#2- A smile, a handshake and a good morning to you!

Here goes post # 2 for February--so far, so good.

Okay, so I know a few of you are curious about this all boy class thing. Let me start off by saying I love it, and it works for me, and it can be very rewarding IF you have the right mix of personalities. Last year was my first year teaching all boys, and it was a challenge, and not just because it was my first year doing it. This year, it is so much easier, fun and rewarding and by boys are great. They get long for the most part (as well as can be expected for 8 & 9 year old boys). I love them..I really do!! And many of them were together last year in an all boy 2nd grade class. This is where I give a shout out to my friend Lisa G....she trained these boys right, so it makes my life easier.

So not onto the topic I really meant to write about...the excitement of trying out something new and it going well --the thrill of VICTORY (because we all know how it feels when we try something new and are met the agony of DEFEAT!) Over the weekend a colleague of mine sent me this link about morning meeting. For those of you who don't know what morning meeting is, it is a time you gather your class together to have community-building time..sort of like carper or circle time in the lower grades, but with some added extras. So I watched the video and it had some great ideas. One that stood out to me was about starting morning meeting by greeting one another. EUREKA!! Who would have thought????

All my boys arrive at different times in the morning, and I greet them as the come in. Some greet each other informally as they unpack, make their lunch choice or sharpen a pencil. Our class' equivalent of the office water cooler is the pencil sharpener..trust me, if you want to put your finger on the pulse of what is going on in your classroom on the bus, around the school, hang out and eavesdrop by the pencil sharpener. Oops, I have gone down a bunny trail....

So I decided to try this today at our morning meeting. So I gathered my friends in a circle at the start of morning meeting and I explained to them what we were going to do. I went first to model it for them. I half expected them to look at me like I was insane, or even for some of them to refuse to participate. But I put on my Enthusiasm Hat, and modeled it by turning to my friend to my right, smiling a big smile, reaching for his hand, shaking it and belting out "Good Morning Mr. Carter*" as loud as I could. In return Mr, Carter turned to Mr. Roberts* and repeated the process. And this went on around our circle until it got back to me. NOTE: I address each of the young men in my class as Mr.___________, rather than their first name. This was recommended int he single gender training I attended , and is supposed to instill a sense of respect for each other and themselves.

I discovered a few thing by doing this exercise: 1) some of my friends don't know each other's first names but they certainly know each other's last names...and most of them know both. 2) they made eye contact with each other as they did this--which tells me they are becoming very confident in doing things like this and 3) they really enjoyed it!!!

Okay, what shall I do with my little guinea pigs tomorrow.....????

Can I do it??? February 28 day Blogchallenge

I have been inspired by Ms. Mimi who blogged every single day last month. SO I am going to try it..I am going to try and blog everyday in February. Heck there are only 28 days (right? right!). I can't promise that they will be fantastic and exciting posts every day..but we'll see!!

To encourage me...I would like to get some more people following me. So sign up on blogger (or if are already a member) and then sign up to follow me and comment at least 5 times (even if it is to day HI. I will do a random drawing on March 1st of all those new followers. And the winner will get.....well you will just have to sign up, comment 5 times and wait and see. It will be good...so go tell your friends!!

#1 Snow Day? Seriously?

Okay, so we got a little snow (well, ice) here in the South over the weekend. Not nearly as much as the weather guy said we would. I want his/her job. Where else can you be wrong 90% of the time and still keep your job? Heck, my boys call me out if I call one of them by the wrong name. To which I wittily reply, "Hey, I have to remember all your names, you only have to remember mine!" Okay, there I go down a bunny trail...back to the snow.

So the weekend progresses, the temps rise yesterday, I finish grading every last paper for Monday. Plans are done...yada, yada. My phone rings at about 5pm and it is M, my next door neighbor at school. She is eager to inform me that we have the day off today. WHAT? There is not a flake of snow left in my yard...even the streets are clear. Meanwhile, my 9 year old and his friend are eavesdropping from the playroom (they really can hear you even when they are playing wii, and the volume is on 11--but only when it involves a day off from school).

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I thank M (well, after we chatted for a while about how ridiculous a snow day is/and wondering when we'll have to make it up)..hang up and then call my actual neighbor-neighbors who are also teachers and let them all know there is no school today. I can hear their kids doing the happy dance in the background.

After that I decide to hop on the computer and verify (now that I have let the cat out of the bag) that we do in fact have a SNOW DAY today through official channels and look up the employee calendar to determine when we will have to make this day off up. I am happily surprised to see it won't be until May. Happy now, I'll be complaining later when we actually have to make it up. Then I head over to Facebook to spill the beans to my teacher friends on Facebook (most of whom have already heard) ..and reply to a few dozen posts about how ridiculous a snow day is, how we plan to enjoy it, and discussions about when we have to make the day up. Then I just sit back and relax in the reality that I can sleep in on a non-holiday Monday--- SWEEEEEET!

Oops- speaking of sweet...wonder if SWEET-T our class hamster has enough food to last until Tuesday! Guess I'll find out in the morning.

Hi I am Mrs. Barker and I am a slacker....oh, and we got a class pet!!

Wow..4 months is a long time without posting. I know...I am a slacker. I actually think about posting a lot but it seems to fall to the end of the list. Well, since I have some classroom news, I thought I would blog about it...and post a picture. Maybe that will inspire me to keep writing. Ms. Mimi, one of my favorite teacher/bloggers and now author...is doing a challenge this month to post every day..maybe next month. Now about that class pet....

Right before Christmas I got an email (well everyone in our building did) about a program called critters in the classroom. Usually the word CRITTER has me breaking out in hives thinking of rodents and bugs and such. But this program, sponsored by Petfundango , is pretty cool. they send you the hamster/gerbil cage, and supplies, plus continue to send you coupons for more supplies, and they reimburse you up to $20 for the pet.

