M is for Metawhosasis?

This is just a little something to give you a chuckle:

I AM working on "Music of the Stone Age" centers for you Treasures people. It's slow going.

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T is for Testing and Treats

Second graders took the Stanford Achievement test today. Boy were they stressed.

They wanted to know if it was as hard as the FCAT.

They wanted to know if they had to stay in the second grade if they didn't pass it.

They wanted to to know if they can skip third grade if they got a "9" score.

To reduce the stress, we gave them The Polka Dotted Teacher's Smarties treats. They LOVED the 7 reminders.

Some of them took it quite literally and told their parents they had to go to sleep at 7 p.m.

When they came in this morning, they found a pencil from the Test Fairy. (Again from Polka Dotted Teacher.)

We also gave them a tootsie roll treat as one last reminder to do their best. (Adapted from Polka Dotted Teacher. We loved your stuff Jessica!)

The darlings were supposed to "start their day peacefully" so we didn't do our normal Morning Work. I've been letting a student write up our morning jobs and this was today's:

I'm positive "walk around" has never been an option before, so I don't know where that came from.

Stella brought us a reminder she had made.

M&Ms had a friend bring me a note:

I called M&Ms over and gave her a big bear hug. I told her she would be PERFECTLY fine and to do her best. Her teary eyes made my eyes teary. (Soapbox: Why are we doing this to our children?!)

She went back to her desk and held this up:

After the test, she had a huge smile and said, "That was way better than I thought. It was kinda easy." (Whew!)

Testing week just proves to me that I would be a crazy mess of nerves if I were a third grade teacher and the students' scores could mean a mandatory retention. (Go Florida!...not)

I told my darlings that the hardest part of second grade is over. They were very relieved.

************************************MOVING ON ********************************************

My Pinterest Exchange gift came so I got a treat, too!




It was from Tania at My Second Sense!




It is so cute I actually squealed a little when I was opening it all. Here is what she sent me:

Note cards AND the adorable stamp

A personalized notebook AND a RED sharpie!

A super cute post-it holder. I adore it!

Did that lady do her research on me or what?!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Tania! I love it all.

I hope she likes what I sent her a smidgen as much as I mine (especially because it's late).


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L is for Ladybugs

Have I mentioned how much I love this time of year? I really do. Everything is much more fun on the downhill slide to Third Grade.

Today we came to school and found our ladybugs were ready to be released. This worked out perfectly as we just started life cycles in Science. Way to cooperate, ladybugs!

We made these life cycle ladybugs and waited for our larvae to turn into adult ladybugs. Yes, we also giggled and said "pupa, pupa, pupa" a few times last week.

 

Releasing them is always fun. I just keep {mostly} quiet and listen to the comments. It is often hilarious.

"Ahh! It tickles!"

"Aren't they just going to become bird food?"

"What's that black stuff left over in there?"

"Do you think they'll visit us if they come back to the butterfly garden?"

Well, I was trying to video {quietly} and there was a slight problem...Someone kept stepping on my toes.

Sheesh...Kindergarteners! She was late to school and decided to just slip in on the fun. I need to talk to her teacher about the difference between ladybugs and caterpillars...once I figure out who she is. She was long gone by the time I said "class".

As well as my little guy who thought we had caterpillars, but that's a whole different story.

P.S. My squeaky voice is only at the beginning. The other squeaky voice is my little Miss Assistant.

Tomorrow we do our BIG test! I hope there are not ladybug/caterpillar questions on it...


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B is for Bowling (Again)

I was such a bad blogger last year. I totally missed posting about our annual P.E. bowling field trip. I blame it on my "teacher of the year" responsibilities. =)

I was looking back at my bowling post from two years ago (AKA...the year of Mr. TV) and cracked up again.

This year, the rules were almost the same:

1. Behave.
2. Don't bowl better than Ms. Buckler.
3. When you do, be very nice to her. Your grades depend on it.
4. I DO NOT LEAVE MY CAMERA iPhone ON THIS FIELD TRIP! (I am still mad over that stolen camera.)

