Today we celebrated Thanksgiving. While I was expecting the kids to be off the wall, they were surprisingly very good! I made them coloring books that told the story of the first Thanksgiving. They also made cards with hand turkeys on the front and a Thanksgiving poem on the inside. I told them to take the card home and give it to someone they are thankful for. Half the class gave me their cards. I was truly amazed. I never really thought about how much children appreciate their teachers (little ones, at least) and that activity really surprised me. I told them thank you and then I asked them to make another card for someone at home. Some of the cards were really cute.

While we were making the cards, one child said to me, "You are like my mom."
I told him, "I am too young to be your mom" and I laughed a little.
He then told me I should have some kids.
I laughed at him and told him no way, not now.
Then they started asking me if I had a boyfriend, if I was getting married, if I could invite them to my wedding when i got married. They started getting off the wall so I had to stop them and say, "No, I am not having any kids right now, no I am not getting married right now, and I am not telling you whether or not I have a boyfriend." They still laughed at me. Then they started asking me, "If you hve a kid can you name it chocolate?" and kept coming up with ridiculous names. (which reminds me, one child said when they have a baby they are going to name it fruit roll-up. okayyy then....) I tried calming them down, but then they had to go to art class. Oops. I bet the art teacher didn't appreciate that. Crazy kiddos.

I finished making the outlines of my new guided reading. I am going to try a ten minute mini-lesson with the whole class, then spend 90 minutes taking each group, then having a 5 minute share at the end. While the children are meeting with me, one group is scheduled to be on the computer, and the other two groups are free to choose an activity, as long as they complete the must-do activities of the day. Each child is going to have a folder with different word work activities. I think this will be a great way to differentiate between children. I can get the children who really need work with short vowels the help they need, and I can challenge the children who are ready for higher-order thinking skills.

I am excited to start, but a little nervous, since I will be doing reading groups when I have my evaluation on Thursday. I am trying not to worry about it. I know if I stress I will mess up, so I am just going to pretend it's a regular day, do my best, and pretend my principal and the master evaluator are just hanging out...or invisible. ha.

Well, I should go finish some planning so I don't have to do much more work this weekend. I could use a little break!!! :)
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!