Week of January 19
So our wonderful library assistant recommended this book to me to read to the kids.  



What an adorable story! It tells about a mole who works all day digging underground but decides he wants to start playing the violin at night after his work is finished.  At first his playing is terrible.  He doesn't realize that his playing is causing a little tree to wilt and the birds to cringe above ground.  But mole keeps practicing.  And soon things above ground begin to change.  I won't give the ending away.  But let's just say that mole doesn't realize what impact his hard work and beautiful music are having on the lives of those he cannot see above ground.  I began explaining to the kids about how we never know how far our good work may reach or who our good example may touch.  Such a big message in such a little book! I almost started crying when I was telling the kids this.  This was definitely one of my favorite read-alouds this year!

And speaking of read-alouds...



http://juniebjones.com/


The kids are absolutely OBSESSED with Junie B. Jones! I have created 21 monsters! We have been reading various Junie B. books when I run across them and the kids think she is absolutely hilarious.  Our latest one is Junie B. Jones, Boss of Lunch.  

One thing I don't like about Junie B. is that she uses "bad" words like stupid and dumb.  I don't use these words when we read-aloud (at least when I catch myself) and if I happen to read them out loud, I stop and we discuss what better words Junie B. could choose.  





Our reading buddies are still visiting us on Fridays.  My firsties absolutely LOVE getting to read with their 4th grade buddies! This past Friday was especially productive.  I was amazed how engaged my first grades were.  They were either listening to reading or reading to their buddy.  My fellow 4th grade teacher took half of my class and I took half of her class.  We used our two classrooms to have a smaller group of kids and it really worked well.  I got to take some observation notes of the kids' reading and then I had a few minutes to actually do a couple of things in the classroom.  That NEVER happens!








As heard in Ms. Carter's class:  

So every year, the kids always want to know a couple of things about me:  marriage status, age, and my middle name.  Why? I have no idea.  I guess it's just funny to think of your teacher as a real person/human.  Anyway, I don't mind telling the kids things, but my age became a "thing" one year when I realized that I was older than some of my students' parents.  I stopped telling the kids my age, and even though it really doesn't bother me anymore, I still don't own up to how old I am with the kids just because I like to keep them guessing.  They guess every age imaginable, especially in first grade.  At the beginning of this year one of the kids guessed that I was 85.  I finally said, Yes, you guessed it.  I'm 85.  

Well, I thought they would have forgotten about it by now, but one of the boys was standing in line the other and I heard him say...

      "I've been wondering something..."
       Me:  "Okay, what have you been wondering?"
       Boy:  "How can you look so good, and be 85?"

It's so funny the things they remember! 




And now it's time for:  Pull a Muscle With Dr. Jean!

The kids love this song for some odd reason.  It's a good exercise to get the wiggles out and it gets the kids thinking about words, but I think I'm going to have to sit out Phonercise for awhile.  

Thank you Dr. Jean for the nice hamstring pull I've been nursing all weekend!

Now to leave you with some thoughts...






Every word resonates with how I feel about this job.  It is not a job to me, but a way of life, and I thank God every day for the privilege that has been given me to be a part of the lives of the beautiful children in my classroom.  

: )