10 things to do while waiting for The Walking Dead season to start again.

I want to go on the record and say two things. I dislike mid seasons of TV programs. And second of all, this post has ZERO to do with education. A few weeks back I said Good bye for now to my favorite show, The Walking Dead. I like the writing. It’s not just like the comic. It’s shot here in GA and it’s very, very stressful. If you’re like me you may need some consoling. Here are a few options for you.

10 things you can do while waiting for season to begin again

Read The Walking Dead comics and graphic novels.
Go online and start discussions with fan boys about what you think Rick and the team will do in October.
Drive around town looking for places you’d secure if the Outbreak happens.
Have a mini marathon of TWD.
Watch “Breaking Bad” on Netflix and identify all the similarities between both.
Take up crossbow shooting.
Buy a poncho.
Count down the days until the new series begins.
Assess what skills you have that would be useful in the Outbreak.
Read my ramblings and make fun of them.

A couple of bonus options

Rock back and forth in a dark room asking “why?”
Read a book.
Go outside and have some fun.

What do you do when your favorite show goes into mid season break?

Time to plug back into the Matrix

This Spring break has been fantastic. I’ve rested. I’ve relaxed. I’ve nearly forgot that I have to go back to school in a few days. I’m working on a Spring break recap post. I got a lot done and I feel like the last quarter of the year is going to be outstanding.

How was your break?

Spring Break has sprung

It’s finally here, spring break. I’ve already chilled more than the law should allow and I have more chilling on deck. My class all made a SB Bingo board. We agreed that they could do whatever they put on their board, but to get an adult to sign off that they did it. If they wrote about the experience, took pictures or brought some kind of artifact from it they’d get to share it with their class when we get back. Except for the yard sale, which we’re having on the 26th, I should be able to get all of these done this week. Let’s see.

What do you have planned for your well deserved spring break?

Discouraged blogging

We’re in the final week before Spring Break. It’s like pulling teeth to get folk to sit down, pay attention and want to come to school. AND I’M NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE STUDENTS!

This year has been a bitter sweet one. I’m really getting in the flow. I have a so/so process. However, I’m really discouraged that I’m not making the progress I envisioned. There are A LOT of things to do in the next 6 weeks. Standardized tests. Field Day. Spring Break. Cram as much info into this little minds are possible. Augh!

So I’m in a little bit of a funk about all this. This is the time of year where I ask if I’m making the right decision. It’s not as bad as in year’s past, but it’s kind of flat feeling. Anyway, I’m looking to encourage myself today. We’ll see how well I do.

15 days to the Big 4-0!

A new tie style

It’s a work in progress

I’ve been playing around with the idea of converting a long tie into a bow tie. It’s such a cool idea.

The Good: It’s fun. The process is neat. Almost instantaneously I had 20+ new bow tie options. Since I try to not wear the same time over and over again this is HUGE. When you tie a long tie into a bow tie it kind of becomes a clip on so you don’t have to worry about tying the tie again. You only need to slip it around your neck.

The Bad: I haven’t found anything BAD about this. My wife’s not super fond of them so I could call that bad.

The Ugly: The knots are gigantic! A normal bow tie is hardly noticeable to the wearer. However these new ties are certainly big. This leads into another possible issue. The conversion works better with skinny/thin ties. Well if you go out and buy skinny ties it kind of defeats the purpose of recycling your long ties. It’s also kind of difficult to affix the tie around your neck. It’s not a game changing issue, but it can be difficult.

Over all it’s a neat twist to the tie game. I planned to wear one everyday this week, but I chose to spend more time getting some of the fine details in line. I certainly need to get the knot smaller and work on getting it to stay around my neck.

What’s the rush

I really like teaching math. I think I’m most successful in that realm. Though I enjoy math it’s one of my biggest frustrations. It never fails. Every year more than half of my students swear they’re strong in the basics. The conversation usually goes like this.

“Oh, Mr. Whitaker I know how to multiply. I don’t need to learn equal groups or repeated addition.”

“That’s nice. What’s 2 x 3?”

“That’s easy. it’s 6.”

“Wow, you’re right. You know your facts. Hey, if 2 children both have $3. How much do they have?”

“Mr. Whitaker, the answer is $5.”

“Nice work, now sit down right here and work on these equal groups.”

I’m not sure WHY every child is in such a hurry to get somewhere. I’m not even sure WHERE they’re on a hurry to get, but it never fails that most of my students swear they can, but can’t do math. Today I even broke down to my groups what’s waiting for them, word problems. Since we’re not the strongest readers being able to listen and pull info from a word problem is going to be even more crucial.

My issue isn’t unique at all, I know. I’m still slightly taken aback by just how many students don’t want to learn the small steps that will help them be great or at least better at a skill. Somehow everyone is supposed to be good at…( fill in the blank) with very little sweat or hard work.

Maybe it’s the “magic pill” syndrome. A pill with make you slimmer, fitter, more appealing and more cooler all for $19.95 + shipping and handling. Anyway, I’d love to hear how others keep the motivation level high when the students think they know it all?

Here’s some of our greatest hits this week

Why we’re asked not to bring toys to school. Augh!

Compare and Contrast “The Runaway Pancake” to “The Runaway Tortilla”. Kids had a lot of fun. I should’ve made pancakes and tortillas, but that was doing to much. Still working on my organization skills. Not the best, but at least I can find my centers quickly. Yeah!

We had a great week

Had I great week. Took a while to fight through the missing hour grogginess, but I did make it.

Here’s a quick look at some of the things we did in class.

How do you use every solid shape in the random bucket? Well you create some epicness of course.

We’ve been working on building reading skills. To help we stayed using this chart. Thanks Pinterest! We have a lot of work to do next week.

Oh yeah there were ties this week, too.

And there was a lot of comedy this week.

Playing with solid shapes

Working to build structures out of random solid figures. The kids had to use all the shapes in their bucket and the structure had to be free standing.
We’re working on sliding, turning and rolling solid figures. All kinds of fun.

Anchor chart check in

A bunch of different anchor charts. Some I’m using as true charts while some are for centers or for the kids to write on. It’s been a great week. Ready for more good learning fun.