Drugs didn't work..

... sick day it is.  My work load may increase, but at least I get to sleep late in the morning.  And those detailed lesson plans are sitting on my desk for someone to try and follow.  Hopefully no snot stains will be found on them from my dripping nose.  Gross, right?!  Good luck to my substitute tomorrow!

It's that time of year...

... for my winter season cold.  The problem with getting sick and being a teacher is missing work.  Most people would take the opportunity to lay on the couch, watch the tube, sleep, sleep and sleep some more.  But teachers... we have to write a detailed explanation of our working day so someone else can manage all those little bodies that rely on us five days a week.  When it comes down to a "sick day", we teachers ask ourselves, "How sick am I REALLY?"  Because writing those substitute plans for someone else to do your job that day is a pain in the ass.  And when you come back from your day on the couch, it just means you have double the work to catch up on.  So how sick am I really?  We'll see when I wake up in the morning.  Maybe my head won't feel like it's going to explode.  I made it through the day today.  I can do it one more day, right?  Drugs.  That's the answer!

Kids say the darndest things!

The bulletin board surrounding my school's elementary office has been converted to a "Wonder Wall".  Kids write questions about things they wonder.  Questions such as "How many stars are in the sky?" and "What sound does a fox make?" are written in kids' handwriting across this board.  One question that popped up was "Why is Ms. P so happy?"  As I walked through the hall this week, unseen by two Grade 5 girls, I heard this conversation:

Ten year old girl reading the Wonder Wall: Why is Ms. P so happy?

Her friend in a pre-teen tone: Because she has a husband.

Of course.  Why didn't I know that? :)

Writing Report Cards Part 2

In the midst of report card writing I am always a bit negative.  It's a big job and feels a bit overwhelming.  But the truth is that as I write comments for each child, they always make me smile...

E is a funny, kind girl who is an asset to Class 3P.
F enjoys sharing his creative stories with his classmates.
G brings a smile to his teachers and classmates each day.
It is a joy to teach V each day.

These kids are such a joy and privilege to spend my days with.  Their smiles and laughs and curiosity make each day a wonderful experience.  Even writing their report cards warms my heart and always ends with the corners of my mouth turning up.  Maybe writing reports isn't all THAT bad.

Thank goodness it's only 3 times a year...

Report cards.
I'm writing them now.  I'm grateful that my current school has trimesters instead of quarters - one less set of reports to write a year.  With 13 years of report card writing experience, you would think it gets easier, but it really doesn't.  Each child is different, each school is different, each year I teach different stuff (or so it seems with all the changes in curriculum).  And then there is always that kid (or two, or ten) who you want to be blatantly honest with and write the TRUTH straight out in that report card comment box.  But you know if you did that, you'd get fired.  Things like...

• Your kid is lazy.  
• You are a bad parent when you let your child stay up until midnight every night.
• Your kid is not smart enough to be above grade level like you want her to be.  Accept that she is average.
• Your child has anger management issues and it is obvious that he has learned it from you by the way you talk to his teachers!

During one of my "breaks" from these dreaded reports, I googled a bit and found some funny teachers out there who feel my pain...

Funny Report Card Notes from Teachers

Good luck to all the teachers writing their reports!

Laugh of the Day

While engaging in a writing conference with a child today, this was part of our conversation...

Me: So what would you like to improve at in writing?

3rd Grade Boy: I would like to make more sense in my writing.

Me: Why is making more sense your goal?

3rd Grader: Because I'm half Italian and Italians don't make sense.  I need to make sense.

Me: (Trying so hard not to laugh) Well ok.

I can never say my job is boring!  

Sweetness in an email

This is a 12 day work week.  The weekend is filled with 16 hours of a teaching conference, so it's just one of those weeks - BUSY and TIRING.  And then this pops up in my email:

Hi,Ms.P!

How are you today?

What you want to do on your weekend?

I'm going to the soccer training and sitting with P----- my brother for 4 or 5 hours on Saturday!

On Sanday I don't know what we are doing.

Have a nice weekend!

V-----

This little guy just made my day!  Maybe this class that started out driving me completely crazy will turn out to be one of my favorites.  Ahhh... the 12 day work week is for this boy!

Another Year, Another Class

It is the fifth week of school and I find myself still baring the “Mean Ms. P” fangs.  I miss my own smile.  The beginning of the year always begins with a stricter-than-usual version of myself, which pays off later when the classroom is running smoothly and learning becomes fun for everyone.  This year I have a unique group of students consisting of 75 percent only children or youngest children in the family.  With this dynamic, my cheery disposition has been set aside a bit longer than I find comfortable.  This week I found myself pulling new ideas out of my ever-increasing hat of tricks.  “Life lessons with Ms. P” was my latest invention.  Our first lesson: Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do.  Through discussion we created an anchor chart, students shared their ideas, and we wrote them down.  Some of my favorites included “it’s for your own good” and “zip it”.  After our discussion and repeatedly revisiting the chart throughout the week, as well as little notes of encouragement, I began to see progress. 

