You can't make this stuff up folks...

To update you on the caterpillar drama, he got himself almost completely into a chrysalis, and then exploded. It seems that the demon has fled. But this also means not one stinkin' butterfly will be had. *sigh*

 

And on a creepier note, even though he's half caterpillar and half chrysalis, and it's been days and days since he exploded and fell to the bottom, if you gingerly pick up the chrysalis, the caterpillar part wags back and forth.  HOLY GUACOMOLE! That's just not right...

I have written to the customer service department to ask for advice and to try to help us figure out what we might have done wrong.  If they please me or cheese me, I shall let you know.  

We ended up being able to go outside and watch another class release their butterflies. First caterpillar envy, now butterfly envy. I'm so very, very flawed...

 

On a happier note- 

Crystal over at My Kinder-Garden is having a giveaway.  And actually- it's  TWO giveaways.  The Meek Moose clipart is part of the prize package in giveaway number two that will begin Saturday- but there are tons of lovely things in both, and you should go and try your luck. Here's the rafflecopter link for giveaway number one:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

  I even won a book the other day!  Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips had a really great post on teaching Synthesizing, and she had a giveaway for an Aesop's Fables Book by Vincent A. Mastro.  I went with book number one, but I know I will eventually get the other two.  Tori was right, these books will be great for teaching synthesizing to the kids.  And the illustrations are beautiful!  I am very excited for it to come in the mail! Click on Vincent's name to go check them out for yourself.

 

So, even in a world of exploding demon possessed caterpillars, there can be lollipop and rainbow moments.  Thank the Lord for that.

 

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Getting Our Brains Around Estimation - and this Bloglovin' deal

Yet another thing I seem to be one of the last to know about- or even understand for that matter, is that Google reader is going away?  But there's this Bloglovin' dealio stepping up to take over.  Or something.  I admit to not really getting it at all.  I'd like to know how this actually affects my blog per se, but since no one seems to be in an all out panic, I just think it has something to do with how you follow blogs.  So I'm putting in this little code thing here to get ready for the shift.

 



Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

Does anyone really get why measurement is always the end of the year?  Is it because it's fun and we've given up on legitimate teaching at this point?  I really need to do it all year long though- but I'll worry about that this summer.

 

 

We're getting a new math series next year, and I decided to give it a try just to get my feet wet.  *sigh* It's pretty traditional worksheety sort of stuff.  So, we got to this place where we supposed to be estimating and measuring items using the inch as a unit of measurement, and how one of our color tiles is about an inch long.  And in the booklet deal it wants them to measure books and crayons and what not- but who really cares about that?  And as far as estimation goes, you can totally see that crayon is only three tiles long before you even lay it down.  This is not estimation.  When you can see the answer right off? No, no, no.  So I asked, "How many tiles tall do you think you are?"

  

"ONE THOUSAND!!!!!"

  

Ummmmm, no kittens.  NO.

  

Alrighty, so we got our little giant (I could just fit him in my pocket he's so cute!) and had him lay down and we lined up the tiles.  Just 47!  Not anywhere close to one thousand.  So then we had the real giant stand up next to him for a comparison.  "So how many tiles tall do you think Ryan is?"

 

"ONE HUNDRED!!!!!!!"

 

Ummmmmmmmmm, dear Lord give me strength, no kittens. NO.

 

So I laid out ten tiles end to end, and then a strand of twenty.  "Which one looks more like the space between the top of Our little giant and Ryan?  They picked twenty.  So we did some adding of tens and decided our range was between 47 and 67.  I then asked them to think about how tall they thought they were compared to these two boys, and pick a number and circle it on their paper.

 

The next day, we got that piece of paper out, and I had them line up in order of the number they had chosen,  We had a zig zaggy line, let me tell you!  But it was a good lesson in estimation and how we can make a better estimate with more data.  Our first estimate was only based on our imagination and /or personal perspective.  After we lined up, we could see that some folks had guessed themselves too short, and some had guessed themselves too tall.  So we readjusted our estimates and then went to work lining up tiles with partners.

 

Here's some of the fun: 

 

 

We figured out pretty quickly that it really mattered WHERE we laid down our tiles.  At a certain point, we ended up running into a body barrier. 

