Non photogenic me

Remember how I put my school picture up here and said how my sisters use to make fun of me because I could never pose a smile and I looked constipated? Well...here it is. I think this is my 8th grade picture. Yup...I couldn't smile. Enjoy!

I have a dream...

In celebration on Martin Luther King Junior's birthday/holiday, I have been focusing some of my lessons and activities on him. My class watched a video that was about a group of 6th grade kids who went back in time to the time of Martin Luther King and learned all about him. We discussed his life a little and talked about how life might be if it wasn't for him. I then had the kids write their own "I have a dream" paper. Some of the kids really struggled and sat there for a long time. Apparently they think we have a perfect world. Some of them really touched me with the things they wrote. I was particularly impressed by one of my girls' and wanted to share with you what she wrote. Here it is:

"I have a dream that one day there will be peach throughout this world. That everyone will be treated equal and kind. I wish that nobody would judge by their outer beauty but by their inner beauty. I have a dream that one day every mouth on this planet will be fed, that their stomachs will be fulled for the very first time. I have a dream that everyone would be happy with their appearance and with who they are and be satisfied with the way God has created them. I have a dream that everyone will be happy with that they have and not grieve over what they want. I have a dream that everyone will one day get along and that there will be no jealousy, no hate, no racism. I have a dream that this world will become a better place for every nation, kindred, and tongue. I have a dream!"

Is that not so sweet? I can tell that she really did think about it. Many of my kids put great things like no more war, no bad in the world, enough money to support their family, no more drugs, no more killing animals and trees, that everyone will get along, etc. One kid even said that he has a dream that there will one day be peace on all planets. It is about time that we had peace with the aliens! Their papers really did touch me and they are such good kids.

Another thing we did is read a book called "Martin's Big Words". It mostly told of his life and talked about his "big words". This included things he stood for and fought for and the things he said such as: peace, freedom and love. I then made a poster that said "Miss Weathers Class' BIG Words" and they all wrote on note cards their "big words". Some wrote single words and others wrote quotes. I told them that if they wrote a quote it had to be their own, not one they have heard somewhere before. I am pretty sure that some still did ones they got from somewhere else, but oh well. They wrote some really cute things. Anything from family to courage to standing out and being a good friend. Perhaps I'll take a picture of our wall of "big words" and post it up here for you to see.

In all I think they have really enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he fought for and what he stood for. I have enjoyed learning along with them. He really was an amazing man. Nothing could stop him. He knew that everyone deserved equal rights and he was not going to step down until they received those rights. It was a terrible way of life back in those times and I am so grateful that he helped change it for the better. Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Junior!

6th grade quote of the week

I know I haven't written in a long time and I will do more of it. I even have a new years post saved that I just need to look over and then post. But I wast thinking about what one of my boys said this week and I thought it was too funny not to share. Before I tell it though, you have to understand that kind of relationship I have with my kids. We have a pretty teasing friendly relationship, meaning, I tease them a lot and give them a hard time and often times they tease me back. I think that a lot of 6th graders personalities work well with that kind of relationship. Well...Thursday we had our spelling test (since we had no school Friday) and I read the words to them and then put the word in a sentence. Well, sometimes I like to try to be funny and make the sentences amusing. The word was "attractive" so my sentence was "I am very attractive". My intentions to somewhat amuse the kids and get a laugh. Well one of my boys took it upon himself to humor the situation even more with a comeback comment of "If you were you'd be married by now." WHAT!? Now this kid is not the mean type at all. He is really a sweet boy, so I knew he wasn't really meaning it to hurt me. Many of the kids were shocked at his comment and thought I was pretty harsh. I got a bit of a laugh out of it, but made sure he knew the rest of the day that it wasn't a very nice comment. I made him do things for me to make-up for it. It was also so convenient that parent/teacher conferences were that night. We also have our students come for those. I told his mom about the little incident (not in a way that he was in trouble, just that I thought it was somewhat amusing and thought she would want to know) and she made a point in reminding my boy that his dad was not married until he was 32. Haha. I also told some of the faculty about it and they found it quite amusing as well. There you have it...my 6th grade quote of the week. Maybe I'll find one of these every week. I am pretty sure with the group of kids I have, it would not be a hard thing to do.

6th grade debate

Every week at school the kids have a list of spelling words along with 8 vocab words. These vocab words are what they call "real world" vocabulary and are based on one specific real world topic. For example, last week our words were based on the atmosphere and included: ozone, stratosphere, exosphere, etc. Well this week our words were based around the subject of "debate". Our words included: Orator, conviction, controversial, argument, philosophy, consideration, rebuttal, and persuasive. I wanted a way to help the kids remember these terms so I decided to apply them to our own classroom and hold a debate. One thing in 6th grade that is a very controversial issue is that 6th graders don't get morning recess. I split my class in half and had one side in favor of having morning recess and the other in favor of not having it. The half that I told was on the side of not having recess wasn't too thrilled about it at first because they all want recess. I gave them some time yesterday to come up with all their philosophy and all their reasons to support their argument, making sure they were applying the vocab terms. This morning I had them gather up the rest of their thoughts and then we held a debate. They had an orator give their first thoughts and then I let anyone else put in their two cents. It was SOOOO funny! Who knew watching 6th graders argue over having morning recess would be so entertaining. I even had my few quiet kids standing up and giving their opinion (I made them stand up when they were speaking). There was even a few "I objects" and pounding of fists on desks. By the end of the debate each half of my class was fully convinced that their way was right. Even that half that were suppose to argue in favor of not having morning recess convinced themselves that that was what they really thought. One girl had so much fun with it all that she told me she wants to be a lawyer now. I think it did help them with the vocabulary words because every time one came up during the debate I would hold up a card with that word on it and tell them why that term matched the situation. We'll see how they do on the test tomorrow. Anyway, I just thought it was too funny and wanted to share that with you all.

