What a beautiful Friday we had at 4H Camp! I just LOVE this field trip. The C.A. Vines 4H Center is part of the Arkansas Outdoor School (AOS) and offers such fun experience-based activities! This was my ninth year to attend, and I loved it just as much as the first time.
Our kiddos participated in archery, fishing, canoeing, and rock wall climbing. Watching my sweet students experience some of these things for the very first time always makes me smile, and the students that have the hardest time sitting still in a classroom seem to learn and share the most. Such an awesome opportunity for them to shine!
Be sure to visit our Facebook page to see all the great pics we took during our visit.
Vilonia had their homecoming this weekend. After all my 4H fun, I came home to watch our football team win our homecoming game. With all the injuries this year, I could not be more proud for them to win that game.
Tonight, my boys are at their Homecoming dance. Love my handsome boys!
Haha....my boys and their serious faces!
Well, that is two posts in a row with little academics...I will have to get back to some hard work soon! :)
As this is the first post all week, I am warning you ahead of time; be prepared for a long and (somewhat) rambling review of this crazy, busy week, full of amazing pics. hehe
I am wondering, if here in the blogging world, when you make mention of "whew...the busiest week ever," karma stands up and considers this a challenge... because let me just say that karma rose to the challenge of last week's "I've been so busy" post and (I am scared to say) delivered me one absolutely "busiest week ever!"
However, I must say that I am not complaining! I have made a ton of wonderful and unforgettable memories this week, and I am considering it challenge met. ;)
Many of the teachers of our school started our week off with what many in the sporting world might say resembles kickball. Not sure I would call anything I did on that field "kickball." Hmmm...what name would be befitting? How about, "Oh - please - don't - kick - it - out - here - ball!"
Oh, all right, I am just teasing; it was tons of fun and many times (honestly, most times) quite comical, and I think we will be doing it again next week.
I sure work with a great group of girls! So lucky to have such great teammates!
Later, our team then spent some quality time in a historical cemetery in Little Rock. Yes ~ a cemetery! A local drama club hosts Tales from the Crypt. A group of us signed up, had a fun dinner, then headed out to the cemetery when it got good and dark. The whole night was so much fun AND educational. hehe...I can't wait to go again!
Such a sad story in Arkansas History portrayed so well by the actors
Again, a great group of girls to make memories with!
So, my thoughts were to come home on Wednesday and post some witty and amazingly well written post (are you laughing yet?) about all of the fantastical things that happen in my classroom, but well, I don't know, this teacher came home and sat down for just a moment and didn't move until the next morning. Sign of my age, maybe, but I managed one night of rest before our class headed out to the field trip of the year.
Our kiddos look forward to this trip for most of their elementary years. Fourth graders come rolling back into the school with smiles plastered to their faces, laughing and giggling about all the fun they had. Every little kid around them soon learns that hitting fourth grade means heading out to two days and a night of 4H Camp.
Check out the slideshow of all the fun our kiddos had Thursday and Friday! The only thing missing are the pics of the teachers looking like they had been run over by a truck. Crazy fun makes you (the you here being the adult, slightly aged teacher) crazy tired I guess. :)
To say that this field trip is SO MUCH FUN would not even begin to cover all that it is! I truly enjoy this experience each and every year for all that it is. I learn so much about my kiddos, and I love that the students that don't always shine in the classroom become little heroes for their classmates to look up to as they zoom up the rock wall or perfectly paddle around the lake or reel in their third catfish or create the most delicious smore or hit the bulls-eye ..are you seeing a pattern here? LOL
Friday ended with me in my bed looking and feeling like a zombie. I was silly enough to think that I might squeak out a post before passing out, but yet again, this did not happen. What was I thinking? Who knows? Talk about not thinking...in our infinite wisdom, Sarah and I scheduled a 5K for the morning after 4H camp! Holy cow!!!
No worries though...we made it! Whoop, Whoop! Not only did we cross the finish line, but we made our best time yet! So excited about that!
Looking not quite as fresh after...lol
So that is a very quick rundown of a very busy week. Still - as tired as I am now, I wouldn't take back a minute of it! I had tons and tons of fun and giggles! You just can't beat that!
Now for some picture book fun!
One of my favorite seasonal books to share is Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld. Now, I don't share this so much because I think the kiddos will have the connections, but rather, I share it because my connections are so strong that I can't help but giggle every time I share it! I love for them to see me connect so strongly to something that makes me happy. I think most of you adults out there will get it!
How much fun is this! Reminds me of being a kid!
