Math leads to COOKIESSSS

That's right, everyone; math leads to cookies.  My class will be participating in a measurement activity tomorrow at school.  Our problem is that we do not have an oven to use to finish our recipe.  Therefore, I came up with the solution to mix the ingredients at school, but pre-make them at home first.  But there's an added twist.... video lesson!  I foresee many people needing additional help with parts of the lesson, so what better way to help myself than by making 2 of me.  I mean, teachers are always asking for more hands in the room- creating a video lesson will make 2 of you.

So excited about teaching this tomorrow :)  Perfect way to start off the week!

First Day=Pau

For those of you not familiar with Hawaiian lingo, "pau" is pidgin for "done."  I think it is a fun word.

Anyway...

Success!  

Magic Playdoh- CHECK

Pete the Cat- CHECK

Values and Rules- CHECK

procedures, procedures, PROcedures- CHECK

Let. me. tell. you.   The "Pete the Cat" idea was my favorite today.  The kids loved having the opportunity to get their hands on scissors, glue, and coloring tools.  I have some artists in my class this year!  First, I read them the story, Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes.  It is a predictable tale  about Pete doing things at school in his cool new shoes.  The kids loved interacting with the story and by the end they were singing the chorus with me.  Next, we worked on a craft that I used thanks to A Day in First Grade.  While they worked, I put on some music that is on the Pete the Cat Activity Page.  Highly recommend it!  The kids wanted to listen to these songs over and over again.  When students glued the parts together one said, "Pete came to life!"  So cute.  The last step was writing a sentence on the board titled "Pete the Cat".  It said "I'm ______ in my school shoes." and had them fill in the blank with something they did today on their first day of school.  I will definitely be doing this activity again next year!

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to using the friend survey also courtesy of A Day in First Grade.  It will be the first lesson of the Daily 5 as well.  Get 'em started early!

Although it's always sad to see summer pass by, I'm happy to be back at school.  Here's to a good year!

(made these rainbow cupcakes for my team for the first day)

First Day Jitters

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I couldn't be more excited!  I feel more prepared than ever and looking forward to meeting my new group.  Plus, I get to see my old students and catch up with them on how their summer was.

For now... Meet- Minnie.  She is the newest member of our class.  I think class pets are so fun.  One of our student jobs is pet/plant caretaker.  I hope the kids love her as much as I do.  I know, I know:  "just a fish..." but pets are family.  So this one better not die!

I'm trying a few other new things this year.  I found this great lesson idea from  A Cupcake for the Teacher:  Magic Playdoh.   I've already made the playdoh and couldn't believe how EASY it was!  The idea behind magic playdoh is you put food coloring in the center and let the kids think it's just a white ball of playdoh.  Little do they know that when they start playing with it (while it's still inside the bag at first because of the dye), it changes color!  This is super cute and a fun idea.  I can't wait to see the looks on their faces :)  I got this idea from Teri, but she did not create this poem- like me, she borrowed from a teacher, who also borrowed.  I love this community of sharing!

The big poster is for the whole group setting.  It will be displayed on the SMART Board at the front of the class and we will read the poem together.  They will have the smaller labels on their ziploc baggies.  

The ingredients are as follows (one batch makes 8 decent balls of playdoh):

2 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

4tsp cream of tartar

2 cups water

2tbsp vegetable oil

food coloring

*Steps*

1.  Mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the food coloring together in a pot on the stove over medium heat.

2.  Stir continuously until playdoh becomes a ball and you can't stir anymore.

3.  Set it aside on a plate to cool.

4.  Form balls of playdoh and poke a hole at the top.  Add 3-4 drops of food coloring in the center.  GENTLY seal the hole so there is no sign of food coloring.

 Put all the balls in individual ziploc bags for the students and Voila!  Mission accomplished.

As for First Day Jitters... if you're a teacher and haven't read it yet, it is a must.  I am reading it on the first day of school as a fun ice breaker.  I'll also be reading the new Pete the Cat book I bought over the summer and doing a craft activity.  The second day of school I will give students this survey to complete with their peers to get to know each other.  I got this idea from fellow blogger, Kristen Smith.

