Tis the Season for Gifts

The other day Mrs. Bond told the kids they were going to write about gifts.  Well, after all, this is the season for gift giving.  However, she had a different twist on it.  She talked about the gifts each person has within them to share with the world.  She showed them a book called Classroom Habitudes by Angela Maiers, which highlights the importance of having students realize the gifts each of them had to offer.  Each student brainstormed the gifts they had within and wrote them in their Idea Notebooks.  It was neat when the kids shared, as Mrs. Bond wrote them all on a chart. It surprised me though, some of the kids did not know what gifts they had inside them.  One boy is always the first to raise his hand and participate in classroom discussions with smart things to say, yet he didn't know that it was a gift he had.  Silly boy!  I hope he can recognize that many kids are so scared to answer questions and participate.  His courage and leadership is a strength!  It will definitely help him later in life too! The kids typed up their paragraphs about their main gift inside and printed them off.  Then they decorated a paper like a gift.  They used glue and colored sand to create the wrapping paper.  It got a bit messy, as the kids put on lots of glue, but it worked out.  Today I decided to hug the gift sign that Mrs. Bond painted to show the kids how much I like the gifts they have inside to offer the world! They liked seeing me there!  I even snuck and wrote a little note to them!

Today the entire third grade class has a winter party.  They had a breakfast and then did a craft.  They did a neat craft that can measure the amount of snow is on the ground.  It seemed like the whole day was full of crafts.  The students really enjoyed using their creativity.  They even had Art this afternoon, so it was a day full of artsy fun! I bet the families of Team Bond will enjoy all of the handmade treasures heading their way!  

My time in Team Bond is coming to a close, and again, I have enjoyed being with them.  I am going to see if I can get assigned here again later on this year.  I saw something on the wall about Digital Learning Day.  I think it is February.  It would be neat to be there for it, since I got to be there for Hour of Code.  

Round and Round Etavonni Goes

Today felt more like a ride at an amusement park than a day spent in a classroom.  What was I thinking when I moved to the top of the book spindle?  I had to hang on pretty tightly!  Speaking of amusement parks...the class had a sub named Mrs. O.  She did a really cool thing to get the kids attention that sounded like a roller coaster! Maybe they can teach it to Mrs. Bond.  It looked like they really enjoyed it!

They are making beautiful wreaths made out of plastic baggies.  I noticed one of the boys left a lot of the baggies under his desk, but Mrs. O picked them up.  No matter what type of classroom I am in, I am always noticing how the teachers are always so helpful.  I did notice a lot of the kids helping Mrs. O too.  Being a sub must be hard, but having students that are willing to lend a hand really helps!

I really like watching the video that Mrs. O played this afternoon on the transfer of energy.  My favorite transfer is food energy!  I found some cookies in the Teacher's Lounge tonight.  Those calories transferred into energy to help me fly back to the classroom.

Tomorrow the kids have extra time in art because they are working on clay pots.  Mr. Miller, the art teacher, left a note for Mrs. Bond to let her know of the adjusted time.  How neat is that!  I hope they make cool things and have fun!

One thing that I would really like from the students is letting the kids find me on their own.  I know they are super excited to show people where I am, but it makes it more fun when kids find me individually.  I love to see their searching eyes and then their smile when they do find me.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to my email buddy, Maddie!  She emailed me a lot last year, and she has been emailing me again this year.  What a kind and welcoming young lady!  She just told me that she is going to be published in a book!  I hope she will let me know when it comes out! Mrs. Bond is so lucky to have such wonderful students each year!

Etavonni

Week 2 Off and Running

Well, like Mrs. Bond, I did notice there were a lot of tired eyes this morning! Perhaps it was a busy, busy weekend for the Team Bond members, or it was the pesky full moon still making mischief in the lives of the children. The kids went right to Music and PE this morning, which I think helped.  They came back much more energetic...but in a good way!

Today in reading Mrs. Bond read from The Secret Zoo.  It is one of the highlights of my visits each year.  I love the way Bryan Chick brings the scene to life...just as if it was a movie! Today Mrs. Bond focused on the ways characters tackle problems. Noah, Ella, and Richie, characters in the book, made it to the City of Species inside the Secret Zoo, however Ella and Richie were being chased by police monkeys.  They ran into a sector, which ended up being just for birds.  It had a big cliff and the prairie dogs that were chasing after them ended up falling off the cliff. Noah handled it by calling to one of the birds Marlo for help, and Marlo was able to gather his friends to go and get the falling prairie dogs.  The kids had to focus on how their characters handled problems in their series chapter books.

