A day that will live in teaching infamy

Well, Tim got home safely and we were both so glad to see him! I think we almost knocked him over with hugs. :) However, I didn't sleep well the night he was gone. I never sleep well when he's not home. So....it may explain for what happened at school the next day.

My kids officially have spring fever. They are counting down the days and when I told them I knew they were going to read this summer since they weren't going to be in school, I got a verbal list of 38 things they could do instead of read. Well. It's obvious I have done my job well.

During writing Tuesday afternoon, we were talking about dictionary skills. We have been reviewing guide words (the key words at the top of the dictionary page) and how to sound out words to find them in the dictionary to make sure they are spelled correctly. We even play this game called "Dictionary Detective" where I challenge them to find something in the dictionary and whoever finds it first gets a jellybean. The power of sugar... Anyway, I was chiding them about being lazy during writing and just writing a few letters for a big word instead of writing all the sounds they hear. I told them, "You guys know the word favorite. Well, what sounds do you hear in favorite?" They sounded it out with an f - a - v- o- r- i - t. Pretty decent for 2nd grade. Next, I said, "But guess what? That's not what I see you write when you are drafting a story. You just sound out some of the letters like f - a - r - t." The ENTIRE room immediately burst out into the loudest laughter I had ever heard in my classroom. That's right...the teacher wrote fart on the board. I looked at them and said, "What? You guys write it! Any time I see favorite on your papers it looks like fart!" to which I got louder laughing and one child actually fell out of his chair.

Great. I have busted my tail all year long, shared classic literature, heard struggling readers sound out words, watched lightbulbs go off above heads during a difficult math concept....and probably the most vivid thing they are going to remember about 2nd grade is the day they got to go home and tell their parents Mrs. P wrote fart on the board. Let's just hope the lazy spellers don't tell the principal.

Calling all elementary school teachers!

I recently got a letter in the mail from school in Utah inviting my class to participate in the "Great Mail Race." Basically, you get your students to write 2-3 form letters inviting schools around the United States to fill out a survey and mail it back to you. The goal is to get surveys back from each of the 50 states. I think this is a great way to help my students (who live in a very rural area) learn more about the world around them. So...

If any of you out there are interested in helping our class complete the mail race, please leave a comment on my blog with your name, your school's name, and your school address. My 2nd graders appreciate your help! :)