Stay tuned for many stories of the first day of school.  Only 15 hours away... haha

Fun Photo Friday!

It's officially the last work day before the madness begins.  Students start school on Monday!  and as excited as I am to have a brand new, bright-eyed batch of second graders (the BEST grade), I can't help but be melancholy reflecting on my kids last year.  They are growing and moving on to new experiences in 3rd grade.  My role as their teacher was to love them, nurture them, and teach them.  That motherly mindset is still there, but now I have to let them go.  I absolutely cannot wait to see the looks on their faces as they begin their third grade journey with a new teacher.

Last Friday I posted some sunset pictures. This week I'd like to share sunrise pictures to represent the dawning of a new year and a rainbow to represent hope. 

Daily 5

I am a huge fan of the Daily 5.  I started practicing this reading resource 4 years ago.  Imagine my delight when I found awesome poster printouts for FREEEEEEEEEEE.  Sorry, I love that word.  Anyway, I wanted to share it so that other lovers of this teaching practice can find it and use it.  Go here to download and print.  Enjoy!

Fun Photo Friday

In honor of everyone's (including myself) love for Fridays, I am trying out a weekly theme.  I used 2 of my favorite Hawaiian sunset photos today because school hasn't started yet.  Once school begins we will choose our class photo of the week for "Fun Photo Fridays".  I'm looking forward to it! 

Aloooha!

Classroom Nightmares

Earlier this summer I described my dreams for the class I teach in.  Unfortunately those dreams take work and time; time, time, time.  Today I want to share the transformation photos.

 I started out with dust, dirt, boxes, piled furniture, and disorganization to the MAX!!

Ew.  The first thing that drove me crazy is the furniture.  I reorganized them keeping small group work stations or centers in mind, reducing clutter, and producing a maximum efficiency environment.

The next obstacle is cleaning.  Cleaning the cubbies, cabinets, baskets, containers, dividers, books, and furniture.  What a feat!  My classroom doors and windows stay open for breeze flow.  Therefore my room is very susceptible to collecting dirt and dust.  It is important to clean and maintain cleanliness throughout the year.  I am going to instill monthly cleaning days for the items in the classroom.  Otherwise, it gets DIS-GUST-INGGGGGGG.

All of these containers got cleaned out:  Hosed, scrubbed, and set out in the sun to dry.

  

Next came the unpacking.  This can be fun, like opening presents.  I found homes for all the manipulatives and supplies.  I know it's important to have materials out for students for easy access, so I put them in areas students can reach independently.  I labeled all containers in the cubbies to promote word knowledge, vocabulary, and organization.  Words everywhere!  I love Reagan's labels.  I used them on storage containers, math manipulative containers, and library labels.  I also downloaded a few fun fonts from here.  

Finally, I worked on bulletin boards.  They are incomplete at the moment, but I used my classroom theme of polka dots to help design.  The content of the boards will be added as students learn new things.  I laminated the bulletin board decorations for long-lasting durability.

I am continuously improving my room.  August 5 is the first day of school.  All will be complete by then (I hope)!  To be continued...

New Year

If you're a teacher, you're probably like me in welcoming the "New Year" in August (September in some areas).  My years are based on the school calendar.  And, yes, a new one is upon us, PEOPLE!

I changed my look a bit for the occasion.  I feel like this theme is a little more compatible.  I cannot take all the credit, though.  My inspiration was from a fellow blogger's profile I am absolutely in love with.  Thanks, Denise from "Sunny days in Second Grade"!

It's been a while since my last post.  I've been working hard in my classroom (there's still more work to be done...) and keeping up with my healthy living goals.  I'm so proud to say I ran my longest run ever of 10 miles this summer! and lost 10 pounds to match it.  That weight was all from Christmas vacation 6 months ago thanks to my mom's delicious baking.  It couldn't be helped.  I'm going to try my very best to maintain the healthy mentality throughout the school year.  I'll have to run after school when I get home, which will not be easy.  I'll let you know how that goes...