 

 

So then we problem solved and decided to line up the squares along the lines on the floor close to our partner, but not right on top of them.

 

Folks on the carpet had a slightly tougher job, but we got it figured out in the end.

We also discovered that our number of tiles was exaggerated when we didn't keep it straight.  This little munchkin ended up three inches taller than he actually was because of this curve.


What did I learn out of all of this?  I really hate that new math book. Boooooring.  And my kids need to be estimating all year long.  And they need to be measuring all year long.  And I need to do everything hands-on lots of extra work for me sort of stuff, humph.

But more importantly, what did the kids learn out of this?  I think most of them really came "to get" what we were talking about when it came to inches.  And they started comparing themselves to other items in the room and being able to make reasonable estimates because they knew their own height.

Now, to completely mess with their minds this coming week by switching gears to centimeters...


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Sensory Poem Scoot

 Been doing some poetry fun with my kids this month.  We've been using Hope King's Ipoetry Playlist, as our reference for the different types of poetry.  I have not been organized enough to do the hugely adorable craft that goes with it, but it has certainly helped set us up with instructions for each type.

I've been using a lot of graphic organizers this year.  At some point, probably back in October, I started to really like this organizer:

I could put a main subject in the middle, with four detail points.  Or even make it five detail points on a singular subject.

I split it into six sections for our sensory poem planning:

This worked really well for us.  We put our emotion/feeling in the middle, and what represented that emotion in the last box.  Then the other boxes were for It looks like, it smells like, it tastes like, it sounds like, and it feels like.

On the first day we made a chart of as many emotions as we could think of, and then picked "excited" as an emotion we wanted to explore.  What were we the most excited about?  Summer vacation, duh!  So we did some visualizing , think pair share stuff for each box, and came up with all sorts of ideas.  Then I let them create their own poem, using suggestions from inside the organizer or something new they thought of.

On our second day, I decided to play scoot.  I wanted to see how they did a little without me.  I chose seven emotions and corresponding situations, like Satisfied- A great meal, frightened - the dark, proud - winning the game, etc.  Then we got into triples and started scooting.  Three minutes with each organizer.

Here are some pics from our second day of exploring the Sensory Poem. 

 

 

After we scooted, I taped the posters up one by one on our board and then we talked together about what we came up with.  I made the ones that made the most sense bold in marker and corrected the spelling.  And then the kids picked the one they wanted to work on most and went off to write a poem.

I discovered that on day two- they weren't quiiiiite ready for coming up with stuff in the organizer.  They still need some help there.  I can't tell you how many times somebody put the word bloody or spit in the boxes.  *sigh*  Yeah, I already know who it was.  Sheesh.

Buuut, I did come across these two poems left out haphazardly on a couple of desks.  So, at least two of my kiddos got the gist.

I have to say.  I'm getting addicted to Scoot.

The Meek Moose Talks Chalk

Julie at The Teaching Bug is having this most excellent linky.  I am looking forward to participating on a monthly basis.

Click this picture to go to Julie's post about this linky, and link up as well!

 

 

 

Our assignment this month:

 

 



 

My Mom.  We drive each other crazy, I know.  Mostly probably my fault, sometimes.  I guess.  Hmph.

But I will say that my mom is special because she is always there for me and my kids and takes great care of all four of us.  My mom taught both my sister and I tons of crafts as kids.  And if she hadn't, hey, what would I be now?  Because of mom, I can sew, and I can cook, and I can bake, and I am not afraid to try different hobby crafts because they all look like so much fun!  I can make my own cards out of construction paper, and I've taken a Bob Ross style painting class because of her, and two years of ceramics, and jiminy!  I use all of this from my past in my classroom today.  I'd be a completely different teacher if she hadn't done all of that with us when we were kids.  And I've talked to other people my age and they didn't have the same experience- so it wasn't the norm.  So my mom is special.  And because of that now I feel special.  And I can only hope that I can pass that on to my kids too.

I already posted about my Mother's day flowers.  And I did a portrait project last year.  Click to see them if you'd like.

Thanks Julie, for the opportunity to reflect on why my mom is a treasure to me.  I'm looking forward to the next chalk talk!

Cannibalistic Caterpillar Crisis- and possibly the apocolypse...