Some day my prince will come

Every girl has their Disney Princess. The one they look like the most or the one they just like the most. Mine has always been Snow White. I think this princess fits me in many different ways.
One of the most obvious reasons why she is my princess is because I resemble her in looks. I have the pale skin (unfortunately) and the shorter dark (not black!) hair.
Another reason is that she has her 7 little dwarfs. They sing and dance with her yet do all her cleaning and work around the house. Well, I have it even better than her, I have 24 dwarfs. I sing and dance with them and they do my cleaning and work around school. Pretty great I know! Here are my dwarfs:

Dopey: Have lots of Dopeys. He was always my favorite dwarf and I have lots of favorite students. I don't think I could pick one Dopey.

Grumpy: I don't have many grumpy kids. If I had to pick one I would probably say Ben who never seems to be happy. He's a good kid though.

Doc: I have a quite a few Docs as well. I have some stinking smart kids! There is definitely Trevor, Sierra, Joe, and quite a few others.

Happy: Allie is definitely one of my Happys, Sierra as well, and others depending on the day.

Bashful: I have a few kids that are a little more bashful than the others. There is Jared who is quite reserved and Esther who is just so quiet, but so sweet.

Sneezy: This is my Christian, he is sneezing all the time!

Sleepy: all 24 of my students! Haha. Depends on the day who is my Sleepy.

Another reason that I am Snow White is because "I'm wishing for the one I love to find me today". As the title says, "some day my prince will come". Hopefully I don't have to eat a poison apple and fall into a deep sleep in order for him to come. But I wouldn't mind waking up to a handsome prince kissing me!
I wouldn't say I am as big of an animal fan as Snow White is, but I do really like rabbits. So I guess I am kind of like Snow White in that way.
When I was a freshman in college all 6 of us were Disney Princesses and I of course was Snow White. Also last year a group of the girls in my class who decided they were all Disney Princesses and they also decided that I was Snow White.
So...this year for Halloween I bet you can guess what I was...

School picture!

Yes, I still get school pictures. In fact, I get LOTS of school pictures. Being a teacher we are forced to get out picture taken, but I don't mind it as much now as I did when I was actually in school. Growing up I had a really hard time posing a natural looking smile. My family always told me I looked constipated. Haha. Well, I think I finally grew out of it and can make myself look somewhat decent in a picture. So here is my 2008-2009 school picture. And check out the package they give to teachers (I don't pick it or pay for it):

1 - 8x10
4 - 5x7 (one with some white boarder thing and "Allison" written on the bottom and another one that is black and white)
4 - 4x6
16 - wallets

What am I ever going to do with all those pictures? If you want one, let me know and you are more than welcome to have one. I thought it'd be a good idea to write my number on the back of them and pass them out to good looking boys. Haha. Ok I am done now. By the way, it is a picture of a picture, so it's not that great of quality. Oh, and you can see my short new haircut if you haven't seen it.

I have great kids!

Oh, you didn't know I had kids? Well I do. 23 of them in fact! Haha. Ok, so I like to call my students my kids. Funny thing about that...I teach the other two 6th grade classes science and I was telling one of the classes about how I told my "kids" something and apparently a few of them thought I really had children. Oops! I just had parent/teacher conferences. Except in our district they are called SEPs (Student Education Plan) and the students are suppose to be there. I think I like it that way. I don't think the kids enjoy it so much. Except for one of my girls that was saying how much she loves SEPs. Yes, I worry about her. Anyway, I had SEPs and I had a hard time finding many bad things to talk to the parents about. I have just a great bunch of kids! I pretty much just had a day where I got to tell the parents how great their kids are. Of course I have my few that had a few issues that needed to be brought up, but over all I don't have many problems. I have so many wonderful students! First of all, they are very bright kids! A good majority of them are reading above grade level and they LOVE to read! I could probably just have them read all day and they would do it! Not only do it, but they would love it! I really wish I had that love for reading when I was their age. It will be so beneficial for them throughout their whole life. I have so many smart, smart math students, which make me excited! On top of being really smart, my kids are so responsible! I rarely have to nag them about doing their work and turning in their homework. They are so on top of their school work and the things they need to do. It makes my job as their teacher so much easier! But the best part about my kids is that they are so fun! They really do bring so much joy into my life. I don't think one day goes by where they don't make me laugh. Some of the things these kids do just crack me up! I love seeing them at this age and just watching them grow and learn and have so much fun in life! They are just a wonderful bunch of kids that are going to go far in life, I know that! Last week was Red Ribbon week (drug prevention/awareness). Along with having fun dress up days, we also had an assembly. There is a guy that goes around to schools named Corbin White. He talks to the kids about a "natural high" and how that is where you are just having so much fun you don't want to stop and that is the kind of high you want. He just has a karaoke party with the kids and they have so much fun! I even had my shyest girl get up in front of all the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Of course she wasn't up there alone, but still! It was fun to just see the kids be goofy and have a good time. After we went back to class there was about 5-10 minutes left before we needed to clean up to go home (the assembly didn't last as long as they said it would). So instead of getting into any class work or what not, I just decided to have a little dance party with my kids. Heck! Sometimes you just have to let loose and have fun with your students. I just put on some music and we all danced around the classroom (yes, even I did) and just had a lot of fun. I think it helps the kids to bond as a class and it helps me to bond with them. I even had some of my boys prancing about the classroom like ballerinas. It was quite the site! I had so much fun and I am sure the kids did too. I think that is something they will always remember. And hopefully all the school stuff I teach them too! Anyway, I just wanted to brag about my "kids"!