In Math the kids were super engaged and super quiet.  It was like a whole different class.  Mrs. Bond had them practice finding perimeter, and they were able to use Minecraft and Build With Chrome.  They were able to construct walls and buildings and then find the perimeter.  They also did a small assessment with Mrs. Bond.  Minecraft is a neat app!  Mrs. Bond shared a Math World she has on her iPad.  The students were able to pass around her iPad to add to the Math World.  The land that they were building on looked a lot like the North Pole.  It is a frozen tundra!

I could tell listening was still a bit of an issue today during the Social Studies BA.  Mrs. Bond modeled it and discussed what the kids had to do for their test...she even asked a couple times, "Are there any questions?"  I kept watching child after child turn in their test, only to find out they did not follow the directions. I hope the students will be able to focus on the oral directions and written directions, as I know it is a very important skill for life!

The craziest thing happened today after school.  A boy stopped in for some extra work, and he turned it back in.  While they were talking, I leaned in to read some of the Great Gator slips that were below me.  I can't believe it, I actually dove right into the bucket.  Mrs. Bond and the little boy looked right at me, and they couldn't believe it themselves! Mrs. Bond said it is the first time she had seen me move...and she is right. Today, I blew it a bit.  Then, I had to stay there, head-first, in the bucket.  I  can only imagine my muscles are going to be sore tomorrow! The good thing is, I was able to get a closer look into the great things about Team Bond.  There's a teacher named Mr. Vogt that gives a lot of Greater Gators.

Well, hopefully I will be able to stay still tomorrow! I am going to try and get a good view point, as the kids are doing the Hour of Code tomorrow.  It involves computers and sounds very interesting.  Today the kids watched a video from President Obama talking about it. I searched on You Tube and found it...and I found a picture Mrs. Bond took of me nose diving into the bucket.  I'll add it below too!

Thanks Mrs. Bond!  This was not one of my finer moments!

I'm Back in Team Bond

I am so glad that I am back in Team Bond!  This is my 3rd year being assigned to watch them and report.  Each year I look forward to joining Mrs. Bond and checking out what her students are up to! The kids noticed me today, but what they don't know is that I actually arrived on Tuesday night!  I was able to watch the kids from inside a box on their bookshelf.  My first thought when I arrived was...Mrs. Bond doesn't have many kids.  She only has like 12 desks in her room.  She has never had a class that small! When the kids arrived, I figured out that she has 3 tables that kids sit at too now.  She really does have 23 kids in her class.  Weird though...15 boys and 8 girls.  It's crazy that there are twice as many boys as girls. I wonder if it is like that in all the third grade classrooms?
        In the morning they worked on cards with Michigan lighthouses in the winter.  It was crazy to see how the ice forms on the lighthouses.  Mrs. Bond said it looked like a scene from Frozen. They also did a neat thing in the afternoon called Energy Playground.  Kids played but they were able to explore things that used energy. There were sounds galore all over.  From buzzing motors,  to carols from musical cards, and a high pitched noise machine, the kids had fun making noise.  (I have found this to be the case in most 3rd grade classrooms I visit!) A few kids were on laptops working on coding a lit tree.  I heard a bit about it and it has something to do with the trees in Washington, DC.  I am not sure how kids can code trees for Washington, DC, but it looked pretty cool!
     

      Today I moved to the outside of the box (I took a picture from my view point), and sure enough, the kids noticed me during their read aloud in the morning.  Mrs. Bond was so excited when one of the kids pointed to me.  She let them know my background.  I am not a Santa Elf...I am a Learning Elf.  Instead of reporting to the big guy in the North Pole, I report to the head people in schools...principals, superintendents, professors, etc. Mrs. Bond had to go to a meeting this morning, so a guest teacher came.  I think her name was Mrs. Abbot. She seemed very nice.  I felt a bit bad that she struggled with the projector, as the image was blurry, but she was a good problem solver.  The wipe board works just the same!
        In the afternoon students had fun measuring their body.  They measured their arms, their necks, their wrists, and a bunch of other things.  Some of them still need to work on stating at the 0, as they came up with some weird measurements.  One girl thought a boys waist-to-floor measurement was 7 inches.  (That's more like my size!) Silly her...she was using the wrong end of the meter stick.  After math the kids left and went to art.  Then they came back in for just a bit because yesterday was one of the girl's birthdays, and she chose to have an extra recess for a thing called 15 Minutes of Fame.  This must be something new.  I will have to keep my ear open for more examples of it.
       I hope I will get to stay for a bit more in Team Bond.  I did notice there were some kids that still need to work on their listening.  It is such a shame when Mrs. Bond is talking to them about their assignments, and they can't even tell her what they are supposed to be doing.  I also noticed that some kids were being bucket dippers. Perhaps it was just a bad day for them.  (I did notice there is a full moon tonight!) I look forward to watching the kids learn more and enjoy their time with Mrs. Bond in third grade.

