Spring Break Party!!

I've recently had a lot of success with collaboration through facebook, instagram and teachers pay teachers. I've learned a lot of different ways we can all help each other out so I'm throwing my first spring break party!

Put away the margaritas and keep your tops on..

This is just a linking party. Click the button below and add your links to spring themed resources. Check out the rules before you add.

Click below to join the party!

Spring Break Party!

DIY 1 Little Piggie Costume

Today was Celebrate Reading Day in our building! Many of the teachers swapped classrooms and did a "Mystery reader". What was supposed to happen is the teachers were supposed to give hints about what teacher (or character... I'm not sure) was coming in to read to them.... I missed that memo I just knew we were supposed to swap spots and read so when the teacher coming into the kindergarten class I was covering asked if my students guessed who she was I was like "uhh... what now?" 🤣

Anyway I absolutely LOVE to dress up for things especially at work because no one appreciated dressing up silly more than kids. I didn't realize we were supposed to dress up until about 2 days ago but I for sure wanted to be a part of it. I didn't want to spend a lot and I'm not really part of a grade level team exactly (being that I'm a sub), even though all my coworkers always make me feel welcome, so I decided to do a solo costume.

I can't take credit for this idea all on my own, my teacher bestie (aka my work bestie) helped me come up with it while I was discussing my dilemma with her.

If you're wondering why she and I didn't do a team costume it's because she was the classroom I was covering today so unfortunately she was  not at work to see out idea come to fruition.

I mentioned to her that I had some pig costume accessories at home which I purchased from Party City a few years ago, probably either for a lesson or Halloween who even remembers. The kit includes pink pig ears, a pink tale that can be flexed and hold it's shape, a pink bow tie (not sure since when pigs where bow ties), and a pink pig nose that oinks when you press it. Two comments I'll make about the pig parts:

1. I'm not 100% sure how the pig tail is intended to attach. It's a child's kit so maybe the elastic could fit around a child's waist, but not these full grown hips so what I usually do is wrap it several times around my back belt loop. It hangs down but I do my best. A safety pin might help with that.
2. The pig nose makes noises which means it has this small speaker it the back of it. I think it's poor design choice because it is a hard piece of plastic that presses against your nose with no give when you strap it around your face and boy does it hurt. It's hard enough for me to wear it being that I have glasses but this adds to the discomfort. Like I said though, I do it for my kiddos.

Since I was by myself, I had to figure out something to do. I wanted to do "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" but I couldn't think of a way to make a big pancake that would be sturdy (In hindsight I really could've just used construction paper)

We came up with the idea that I be the Three Little Pigs. But where are my other two little piggies? I made two missing persons signs looking for my two brothers. I needed people to be able to infer who I was since I was solo so the posters said "Last seen building a house made of sticks/straw" then stuck them on a big poster board I got from the dollar store and wrote "MISSING" on the top and "Beware of Big Bad Wolf" on the bottom.

I was a big hit with my colleagues and students! But some of my coworkers did some great creative costumes too check them out on my Facebook!

My Sister's Keeper

Today's laugh and a half is brought to you by a kindergartner, featuring a first grader.

I spend most of my time in one kindergarten class. Obviously in a school there tend to be several sets of siblings. I went to a first grade class that I've spent some time in before so I know who the sibs are with my kinders. I go back to kindergarten and tell this little girl I was hanging out with her sister in first grade.

When I tell you she was so offended with me 🤣🤣

She actually called me a meany and pushed her back against me to push me out the class. 

I couldn't do anything but laugh because I was so surprised at her reaction.

Don't try to talk to this girl's sister!

It's In the Cards

In addition to substitute teaching and being an after school teacher, I also am tutoring students once a week.

I know, I'm doing the most right now but now that I've graduated I want to utilize my extra time and be more of a part of my school.

I started tutoring with first and third graders. Our first activity involved one digit addition and multiplication, respectively.

For this game we used UNO cards and a recording sheet I made on my own.

Here's how it works

The cards were in a deck and the students drew the first two cards on the top.

I drew a + and an = on index cards, not my finest work but I was creating this on the fly.

When using the game with my third graders I just turned the + card to the side so it would be a multiplication symbol.

After you choose your cards you lay them out with the symbol cards so it forms a sentence, then record it on your recording sheet.

I allowed the students to have a white board if they needed it to work out the problems. I was secretly using that as a way to see what strategies their teachers have taught them to solve these kinds of problems so I could be on the same page.

I was so impressed with how engaged they were and how much they enjoyed the game I decided to create an entire bundle of ten math games that can be played with cards. Check them out on my TpT store!