As for my room, I have before and after pictures.  I really want to wait and post when it's completely finished, but I will share a little at a time until the students come.  Teachers started meetings/trainings today, so I will not be able to dedicate as much time to my room as I'd like.  Sad, but I still have a week (11 days to be exact).

And with that... the countdown to the first day of school (the New Year) begins!  

A Lesson in Culture

When I moved to Hawaii 4 years ago I knew no one here and nothing of the state except what I had seen in the exotic photos and the friends I knew lucky enough to vacation here.  I had a conversation today with a friend's mom that made me realize how far I've come since that wide-eyed, college graduate ready to take on second graders in a community I knew nothing about.  It wasn't easy at first- my students said things I didn't understand and had names for things that had to be explained to me.  "Slippers" are flip-flops, "puka" means "hole", "da kine" is a phrase that means "whatchamacallit", and so on.  Now these are words I use without blinking- if I said them back in South Bend people would look at me with blank stares and it would take me a moment to realize why.  It was so powerful knowing that teaching and learning was being reciprocated almost equally among me and my students.

Having a grasp of the culture is part of engaging students in prior knowledge that is so important to teaching. I used to catch myself using snow as a relationship with winter, road trips as an example of traveling (it takes 1 hour to drive to the other side of the island- where I LIVE), or even using squirrels when thinking of park animals (there aren't any squirrels in Hawaii...).  These are things I'm used to.  But that was the problem, I needed to think of my STUDENTS' prior knowledge.  To do that I had to gain more knowledge myself before I could teach to my students.

                                 

I embraced the culture in Hawaii the moment I set foot on the island.  I love it.  I love learning about it.  I know much more and can connect with my students better now.  I've gotten to visit other islands of Hawaii that some of my students haven't, gone to beaches that some of my students haven't, and have visited places around the island that some of my students haven't.  BUT what I need to do is take my experiences a step further and try learning and using even more of the language, historical culture in my lessons, and actually teaching students about Hawaii.  Sure, I've taught geographical lessons about the different islands, their characteristics/what the island is known for, and even studied Hawaii's natural resources.  Today, though, I had an eye-opening experience with one of the Kumus (Hawaiian for "Teachers") at my school.

Being led through the hei'au

We took a day off of Healthy Living to explore the community with Kumu Pua, learning Hawaiian Culture. More specifically, we visited a hei'au.  A hei'au is the ancient sacred ground of the Hawaiian Temple.  There were at least 30 students engaged and listening intently to the legends, stories, facts, and history of Hawaii.  I was one of those students.  I learned so much from this field trip and wanted to share with readers.  Hopefully someone out there is as interested as I am- I'd like to pass the knowledge on.

Getting permission to enter the sacred hei'au

1 Year Luau Tradition

How the babies were blessed at their 1 Year Luau, and explanation of white coral

The engineering behind building the walls of the hei'au 

This is just a taste of information she shared today.  I learned so much from Kumu Pua.  I can say with certainty: it left me craving more!

Health in the Real World

Today we welcomed U.S. Navy Divers into our class to explain how healthy choices pertain to their job.  They brought some equipment to share to help explain how they work underwater.  It was pretty heavy- students loved trying to hold it.  Our class also prepared questions to ask them.  Some questions were about the job of being a diver and other questions were about healthy choices- like where they work out, what they eat to get energy, and how much water they need to drink to stay hydrated.  The kids had a good time and learned a lot.  After our guests left with their thank-you cards in hand, we wrote a reflection of 3 things they learned and what they liked or didn't like about the activity.  Here are some pictures of the event:

Writing thank-you cards to show appreciation.

Our guests introducing themselves (sporting their leis!)

Trying on the equipment

The air tank and bag is about 20 lbs

They use masks to see under water

We help each other secure the equipment

Before the game, we warm up our bodies to prevent injury

We drink lots of water to stay hydrated

Split up into 2 teams for our game

Bear crawling- one of the challenges

We stretch after exercising so we don't get sore

Saying our good-byes and thank yous!

What a great day.  Thank you to our military for all you do for our country and community!