Elfnapped!

On Wednesday, there were a bunch of kids staying after school for a program called Destination Imagination.  It was wonderful to see the kids work in teams and use their creativity.  They left for a while to go research in the computer lab.  It sounds like they have a lot to do to prepare for a competition in March. I started to wonder what happened in the other third grade classes, so I decided to check out another third grade class at Glengary the next day.  It completely confused Team Bond, as I heard they searched high and low for me.  Team Bonkowski, which is the class next door to Mrs. Bond's class, welcomed me in.  Just for comfort, I did bring my wreath that the girls made for me, as well as the letter Mrs. Timlin wrote to me.  I found a sweater bag to put the note in, as I have noticed Team Bond adding notes to their mitten and sweater bags on the Winter Bucketfiller Board.  Mrs. Bond had a few more on her desk.  I hope she didn't mind.

While I was in Mrs. Bonkowski's class, I noticed there was another teacher.  I have seen him come into Team Bond here and there.  His name is Mr. Thomas, and he is an intern teacher from MSU.  Team Bonkowski created beautiful snowflakes while I was there. I always love seeing kids get creative!

I decided to hang out for another day in Team Bonkowski, but Team Bond had other plans for me.  I guess they wanted me there for their party, so while the kids were out of Mrs. Bonkowski's room, a girl and a boy came and got me.  I was a bit worried, as they had this purple thing that looked like a hippo and they used it to grab my hat and put me in a green cylinder.  Luckily it was filled with cushy blue felt, and it was actually quite comfortable.  Mrs. Bond remembered that I lots of kids had wrote persuasive letters to me about sitting on the book spindle.  They said that it would be like an amusement park ride when it spun, but that I would also get a great view of the classroom and be around books!  I do remember some kids thinking that the Greater Gator bucket would also be a good place, even though there is a couple stuffed gators near by.  I think I may choose that location tomorrow, as I would love to read what the kids have done to earn the Greater Gators.  Mrs. Timlin talked about that in the letter she sent me.  I wonder if any of the kids have earned one for being trustworthy...the word of the week?

The kids had a great holiday party.  They made ornaments that were stuffed with slips of paper that highlighted specials things about them at this age.  I think they will like reading these when they are older.  They also played fun games.  They had to stack cups fast, hit balloons with paper plates, and even stack nuts (the fastener kind) using only a candy cane.  After the party another teacher came in.  Mrs. Bond had to take her daughter to the doctors.  The children seemed to do well.  They learned more about area.  They also read about energy conversions, although some of the struggled with the questions at the end.  Finally, they worked on Kwanzaa Hearts.  They had to put them in their desk to finish tomorrow.

Well, one last day before holiday break!  I am sure that there will be a lot of excitement in the air! It sure has been fun watching the learning in their exciting educational environment!

Reaching New Heights!

Monday, December 16, 2013

Today, the kids cracked up to see me swinging high above the class sitting comfortably on a lush baggie wreath!  I love the view around the classroom, as it is adorned with these great crystal wreaths.  Who knew sandwich baggies could be so beautiful!  In fact, I overheard some girls talking about making me one.  Mrs. Bond hung it right in front of me.  They are supposed to put a note on it, letting me know that it is for me.  I don't think they knew I was listening in.  I am so excited to know that I will be able to keep one! 

This morning, Mrs. Timlin, the principal, talked about the word of the week.  The word of the week is trustworthiness. What an important word to focus on!  Being a trustworthy person is a life skill that is so essential.  You have to be a trustworthy friend, a trustworthy employee, and a trustworthy neighbor, among other things.  Being able to count on other people to be honest and loyal and dependable is what makes relationships grow! I wonder if I will be able to spot kids being trustworthy to each other?  I sure do hope so!  I noticed Mrs. Bond put the word on this poster.  I wonder what she is going to do with it?

Today in math, Mrs. Bond showed the class how to use the iPad and an app called Minecraft to practice perimeter.  It was pretty cool.  She made a diamond rectangle that had a perimeter of 14 by having 1 row of 6 blocks.  The kids seems super excited to use Minecraft in math.  Not all the kids were able to do it today, but Mrs. Bond said every child would be able to do it by the end of the week.  That's nice that she can trust them with her own iPad! 

In the afternoon, Mrs. Bond read more of The Secret Zoo!  OH BOY!  IT IS GETTING SO GOOD! Today, the kids met a new character, Mr. Darby.  He is an old man that wears a purple velvet trench coat, has a long gray beard, with long gray hear in a pony tail, and wears beady sunglasses.  He sounds creepy, but Mrs. Bond assured the class he is a good guy.  She also said that she sometimes pictures Dumbledore from Harry Potter with sunglasses on.  Some kids thought he sounded cool.  

