Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Teaching with Heart and Creativity

Dear Teacher Diary…

Tuesday April 17th.
Dear Teacher Diary,

Today was day 148 of first grade.

  I am starting to think my students will follow directions soon.

 Maybe tomorrow is the big day.

 Maybe everything we have discussed for the last 148 days will just  ripen  marinate   sink in   mature    click.   make sense  come together. 

Yes I am sure of it. 

We are working on our book study of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.  It goes well with studying rocks.  4 out of 5 teachers agree.

Isn’t there always 1 that doesn’t agree?

 I am pretty sure 5 would agree….

 but 4 out of 5 makes a better fraction and rocks and fractions are my life right now.  MY LIFE. 

Today I played the John Lithgo version of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble off of United Streaming.

 A video in the morning?! Can it be true?

Then we worked on our book study.  (fancy way to do a theme-y reading response)

Don’t these two below look like Rocky and Ce Ce from Disney’s Shake it Up?
It’s cute till you hear the Be Be Be my BFF song 24/7 at school. 
I have
officially banned the song. 
OFFICIALLY. 
Dream Squasher in CHARGE

 

 Guess who else came to class  today!!!

I introduced the class to Sharon Stone, Slate, and Punk Rock.

 They were a HIT! I even went into the story line a little bit. 

 Then we went out on the playground to find our own pet rocks. 

no Kristin this isn’t my entire class….just the ones that had already found their rocks.  🙂  🙂
 While we were out finding pet rocks a very upset first grader came running to me pointing at a group of my kids that had gathered in a huddle.  
The student was stuttering due to being so upset.  He kept saying.  “He killed Nate!  Nate!  He killed Nate!” 
My heart and stomach lurched.  Everything went into slow motion.  My mind was racing and my body was not moving fast enough to get to Nate and the huddle.  
I was thinking Nate? Did I get a new student?  Who killed him?  Was it a rock to the head? and finally the stutter ended with He killed NATURE!!!!  
As I reached the huddle I found a squashed worm.  Apparently named Nate.  or Mr. Nature.  In anycase he was dead.  It was awful to see Nature there dead on the ground.  
Moment of silence.
 Taps playing.
  See the gorgeous grass rocks our kids play on?  
You should see the bloody knees and elbows from a friendly game of tag.

In the Science Center this week we are sorting by color and graphing our results.

Tomorrow we will paint our pet rocks and add their eyes and hair. 

I am totally the best teacher ever.

 Little do they know they will be writing ALL ABOUT IT. 

Then it was fraction time! We did two activities today.
Shoe Fractions

and name fractions

 

————————-squirrel—————literally——————–

Ever since reading Going Nutty with Miss Squirrels, I have encountered many a squirrel and thought of her blog and her funny personality.  Well today I just couldn’t resist snapping a couple pictures of a certain squirrel ride on our playground.  

———————that was for you Miss Squirrels!———–

About a year ago I made my teacher song and video set to Infernal Gallop.

But since I hadn’t made up a silly teaching song in WAY TOO LONG…

  Daughter and I wrote the lyrics, genius boy did the filming, and a few of my FUN and FABULOUS coworkers (and some teacher kids) starred in the video. 

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    Comments

    2. I look forward to your blog posts…they usually make me laugh and tonight was no exception! 🙂 Your rock friends are awesome! Thanks for sharing your day with all of us! I am relatively new to this adventure in blogging (I started my own blog about 2 months ago after feeling a bit strange about the fact that my kindergarteners have blogs and I don't) and I'd love for you to check it out sometime if you get a chance! Thanks for making me smile this evening.

      Amanda
      http://www.averycuriousclass.blogspot.com

      Reply

    9. HEY are those trees providing shade on your playground?! We don't have any of that..large trees nor shade. It's like the Sahara. 😀
      You totally CRACK.ME.UP.
      Oh… and I was TOTALLY freakin' out when I saw that pic of so few kids holding rocks. So thought that was your whole class until I read the fine print. I was throwing a mini-fit! 😀
      ❤Traci❤
      Dragonflies in First

      Reply

    10. I feel so relieved that it's not just my class with the listening problems. Holy mama!

      Your student picture looks like my class with one kid missing!! 😉

      And your video was awesome. You have a lot of copy machines, wow!!

      Marvelous Multiagers!

      Reply

    12. First, thank you for clearing up your class size in that picture. 🙂
      Second, you are the best teacher ever.
      Third, your video made me laugh so hard!!!!!! I want to be in it! I loved loved loved the teachers walking down the hallway and then taking their hair out of the buns/ponytails. PERFECT!!!!!!
      The squirrel ride is hilarious.
      A Teeny Tiny Teacher

      Reply

    13. Reagan….You should have been a comedian!! I want to work with you…seriously! I am packing my bags and coming with Kristin!! Gosh..you have skittles, shoes for fractions…book barns…and AWESOME teacher videos!

      Reply

    15. Dearest Reagan, I LOVE THIS POST! Love it. Probably going to copy it I love it so much. A great start to my Wednesday morning…the day of the dreaded "common planning" meetings, disguised as PLC meetings. I hate Wednesdays. But this was a a little ray of sunshine!!!!! Happy Hump Day!!!!!

      Reply

    17. Don't freak out…but I had a dream about you last night! A very strange dream! I woke up (in my dream) and you were decorating my room and turning it into a garden. You had a fence, real dirt and fake flowers and veggies all over my room! I know…it's weird! Anyhow…I admit I was drugged with cough medicine since I have a terrible cold. But really…that was strange. You have invaded my dreams! Haha!

      Reply

    18. Ha ha ha…..you remind me of me!!! I would have totally (in a matter of seconds feeling like hours) done a quick inventory….looked for a dead body…tried to remember if I had a Nate….panic moment, inventory kids again….too funny!! You also crack me up about the rules thing….I was feeling oh too good Monday morning (first day of dreaded state tests), reading was Monday….when they were done we did a Math review…..did you notice I said review….because they know it right???? Well, all of the sudden they acted like they had NEVER seen any math before!!!!!! Heart attack with the Math test on Wednesday and Thursday!!! Really??? Oh well…we keep plugging along, right? I haven't heard from you in a year…..ok, I know that is stretching it…..a couple of weeks……maybe…..well, miss you!!

      4th Grade Frolics

      Reply

    19. Ah Reagan, I love coming here. I was having a wicked stressful day and this post just lifted my heart! Your video is riot, I love how your coworkers starred in it with you too!

      Reply

    20. I totally needed this post! Its been a stressful time and I feel the same way about my first graders right now. Its sooooo nice to know I can relate with someone all while laughing out loud. That video was classic! Thanks for the laughs AND tips always!

      Reply

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