3.02.2013

Biting, Writing, Dr. Seuss, and Currently!

Ok, ok, I'm sorry! I promised myself I would try my best to post every night this week and made it up until Wednesday. Sigh. But seriously, Wednesday was cray-cray you guys. One of those "pulling my hair out, screaming at the top of my lungs, sweet lord somebody save me" type of days. First I'll recap the Wednesday wardrobe (I forgot to take a picture of Thursday, but you will see Fridays in a bit):
 
 
Now down to business. So the kids were like raging lunatics. Literally, they were bonkers. I was completely shocked by what I was witnessing. It was as if they had lost all control. From 8 to 12 I was doing everything in my power not to go ballistic. Then on the way back from specials, we had more fun. One of my little angels decided that it was completely acceptable to just bite the girl in front of her on the arm as hard as possible. Of course I ran (and I use that term very loosely) over to them and attempted to figure out what was going on. This sweetie acted like I was the irrational one. As if I was going to say,"Oh you're so right girl, that's totes fine. Just go ahead and sink your teeth into whoever you want. Go on! Vamp it up." When she realized that I was not happy AT ALL and not having the load of bull she was throwing at me, she decided to go another route. "Well it was an accident. You see, I was opening my mouth, and then I tripped, and my teeth just bit her arm." And I said, "Why were you walking with your mouth open?" And she said "Because I was sucking the fuzz out of the air." And I replied, "First of all, that is gross and unsanitary, and  I want you to stop eating fuzz out of the air." We then continued with a five minute discussion about the incident, and in the end she finally confessed to biting on purpose. Of course I had to tell the assistant principal because this is the 8th bite from her this year. Homegirl must be hungry with a taste for human flesh. So on that lovely note, I decided that after lunch something had to be done. I know that the inconsistency with having the sub for so long during my surgery completely threw them off and I needed to regain control. So when they walked in from lunch, I was on them like white on rice. I used my best teacher voice and barely let them move a muscle without reminding them to sit the correct way in their chair, stop talking to a friend, stop eating things from their toolbox, stop drawing on the table, stop spitting on the floor, stop screeching obnoxiously, stop chewing your shoe laces, stop throwing things, stop using their pencils as toy cars, etc. You catch my drift. And it was super TOUGH. It felt like the beginning of the year all over again. But guess what, those kid walked in on Thursday and were right back into our routine and their behavior was about 2 million times better. WOO! Mission accomplished people. I still had to be on them frequently both Thursday and Friday to remind them, but nothing like Wednesday. I think they realized that I'm back  and I don't tolerate nonsense haha
 
I must share that I am so excited about our Writer's Workshop! While the sub was in our room, I had her do WW a bit differently to make it easier for her, so I was slightly anxious about getting back into it. But the kids jumped right back in this week and were totally into it. Look at their amazing work, I cannot believe how far they have come! Based on how many of them wrote at the beginning of the year, I never could have imagined that they would be able to write like this completely independently!
 
 
I love how this little one wrote about the "pinkish" car! How sweet :)
 
 
This one cracks me up! Where do they come up with this stuff?! The picture shows the catfish jumping at the penguin. HA!
 
 
 Look at the little crutches she drew for me in her picture! Adorable! She wrote that I am "budflie" (beautiful). AW!
 
 
 Aren't they fantastic?! I'm so proud of them.
 
 And now for the Friday fun! Of course we were celebrating Dr. Seuss day, and it was soooo much fun. Normally celebration days are fun, but exhausting by the end of the day. Surprisingly, this day was super chill and a total blast! Here's what I wore:
 
 
Sweet lord that leg brace is sexy, lookin' good girl! No, in all seriousness, that thing is hids. My teaching bestie and I made these shirts last year. We printed the cute "Thing" circles on fabric transfer paper and bought some red tees from Walmart. Pretty cheap and everyone loved them because they had our names on them! Here I am with 2 of my very favorite fellow kindergarten teachers!
 
 
Gotta love that thing hair! I just wrapped blue pipe cleaners around a headband. The kids thought it was hilarious! And of course the cat in the hat is in the middle!  here are some the of the fun things that we did!
 