I managed to stay on the other side of the camera this year.

I also managed to whip my little lane mates, too. (What? They talked a lot of smack!)

That was the best I could do before my old cheerleading injury flared up. I had to hold my wrist the rest of the day.

I love the way pictures of the kids turn out.

They were very serious about their scores (data driven much?). One little darling made a "bowling" glove. It was passed around to all of the girls on their turns.

We had to take the all important dance break and show off our moves to the "Cupid Shuffle" and the "Cha Cha Slide".

I loved the compliment, "Ms. Buckler, your bowling shoes make your moves so much cooler." Thanks, kid.

Bowling is always a blast (even if there are a hundred "sit down when it's not your turn" reminders). That took up most of our Thursday.

Friday was dedicated to Earth Day. I am working on that post and will publish when I've got all of my resources acknowledged.

Have a great Sun(Earth)day!

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F is for Fewer than Five

So you can unfollow me/send me hate mail/call me names, but I HAD to write this. I am not going to ever be a "5-Star Blogger". Usually, I am all competitive and up for a challenge, but this is not one I can do.



With ALL due respect, I love Charity's blog. She has some wonderful ideas and works extremely hard. This is not to her personally. I just don't totally agree with her bloggy ideas. You might want to go read her post before finishing this one. (Click the picture of the ribbon above.)

I started this blog three years ago with the name "Well, shut my mouth!" and it was mostly used to vent and share my stories of a very challenging class/situation I had. It was fun for me and made for great conversation. I did not start it to meet anybody's standards or "stand out from the crowd". It was/is cathartic to share my silly stories and is a lot cheaper than a shrink.

Let me explain myself by commenting on the challenges:

CHALLENGE ONE: I have contact information listed on my blog somewhere.

Okay, I agree with that one. BUT...I choose to not "monetize" my blog by having ads. Those are everywhere now and it's annoying. But if someone wants to give me free stuff...I'm cool with that.

CHALLENGE TWO:  No Pass the Award/Tag posts from you in the last 5 posts on your blog.

Oops...guilty of that one! But you know what? I LIKE reading about other teachers and their lives. I also like to tell people "good job" for their hard efforts. Yeah, sometimes "tag" and passing awards on is annoying and a lot of work, so I just politely decline.

CHALLENGE THREE:  Not featuring anyone or anything but yourself and your own ideas on your own blog in the last 3 blog posts.

I have found some of the most fantastically educational ideas by reading a post of a post of a post. We are teachers! We SHARE! I like to thank and give shout outs to other teachers for their awesome ideas. If you've inspired me I WILL be sharing your ideas. Let me know if you'd like me to stop.

CHALLENGE FOUR:  No self-promoting new products with no content in the last 4 blog posts.

There is some point to this one. I should be better about telling how my units can be used by everyone BUT...not every teacher is in second grade OR uses Treasures.  Sometimes it's nice for those followers who wait for TPT units to be made to just see that it's ready to go without having to read through my other silliness. 

CHALLENGE FIVE:  I will write a new blog post that gives a great teaching idea that I want to share with teachers everywhere.  I will link up that blog post below making sure to include a backlink in my post to this blog post (a bonus etiquette point).

Can't I share great original ideas while promoting others or "playing tag"? And wouldn't this challenge mess me up for CHALLENGE THREE when I provide the backlink to that blog? Probably?

Okay, so there. It's off my mind. I only blog about things that matter to me and it's going to stay that way. Me and my 1-star self try to provide some comic relief for you wonderful readers and I absolutely, positively, humbly appreciate you all. You make this blogging thing worth it. Otherwise, I'd probably be in a corner curled up in the fetal position humming Nirvana songs.

Please feel free to comment away. I have thick(ish) skin. I always "approve" all comments...constructive or not.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!


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B is for Busy Beavers

One little darling looked surprised when I said it was time to pack up today. She said, "Wowy, we've just been busy little beavers today."

