Tell Me Something Good---and a hodgepodge of other stuff

First of all---what insane weather!!! Ok--Sunday--77 degrees, today--rainy, freezing, howling wind, and possibility of 1-3" of snow by the morning in surrounding areas!! I love NC but we have the strangest weather.

Hodgepodge of stuff----today was a workday! Woohoo and tomorrow (but tomorrow is Common Core meeting day all day) so today my IA and I worked hard to get a lot done that normally doesn't get done with 26 kiddos. And Monday is a holiday---so a nice little 3 day weekend.

Does anyone else find it really really hard to keep things organized when you are teaching? I found stuff I had just laid down once I was finished with it and didn't put it back in it's proper place. That needs to be a resolution---put things back right then once finished. Normally I'm pretty good about it but I get so caught up in paperwork teaching that I just don't worry with it. 

Last week and the three days we were in school this week have been focused primarily on DIBELS. Ugh..sometimes I loathe that word. But I was so proud of my kiddos on the growth that they have made. Of course, they've changed our benchmark levels because of Common Core, but still, growth has been made across the board. Happy dance!

And because of all this testing, penguins have taken a back seat. We have watched the most awesome penguin cam from Sea World at San Diego (found this through Kindergarten Smiles blog) and began working on some things for our All About Penguin books from Deanna Jump's penguin unit. But that's about as far as we have gotten. Pictures to come soon though from our penguin activities.

Oh, Monterey Bay Aquarium also has a wonderful Penguin cam and you can listen to the person who feeds the penguins. He/she will do an ask and answer session for those visiting the aquarium and you can hear it through their webcam. Pretty neat. 

We were able to do quite a bit for MLK, Jr.'s birthday though. We watched a couple of short videos and worked on the directed drawing from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business. My kiddos did a wonderful job and they have received tons of comments on them from various people in the school (I posted them in the hallway).

Are they not the best!?!

Another random---we decided to really clean our tables yesterday---with shaving cream. This is the first time I've used this activity with this class (for various reasons--many of them to be--this is one tough group). But they loved it.

Here is a couple pics of students writing their names and numbers. 

Rowdy in First Grade is having an awesome Linky Party. 

This song runs through my head whenever I see this button. Is that just me or does it happen to anyone else?

Something personal: I just began my 4th semester of grad school. One more to go!! Wooohooo!!! Oh---and the hockey lockout is OVER! LOL now I can watch the 'Canes play! :)

Something at school: I think I said it above---so much growth from my kiddos this so far this year. I'm amazed b/c some days I don't feel as if I teach as well as I should because of all the "other" stuff that seems to get in the way. 

Hope that you have a wonderful rest of your Thursday!! Go over and Jennifer something good at Rowdy in First Grade!