A person's a person, no matter how small!

 
We Could Learn a Thing or Two from a "Crazy" Elephant

A few years ago my kindergarten class performed the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who. The book's main character, Horton, believes he has heard from an unseen population of little people living atop a speck of dust. So great is his belief that these tiny people exist that even when he becomes the laughingstock of the entire jungle and is accused of being insane, he does not veer from his claim. The underlying message of this wonderful story is "A person's a person, no matter how small!"  

As a kindergarten teacher in a rural Oklahoma public school, I sometimes feel a bit like Horton: the defender of little people. Who am I protecting them from?  Why the very people intended to be their greatest protectors: Lawmakers and administrators in the State Department of Education who view them not as the wonderful individuals they are but in terms of test scores, their effect on overall school grades and as future college students. 

College, hmm...We'll See
"College bound" is the new phrase in education. State administrators and lawmakers past and present are known for their  snappy little phrases intended to illustrate their concern for education. "Ensure each Oklahoma student graduates from school  college and career ready." "Educating our children to fill the technical jobs needed in a global economy." Makes for a great sound bite, huh? However, what message are we truly sending children who are retained because they cannot pass a 3rd grade reading test? 

In my home state of Oklahoma, we have something called the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA). According to the OKSDE website, the purpose of the RSA "is to ensure that all Oklahoma students are reading at grade level at the end of third grade." Sounds good so far. Only problem is this: "a third grade student cannot be promoted to fourth grade if he or she scores Unsatisfactory on the state reading test." What if your child repeats third grade and still cannot pass the test? Retention again! A child can be retained up to two times. 

Teachers and school administrators across the state are feeling the pressure from state administrators to get results. Not only are we failing nine year old children, we are failing the schools who produce them! That's right. Schools are now given grades partially based upon their student's test scores. 

Kindergarten Teacher/ Doomsday Profit

Here's biggest fallout from this whole mess (at least to me): They are demanding results from a younger population of children-namely pre-k and kindergarten.

Curriculum once taught in first grade is being pushed down into kindergarten and kindergarten teachers, like myself have become doomsday profits:

"If little Johnny doesn't get retained and catch up then he likely won't pass that third grade reading test and he will be retained in third grade--perhaps twice!"


I always feel like I should have a chorus behind me saying, "Ooooooo!" after I make that statement. Am I exaggerating? No it is true that little Johnny or Susie may very well be retained in third grade which is much more mortifying and emotionally damaging for the child than if she/he is retained in kindergarten. At the same time, I feel we are scaring parents into agreeing and that just feels wrong. 

Product Versus Process: What are Really Ending Up With?
This pressure to perform has caused schools to become less about the process and more about the result: Good test scores. Consider this result: We can all say, "College Bound" but it is not going to happen if lawmakers and state administrators (all states, not just Oklahoma) continue to set kids up for failure. If they choose to make education a race to the top, they need to remember that with most races there are winners and there are losers.  Nobody in this country should be labeled a loser at the age of nine, especially by our education system! 
 

Something is Rotten Around Here but it isn't Our Kids!

This whole mess reminds me of that scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; The 1970s Gene Wilder movie not the creepy Johnny Depp remake. I'm referring to the scene where the character, Veruca Salt throws a tantrum and steps onto Wonka's egg rating scale, the "Eggdicator." Veruca is immediately given a rating of bad and falls down the garbage chute. I remember seeing this movie when I was kid and being a little shocked at Wonka's callus comment, "She was a bad egg" when her father was so obviously distraught. What our education system is doing is just as callus  when we retain  a child repeatedly and consequently set him on a path to failure.  We can say "college bound" and regurgitate all the little political sound bites we want but the reality is most of those kids don't go on to succeed in school, much less go to college.

 

Serving Two Masters
The state department of education has their eye on just about everything we do and demand "accountability" in the form of mountains of documentation on our students. Sometimes I feel I am serving two masters: the State Department of Education and Developmentally Appropriate Practice. They often are at complete odds with one another and leave me feeling frustrated.   



Keep on Believing 
So what are teachers to do? I wish I had a great answer. That would really make this post awesome, right? Sorry to disappoint you. 


Me (in the green) with some of the dedicated
staff and faculty at Big Pasture!

