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.