Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep

Todd Tarpley reverses the roles of a boy as he parents his robots. Time for bed, the boy tries to usher the bots to bed.  Each time they snuggle down, one of they needs to do something. How long does it take them to get to sleep? Kids can have fun writing their own go-to-sleep books. I love the little mouse that pops up on each page. Read the author’s note in the back. Cute!

Mr. Pieri from the Elkhart Public library reads the book to you in this 3:23 minute video.

Savorings for Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep!:

• Personification
• Rhyming
• Everyday happening – getting ready for bed
• Reverse roles
• Speech bubbles
• Repeating line/ structure
• ing verbs
• Love of Reading
• Technical terms – infared

A Rainy Day Book

Hello, It’s spring!

I’m loving the spring green I am seeing on my drives. Sunshine and warm temps jump started the week. It was wonderful. And now rain. Rain and thunderstorms and cold temps. It’s spring and the green will need the moisture. I just want warm temps again.

The rain made me think of a book I read called My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer.

A little girl is heading to the zoo with her dad. The sunny day has changed to the reality of rain. Dad informs his daughter sitting in the back seat that they can’t go. Yet, the daughter looks outside her window and announces that there is no rain on her side. Her perception is illustrated splendidly as she visualizes others going to the zoo too. Father continues driving and comments about the continual precipitation.

The inspiration for the book is shared through a conversation between daughter, Kate, and father, Jules. I love the debate-able voices. It reminds me of my kids when they were little.

Rainy day sunshine,

Mary Helen

Savorings for reading and in writing for My Side of the Car:

• Everyday happening – rain, conversation with parent, car ride
• Perspective – reality vs. imaginative
• One day story – excellent text to illustrate conversation with action
• Anticipation of the event – feelings of the character
• Illustrations – reminds me of child-like drawings

SOLC: The Funny Things Kids Say – LOL!

Treasures of the day – hearing a kid say something funny. Here are two from today:

During interactive writing group, Lil, a first grader, was writing the sentence we had just practiced. She looked up in the middle of writing a word and said, “Do you know one of Michael Jackson’s moves is?”

What I wanted to say was, “Where did that idea come from? We are writing about Spring. Does Michael Jackson have some correlation with the season?” Instead I replied with an inquiring look, “What?”

“He dances,” did a little shoulder move with a smile,  and on she went to writing the rest of her word. Really? He dances.

*              *              *             *            *              *

At the end of the day, waiting in the car pick-up line, Parker, another first grader, announced, “Hey, Mrs. Gensch, you are invited to my birthday party.”

“I am?” I replied.

“Yep. Guess how old I am?” smiling with anticipation.

“17,” my serious reply came.

“Nope. I’m 8! And I definitely know one thing?” Parker continued.

“What’s that?” my curiosity was ready for something about his party or a gift he got.

“I definitely have to start wearing deodorant.” His serious look and slight nod caused my coworker to turn around, holding back a smile. Me – I laughed, aloud, echoing down the hall. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings; I just couldn’t hold the chuckle in.

“I’m serious, Mrs. Gensch. I stink and I have to wear deodorant,” Parker smiled.

I hugged him. “Parker, good to know.”

At least he didn’t say he had to shave.

 

 

 

 

SOLSC: The Substitute Report

On Wednesday, I had left my Title I groups in the hands of a capable young lady, my guest teacher. All my plans were explained in detail, including some helpful student-personality information.

The next morning, I read the letter on how the activities unfolded. The beginning was the basic “I finished everything you left me” and then proceeded to share a little about the students, like this particular first grader: “Josiah was very eager to read the book and talk about it. I gave him a sticker. :)” Whew – glad that one went well.

My eyes, like a typerwriter  computer, scrolled through the page and landed on this final nugget about two kindergarteners. Language and vocabulary is my main focus with these two English Language Learners (one speaks Spanish only and the little girl – well, her first language is English, but her sentence structure is like a 3-year-old). The note said,

“Lindsey was worried that I would be mean because she didn’t know me. (I could see this little one just shying away; she’s very dramatic.) I talked to her and by the end of our time, Linsey was very rambunctious. She even had Jose giggling, (which is so not like him.)”

I chuckled. Who would have thought I needed to let the kindergartener know she was not a stranger, just a guest teacher?

My substitute ended with this wonderful note:

“Thank you for the opportunity to look over your students.”

 

SOLSC: I Should Get One Like That

My daughter was babysitting a two-and-a-half year old little girl, and we were enjoying the warm, sunny weather.

A young man was walking his dog. Emily was standing at the fence watching the two. My eyes grew large as I focused on the size of the dog, thankful I was safe inside the fence.  As the owner came closer, the dog seemed to be growing and growing until a large Doberman Pinscher appeared. The beast was taller than the little girl admiring him. In her sweet, child-like voice, Emily pronounced, “I should get one like that.”

Intimidated – no way.