This next little beauty is one of my purchases from the book fair this year. Yes it is a David Catrow! I fall in love with his illustrations more with each book, and my kiddos can point out a Catrow in a heartbeat, LOL. Monster Mash is a whimsically illustrated take on an old song that just like Seinfeld's Halloween, most of us adults will have stronger connections with than my kiddos, but I love it!
Now that I have shared some seasonal fun, here is one that I cannot believe that we have not already talked about. The Best Story Ever by Eileen Spinelli was a perfect start to looking at our narrative and how we really need to write from the heart. Write what moves you!
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is enjoying this glorious weather! Whoo Hoo ~ loving me some fall now! I decided this would be the day for me to join Farley's "Currently" Linky Party. Yes, I am a bit late, but that is pretty much the norm for me. Better late than never, I say!
Look what I got! A present dropped off by a visiting student!
So I spent some time at work yesterday, surprise surprise ;) and set about planning for our short week. Can you believe we are a few days away from 4H Camp? This is the best field trip - so fun! In honor of camp, a friend reminded me of a fun little read aloud to share with my kiddos. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! by Allan Sherman, illustrated by Jack E. Davis, is a silly look at camp life and the bundle of nerves camp can bring out. It will certainly be difficult to read without singing. Let's hope for my kiddos sake, I can refrain.
Hmmm....this cover reminds me of Mrs. Marshall for some reason! Maybe we shouldn't get in the canoes this year!
As I worked in my room, I looked back at all the work we have accomplished in such a short time. We have planned our narratives and some students have begun their drafts. We are paying close attention to make sure that we include the figurative language and sensory detail that we have practiced for weeks now. Last week, we looked at what makes a great lead, and we went over a number of great strategies to hook the reader. Students really enjoyed some that I shared, but I have to say that my favorite is the Ba-Da-Bing! I have had the best luck helping students craft a strong lead using this strategy. I first learned of it when I attended a Barry Lane session at the Arkansas Reading Conference. He shared this writing strategy created by Gretchen Bernabei. Together, they wrote about it in one of my all time favorite writing workshop books, Hooked on Meaning.
With a Ba-Da-Bing, students begin by writing Ba: what their feet did, Da: what they saw, Bing: what they thought. For example: When I rushed through the door, I noticed my son wasn't home yet. He was so grounded! ~ Can you believe how brilliantly simple that is?! Uugghh...this is one of those, "Why didn't I think of that," kind of things.
Ba-Da-Bing: Barry Lane, Hooked on Meaning
Here is a short clip of one of the lessons on the video that comes with Hooked on Meaning. Each year, my kiddos love these!
While thinking about our work in writing our own narratives and our pulling apart story elements in our reading, I have pulled as many of my favorite narratives as I could. There are so many great titles and authors out there: Bunting, Lowry, Rylant, and Polacco. I really want to encourage my students as we read this week, to take a look at some of these wonderful and touching stories. I will share a few with the class as we talk about character traits and plot and then bring it back to our study of narratives.
Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnel will have my kiddos asking lots of questions as five year old Charlotte May tells the story of how she was mailed to her Grandmother with such a sweet and honest little voice. The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson is a wonderful narrative full of theme: acceptance and kindness. Both characters learn and grow watching each other from "the other side" of the fence. Just like Mailing May, this story is told with such an honest little voice; I can almost hear the little girl herself telling me her story.
Crow Call by Lois Lowry is so perfectly illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, and Ms. Lowry left a beautiful author's note showing the significance of this story for her. This is a bit on the longer side for one mini-lesson, but it is definitely worth sharing over a couple of days. Again, I love sharing how a narrative story can pull in one small moment in time, one memory, and magnify it with such beautiful detail.
OK, these next two are for seasonal fun! The Bones of Fred McFee by Eve Bunting and The Follower by Richard Thompson are rhythmical and repeating and great Halloween reads. Would you think me completely over the edge if I told you that The Follower is great for reviewing prepositional phrases? Yes, I will try to find a way to fit grammar in just about anywhere, LOL. I love them both and you just can't go wrong with a Bunting book.
One last thing before I call it a night and hit that huge stack of papers to be graded, edited, or replied to, whew...I wanted to say thanks to my sweet kiddos for donating books from the book fair and some from their very own libraries to help our library grow! So excited that we are sharing so many great books with each other! With that, I will say good night and happy reading!
What a beautiful Friday we had at 4H Camp! I just LOVE this field trip. The C.A. Vines 4H Center is part of the Arkansas Outdoor School (AOS) and offers such fun experience-based activities! This was my ninth year to attend, and I loved it just as much as the first time.
