Bubbles

 As teachers we see our little ones doing crazy things all the time and sometimes it makes it so we don't look at things the same way as others. You've probably mistaken mud for poop or water for pee. You're nodding your head and thinking about that time in the assembly when you went to clean up the mud on the floor without a paper towel. Yeah right mud doesn't smell like that! Have you ever been in the middle of a very important teaching moment only to look down at a child making bubbles with their saliva? Yeah, you've seen it, bubbles all over their lips like a dog foaming at the mouth.

 

Well keep that picture in your mind and then picture this-

My sweet hubby took me out for a 'fancy' dinner on Saturday night. I ordered the halibut and this is what they brought me. It was a unique masterpiece but all I could see was the bubbles and a kid's mouth. I started laughing and laughing and had to plug my nose so I wouldn't snort. People in the restaurant started to stare. They just don't understand teachers!

Needless to say, they were made of grapefruit foam and not saliva.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer!

Teachers Are SPECIAL!

I found this cute story several years ago and ran across it again last week. 

It's a good reminder- TEACHERS ARE SPECIAL!! 

Enjoy!

If you'd like a copy, click HERE.

Love the Lehi FD

Last week we had our annual fire drill with our city firefighters. They come every year and pull a surprise fire drill and time us to see how quickly we can evacuate the building. Each year after this event, I walk my kiddos past the huge fire truck so they can see it up close. The firemen are usually in the building discussing the drill with the principal. But this year they happened to come out while I was taking a picture of my class in front of their truck. Well lucky me! The captain on duty just happened to be a former student from over 20 years ago!

He started talking to my firsties and showed them all the equipment. He even let one of them try on his helmet!

 As we were looking at all the gauges and buttons, the firemen told my class that if they wanted to be a firefighter when they grow up they need to make sure they do their math! They need to know math to work all the buttons and gauges.

 Needless to say, the huge fire truck and the firefighters were a BIG HIT! We went back inside and it was almost lunch time. I told the class we would have to skip math today because of the fire drill. That's when one little boy started to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he said he wants to be a fireman when he grows up and we just can't skip math or he won't be good enough in math to be one. It was soooo cute! I gave him a hug and told him not to worry that we would have math in the afternoon.

THANK YOU LEHI FIRE DEPARTMENT for taking the time to talk to my kiddos and for having such great role models for my firsties to look up to!!

Freebie Making Words with Digraphs

Well, it's been one of those memorable teaching days. You know, the kind you won't ever forget but would like to. I had a kiddo throw up. Yeah, and it wasn't a good one either. Bless his poor little heart.
I was teaching my math lesson, using pattern blocks and all. I had them all sitting on the kiva, (2 leveled benches my husband made me) engross in my lesson, when the poor little thing just let it rip. Thank goodness he was on the front row and no one else got hit.
Yeah, that happened in my room 3 years ago, when a girl threw up while sitting on the top row of my kiva and got 7 other kids. It was the worst one I've ever had!! All 7 kids had to go home to change clothes, a few just stayed home for the rest of the day. Really couldn't blame them.
Glad this one wasn't as bad. I did have to wash and sterilize some of the pattern blocks and throw away the game board I was using. But it could have been worse. Isn't it part of our job?
I guess I should be used to anything by now looking back at what I did two weeks ago. While in an assembly, watching a very talented ballet company perform, we noticed the kids just all of a sudden part and move away from one of the kids. I saw mud on the floor. So I jump up, go grab some paper towels and my trusty spray bottle of disinfectant and start cleaning the mud. But it wasn't mud. Must be dog poop because of the smell and the firsties were just out at recess, right? One of the other teachers found the kiddo and took him out while I continued to clean up the mess. But I was having a hard time getting it off the tile and the paper towels were getting pretty wet. So one of my teammates runs and gets more paper towels for me. Meanwhile, I realized I hadn't 'gloved up'. Duh! So I started spraying my hands with the trusty spray bottle. Well, to make a long story short. The ballet assembly continues on around us, I clean up the 'poop' and all was well. No way. Come to find out it wasn't 'dog' poop! Yup, the little kiddo had had an accident! Believe me, I have never washed my hands so much in my entire life. And I used a whole bottle of hand sanitizer, EXTRA LARGE. It still gives me nightmare! So, like I said- it's part of the job and I still LOVE my little firsties! I realize they are only human too. However, I've learned my lesson-ALWAYS glove up even for mud, you never know!
Okay, now that I've grossed you out, let me give you a freebie I've been working on. We've been working hard on our digraphs and word families. My kiddos loved the blender activity I shared in an earlier post. You can check it out HERE. So I came up with one for making words with digraphs. I used it for a mini lesson during Daily 5. But you could also use it in a literacy center or a whole class lesson. The borders are a free download on TpT by Karen Cox. Click HERE for a link to the borders. And the graphics are Scrappin Doodle. There are 2 cards, so you could use it for 2 separate lessons and a recording sheet.

Click on the picture to grab a PDF.

I hope I didn't gross out too many of you. I'm sure you all have similar stories to tell. I'd love to hear them!