We made these fun hats using yellow sentence straps for the band and blue strips for the thing hair. Aren't those thing handprints the cutest?! I got the SUPER adorable idea for the handprints from the fabulous Katie Mense over at "Little Warriors". I put my own little twist on it by making it into a hat! They thought this was awesome because I called them by their "Thing" name all day. They even started calling each other by their thing name. Too cute!
 
 
 
The kids had worked on my Dr. Seuss "Rhyme Time" activity and it seemed to really help a few of them with rhyming. I think it helped to be able to see the same ending. I had them underline the matching endings in the words. You can grab a copy of this for free by clicking HERE.
 
 
One of my fellow kinder teachers found this awesome Cat in the Hat color-by-number mystery picture. I searched and searched for where to find this and couldn't locate it anywhere! I'm guessing that the creator probably had to take it down from TPT due to copyright issues. If you know where it is from, please let me know so I can give credit! My kids loved doing this.
 
 
Ok, prepare yourselves for the most amazing looking Dr. Seuss snacks ever. Oh. My. Word.
You know all the pictures of the super cute snack ideas everywhere? Well I attemped to recreate them for my littles to enjoy. And it was an EPIC fail. How on earth do people make their things look so perfect? I was sitting there at 10:00 on Thursday night trying to fluff up the cotton candy to make it look like hair and it would not fluff. Like at all. It just clumped together. It looked like my things had not washed their "hair" in weeks. Sigh. Check it out:
 
 
I also wanted to make these fun and delicious jell-o Cat in the Hat hats with red jell-o and cool whip. WHAT HAPPENED?! I'm not sure. The cool whip kept sticking to the sides of the cup, and the jell-o would not stay in a round shape, and it was a hot mess. When the spoons and spatulas, didn't work, I just started man handling it. I was like digging my hand into the giant bowl and putting handfuls into cups. I'm not proud of it. Truly, I'm not. I'm clearly no Betty flippin' Crocker. And it dyed my hands red for the rest of the day. I put some red sprinkles on top to attempt to salvage them, but no, it did not help. Look at them! Yikes! We were just about to eat our snacks when my assistant principal comes walking in. He took a peek at the jell-o cups and said, "Aw, how cute! Did the kids make those themselves?" Sigh. I should have saved myself the embarrassment and said, "Oh absolutely! Didn't they do a great job?" But we all know what would have happend. That one creep in the corner would scream, "NO WE DIDN'T MS. BOSLAND! WE DIDN'T MAKE THEM AT ALL! YOU DID!" and then I would be stuck trying to keep the big mouth quiet and save myself from my lie. So instead I just told the humiliating truth. "No, they didn't. Though I realized it looks like the 5 year olds made them, I actually did." heh heh. He looks down at my hands. My very red hands. I was caught - red handed. Awkward silence and he is smirking. "Oh... well they look great!" he says. And then he leaves. Nicely done, Khrys. Nicely done.
 
 
 
 But in the end, they were both very tasty so that's all that matters! The kids loved them both. They were practically shoveling it into their faces. I was too. I forgot how delicious jell-o and cool whip are together. I sat in the corner stuffing myself full. Yum.
 
 
At the end of the day, we watched a little bit of "Horton Hears a Who". They voted on their very favorite Dr. Seuss movie (we graphed it but I totally forgot to take a picture of the cutey cute graph) and Horton won. I was thrilled because I LOVE that sweet elephant.
 
 
 Overall, it was an awesome day. And I made it through my first week back, ALIVE! Hooray! I really am happy to be back. I love my job and my littles :)
 
 
 I am also linking up the the fabby fab Farley over at "Oh' Boy Fourth Grade" for the March Currently! Come join the fun if you haven't already.
 
 
*Listening: I'm not sure how I feel about American Idol. I like watching it, but sometimes it feels like a total waste of time becasue it goes on fooooooorever and most of it is boring. I just play it in the background while I am working so I can follow along without wasting a ton of time.
 
*Loving: I was ECSTATIC when I woke up this morning and took the dogs out because it is actually cool outside! Holy crow! It's a Christmas Dr. Seuss Day miracle! Loving it. I have the doors open to let the air in and it rocks. Though the dogs are making me want to scream because they keep running onto the back patio and barking at the ducks in the pond every 3 seconds. No wonder the neighbors are always yelling at me. But I'm throwing caution to the wind today and letting them bark because the air just feels so nice!
 
