Peek at my Week

Thank goodness it's Friday! I had planned to make caramel apples this afternoon, but the caramel didn't melt in time :( So I had to promise to make them this weekend and bring them in on Monday. Thankfully my firsties were very understanding about the mistake and not too disappointed to have to hold off on the treat (lesson learned: practice recipe at home before trying it at school!) 

I've had a very trying week - dealing with my friend who's living situation changed so suddenly on Monday. He's still not on his medication, plus he's frazzled about the whole thing, so he's been on a rampage a bit of a handful. He's never violent or mean - he just can't keep his hands to himself, can't sit still, can't modulate his voice level etc. He's so darn sweet though! I'd take him home in a heartbeat if I could.

This week I had 4 students receive their Bronze Clips for our clip chart! Each time they end the day on outstanding they get a sticker, after 5 stickers they get a new clip. It is so motivational for them, although it does bother me a little when I see them being good on purpose just hoping that I'll let them clip up. But, then again, adults are rewarded for hard work, and we still like praise and attention too, so I guess I can't fault my firsties!

I got a new student yesterday, and he seems like a sweetheart. Today I gave our spelling test and had him take it even though he hasn't been studying the words all week like the rest of us. I just wanted a quick glance at where he's at. Well, I assumed that he had taken a spelling test before. He wrote his name and numbered his paper properly, and then didn't seem confused or ask any questions. I always say the spelling word and then use it in a sentence.  He was working away with seemingly no problems. Imagine my surprise when I graded his test and realized he had been trying to write all of the sentence down! He must have realized what was wrong 1/2 way through the test, because he started just writing the words, but I felt so bad that he must have been so freaked out trying to write down all these sentences (lesson learned: never assume that a new student knows anything - even how to write down words for a spelling test!)

My team mate asked me to make a pumpkin themed activity for the "ing" suffix.  I'll be working on that this weekend! I can't wait to plan my lessons for next week - I have found so many cute ideas while blog hopping this week! I also have to Literacy 1st test next week, plus give our Title I Math 1st Quarter Benchmark. I looked through the test today and was so happy to see that we have already covered everything on it and we should do very well on it! Makes me feel a bit better about being a first grade teacher lol. Now I just have to work on our reading - very difficult when some still don't know their letter sounds!

To end this all on a positive note (it is Friday after all!) check out my awesome class tree!

 I redecorated it for October!

I draped the whole tree with a spider web (that stuff stretches far!) and then added spider rings for our "baby" spiders, as well as some larger spiders because our tree wasn't quite as spooky as Mrs. McKelvey's tree across the hall - she has HUGE spiders on her tree! I finished it with some fabric fall leaves (Velcro dots!) and then added our spelling words for this week on cut out paper leaves. I think it is awesome and so do my students!

 Here is a close up of one of our "mama" spiders, do you see her "babies"?

I will be adding bats and other creatures as the month progresses!


Was that not enough cuteness for you?! Check this out:

Here is a picture of my little guy.  I was sitting at my computer when he crawled up behind me like this. Can you guess who he is pretending to be? Pete the Cat of course! He sings the song all the time, changing the words to suit whatever he is doing at the moment. Last night it was "I'm eating, in my spaghetti shoes!"

I'm linking this up with Clutter-Free Classrooms Week In Review Linky Party! Click the picture to go check out what was going on in other classrooms this week!
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Don't forget to enter my giveaway too! You can win a free blog design!