the mulch) and they all held their noses and "ewwed". We continued back to class and did a science experiment.

On my way to my car this afternoon, I checked out the plant. Let's just say that someone "took care of it"... It's now smooshed into a stinky pulp.

Now listen...I'm not implicating anyone, but I do know someone of a princessy nature asked me to get a drink of water during our science experiment...

Here is a picture and some info about it. Apparently it's a type of mushroom and is known on the street as a "Stinky Squid". I think. I just hope it's not rare and potentially worth millions of dollars.

Click here if you want to know more than you ever wanted to about this plant.