Why I knew yesterday would not go well:

1.  The mysterious lack of traffic.
Should be a good thing, I know- but I rely on regular patterns to keep my sense of sanity. I have an hour and ten minute commute to work- it's my zen time mind you- but I keep track of my progress by my location on the road when the news comes on, whether or not I've passed the Truck stop before the birthdays, and when the red brake lights of stop and go traffic begin.  Generally, I get to swing right off the interstate just before I get caught in all that foolishness.  But Wednesdays- EVERY Wednesday- this stuff starts before my lovely exit.  Apparently, there is a huge bunch of people who only work on Wednesdays.  I'd really like to know what that job is, but anyway...  Yesterday- there was no one.  And I mean, like, NOBODY.  Even the red brake lights that usually start after my exit weren't there.  I began to wonder if perhaps I had missed the rapture...

2.  The traffic light before I get off the parkway did not turn green when it was supposed to.  It completely skipped my lane twice- which meant I sat there for ten minutes.  The gym teacher was in front of me.  I knew that if it skipped us a third time, that he'd make a left against the red, and then everyone behind me would expect me to do it and be honking and YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- I hate lefts.  But then it turned green after I was properly sweaty above my left eyebrow and had sticky inside elbows. I HATE lefts.

3.  And then there was a train!!!!!!!!  Late LAte LATTTTTE to work!

4.  The Pepsi AND Coke were sold out in the lounge.  Obviously the only conclusion was that I had been LEFT BEHIND.  Where was Kirk?

Disclaimer:  I was however blessed to NOT be the teacher that a student began to discuss the merits of breastfeeding with and whether or not she should be breastfeeding her baby- whilst having her knockers stared at.  Ha! Small miracles...

Ok, so these dang caterpillars.  We were down to five.  One had started to make a chrysalis, but then disappeared.  MYSTERY!  Could not find the bugger anywhere.  Then three climbed up to the top and got in the J-formation, chrysalises here we come!

And then... casually walking over to check on them...

 I discovered this EVIL, REALLY BAD WORD CATERPILLAR eating one of the hanging caterpillars.  In fact, he'd already killed off the other two, and they'd dropped to the bottom.  I pulled him off in an attempt to save the last one, but no good.  Doornail DEAD.

What the hey?!  Stupid Hanibal Lecter of the painted lady butterflies...

my thoughts within moments of the killing:
1) gross
2) damn creepy
3) freaking fifteen dollars, that bug better make an effin chrysalis
4) do I even want to release a killer butterfly into the wild?
5) is this like Jack the Ripper of butterflies?
6) this is all my fault isn't it?
7) it was the radiation from the computers that turned him bad
8) I fed him hallucinogenic thistle and turned him homicidal
9) I'm really projecting my ex-boyfriend issues onto this caterpillar
10) I need to stop doing that, I don't have time for therapy right now
11) I should just stick to killing plants
12) I need a Pepsi.  Or a box of wine...

I even channeled my anger into a sensory poem with the kids:

The Cannibalistic Caterpillar is Disgusting
It looks like murder!
It smells like foul play!
It tastes like bitter disappointment!
It sounds like a silent killer!
It feels like fifteen wasted bucks!
Disgusting  IS the Cannibalistic Caterpillar

I put it on a poster and hung it above his cage.  Not that it shamed him at all.  He sits there, fat, controlling, tapping his little evil thousand fuzzy legs together...BAH!


Ok, so then a kiddo goes out onto the playground and finds me this hairy gorilla:

The kids are all YAY!  We'll still get a butterfly!  And I find another butterfly house, since I'm not risking another murder.  Although this guy is a lot bigger than Hanibal.  But STILL.  And do you know what this cherub ends up being????

It's an ecosystem devastating Eastern Tent Moth!  The thing is a TREE EATER.  Shhhhhhhhhhhheesh.  But I'm thinking the other word okay? 

One more year.  I will try this one more year but if this happens again I am done.  I'll take up snake handling instead.  Lord, help me.

Frontier Culture Museum and a Giveaway

First off, Erin over at I'm Lovin' Lit is having a spectacular 175 follower giveaway.

