I've Been Boo-ed!!!!

So, how was your Monday?!?! Mine was cray cray!!! Because the kiddos were cray cray!!! I'm a little worried this may be the norm until after Halloween....Yikes!!! Let's hope not otherwise it's going to be a LOOOOOOONG 16 days! I did have a nice blog surprise, though. Kelly over at Kelly Teach boo-ed me! How fun!!!

 

 

Head on over and check out Kelly's awesome blog, after your done reading mine, of course! :)


    I'm going to share three great read alouds that I love reading this time of year to my kids. The first one is The Vanishing Pumpkin. I already shared this book in my October Currently post. You can read about that here.

Another great read aloud is The Widow's Broom by the author of The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg. I LOVE his stories and illustrations.

Even though this isn't a Halloween story, the kids love it because it's kind of a spooky story since the broom is magic and it belonged to a witch. I love that the witch, I think, is beautiful and powerful, but not evil or unkind. Here she is...

 

 

Anyway, it's a great story for comprehension because there are some great vocabulary words and we always discuss why the widow did what she did after the story is over. Don't want to spoil it for you if you've never read it.

And finally, my favorite...

This story is a great one about the life cycle of the pumpkin, but kind of in a reverse order. Instead of starting with the seed and following the growth of the plant, we start with the jack-o-lantern and watch how it rots and decomposes back into the earth. The kids love it because they've all had those rotten pumpkins before, too.

So, there ya go! I hope you enjoy those stories as much as I do.

Now I need to Boo five more of you!
Emily and Antoinette at 4321Teach
       





Please follow the directions and thanks to Lori for starting this linky in the first place!! !

 

 

Francais S'il Vous Plait?!?!

So yes, I was one of those brilliant teenage girls who thought I should take French in high school because it's so beautiful and practical. I thought, I'm sure one day I'll need it when I go to France. Well guess what? Paris is not in my apparent future but that's ok. Luckily, even though spanish would have been oh so helpful, I am relived to know that many of my friends who did take spanish in high school don't remember a lick of it. This being said, I just had to share a funny story. This story actually happened several years ago, but I think of it often because of the high population of english language learners in my district. And it's always those real-life experiences that really bring things home for you. So, it was the early part of the year, kind of like now. We were getting finished with the first quarter and I was going to read one of my favorites, Hooway for Wodney Wat You've read it, right?

The story about poor Rodney who can't say his r's. Wodney. And he's a rodent. A wodent. Such a sweet story, by Helen Lester, about insecurities and bullies and how tough life can be as an elementary school student. Well, I love this story and I love to read this story. To wead it. It's fun to wead. And of course, I wead it as it's supposed to be wead. It never occurred to me how this story might sound strange to someone who's first language is not english. So, as I said, I sat down to read this story. And you must understand, this was before the days of the picture walk. Before the days of applying prior knowledge. Before the days of setting up goals and expectations. We picked out a story. And we read it. That was that. Yes, we usually had an activity to follow, but it was often, Write about your favorite part of the story. Done. The End. So, I sat my class on the carpet and said, Today, boys and girls, I'm going to read you a story that I love about a poor rat. This story is called, Hooway for Wodney Wat I began reading. "Poor Wodney. Wodney Wat. His real name was Rodney Rat. But he couldn't pronounce his r's. To make matters worse, he was a rodent. A wodent. What's your name Rodney? Wodney Wat. And what's another name for a bunny, they asked knowingly. Wabbit, he said miserably. And how does a train travel? they winked at each other. A twain twavels on twain twacks." I'm reading along, enjoying myself, when I hear a boy in the front row, one who's first language is spanish, lean to his neighbor and say, "Ummmmm...., is she speaking French?!" Am I what?!?!?! I wanted to say! Poor thing. I just never realized how odd this book had to sound to these guys who were still learning english! What an eye opener for me. Rememeber that the next time you sit down to read! :) So anyway, how're things? I just wanted to share this funny, to maybe make you laugh and remember we're only human and we can't think of everything. Even though I REALLY wish I could. :)

October Currently

Hi friends!I've been away...not physically...mentally.

Overwhelmed.

Out of sorts. But you know, it's just life! I'm not going to pressure myself. I'll post when I can and that's ok. Right?!

Well, it's October! I love the fall. It is usually so beautiful here. I'm hoping the summer didn't screw up our fall trees because they are goregeous!!! We'll see.I've linked up with Farley and her October Currently. Maybe I'll get a couple of more followers...I'm getting closer to 100, did you notice?! I guess a giveaway will have to be in my future when that magic number hits!!!Hey, if you have a blog, link up. Like I have to tell you, right?!

I have an addiction to reality tv. It makes my husband crazy. But I figure, if it makes me happy, it's ok. I'm not hurting anyone, right?! I'm not too worried about it.

 

I really am feeling blessed to have found the friends and the church that I do, in my life. I really don't like the term born again, but I do know I'm really changing as a person and I know I have God to thank for that. It's not something I talk about much because it's kind of private for me, but I'm getting more comfortable and actually...more proud of myself. I'm getting more comfortable sharing that part of my life because it's becoming more comfortable to me! Yay!

 

I've talked about this class I have this year in other blogs...they're............different. Noisy. Special. I feel like it's taken us FOREVER to get any sort of routine going and that makes. me. CRAZY!!!!!! That being said, I feel like math is almost nonexistent put on the back burner in my room. I've gotta get those math stations going!!!

 

I need a Mac. Hope the husband reads this. Or my mom. :)

 

Gotta find the time. The sun is just not cooperating with me. I'd like to run in the morning, but to get to school on time, it'd have to be at like 5:00. I'm skayerd. It's. just. too. dark! Or after dinner. Again. The darkness. Not my friend.

 

And finally.....The Vanishing Pumpkin!

 

I love this book! Yes, it's a traditional Halloween story with ghouls and vampires and such, so if you can't read it, sorry, but it's really cute and I love reading in the old man and woman's voice. I love reading in different voices to my kids. I'm generally a pretty shy person, so I guess it's my time to open up and have fun. I'll have to post another time about a time I was reading in a different accent and I really confused one of my students!!! Teaser!!!!

 

Well, there ya go! I hope you enjoyed this thoroughly long post. It definitely felt good to write because it's been awhile!!!!

 

I hope to be back soon!  Ya varmints!!!!