Hey everyone! Lindsey here…
It’s FRIDAY!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!
Now, let’s do a little Five for Friday. What better way to kick off the weekend?!?!?
Let’s start off with this gem that I saw when I went to my daughter’s pre-K open house.
Are you kidding me?!?!?!? Way to throw me under the bus kid!!!!!
Now, let me explain. We have an apple tree next to our driveway and the branches hang over. When the apples grow it weighs the branches down. I drive a lifted SUV so when I go down the driveway the branches hit the top of my car and the apples fall off.
BUT, her teachers didn’t know that. They thought I really ran into a tree. I wonder when they did this project???? How long have they thought this about me….oh well. Kids…I swear…
This week was CRAZY!! Not only were we working on fact and opinion but we were ALSO working on retell with Henry and Mudge. We used Amy Lemon’s A Boy and His Dog unit, which you can get here. SO CUTE!!! We started with a class read of the Starry Night. Then they did a retell with her super cute Mudge head craft. Then we answered some questions about another book and did her cute retell dog dish craft.
I LOVE this unit! It is so cute and the kiddos just eat it up. Of course it did open the door for all those “I have a dog who…” discussions but we rolled with it:)
This week I am also swamped with the DRA. Now, I love the DRA. I love all the information it gives me. It is super helpful and user friendly but it takes FOREVER!!!!!!
We are very lucky to get a half day substitute to get a good portion of our DRA’s done. Let me tell you….you can only hear the SAME story so many times before you want to PULL YOUR HAIR OUT!!
This is a look of all the books we read today…
On the bright side, I am half way done AND some of my kids moved UP. That’s right, I said they MOVED UP! That is a rare thing for us so I got pretty excited when it happened!!
My week started off rough. I mean R.O.U.G.H. BUT, it turned around.
Let me take you back to last year….
I had a student…and I mean a STUDENT. You know….the kid you wish would get sick a lot…the kind that comes to school EVERY day and you just hope for one sick day. I mean, talk about tough. Like super tough. Like really, really, super tough. You know how it is….you stress. I asked for help. It didn’t help t didn’t know how to reach this kiddo. No one did. I wasn’t connecting and it was just defiance. That’s all I got. It was heartbreaking. This kiddos life was a M.E.S.S. No one could help him. This is the perfect saying.
This kiddo left the year early. He couldn’t finish it out. Then he moved. It’s just the worst feeling. I mean you spend all year trying to reach them and then they just leave and all you think about is what you could of done better. Does this kiddo hate me now? Was I just a super mean teacher????
But then, he came back! Do you know what he did when he saw me???? His face LIT up! He yelled “Hi Mrs. Sanchez!” and ran across the playground and gave me a HUGE hug! For real people, I almost burst into tears!! Now every time he saw me this week he made sure to say hi to me. This horrible feeling I have had…the one kid I thought I couldn’t reach…I did. That’s what makes it all worth it.
To end our week on a light note. Take a look at this picture.
Do you know what this is? No, not power lines. No, not the top of a house. Nope. Not just a mountain. THAT MOUNTAIN is the mountain that Queen Elsa’s ice castle is on!!!! I know!!! Aren’t you jealous that from your front porch you can’t look at the SAME mountain that Queen Elsa is on?!?!?!
Now, you may be asking “but Lindsey, how do you know that is the SAME mountain???”
Well…let me just tell you. My daughter told me. Not only did she tell me that Queen Elsa was there, when I asked her how she knew this is what she told me. “Momma (in an irritated voice) don’t you see that side? How it drops down really high?” (pointing to the top, left) I said “yeah I see it. So?” “UGH! MOMMA that is the cliff the Ana and Kristoff and Olaf fell off of. It’s the SAME mountain!”
MIND BLOWN.
Let me also point out that she had evidence to support her claim. Genius.
(If you’ve never seen Frozen then you have no idea what I’m talking about. Let’s move along.)
Before I sign off for the night I want to give you a quick reminder about all the October-ish passages we have available. Click on the pictures to check them out:)
I hope you all have a restful and fantastic weekend!!!
Author
Ugh! Sorry you had such a rough week. So exciting to know that you can see the mountain that Queen Elsa lives on! Suri will be sooooo jealous when I tell her. 🙂 That girl of yours is just like you…she's honest. 🙂 Glad to know a couple kiddos went up. I remember years where everyone went down. Face time soon??
Author
Yes please!! We will have to FaceTime when we have more time this time! Miss you!
Author
Those reading passages look great! I will be adding them to my wish list immediately! Such a sweet story about that boy! Glad he came back and you get to keep an eye on him!
Growing Little Learners
Author
I hope you enjoy the passages! I am very glad he came back too! He definitely has a place in my heart!
Author
hi, our school used DRA for a couple of years, I really liked it, but just as we got comfortable with it, the district took it away and now all our kids go to computers to take their tests, I'm not sure it's better. Thank you for telling us about that hard kid, I have those kids a LOT and sometimes you don't know if you are making a difference, and it made me teary reading it, so thank you, it is a good reminder what we are really all about. It's not just teaching reading writing and math, it's so much more. Paula @ educating children with disabilities.blogspot
Author
Isn't that just like every district? Right when you get comfortable they take it away! We are starting some online testing as well but I hope it doesn't push out the DRA. It gives too much valuable information. This kiddo was a really good reminder about why I teach. He needed me in his life and I am grateful that he is back. The relationships we build will last forever because they all always remember how we make them feel. Thanks for the comment:)