 So spectacular in fact, that she had to set up three different grade level divisions to fit in all of the goodies.  You can pick your grade group or go for all of them!  You even have a chance at Summer clipart that my sister and I made in the 2nd and 3rd grade grouping. 

 

Head on over there and make yourself a winner!!!

 

 

Now, onto some culture museum...

 

So, it was/is (we tend to make it quite the week of events) my daughter's ninth birthday.  I was graced by God in the opportunity to NOT have to take her to the roller rink.  Any other Moms with me on this?  I am not a big birthday party sort of person with blinking lights and arcade games and the such.  I bamboozled her into going to The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia.

 

 

I've actually been to this place a handful of times on field trips in the past ten years, and my daughter got to go last month- but she said she didn't get to see anything, and was extremely bummed out that they didn't let her go UPSTAIRS in any of the houses.  Which, I admit, always bums me out too.  And they'd opened up a few new exhibits that I hadn't seen yet myself.  We popped in the car for an hour drive and arrived to find ourselves pretty much alone in the parking lot, as everyone had been expecting it to rain all day.  We lucked out with a 73 degree day, a light breeze, and blue skies.

 

Here are some shots of the houses/countries available to visit:

 

 

 

When it's only 3 people, and not 30, I have to say you see a lot more.  And, not surprisingly, a lot more relaxing.  Still though, I feel bad I can't take my class there, as they are three hours in another direction.  And there were two places we didn't get to, an Indian village and another American farmhouse.  I'd like to go back again to visit this summer, maybe take my teammies with me, maybe take video.  If I can't take my class, maybe I can bring it to them.

If you happen to be traveling around that way- try to carve out a three hour stop.  It's worth it.

Mother's Day Fractions and an Update on Mother Nature

This is truly only my second year doing mother's day projects.  Why in eleven years it never really landed on the radar, I don't know, but I can't say I don't like it now that I'm into it.  Trouble comes in when you've got to make sure you prove your craftivity has some academic merit.  Luckily for me, my teammie managed to make this one all about fractions.

Now, her project looked different from mine- she made a card that was brown for the earth, and then they planted popsicle stick stems painted green on the back and then pasted on their flowers- I went for a vase with decorated background- but the fraction part remains the same.

We used eight stems, so the students have to describe their bouquet arrangement in the form of eighths.  Three eighths of my bouquet is orange, two eights are pink, etc.  And then we wrap it all together in a bitty poem:

For this Mother's day, I've made you this bouquet:
?/8 of these flowers are {color},
?/8 of these flowers are {color},
and ?/8 of these flowers are{color},
but I put it together with my WHOLE heart.

Yay for creative teammates! We'll be pasting on the poem tomorrow. 

 I also enjoyed teaching them the artistic points as well- how to make your vase BIG as opposed to microscopic.  How to make flowers if you only want to cut a basic shape or if you want to get fancy with the layering.  The all important "a dab will do ya" lesson.  Whenever we do these projects my kids always say "How do you know how to do this?!"  Because I am OLD sweeties, I am ollllllllllld.

Here's mine- Mommy is going to love it!

 

 

My boys OWNED it, I tell you!  Here's my giant (so sweet, I could fit him in my pocket!) working hard on background wallpaper.

 

This little cherub even went bilingual on me!  And then of course the craze was copied across the room, even by my limited few who don't speak Spanish at home.

 

My resident artist, we all go to her for advice:

 

And this baby doll even cannibalized the unused scrapbooking paper for some flair.

 

Awesome sauce I say!  And, to report on how Mother Nature has not completely failed me- turns out my caterpillars were cold.  Moved their net near the computers, they are now basking in the radiation.  This guy quadrupled overnight.  Sandi- thank you for the hollyhock advice, but my stinking local nursery says they won't be getting any until the end of the month.  Hopefully these guys will be content with the warmth and not die on me.

 

 

 

And miracle of miracles! The beans sprouted over the weekend and went gangbusters.  All but four of them, anyway.  We repotted them after finding that they were way down at the bottom of the carton.  One had mad roots though, so I think it will still sprout.  The other three- ermmmm, I think those poor gardeners will be going home with a lupine or a watermelon.  *sigh*  We are loving noticing how they are all leaning toward the window for sun - as we have so little of it with our forecasted weeklong rain.  Flood date in our future, methinks...