Then, the kids were able to tune into a live video stream from inside the White House.  There was a man getting interviewed about the White House artifacts, furniture, and art. It was very interesting.  He talked about presidential portraits, the furniture presidents decide to have, and even a piano that was the 300,000th piano Steinway produced, complete with eagle legs. 

Then, the highlight came at the end of the day.  It was Goal Time, and the kids were busy!  There was a pet club meeting in the back of the room, as well as a spa!  Hand massages in a container of water, raffles for bracelets, and even a braiding station. They even had background music playing.   Some kids were creating snowflakes and drawing, while others were crocheting.  One boy created a small hat on the knitting loom.  I think it could even fit me.  I may try one on tonight, as there is a rainbow one on the top of the yarn pile.  The other hats are in bags with kids names on it. 

A man brought in Mrs. Bond's mail, and there were more cards delivered.  This Holiday Card Exchange project is pretty neat.  The kids LOVE getting mail! Mrs. Bond got a card all the way from Canada today!  Check out the chart they have created to keep track of the information shared on the cards. It amazes me that the class sizes are pretty small...with the exception of Sweet Apple Elementary in Georgia.  (What a cute name for a school!)

Again, this third grade classroom has been so much fun to visit.  I may have to try to see if I can stay here for the rest of the week.  I hear they have a party on Thursday.  What fun! 

Cheers to Learning, 

Etavonni

A Friday with Mrs. Share!

(I tried to post this on Friday, but my internet was acting funny.  I thought it posted, but when I went on, I noticed that it never was published. Sorry for the delay.)

Hey, something strange happened last Friday!  When the door opened, it wasn’t Mrs. Bond.  It was a different lady.  I heard the kids calling her Mrs. Share.  They all seemed to know her, so she must be OK.  She said “hi” to everyone.  Some of the kids saw me right away.  They told Mrs. Share that I am here to watch the learning in the room.  Mrs. Share said she was nervous because I was watching her.  I was laughing…he he ha ha…

The kids had to go to a thing called PE.  I wish I could go because you get to wear special shoes called PE shoes.  I wonder if they are magical.  Are they flying shoes?  Anyway when the kids came back it was test time.  I don’t know how they kept it all straight.  Blue this and Yellow that.  Then Kalyn and Brandon got to use the computer behind me.  I hope I’m not in trouble. 

After the “BLUE/YELLOW test” the kids went to music.  I love music.  I wonder if they were singing “Elf in the Pointy Shoes” or “Red Is My Favorite Color”.  I love those songs.

The next activity was called TFK.  I heard so many good readers.  There was Gabby, Margeaux, and Lily, just to name a few.  A lot more kids read, but I was really interested in the stories.  I didn’t know jellyfish bloom!  And those field trips, should they be about learning or fun?  I just can’t decide. 

Oh no!  The kids are making a mess!  They called it desk organization, but it looks like room disorganization.  They were trying to clean up.  I hope they can do it.

Yumm! Brianna brought carrots back from lunch.  My bunny loves carrots.  I hope my mom remembers to feed her.  I miss my bunny.

I enjoyed lunch because I took a nap.  It’s hard work watching 25 students all day.  I’m really glad I took the nap at lunch cuz there was no sleeping during science.  It looked like the kids were learning all about different kinds of energy.  That means sound energy was noisy, light energy was bright, and electric energy had noisy motors too.  The quiet center was the one with the books.  Most of those kids went to the hall.  They knew it was easier to think in the quiet.  I liked watching science because everyone got to test the stuff.

Math made me laugh.  A man came in to get Mitchell.  Mitchell was with a lady.  Then the man asked if the students were taking a test.  They kind of laughed because they were working so quietly and diligently.  Mrs. Share gave them a flower note.  Ethan called it a shining moment.  I like that.  I like things that shine.

Ahhh!  Next came quiet reading time.  I saw Aidan, Katelyn, Julia, Spencer, and oh so many students enjoying their books.  I was jealous because I didn’t have a book with me to read.  (I should have brought the story Maddie wrote for me.  Mrs. Bond…if you read this, can you print it off for me?) The books at my house are smaller and easier for me to hold.  It seemed like all of the kids were getting smarter right then and there.  All of those wonderful words soaking right into their brains.  Oh how I love to see them learning!!!

Yahoooooo!  Mrs. Share read from The Secret Zoo.  I am so curious to find out what happens.  Will they find Megan?  Will the animals continue to help the friends?  This is so exciting!

George and Nick were sitting near me for Roses and Thorns.  They were so excited to share.  Then Kalyn and Margeaux did a little play.  I think they like having fun.

Oh, Boy! What I wonderful day I had in Mrs. Bond’s room.  It was a great Friday to see all of the learning going on.  I am ready to climb to new heights next week!