That really cracked me up, but she was right. It's week 6 of our reading series which means review week. Add to that a wacky schedule to accommodate our state's standardized test (FCAT! AHHHH!) and we had quite the unusual day.

We started with Courtney @ Swimming Into Second's Amazing Astronauts craftivity.

It was quite the ordeal. In my room, craft times are usually chaotic, but turn out some pretty cute results. We used some (now obsolete) overhead transparencies to give it more of a "helmet" effect.

Mr. Genius added "we come in peace" patches.

Skittles added some crazy blue eye shadow.

 One little guy was quite creative, but I did make him change his rough draft to not include the word "sexy".

I loved the hair on this one. Very realistic.

 

We also worked on some skills while matching eggs. This wonderful idea came from Amy @ Krazy about Kiddos. The kids are cuckoo for Coco Puffs over it.

 

After lunch, we had to open this!

It was from Natalie @ Teachery Tidbits. She had a giveaway while she was all the way in Japan! When I won, I new exactly what I'd want.

She even sent some extra treats for us to try. They got mixed reviews. =)

 When we opened the brown box and saw this they said, "Is it a bomb?" and "It looks like perfume!".

It was actually a beautiful, one of a kind Kokeshi doll! We love it so much! My darlings were amazed that we got something all the way from Japan. Thank you so much Mrs. Lemacks!

Go check out her posts about Okinawa. I'm so envious!

I also brought in this game made by Melissa & Doug. It got more playtime than the iPad today. I love exposing them to low-tech toys.

Whew! What a whirlwind of a day. Now we only have to gear up for a field trip to the bowling alley on Thursday and our Earth Day activities on Friday. I'm going to need some vitamins.

I am so thankful for the wonderful teaching blogs that give me so many ideas. They get me through times like these (FCAT! AHHHHHHH!)

I'm off to finish my Pintersting Spring Exchange project.


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F is for Furry Friends

Sandy is having a fun linky party! If you do not like animals...skip this post. =)

My dogs get their own place over on my sidebar, but now they get their own post, too.

This is Penny.

We do not know what kind of dog she is, but it doesn't matter. She thinks she is a human anyway.

I got her from the pound about 6 years ago. She was giving me a look that said, "Whatever. I don't care. Take me home or not. Doesn't matter to me." We named her after Penny on the Rescuers, but she is also kind of shaped like a roll of pennies. Notice the short legs. We can only guess she is part pit bull and part something short.

She enjoys long walks anywhere, kissing men, and eating anything that belongs/came from the cat.

When I got Penny I lived in a small apartment and did things like this to her:

She paid me back like this:

So I promised to buy her a home with a yard.

When I finally bought my house, I decided Penny needed a dog of her own to take care of.



So we went back to the same pound and got her Paisley. She came with a bandana and the name. Penny did not like her much at first. She grew on us all. She was a very bad counter surfer and refused to be house trained.

This was Paisley then...little, fluffy, and cute:

This is Paisley now...gigantic, fluffy, and still cute. Also very photogenic:

Paisley enjoys howling at Jeopardy music, whining and whimpering when there is a change of normal activities, and hiding behind me when there are strange rabbits around. She still counter surfs (maybe because Penny tells her to) and is wonderfully potty trained (except when there are good looking men around).

I also suspect she thinks she is a small cat.

Now, before both of these dogs, there was Micho. My nephew. He has lived with us for about 12 years. We have a love/hate relationship. Mostly because he makes me sneeze and sheds EVERYWHERE.

He is getting old, but still likes to act like a kitten. Here is proof:

Well, during the day he sleeps. At night, he goes crazy. Believe me. He has had to facetime his mother at night and explain himself several times.

 

They all have their quirks. Penny loves her ball, Paisley loves her bone, and Micho loves to look with disdain upon the canines and get in my way. But, I love them. Even the cat (sometimes).

Happy Sunday everyone!



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