*Thinking: Where do we get the time to accomplish everything on our lists? I always feel like there are a million things that I need to do. Even when I finish one thing, there are still so many more to do. It's an endless circle really. How do we do it!?!?
 
*Wanting: I. Need. To. Walk. You guys, I am beyond sick of the crutches. I still have at least 3 more weeks left on them. At least. I never thought I would become such a pro on them. I could race. Do they have those? Crutch races?! Because this mini-hulk over here could win.
 
*Needing: Ooooh doesn't a margarita sound so good?! It is only noon right now so needless to say, I will not be partaking. BUT once 5:00 tonight hits, all bets are off ladies! Woot woot!
 
*Like: Kidding Around - Me and my kids have this hilarious sense of humor together. We are always kidding around and being silly :) It was super nice to get back in there this week and laugh it up with my lil' homeys!
*Love: Kicking it At Home - Being home today, sleeping in, and hanging with my fuzzy pups. And blogging of course!
*Hate: Killing Time - As I mentioned in my "Thinking", there are so many things on my mind all the time and I feel like every second counts. I hate waiting in long lines forever, sitting in hours of traffic, and getting stuck in 2 hour conversations with random people who tell me their entire life story that I couldn't care less about.
 
Sheesh - sorry to end that on such a negative note! HA! And that's what I am up to Currently! What are you doing currently!?
 
In my last post I mentioned a fun sight word Kooshball game that I have been playing with my kids on the SmartBoard. I've had a ton of people asking where I found it! I decided to post about it so you can snag it for yourself! I found it on the SmartExchange website. You can click HERE to take you directly to this game listing. It is totally free if you have a SmartExchange account, which is also free to sign up for! I have also uploaded it into GoogleDocs. I'm really not sure if it will work correctly or not because I've never attempted to upload a Smart file before, so if it doesn't work right, please let me know so I can try to mess around with it! Click on the picture below to download the game:
 
 
I did not realize that this post was going to be so ridiculously long, so I apologize now! And thanks so much of you are still here reading! Don't forget about my "Naughty Leprechaun" giveaway! Only 2 days left to enter! EEK!
 
 
 

 
LOVVVVVVE and BIG FAT HUGS to all of you!!
XOXO

27 comments:

  1. I love your blog! I could totally go for a margarita right now too! My kiddos were also off the wall this week, but, we had just come back from February vacation and it was a full moon! Ack!

    What's Working This Year?

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    1. Thank you so much for your sweet words :) I know, they were bonkers!!!! I'm happy to hear that it wasn't just me!

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  2. Loved your idea (cheap idea) of the Thing shirts...totally stealing, I mean using, that idea. LOVE it.
    Cute hat too.
    Happy first weekend back to the crazy town. :)
    Amy

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    1. Thanks girl! Steal away :) It certainly was CRAZY town!!!

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  3. I'm cracking up at your post....It's absolutely hilarious....LOVE your outfits though but the part about your snacks...nailed it....so funny. I adore the hats though..I'll have to remember that for next year.

    Nicki

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    1. You are the sweetest!! Thanks so much! Weren't they ridiculous!? Sheesh.

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  4. Ok, I am totally bookmarking this post and remembering those adorable hats for next year. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I will admit, I was a terrible K teacher and did nothing for the big day. We had a snow day this week and I have been playing catch up ever since. To top it off, report cards are due in a week and I need to assess like it is going out of style so I have some concrete support for my grades and parents. Wow! Just typing that made me exhausted! :)

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    1. AW yay! Thanks so much for your compliments! You are NOT a terrible teacher, sometimes it's just not possible to get everything in. And assessment weeks are the wooooorst. It is stressful for them and us! I hope everything goes well for you Erin! Hugs!