This group of children will learn and grow just like their predecessors I see in the halls each day, waving and smiling at me.  This year we will laugh, cry, have problems, solve them, get a little messy and become a team.  We will learn multiplication and reading comprehension skills.  We will write our first chapter books and jump with excitement during the Times Table Hockey Tournament.  It will be another great year.

And so I start my fourteenth year of teaching, knowing it will be special.  I will teach differently than I did the year before.  I will learn new things.  I will be exhausted and get sick.  I will have mornings I don’t want to get out of bed.  I will have nights when I dream lesson plans.  I will have a blast doing the best job in the world and “Life lessons with Ms. P” will have been worth all the extra effort.  If not, Fall Break is just around the corner.

Back to School

TESCO has teachers figured out!

Welcome back to school everyone.

Summer!

Need I say more?  Enjoy it teachers!

The End of the Year

It's getting to be that time... Testing.  Good-byes.  Warm weather.  Antsy kiddos.  Squeezing in those last lessons.  Not enough instructional time.  Meetings about next year (when there is still so much to do this year).  The end is here.

The last month of school.  It's always crazy.  Every year I make a plan to ease into the end of the year, rather than crash and burn.  And every year it never actually happens.  It's the nature of the beast we call School.  So here we are again.  At the end.  Survival is the best word to describe it, I think.  But it's also every year at this time that I remember the advice of one of my past principals.  He always said, "Slowly glide to the end.  Don't crash-land."  So once again I take that advice and try to remember...  That last writing lesson will make no difference in the future life of a 9 year old.  Making sure they have an amazing final project will not be what my students remember.  So I'm throwing it out.  If we don't get to it, we just don't get to it.  We'll glide and enjoy the ride to the end, instead of flailing through the air like we're sky diving without a parachute.

So raise your glasses to making the landing smooth.  May we all glide to the end and give our kids a great finish!

(Bottoms up.  We'll need it!)

Times Table Success!

Third grade is the year you learn your Times Tables.  It's a big deal.  Some are excited about it and feel grown-up.  Others just hate math.  Parents drill it or dread it.  But this year, it was LOVED by all third graders at my school.  How did we do it?

My Canadian co-worker in true Canadian fashion taught us "Times Table Hockey", a six man on six man game that inspired our little sponges to learn those multiplication facts.  And let me tell you, kids loved it, parents raved about it, and teachers got a little competitive about it.  A two week tournament with brackets and a championship game set the stakes high for our 9 year olds.  When it came down to my class and Class 3K for 1st place, I gotta say that my palms were sweaty and my heart was racing.  The posters were flying and crowds were cheering.  Teachers from other classes wandered out of their rooms to see the commotion and join the chanting.  And multiplication facts were being shouted out, memorized, and learned.

Life-lessons came out of it too...  Lessons on good sportsmanship were easily integrated as well as the lesson that no one seems to teach anymore: NOT EVERYONE WINS.  There were losers and winners.  And we all still had fun.

Why did this work?  How did we get every 3rd grader to want to learn those facts?  Because it was a competition.  They wanted to win.  And they wanted to play the game.  Simply put, it was fun.

Here's how we play the game:
Six players on each team with three rows.  Last row is the goalie, middle row 2 defense men, and front row 3 offense men facing the same set-up from the other team.  Center (of the 3 offense) faces center of the other team to start the game.  Referee calls out a multiplication fact.  (We used playing cards in two stacks, pulling the top ones off the pile to give a random fact.)  The first kid to say the correct answer wins and moves across the other teams offense, answering facts from the referee.  It's one man on one man, giving the answer to the referee's fact through each teams offense and defense.  The first team to beat the opposing team's goalie wins that goal and earns a point.  Anytime the round gets down to only the goalies standing and facing off, we all shout "Goalie, goalie guacamole!"  (Just for fun.)  The team with the most points after several rounds wins.

Video Clip of 2013 Times Table Hockey Tournament

I highly recommend "Times Table Hockey" to any Grade 3 or 4 teacher who wants their students to memorize those facts.  Now when I join the game with the kids, they can beat me half the time.  It works, and it's highly motivating.

More than one parent said to me during conferences this year, "I don't know what you did, but my kid loved learning the times tables."

What I really want to tell THAT parent.

As with every job there are some things I don't like about teaching:
Grading papers,
Forms, forms forms,
Meetings that have nothing to do with my students,
And sometimes... parents.

This is the internet and any parent tracking me down can find that I wrote this.  But any teacher who has worked with kids long enough has had the parents who drive her crazy.  Teachers, you know what I'm talking about.  Parents, we love your kid, but you can sometimes make our lives miserable.  It isn't all parents by any means.  In fact, it's really only a small percentage every year.  The rest are great... appreciative, kind, give me gifts to the spa.  But those one or two (or sometimes more if you're cursed), can overshadow everything and make you rethink your career options.  And the poor kid... it's not his fault.  So you keep on loving him and teaching him regardless of his parent who you'd like to say a few choice words to.

Well, one principal did say it in a CNN article.  So if you are the parent who actually searched me out on-line and are reading this, read this article too.  Because I REALLY do have your child's best interest at heart.  ALWAYS.  And teachers, read this and be encouraged... you're not the only one who wants to say THAT to a parent.

What teachers really want to tell parents - CNN.com