I guess we do our  documentation--dot our i's and cross our t's to satisfy the state but we also continue to deliver lessons that are as developmentally appropriate as possible. Most importantly, we keep sending the message to our kids:

"I believe in you! I know you can do it! I will do everything in my power to help you be successful!"

There is No One Alive Who is Youer Than You!



Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I am on the Read Across America committee at my school. My job is to help my principal and fellow teachers on the committee come up with neat ways to celebrate reading in our school. This event is celebrated in schools throughout the United States on March 2 and also celebrates the birthday of noted children's author, Dr. Seuss.  

Every year I do it up big in my class. We read Dr. Seuss all week and during the day’s festivities you can bet my kinders are eating green eggs and ham or Truffula tree cupcakes and most are dressed as their favorite book characters. I have been pinning lots of ideas in anticipation of the event. 

The World According to Seuss

This year, I discovered more than just cute art projects during my pinning. Dr. Seuss wasn’t just a ground breaking children’s author but someone whose books are multilayered with messages for living. Could we learn a thing or two from the wise rhyming doctor?

Consider the quote above. Imagine a world where we embraced our own uniqueness and tried to be our very best. Gone would be the unattainable goal of being as rich, as beautiful, and as smart as our neighbor or the person staring back at us from the pages of a magazine. We would never have to beat ourselves up for failing to be something we are not and could not hope to be--someone else.

Get a New Yard Stick

Does this mean we shouldn't dream the "impossible dream?" What celebrity hasn't said they were inspired by someone great or famous? Do we the "little people" not deserve to dream so big? Should we not reach that high? Of course, I don't mean that. However, we should not use other people as a yard stick to measure our success or value in life.  "There is no one alive who is youer than you." You are uniquely qualified to be the best you that you can be. No one does you like you.

That I happened upon this particular quote of Dr. Seuss' now seems a bit serendipitous. I began my little blog eight months ago enthusiastically but found I had a huge hurdle to overcome: comparing myself to other bloggers. I enjoy writing and blogging but I write posts I never publish. They don't stink but they just don't fit the mold made by those successful teacher bloggers I so admire.  

Though Dr. Seuss has enlightened me, I don't for one minute think I will completely stop comparing myself to those other bloggers. I can't change a lifetime habit overnight. I can however, acknowledge that no one is as uniquely qualified to write my blog as I am.

The Girl Scout Sit Upon Gets a Face Lift!

I'm home sick today with a little tummy bug that has been raging around our school. I am feeling a little better but being a teacher, I feel guilty not doing anything so I decided to blog. Looking around my blog posts, I found this one I started but never posted. Can we say SQUIRREL?! That's my husband, Kevin's term for my habit of getting distracted and moving onto another project before I finish the first. Guilty. This is a great project and one that was not too hard-I made twenty of them for my class!

When I was eleven, my best friend, Donna Kay was a Girl Scout. Wanting to be just like her, I decided to join. My fondest memory of Girl Scouts was the first meeting when we made Sit Upons. 

For those of you who were never a girl scout and have no clue what I am talking about, a "Sit Upon" is a 2 X 2 foot piece of vinyl table cloth that you fold in two, hole punch on three sides, "sew" with yarn and stuff with folded newspaper. It keeps your behind dry and cushioned when you are sitting around the campfire or your troop leader's backyard during meetings. Here is a link that has a little history on the sit upon and a tutorial on how to make an old fashioned one: http://londongirlscoutsrocks.blogspot.com/2010/05/sit-upons-girl-scout-tradition.html  If you want an easier, more modern take on the Sit Upon, keep reading.

 In May, when I chose "Camping" as my kindergarten theme for the 2014-2015 year I remembered that long ago Sit Upon and decided I would make one for each of my students to sit on during circle time and lessons on the floor.  I was really excited but then a few days later it occurred to me that kindergartner's fine motor skills might not be up to making a Sit Upon and that I would have to make 20 by myself! Well, I may have better dexterity than a young kindergartner but I also have arthritis. The thought of all those hours punching holes and sewing made my hands hurt. 