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  5. I have had days that my kids behavior is awful to! Last year I had reached my limit and one morning the words "Silent Day" came out of my mouth. I told the class they could only talk when I asked them to. That day they listened and always raised their hand to talk when I was teaching, completed their work silently and were allowed to talk in only a whisper during centers since they had to talk to their group or to me in small group. I have to say it did the trick, it was really hard not to ask open ended, everyone can answer questions and remember not to joke around, but the next day behaviors were back on track. When they started going downhill again at any point the rest of the year I asked if they wanted another Silent Day and suddenly the not so great behaviors went away. This year I have only had to mention Silent Day, but we have never had to actually do it, the thought of it is enough to get them back to appropriate behaviors.
    I love your Dr. Seuss Thing hats!! I will have to remember them for next year.
    Thanks!!
    Kari :)

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    1. Well my kids better prepare themselves because there might be a Silent Day in their future :) I'm glad that it worked with your littles! Thanks for the compliment!!

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  6. I'm sorry to hear that Wednesday was rough for you! We had a rough couple days too because the kiddos couldn't get outside to play. They were so full of energy they were literally bouncing off the walls. Your outfits are so darn cute! :) I am trying to mix it up with my wardrobe, but it is definitely hard. I found that smartboard game the other day on the smart exchange after seeing it on your blog! I didn't have balls yet so we are saving it for this coming week. I know my students will love it and I think it will be perfect for an inside recess kind of day! Hope you have a great rest of your weekend! Have a margarita for me! :)

    Mrs. Pauley’s Kindergarten

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    1. Thanks so much girl, it was rough but they are really pulling it together now (thank the heavens!) The outfits you have posted on your blog are SUPER cute! I love them :) I'm glad that you found the smartboard game. The kids love it! Hope you are having a fabulous week!

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  7. Your Pinterest experiences and Dr. Seuss day festivities and write up cracked me up. I hope you knee/leg heals up soon, so you can leave that sexy leg brace behind soon!

    Christy
    Teaching In Oz

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    1. Thanks so much Christy, it seriously needs to come off, I am ready to start dancing again :)

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  8. Loved your post showing how you nailed those snacks ... isn't that always the way... always looks SO AMAZING on pinterest and then in real life NOTHING like it.

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    1. HA! Weren't they just like the originals? Not. It always happens that way :)

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  9. OMG! This post is hysterical! I don't even know where to start! I know those crazy days all too well. One of our teachers got a bruise from a student bite last week!

    I need to make those Thing hats ASAP! My students would just love it.

    I love those little writing samples you posted. I've made a game out of it with my kinder kids. They couldn't even write their name before, and now they fill up the page with real words! Amazing how they grow...

    Lisa
    The Lower Elementary Cottage

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    1. Thanks Lisa, you are so sweet! Sheesh, thank goodness that I have no bruises! I'm glad you like the hats, the kids had fun making them :)

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  10. Glad the end of your week was better than your Wednesday! We are doing our Dr. Seuss stuff all of next week so I am soooo making those hats they are ADORABLE!!! My kiddos will love them and I won't have to worry about how to get my cat in the hat hats to stay up. (I had to resort to paint stir sticks last year!!) I can't wait to come to Florida for some warm weather at the end of this month, I am sick of SNOW!!

    Sarah
    Clearly Kindergarten

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    1. Thanks Sarah, you are the bestest! I hope your kids like them as much as mine did :)

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  11. LOVE this post! You crack me up! I especially love those Dr. Seuss treats you made for the kiddos! The things we do for our kids!! :) Sorry you had a rough day though! You are budflie!!! YAY! The giveaway is almost over! I am going nuts waiting to see who wins!!
    xoxo
    Kim

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    1. Thanks Kim :) They certainly were ugly, but totally yummy! You are even more BUDFLIE!! I can't wait to find out the winner too!!

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  12. Khrys,
    This blog post was hilarious! I laughed out loud several times! The Spring crazies are hitting my students too! I love the pictures of your students' writings! Have you written a blog post on your Writer's Workshop procedures before? If so/If not, I'd love to see a post! :)

    Mary

    Oceans of Fun in Grade 1!

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  13. Just came across your blog- love it!! I have searched for the Cat and the Hat w/s too and cannot find it either! Boo! Would you mind sharing? my email is stephenandmindyc@yahoo.com Thank you thank you!!

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    1. Thank you so much for your interest in my freebie :) You can download it for free in my TPT store!!

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