Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Two More...

All it takes is for that first student to finish

his/her journal to start the ball rolling.

Now all of the students

are scrambling to finish

their own journals so they can get a brand new one.

Here are our newest Jounalists...so to speak!

Aurora and Casey

Whoops!

I handed them the wrong journal.

But, they are such cuties,

I had to post all four photos!

I Saw A Ghost!

(OOPS! I've tried several times to upload the video to this post and it's running way faster than the audio. I've already spent WAYYYY too long trying to figure out what I've done wrong...does anyone know?? So, for now, just enjoy their cute faces moving much too quickly for the adorable recitation of our weekly poem. So sorry!)

Casey, Brieanna, Chloe, Zoe, and Aurora

I saw a ghost one night last week,

All long and lean and slinky.

When I stepped outside my house,

In darkness black and inky.

He waved his arms and legs at me.

The moon began to shine.

Awe SHUCKS!!!

Just daddy's underwear hangin' on the line!

The whole concept of long underwear was a mystery to the children. As was the "line" business. I was shocked I tell you. They were definitely giggling by the end of my explanation though. Each Friday we have "Performance Friday" where whoever has memorized the weekly poem gets to perform it for the rest of the class. It's my favorite time of the week.

I realize this performance was very quiet. Don't worry...these performances will improve with time! I'm hoping that I'LL manage to stay out of the video next time!

Don't you just love these little shavers???

I do.

I PROMISE I'm Not Bribing Your Children!

I have the most amazingly "aware" children in my class this year. They listen to everything I say. They notice their surroundings. I don't think I've had a group of children who have had so many little ones pay attention like this one. I love it! When we ran low on pencils I simply said "I can't believe we are already out of pencils! You are such good writers that you're using up all the writing utensils!" Next thing I knew...the very next day, in walks a student with a pack of pencils to donate to our diminishing class supply.

See what I mean?

I'm guessing that everyone knows of my Diet Coke love. Last year when the Coke machine stockers arrived at school, one of the first graders yelled "Look Mrs. Anderson, your truck is here!" I loved it. Probably too much. I can't help it.

Last week I was tickled pink to be greeted by not one, not two, not three, but FOUR mornings with a Diet Coke. It totally made my day! I love these children! One mother told me that she has to check her daughter's backpack every morning as her Diet Cokes have come up missing from her refrigerator!! Soooooory! :)

So, to all of you who brought me the wonderful treats last week...thank you! I think I'm in love with these 19 darling first graders!

Aurora brought two cans one morning.

One can was nicely chilled!

Heston showed up with a fountain drink.

When I told him how much I appreciated it he truly made

this statement:

So cute.

And, finally, how could I NOT have a good day

after these two beauties from Casey and Zoe.

Thank you! Thank you! And remember...I am NOT bribing the children. They are just super darling and generous. I love you all.

My Little Writers

My favorite thing to read in all the world is my students' journals! It's true! The writing is open and honest. The pictures are awesome and with the picture's help I can always (usually?) tell exactly what was written. I encourage the little ones to "guess and go" when writing in their journals. It is so important for them to get those fun ideas down on paper without worry about how to spell it correctly...we'll get to that later. But, for now, just WRITE!

I tell them I have "magic teacher eyes" that can read anything they write. I think I may have been given a gift to do so because, I sometimes amaze myself! Over the years I have read some pretty amazing journal entries. Every year I am every bit as excited over the things they say and how much their writing improves. That's one reason I love my job so very much!

There is always that first journal entry where a student writes about his/her teacher.

This is Aurora. This was her entry about me.

I encourage the students to ask me a question for me to answer right in the book.

My answer was: Green Eggs and Ham

Now, look closely at my outfit Aurora drew in her picture!

Now look at what I was wearing that day:

Pretty good job eh?

This is Emma working very hard on her picture.

So cute!

Alex did a fantastic job!

Alan drew the cutest ant. The ant was yelling "get out!"

This is Janey.

She really WAS writing.

This was her writer's thinking time! :)