Chilly, Fish and Ice Cream

I wanted to share a helpful hint for all teachers in chilly climates today! The weather has changed here in Oklahoma - although it's set to change back again by the end of the week. Apparently temperatures are going to climb back to the 80's later in the week, but for now the mornings are down in the 40's. That weather change prompted a quick trip to the Dollar Tree this morning before work for this:

I stocked up on some basic 2 for $1 gloves, a cute basket to hold them in, some q-tips and petroleum jelly. Less than $10 altogether! So many times during the colder months, my kiddos come to school with dry chapped lips that crack and bleed and just make them miserable. Instead of handing out expensive chapstick, which the kids invariably lose (or eat), I just dip a q-tip into the jelly and they spread it on their lips, disposing of the q-tip afterwards. This keeps my petroleum jelly germ-free, and is an inexpensive way to ensure that my kiddos are in the right mindset to learn each day - because face it, when your lips are on fire it is very hard to care about reading!


The gloves I keep on hand for those little ones who forget to bring a pair. They're basic black, brown or blue - no fancy colors that would convince a student to walk off with them :) The basket sits next to our door so that when we go to recess, students can just grab a pair to wear outside and drop them back off when we come in. If they need them, I'm more than happy to let that 50 cents walk home with them as well. I find that they usually come back, and if not, well it's only 50 cents!

Today was a fun day - we set up our aquarium - pictures to come soon! This week we will be reading some non-fiction books about different fish species, and doing some basic internet research (led by me on the Smartboard) and then we'll vote on which fish to add to our tank! I am, of course, making sure that we only research fish that will do well in our aquarium -there are just some fish that I can't see having to look at daily, like this:

My husband had the day off so he brought ice cream for my class :) so of course they now love him. But, they really deserved it. We had a canned food drive and the reward for the class who brought in the most cans was an ice cream party. I brought in 10 cans. The kids brought in almost 290!  Many of these kids do not have a lot of food at home, but they were determined to share as much as they could. I think every kid brought in at least 1 can, and they were so happy to give. There was a graph that got updated daily, hanging by our lunch line. Each day the kids would check it out, squealing when they saw we were in the lead!



Then, I found out that another teacher had not been turning in her cans each day. Instead she was stacking them in her room, ready to blow us out of the water on the last day. I get it, it's not about winning, it's about helping out the Food Bank. But, when these 6 year olds think they're going to win, when they've really worked to remember to bring it in, lugging heavy backpacks to school and have been reading the graph daily, I think it's rather mean to suddenly say "Ooops, no, Mrs. So-and-so had 300 cans hiding in her room - her class wins!"
 

So, my kiddos had ice cream today...just because. As they were eating it I turned on some music for them. Their choice? "Silent E is a Ninja" which is a huge hit in my classroom this year - I'm hoping that it will eventually lead to a better grasp of cvce words but we haven't started hitting those yet, they just like the song.

Then they had to show off their sign language skills with "One Small Voice" for my husband. By the way, if your significant other has not visited your classroom, invite them by at the end of the day sometime - they will have a whole new appreciation for what you do lol! 

That's it for tonight - report cards are due Wednesday and since I am taking the day off, I need mine done by tomorrow! Have a great night everyone :)


By the way, check out a new giveaway over at Lanier's Lions -you can win any item from my TPT store - plus many more great prizes!