Math Card Game Bundle

Where The Wind Blows

My second grade after schoolers and I are working on weather, as previously mentioned, so I decided to do a little experiment about wind!

What you'll need:

• a bunch of different items (some heavy, some light)
• 2 copies of photos of each item
• something to provide wind such as a fan or vent
• a chart to record predictions and results
• a sheet for students to record their individual results
• tape or glue

My intended idea was to give each child an item or two, set them on a table, and have a fan blow them as part of the test. Now I could've sworn I've seen some fans in the building before but the day I need one, they're nowhere to be found. I even asked our lovely custodian but no luck. As every teacher knows, we have to have a plan B. Now my plan B was to have us all blow on the items to simulate wind. However by a stroke of luck when I got to our classroom I realized the air vent was blowing and we could use that!

We've recently talked about hurricanes and tornadoes as well as the damage they can do. We started by reviewing that and talking about the power of a strong wind. To prepare for the activity I chose an assortment of household/schoolhold items. (I know schoolhold isn't a word but I think it fits 🤣). I tried to choose enough for each student to have two but I managed to miscount, of course. Then I made and laminated 2 copies of small cards with pictures of each item on them. The items I chose included:

1. a stapler
2. an empty water bottle
3. a paper tower roll
4. a pen
5. a binder clip
6. a glue stick
7. a fish toy (a finding nemo toy I had in my house to be exact. One of my kids goes "you have kids?" and I said "no I just like finding nemo" 🤣)
8. a full water bottle
9. a plastic spoon
10. a master lock
11. headphones
12. a cell phone (wanna get your students engaged? hand one of them your cell phone)

After each kid was randomly given a card or two, they were handed their item so they could gauge the real feel and weight of it. They then wrote predictions, (in complete sentences) with reasons for whether they thought their item could be moved by the wind or not.

After each student had time to get a feel for their item and wrote their sentences, they were called up to the chart to tape their item to the column that reflected their prediction. Then they placed their item on the vent to see if it would move. The children were all so excited to watch each other place their items on the vent and see if they moved. Their predictions were shocking to me. Some of them thought items as heavy as a stapler could be moved by the vent.

After they tested their theories, they placed their second copy of their item card on the results side of the chart. The students then went back to their original recording sheet and wrote down their results. My kiddos had so much fun with this and learned a lot about the power of wind!

Water Cycle!

My after school class of second graders and I have been focusing on weather. We started off with the water cycle

which by the way inspired my first Teachers Pay Teachers item. I made it for after school then just thought what the hey and posted my first freebie.

Here's a look at the anchor chart I used to introduce the water cycle.

As you can see it gives a basic description of the four main parts of the water cycle. We talked in depth about each part. To see the other parts of the lesson you can click here to see the other parts of the lesson!

Where Did the Fro Go?!

To answer your question the Fro hasn't gone anywhere. Balthazaar and I have just been very busy the past few months.

December: I took a break from blogging because I was closing in on the end of my final semester of graduate school and it was important to me that nothing else came in the way of my finishing school strong. I did finish my Literacy Master's degree Birth through Grade 6 from The College of Saint Rose🎓. *picks fro* The same weekend my brother finished his Doctoral degree so I actually submitted my final assignment online from a different state so that I could watch my brother walk across the stage since his school had a winter graduation and mine does not. I couldn't be more proud of the two of us!

My family the weekend of my brother and my graduation.

January: Since I have some more free time, now that I don't have to come home and stress about homework every night, I decided to contribute to my school's after school program which is always looking for more teachers. I was feeling apprehensive about jumping in and taking over so I was assigned to work with a co-teacher. She was looking to only teach some days and I was looking to just get my feet wet and learn how things are done in the program. I must say I really lucked out with the teacher I got paired with she's so great to work with. She helps me out with anything I need and was great about showing me the ropes of the program. We alternate teaching days and planning weeks and from how it's been going so far I think everything is going great. It also gives me some experience in planning and in being in charge of my own class even if it is only for a few hours after school.

I also took my final Literacy exam in January. I am still waiting on the results but I felt pretty good about the exam when I left. This is my last exam before I can apply for my initial certification in Literacy. I haven't quite decided what my next step is after that. My family is looking to move, but we can't decide where. Once we figure out where we're going I can see about moving my certifications to another state and figuring out how to count my substitute teaching experience toward my professional certification.

February: I've been using this month to take The Teacher With the Fro to a whole new level. I now have items for sale on my Teachers Pay Teachers account which you can always see in the sidebar. I've set up a Facebook account for The Teacher With the Fro! You can also follow me on instagram!

Thank you all for your support through liking and sharing my pages as well as making purchases!

There's more to come!