An easier version of the Sit Upon occurred to me when I was in the check out at our local grocery store and saw plastic tote bags. I thought "genius!" Turns out I didn't invent that one. Of course on Pinterest there was a tutorial that looked like someone had plucked it right out of my head. Although I was a little deflated at not having invented the modern Sit Upon, it was nice to see how someone else did it. 

 Now all I had to do was find the perfect sized bag. The last day of school I walked into Michael's and found these large lovely tote bags and bought every one they had. They were a $1.99 each but with my Michael's teacher discount and school tax exemption, they cost about $1.50 each. Here's what you need to make these cute sit upons:

Sit Upon Supplies: 

• Vinyl Tote Bag-these are about 18"X18" (perfect size for kinder behinds)
• Color duct tape
• Newspapers
• Washi tape
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Poly-fil quilt batting

My niece, Devon is a writer for Oklahoma City's best little newspaper, The Oklahoma Gazette. I asked her to save me any old issues she had. She hooked me up. You can use any newspaper you have, but free are always best. Because the Gazette is a small sized paper, I used masking tape to put them in the shape I wanted. The newspaper gives the sit upon support. After they were taped in the shape I wanted, I opened the bag slightly (you want it to stay in a folded position) and slid the taped newspapers in.

The original sit upon I made as a Girl Scout only had newspaper but Seth tried out my modern sit upon and said it was too hard. Hmmm. To hard or have today's kiddos become too soft? Oh well. I knew if he thought that, probably the kinders would too. So I looked through my class storage room and found the perfect solution: Poly-fil quilt batting. It comes in a huge roll. You roll it out and cut out the size you need. I put an 18"X18" square layer in each totebag on top of the newspaper for a little cushioning and Seth gave it a thumbs up.

Once I had all the sit upons "stuffed" it was time for the real work. Sealing them closed with the blue duct tape I had chosen.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I probably duct taped too much. I laid an 18 inch strip of duct tape along one edge of the bag. I centered it so that the edge of the duct tape length was hanging off the bag by 1 inch. Once I pressed the tape onto the front of the bag, I flipped it over, folded the duct tape and pressed it along the edge on the back side. This sealed the edges. For cosmetic reasons, I did this on all four sides. Next, I put another layer of duct tape on each edge so that the tape was flush with the edge of tote bag. This gave it a neat and tidy look and hid any imperfections such as wrinkles in the tape I had folded over. For the handles, I just duct taped the tote bag on either side of each handle and then put a  strip flush with the edge all the way across.

Cool Tip: When your scissors start to get gunky from cutting the duct tape, wipe the blades down with baby wipes and it comes right off!

 When all the bags were stuffed and sealed it was time to decorate. You could get really over the top and use patterned duct tape or washi tape. For my first one I accented it with some owl Washi tape. It is the new craze and there are so many cool things you can do with it. Pinterest it and you will see. I picked this up at Hobby Lobby for $2:





And here is the finished project:

Though I liked the Washi tape I decided to get rid of it. I didn't think my kinders would sit still until they had picked every shred of it off. As for the sit upons, the kinders love them.

I have discovered an added benefit to the sit upons: the handles. This epiphany came to me after I attended a teacher's conference in Oklahoma City in August. One of the merchant booths there was selling "Fidgets." It was a little tube of material with balls sewn inside that children can fidget with to keep them calm and able to focus. Although they are intended for children with Autism or ADHD, they help other kiddos too. Similar in texture, I figured why couldn't the tote bag handles serve the same purpose? It worked. Observe my class during lessons and you'll see some of my little ones fiddling with those handles and listening to my lesson!

On my classroom floor, I put down lines of duct tape in three rows in my whole group area. Each morning, the kinders lay their mat on the line where their name is. At the end of the day they pick them up and put them away in their cubbies on a hook. Simple.

I will make new sit upons each year.  However, I will make one change: buy white or solid tote bags and let the kinders decorate them with colored permanent markers. Kinders will love it.  Expect a future post next August when I do exactly that. As for the durability of the sit upons, we have been using them for almost five months and they have held up great. Well, until my next post, be safe and healthy!

My Seth giving the new and improved modern Sit Upon a try in his favorite reading spot in our library.



