May 2008 - Posts
Earlier this week, I was talking with my class about the solar system, and we came up on the topic of asteroids and meteors. I explained to the kids that there is a theory that says that a huge meteor struck the Earth, and this is why all of the dinosaurs
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The Carnival of Education is being hosted at Mrs. Bluebird's Classroom this week, and it has lots and lots of nuggets of bloggy joy. Check it out! A while ago, I told the kids in my class that I would have an ice cream party for all of the kids who passed
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Taking a cue from Reese's peanut butter cups (two great tastes that taste great together), Friday I merged our study of the solar system with some writing practice for next year's fourth-grade writing TAKS. I gave the kids a homework assignment that said
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This week's Mr. Teacher column on education.com is a sequel of sorts. The response to my ideas back in January for the Hollywood writers' strike was very positive, so I came up with a few more ideas for movies and television shows, all teacher-related
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My school is hosting the annual International Festival tomorrow evening. Since there are so many different cultures represented at my school, the entire building is decorated with posters, facts, article of clothing, etc. about the many various countries
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This week's Mr. Teacher column over on education.com discusses the dress code that has been put into place in my district. This code was put into place about three years ago. Before, kids wore whatever they wanted. Since, kids wear a white shirt with
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The TAKS results came in today, so yet another year's anticipation has ended. Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself and on my kids, but I was expecting the results to be a little bit better. Out of 36 kids, 29 passed, and 9 were commended. That figures
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I have what might possibly be amazing breakthrough news in the case of my student Lump. I THINK I said and did something the other day that actually meant something to him and made him want to change his behavior. Flashback to Thursday. Lump had been
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In the past few months, the Internet geeks in my district have done a much better job of filtering all of the junk messages out of our school inboxes. However, for a while there, I couldn't open up my e-mail without having 30 or 40 bogus subjects screaming
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Hey, I just saw that the voting is goin' on over at this year's The Best of Blogs competition , and I'm a finalist!! Several great and familiar blogs are in the running as well, such as A Shrewdness of Apes , History is Elementary , and California Teacher
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OK, I feel like I'm just about at my wit's end here. And since I haven't done an INTERACTIVE MONDAY in quite awhile, I figure my dilemma would be good to ask other teachers about. My principal keeps saying that this time at the end of the school year
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OK, so I've got another home movie out, this one somewhat timely if not exactly professional. Since Speed Racer debuted this week in the theaters, I put out my own version on YouTube. I invite you all to check out E-Raser, a parody of Speed Racer -- made
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Thank Goodness It's Thursday!! The science fair projects have been turned in, the learning walk is over, and Lost comes on in a couple of minutes. Speaking of the science projects, my afternoon class tackled the problem of Will a Paper Airplane Fly Farther
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This morning, I got to exercise the algebra muscle in my brain and figure out a puzzle without using a paper. Mr. Hard Drive, our IT guy, drove by while I was out in front of the school doing my morning duty and presented me with a math problem. "A guy
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I saw the new movie Ironman over the weekend, and it was spectacular! From the previews I had seen, I was very excited to see it, and I already thought it was going to be super cool, but it greatly exceeded my expectations. It had a great story, great
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What a weird, wild day!!! This morning, a couple of my team members were running late, so I was asked to look after one of their classes until they could get to the school. So I got all of my kids into my classroom, tasked a couple of them with passing
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Why is it that so many of my kids have a supreme sense of responsibility when it comes to OTHER kids in the room, but they can't seem to look after themselves? There are so worried about the kids around them not following the rules, but they never seem
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Unlike Tuesday and Wednesday, today I did not have to administer a state standardized test!! The only people taking a test today were the fifth graders, who were taking the science TAKS. Third and fourth grade or allowed to resume their normal schedule,
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