Happy Black Friday

 OK, under the category of random and miscellaneous - here we go!

Do you notice the little red thing inside this pencil sharpener?

 Yes, that's an eraser. Because somebody didn't think that there was any reason that the teacher would say, "Don't sharpen pencils shorter than your little finger!" So the sharpener kept sharpening and sharpening, and I looked over, and one of my sweeties was standing there looking perplexed {because she wasn't the one who did it!}. So I went to unplug it, and I heard another {at this moment not so sweet} sweetie saying "It was so noisy anyway." Like the whole reason he stuck this too small pencil in there was to break the sharpener so we wouldn't have to use that noisy sharpener any more. Isn't life fun in the 2nd grade mind?

Isn't this too cute?

I totally honored some {now anonymous} blogger by copy-catting this. I freehand cut out the turkey {I know! I'm amazed, too!}. Then I gave everybody a feather to decorate as homework. Everybody but two did their homework, and then I {the super nice teacher that I am} gave them time in class to work on it. {And still one didn't finish.} 

And here's my new toy:

 As a present for taking care of my sweet bubby, he bought me this!! {What a sweetie - and whatever, I think he just wanted an excuse to buy this for me! Cuz he likes to do that sort of thing.} And happy day, they are having a sale on designs, so I'm heading over there {online, of course!} soon. 

Have a Happy Black Friday - whatever you do!  

I am Thankful

I saw on my "Blogs I Love to Read" list that a couple bloggers were doing Lucky to be in First's I am Thankful lists.  So I quick scrapped my original post idea and decided to join in!

1 - Spent the morning thanking God for all sorts of things - two sides of notebook paper in my prayer journal! Wow and thank you, Lord!

2 - Of course, thankful for my hub-bub and that his knee surgery has been such a success and that he's tried so very hard not to be a complainer, when I know it is stiff and sometimes hard to get comfortable.

3 - So thankful my college girl made it home safe last night and can't wait to spend some time chit-chatting with her. I was so tired last night, we didn't really do much.

4 - Thankful for my terrific group of kids I have in my class this year - and all the fun stuff they are willing to do with me. 

5 - Thankful for this silly little blog - and silly little me, who enjoys going back and reading what I've written. And sometimes even thinking - hey, that's a pretty good idea. {what a dork I am!}

6 - Thankful for my bloggy friends that comment and answer my comments. 

Ok, Ok, can I just add this? {And hee, hee, hee this is really my own original idea!} Yesterday {our last day before Thanksgiving break} our school had Make Room for Turkey day. We all got to wear sweats - and this time I really remember to remind the kids to wear sweats, so when only 5 of them showed up to join me in wearing sweats day - well, that was on them, not me! And then every time my timer rang, or the school bell rang - we stopped and did a little 1 or 2 minute activity. Like jumping jacks, high knees, tiny steps and giant steps across the room, a marching parade around the room. The afternoon was crazy/funny because we had lunch bells ringing, and come in from recess bells ringing, and my timer ringing. And we were moving fools! So I can safely eat all the turkey I want - cuz I made room for turkey yesterday - haha.

I hope you have a very nice Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Books

Ooh, I so wanted to join this linky party:

Because this book:

 

Is cracking me up - I mean literally Laugh Out Loud! I was laughing and just about couldn't read. It's the part where the little boy is supposed to have something in his thankful bag, but he forgot, so he says he's thankful for the bag. And the teacher is like, "Really?" So the boy decides he is thankful for his shirt. And then I was just picturing him turning his shirt all around so he could read what was on the tag. 

Really, who couldn't love a book where people are thankful for Exploding Biscuits, Jelly in a Can, Rainbow Sprinkles, and of course, Toilet Paper!

I have a couple others I like - 

We are having a cold, blustery day today - and it's our Thanksgiving meal at school. I'm eating with my kiddos, because nothing says teacher love like sitting in the middle of a bench table eating pressed turkey :)

Ah, really, it's something I wanted to do - and boy, do they love to talk to me when I eat lunch with them! 

Happy Week until Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving craft

These just turned out too cute!