The View from the Couch

I’m seriously considering starting a new blog entitled, "The View from the Couch." I've been sick with pneumonia  the entire Christmas holiday and have spent most of my time-on the couch. As a kindergarten teacher, I am always on the go and never seem to have time for myself. A  doctor ordered rest time was initially, a treat. However, as my mother was fond of saying, too much of a good thing is never good. So after almost two weeks of rest and relaxation, here is my view from the couch.

We live in a day and age when you don't really have to leave the house to be entertained. On my iPad the world can come to me. Books, movies, music, games are all available at the click of a button and a little cash. Oh and if you are feeling the need for a little company, there is that to. Facebook is always waiting.

In the past few days, I have experienced something that previously, I had only read about in historical romance novels.   “Ennui”.  For those of you who have never read a historical romance novel and are scratching your head, saying,“En-whut?!”, Webster defines it as, “a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom.”

And so there you have it. My pneumonia has been replaced by this new malady. From the couch I have discovered that though "pin therapy" is occasionally good for what ails you, it can leave you feeling a bit of a failure. In recent days, I've had to be honest with myself.  I'm never going to make that lovely embroidery hoop wall montage that I bought the materials for two years ago.  I think my lowest pinning moment came New Year’s eve when I realized I had consecutively pinned 10 cat pictures onto my, "You've Cat to be Kitten Me" board. Clever title, huh? It screams crazy cat lady.

I’ve read some. I won’t apologize for that. Mostly though, I have watched Amazon and Netflix.  I've fallen head first into entire seasons and years of T.V. shows that I previously never had time for. With nothing to distract me,  I got a little overly "invested" in the characters. I was  bereft for days when I said goodbye to Woody & Matthew on True Detectives after finishing an eight episode binge.  

I revisited favorite movies. I watched the last seven Harry Potter movies. That’s quite a time commitment, though well worth it. Though, I have read the books repeatedly and seen the movies countless times, I still cried, "Nooooooo!" when Dumbledore fell backwards from the Astrology tower. Seth thought the tears on my cheeks were quite silly. Of course I watched the movie on my ipad so he hadn’t been a part of the emotional rollercoaster I had been on for all those days.

Whenever I needed a break from movies, games, etc and wanted to reconnect with people (The irony of that statement is not lost on me), I checked out Facebook. My friends are a diverse group and I love them all.  Some friends pepper their newsfeeds with happy little memes meant to encourage and they do. Others share their views, left, right and otherwise.  As for me, I hit my notifications after having ignored them for a while and found sweet encouragements to feel better. Initially this warmed my heart but then I looked over my posts of the past weeks. All were me obsessing about my health.

This spurred a mortified look at my life over the last two weeks. Is this what my life has come to? Pinning things I will never do, crying over fictional characters (It's true Dumbledore isn't real. I know…sort of) and obsessing publicly about my health?  

Despite my alarm at the turn my life has taken, I must admit I was hoping for a snow day tomorrow. Just a day to get off the couch and  prepare for school. Who am I kidding?  Though sitting on the couch for two weeks is not good, it has made one thing perfectly clear: I can never retire.

One of Kevin's Saturday morning surprises.

This is what my days would become. And Kevin—both of us retired? I would never see him! He has a routine he does every weekend and every day off. He works on some project in the house (I'm not complaining) and then when he gets bored with that, he rearranges things. It is not unusual to wake up on Saturday mornings to find my morning cereal or under garments have been reorganized for the greater good of a smooth running home.  He, of course, is asleep because he didn't go to sleep until five am. I realize to those of you whose husbands are slobs or just not domestically inclined, I sound like an unappreciative brat. I concede that point.

So anyway, school is looming tomorrow and there's not a snow flurry in site. Anyone who has ever taught kindergarten knows the importance of a well prepared classroom. My kiddos walk into class and my Christmas tree is still up (the kids weren’t the only ones who ran out the door that last day of school) and there's nothing ready and I'm going to have a very tough day. Kevin offered to go get it ready for me. While that is sooo sweet I can’t let go of the image of Kevin making a sizeable donation  to the school dumpster. The teacher hoarder in me cannot allow that even if it is for my own good. No, I will gladly accept his help but not unsupervised. I WILL get off this couch and allow the blood to painfully return to my butt and lower extremities. I will probably feel better than I have in two weeks.

