It's Pumpkin Time!

We have had loads of pumpkin fun during the past two weeks. 
Here are some highlights.



Our pumpkin patch was packed with paper bag pumpkins

  

We enjoyed a Five Little Pumpkins rhyme extension activity

Check out this cute little jack o'lantern created
for our family homework activity

We used a glyph like this....

to create pumpkin faces like this

Before creating our classroom jack o'lantern,
we practiced drawing different combinations of shapes

Then it was time to carve our pumpkin....

Happy Halloween!



   

Sh is for Shingles (Insert Scratch Here)

I'm back after a little absence from my blog.  And boy do I have a story for you. 

Around three Wednesdays ago I discovered what I thought were four mysterious insect bites on my upper right arm.  They were in a perfectly straight line and had formed into some nasty looking welts. It looked like a bug or spider had crawled into my sleeve and stung me again and again.  On Thursday they were still there and itched like crazy.  On Friday I started feeling like I was coming down with the flu and was still itching.  By Saturday morning I had two more bites, all in the same area of my right arm, but the welts were getting more painful.  Kind of like someone was sticking needles into my arm when I least expected it.  I told my husband about it and we immediately began a Google search for "spider bites."  We searched until we found a picture that looked just like my arm.  That is when my husband turned to me and said, "Honey it looks like a case of Shingles to me."  Nah.....couldn't be I thought.  That's a condition that you usually get after you are old enough to collect Social Security.  I didn't want to take off work on Monday to go to the doctor, so I made an appointment to our HMO's Urgent Care Facility.  And I felt silly doing so.

Six hours later, after a full examination, two steroid shots, a prescription for the world's largest blue pill and a doctor's order to stay home from school for one whole week....the diagnosis of Shingles was confirmed.    When I told the Urgent Care physician that I was a Kindergarten Teacher he laughed and said, "Now THAT might be the stress that brought on your Shingles."  For one moment I felt validated.   And then sighed deeply and went back to my scratching. And thus began the longest and most uncomfortable week I have had since a bout with Kidney Stones about ten years ago.

I am much better now and no longer contagious.  I went back to school this week and got LOTS of hugs and a great big card from my Kinders.  My doctor wants to boost my immune system a little bit and that sounds good to me.  The End. (Insert single scratch here).

You do! 

My blog just experienced it's 1000th visit. 

This is great affirmation that I am on to something pretty magical.

Thanks to Shabby Blogs for their cute blog button.

And thanks to you for visiting me!

Oh The Things They Will Say....Wrong Feet

We were returning to our classroom from P.E. yesterday down the long hallway that stretches from one wing of our school to another.  The distance of which is like traveling from Maine to Key West while herding 18 wild goats.  On a good day the line moves steadily and efficiently.  On a more "lively" day I might stop five times to remind friends that we don't touch the wall, bulletin boards, students from another class who are passing by, the friend in front of them, or the friend behind them.  I think you might know what I mean.

When my classs finally got back to the room, J. reported to me that the friend behind him had stepped on his shoe. I noticed that not only was his shoe untied but it was turned completely backwards as well.  I gently brought this to his attention by saying that perhaps if his shoelace was tied a friend would not have stepped on it.

J. glanced down at his shoe and studied it for a moment as though he had just discovered a dinosaur fossil or seen his shoes for the very first time and proclaimed, "Look!  It's on the wrong foot too!"

I just love "aha" moments.

P is for Pajamas!

How do you celebrate the letter Pp in style?  With a Pajama Day, of course!

Why is I. so sad? 
Because Mrs. Pearce teased that in honor of Pajama Day
we were going to take a nap....all day long!
Mrs. Pearce is quite the "teezer bedeezer" sometimes.

Here we are...the whole crew in our pajamas

on a beautiful fall day in North Florida

Oh the Things They Will Say....Piggies and Tofu

I noticed that many of my Kinders have little or no experience with classic rhymes and finger plays so I decided to incorporate them into my recent phonemic awareness instruction.  This week I featured Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and This Little Piggy and they loved it.  We went round that mulberry bush every day in whole group until Mrs. Pearce was a little dizzy and we found that our fingers (and even Mrs. Pearce's toes) make wonderful piggies. 

To scaffold the activity we had alot of fun substituting words in the rhymes.  For instance, instead of going to market our piggies went to Target or Wal Mart.  And instead of roast beef our piggies ate pizza, tacos and.....tofu. 

Yep, you read correctly.  According to I. her Grandma always says tofu when they sing the rhyme together. When I asked her why tofu she matter-of-factly told me..."Cause my Grandma's a vegetarian!"