{So sorry they aren't arranged all fancy! With me, we are just happy to have a couple pics!}

I was thinking I needed - ok, really, wanted - to do a Thanksgiving craft, but I couldn't find any that I liked - that didn't include painting hands or feet or something that just scares me to death! {and super kudos to anyone who undertakes those type of adventures!!!}. 

Then Pinterest to the rescue. I actually pinned this a while back. And I was at the grocery store and saw this bag of very colorful spiral pasta, and grabbed it. I think they turned out pretty cute, and still show the individualness {I'm so sure that's a word!} of my kiddos. 

I gave them a 6 inch square of orange paper. Then I gave them a 3 inch circle and a 2 inch circle in brown. I opened up my box of scraps and let them go to it. They made their own beak, waddle, eyes and feet. After they got those done, they glued on the pasta. Some appear to be more in love with pasta than others. 

And ya know, if you wanted to make it all educational - and if I'd been thinking ahead of time - we are doing "how to" writing. I could've had them write how to make a pasta turkey. 

Anyway, just loving the cuteness - and enjoying a chance to let my kiddos be creative! 

Thanksgiving

 

Did anybody else start their wonderful Thanksgiving break by waking up WAY too early? Too early for even school time? What's up with that? Maybe I'm just too excited about starting a 5 day vacation. I don't know.

 

I know it's over, but I wanted to share what I did for Thanksgiving. I read two of my favorite books:

 

My book is the one with the fox characters. I don't think it matters - the story is still the same. In the story, everyone in the family is responsible for a different part of the Thanksgiving feast, and somehow none of it turns out. I make sure the kids are inferring that basically there is no Thanksgiving food. But in the book, they decide the most important thing is being with each other. So I emphasis that, too. (Although, as I emphasis that and look around the room, I wonder about  some of my kiddos. Do they get a big Thanksgiving meal? Does their family do fun things like play games, make a craft or even watch football together?)

 

 

 

This is my other favorite book. Mrs. Moose wants a turkey for Thanksgiving, so Mr. Moose goes hunting for one. He finds lots of other guests who help him look for a turkey. They finally find one and catch him and bring him home for dinner! Again, lots of inferring, making predictions, all that good stuff.

 

I read one of these on Monday and the other Tuesday. After we got done, I had some worksheets from, I think ABC Teach, but I'm not sure. Instead of making copies (that I'm limited on), I did a take off on a Kagan strategy. I have everybody come up to the front of the room and we "wander around." Then I tell them to give someone a light high 5 (so they aren't trying to make somebody fall over from a high five!) {Some of my little friends have the hardest time finding a buddy, even for a 30 second activity. You could infer from that that I need to do some teaching about buddies, but I don't know.} Then I showed the question on the projector and they were to whisper their answer to the high 5 partner. Next I drew a stick and called on somebody to answer. A little something different, but still meeting CCSS.

 

We also made origami turkeys. The instructions I have are some I tore out of a magazine long, long ago!  I found a couple online ones that are very similar to what I do - yes, I found two, because I'm never happy when I first find something - I've got to search and search to see if it's the best, most terrific, most wonderful idea! Anyway, Origami Turkey #1 and Origami Turkey #2 are the online ones. I don't have the kids color paper. I just use old scrapbook paper I have, or purchased at Hobby Lobby with a coupon. I just cut out about 5 more pieces of paper than I have kids and draw sticks to let them choose. I've also never made the fan for tail feathers.  This year I gave my kids 10 minutes to make feathers out of scrap paper, if they wanted. I showed them how to make two almost parenthesis shapes to make a feather. Some of them prettied theirs up very nicely.

 

Making origami with a class of 21 is interesting. It really shows who doesn't wait for directions, who doesn't or can't follow directions, and who is right there with you!

 

I had a little bit of school work I thought of doing this weekend - I even brought it home - yuck, rearranging my groups and centers and all. But I just decided I want to enjoy my break, so I changed my mind and I'm not going to.

 

I'm heading to my sister's - who lives about an hour a way - later this afternoon. My other sister, who lives further away, is coming, too. Tomorrow my hubby and daughter will be heading over - we dodged a bullet, she works at a restaurant that does a big Thanksgiving buffet and we were afraid she would have to work, but Yeah Hoo and Praise the Lord, she got the day off.

 

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with lots of Yeah Hoo's and Praise the Lords! Enjoy your days off!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sara