I have found motivation in an old friend- Facebook. Yesterday I saw a post by the parent of a student in my class. Smiling at me from my iPad was a picture of one of my little kinder munchkins. The blanket of “ennui” that I had wrapped myself in these past weeks fell away a bit upon seeing that sweet face and I longed for the craziness of my kindergarten class. I miss my kinders and I miss my coworkers and the satisfaction that comes from work. Goodbye couch! We’ve had a couple of nice weeks but this is for the best. You look better without the dent of my butt marring your lovely length and undoubtedly my butt will benefit from this break as well.

New Year, New Game!

Well darlings it has been a long time since this gal has blogged. Long story best told  later. As for now, I have decided to upload a game I have been finished with for months but wouldn't upload on to Teacher's Pay Teachers because I just kept redoing it. However, my one resolution this year is to not second guess myself. So here it is. This game was inspired by a couple of adorable little girls at my school who are obsessed with snowmen and a certain  popular movie. I can't wait to show it to them when we go back to school on Monday. Click on the image below to check it out on my Teacher's Pay Teacher's Shop. Happy New Year!

Teaching Kiddos to Read One Cupcake at a Time!

Yesterday I uploaded my Alphabet Soup freebie onto Teachers Pay Teachers and today I uploaded my Cupcake Shop Word Family Sort. You may be thinking, "Wow! She's really churning those learning activities out!" Not really. Truthfully, this particular one took me much longer than it should. You see when I began toying with the idea of making learning activities to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers I didn't have a clue what went into creating a learning activity and then selling it. 

I had been making my own Reading and Math centers for ten years and though my students liked the activities I made, I really didn't know there was a better way. I found this fabulous Cupcake Creator Kit from Cloudstreet Lab.  I spent three days creating unique cupcakes and finally managed to narrow it down to 30 creations (I know, REALLY?!). 

After the cupcakes were created, I started working on the activity using Microsoft Office Word as I always had. However this was a very large file and as I started layering in those PNG graphics and text boxes. the file got slower to work with. Pushing those little cupcakes into the spot I wanted them to go became a challenge. I was getting frustrated and worried that my creative project would never reach fruition but I trudged (slowly) on. 

Then one night after working for an hour, I couldn't get the file to save no matter what I tried. Frustrated, I hit the off button on my computer. When I tried to open it up, it said there was a file error and it would not open. Can we say "Nooooooooo?!" I was devastated. All that work. Gone.

Who would have thought those beautiful cupcakes could make me so sad?  Luckily, I had emailed the file to myself two days earlier because my spidey sense said something might happen to the file. I lost some work but at least all was not lost. 

Perplexed and determined this would never happen again, I did some research and discovered Microsoft Power Point is the best place to create files of this type. I copied and pasted everything into Power Point. I was back on track and it looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. 

So how does it work? Well let me show you: 

Don't those cupcakes look delicious? I am pretty confident about this one. No one may ever buy it but my kinders are going to love it! The whole time I was creating cupcakes, Seth would peek over my shoulder and say, "Ooh Mommy! That one looks delicious! Can I play?" 

The set includes color and B&W game boards and word cards, center recording forms and cut and paste activities. 

If you are interested in buying it or just want to leave me a really encouraging comment (I need that, alot), just click on the picture below. 

Have a great week. 

Peace, Love & Cupcakes!

~Lisa 

My First Teachers Pay Teachers Freebie!

Sooo excited! I just uploaded my first TPT freebie!

This is a learning center I originally created about ten years ago for my kindergarten students. When I decided to do a freebie for Teachers Pay Teachers, I got this one out and started revamping it and beefing it up. I have used this activity with several of my kindergarten groups and they loved it. 

I find it makes it a little more interesting if you put a plastic spoon with it so they can scoop up the picture cards. Doing this adds an extra dimension of fun but you always run the risk of having some industrious little monkey discover he can put the card in the spoon and then when he hits the handle, the card pops up. Of course the little monkey has to share it with all his friends and you can imagine what happens next. I always nip that in the bud by threatening to take away the spoon. I know. I am the fun sucker. 

So if you want to pick up this awesome freebie (is that bragging? Oh well!), click on the cute little button below (or the big one above) and download it. Have an great Monday!