So today, my son and I headed to PetSmart to find a critter. We decided on a Chinese Dwarf hamster. They only had females, which is fine. SO we got one and Noah promptly named her Sniffles. I had to remind him that Sniffles was going to school with me tomorrow, not staying at our house (much to the chagrin of our two cats--who thought I had brought home a new play toy for them). Meanwhile, my son has been working on my husband to buy him a hamster of his own... great, now I will have a critter in my classroom and one at home. Anyway, here are a few pictures of Sniffles....

Wow..where does the time go?

September is flying by and it is hard to believe that we started a new school year a month ago. We have been busy in room 226 getting to know each other. We have already completed a novel and a unit in social studies. We are done with Place Value and moving on to addition and subtraction (yes, the already know how to do this, I am assuming it is a refresher!). We have survived our first two fire drills and fall MAP testing.

And this Monday we will begin FLEX Groups. This is a touch subject in our school..FLEX groups. Mostly because you hear complaints that it is just one more thing we have to fit into the school day. Personally I like them. I feel confident that they are working...we did them all last year and out MAP scores went up in Math...WAY UP! In my all boy class last year, I had several students who had double digit growth in Math. And as much as I would love to take the credit for being a FABULOUS math teacher...I know that most of that growth came from FLEX groups.

So our schedule will change up a bit starting on Monday and I will have to figure out how to get everything done with 40 minuted less time with my boys in the classroom. We'll manage...and it will be worth it.because I know they will ROCK THE HOUSE between now and next Spring n Math on MAP.

Interim reports go home on Monday and I have conferences to plan for, the start of Student Council, and before you know it, it is going to be Thanksgiving break.

Aside form that, I am LOVING my boys. Friday they showed me just what they can accomplish...we had an A+ day...everyone was in attendance (first time in several weeks thanks to the flu bug going around). They brought their A Game to school and we got a lot accomplished. I am going to bake them some treats tomorrow to bring in on Monday. They deserve it. They just do!!

This is why we must never forget....

Many of my boys were born the year of the 9-11 attacks or the year before. But they don't remember what happened. They have seen news clips, heard people talking about, and so on. Today I wanted to share with them my experiences on that September day 8 years ago...the day that changed the country, our sense of security, renewing a spirit of patriotism.

I planned on reading them the book "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers." It is not about the September 11 attacks but because the story is about the twin towers, there is reference made to them and the fact that the towers are no longer there. I planned to read the book, then talk about that day, allowing them to experience it through me.

Here is my story- My day started like any other Tuesday. I had an early meeting at work so I dropped my 11 month old son off at the babysitters, and headed to my office. When my meeting let out, a guy who worked for me dropped by my office and asked it I had heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. I had not, so I turned to my computer to Google it, and about that time, a crowd of people in our office began coming down the main hallway, headed towards our multipurpose room where there were several TVs. I stopped someone and asked what was going on and they told me a second plane had hit the World Trade Center. Immediately I knew the first plane, nor the second were an accident. I followed the crowd and watched as the Today show staff talked about what was going on in New York and speculating about the nature of the crashes. A short time later reports began to come in about something happening at the Pentagon, about 25 miles away. A short time later, it was confirmed that a third plane had hit the Pentagon and a fourth plane might be headed to Washington DC. In a matter of an hour or so, 4 planes had been hijacked and crashed, and both the North and South towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.

I watched the boys faces as I re-told the events of that day. It was not my intent to scare them, but to let them know how that day changed my life and our country. We talked about the men who hijacked the planes, and how our country had changes some rules about what you could bring on planes so it was safer for people to fly. We also talked about the police and firemen who rushed into those building to help save lives and how many of them lost theirs. We also talked about the people that got up and went to work that day but never came home. I also talked about leaving my office that day and driving home and how there were very few cars on the street because people were at home, where they felt safest, hugging their loved ones a little tighter that afternoon. I also told them about the surge of patriotism that followed in the days and weeks after the attacks, and how people flew their American flags, and wore ribbons to remember. And how each year on the anniversary the names of the 2,974 people who lost their lives that day are read so that all of America can pause and remember.

I told them about the twin beams of light that would shine this evening in New York city in remembrance of this day, and encouraged them to talk about this with their parents. My hope was that although they were too young to know first-hand what happened, hopefully by me sharing my experiences, they will be able to remember as the years go by, those who paid the ultimate price that day.

I remember growing up hearing my Mom talk about how she can remember where she was what she was wearing and what she was doing the day Presidetn Kennedy was shot. I will always remember where I was that day that changed my life and also our country.

I had forgotten how tenderhearted my boys can be...one of them came up to me this afternoon as we were packing up and said "Mrs. Barker thank you for telling us about the towers and the people that died. I thought you were going to cry when you were telling us, and I almost did too. Have I mentioned how much I love my boys?????

We survived the first full week!!!

I started to type "I" but changed it to "we" because we are all in this together. Just me and fifteen 8 (almost 9 as they constantly remind me) year old boys. This was our first full week of school and boy was it long. I think we got a lot accomplished though.

And as I was glancing at my assessments from today (fancy word for tests for you non-teachers), they looked pretty good. But even without them, I could tell there was some good learning going on this week. We read four chapters of our novel...and we learned all about maps and the planet/continent/country/state and city we live on/in.

I feel like we are finally getting in a groove with the schedule and I am starting to learn their personalities and get to know them better. They are really a funny, sweet, smart group of young men and I really look forward to teaching them this year.

I am also adjusting to the new grade and the new principal. Lots of changes at our school this year. But I am always up for a challenge.

Well it Friday night, and I am out of school mode and ready to enjoy a little down time before I have to get working in finishing lesson plans for this week.

Later.....