My Quirks!

Everyone has weird things about them and I think I have quite a few. I read my sister's blog all about her quirks and felt like writing about my quirks!

• My pajamas have to match. I will not wear navy blue pants with a black shirt, or even a white shirt with black writing. I will not wear my red pants with an all red shirt or my navy pants with an all navy shirt. I don't know why, no one really sees me in my PJs, but that's just the way it has to be.

• My alarm clock with never be set to a normal increment of time. If I want to wake up at 7:00am it will be set for something such as 6:57 or 7:01. I won't ever set it to an even time or a multiple of 5. Again, I have no idea why.

• Like my sister, I like the dishwasher loaded a certain way. I just think there is a very logical way to organize it so that you can fit as many dishes as possible and they will all still get clean. I have been known to completely unload a dishwasher to rearrange it. I hate it because I like it when my roommate clean up after themselves but it drives me nuts to put a dish into a poorly organized dishwasher.

• I hate cupboards and drawers being opened. If I am sitting in the livingroom and a cupboard is opened I have been known to get up just to go close it. I just think it looks messy when they are opened.

• I HATE it when people drink the milk out of their cereal bowl. I will not watch you do it and have been known to actually turn away or cover my eyes when someone is doing it. I don't like to drink milk in the first place and for some reason the cold cereal filled milk makes me want to vomit.

• My movies have to be in alphabetical order. I have quite the collection of movies all on a nice little shelf and they are all alphabetized starting with numbers and going to Z. I know when a movie is out of place. My roommates have been known to watch my movies, and not realizing they are in a certain order will randomly put them away. Yes I will go move them to the correct place.

• Now there are a number of things that bother me when it comes to my classroom and my students: (the ones I can think of right now, I'm sure there are more)
  
• Messy desks and unorganized papers
• Messy book shelves
• Folding over page corners in books (I threaten my children if they do that!)
• Not showing your work in math
• Writing all the math problem numbers down and then expecting to fit all the work on that one little line
• A messy turn in basket (papers not lined up nicely)
• Crooked desks
• Chairs not pushed in
• Messy floor
• My students calling me "teacher" instead of "Miss Weathers" (I just call them "student" back)
• Papers with not names!
• Misusing supplies
• Not using common sense (I guess they are 6th graders)
• Not reading the notes on the board
• Not listening to directions or following directions
• Disrespect of any kind (I will not tolerate it!)

• I really am kind of weird where I like a lot of things done my way. I have a hard time letting other people do things for me because if they don't do it the way I like to I'll kind of be irritated or I'll do it all over again. I know it is lame and I wish I didn't feel that way because it would make life much easier, but I just can't help it!

Anyway...those are what I can think of right now. I hope you don't think less of me because of them! I think I am still a good person! Haha!

Kids say the darnedest things

I decided last year to start keeping track of some of the funny things my students (kids) say and I picked it up again this year. I think 6th grade is such a fun year because the kids are starting to become teenagers and they just have so much personality. I find myself laughing at the things they say/do on a daily basis. Here are a few things for your enjoyment (I'd have more but they are saved on my computer at school):

From last year:

"Miss Weathers, you need to find yourself a lover!"
~Shania

"I'm in love with Lexi"
~Tyler
"No you're not, you don't even know what love is."
~Me
"Oh I do...I've felt it."
~Tyler

"It doesn't matter what you put, you are going to get it wrong...unless it's the right answer"
~Tyler

From this year:

"I'm a bird" (randomly as she flaps her jacket and heads to her seat)
~Allie

As we are talking about when I get married...
"All the girls can be bridesmaids"
~a girl in the class
"You can be flower girls"
~Me
"And the boys will be those guys that clean the pipe organs" WHAT???
~Jesh

"I'm hot!" (referring to temperature)
~Sierra
"Yeah you are!"
~Jesh

"Last night I had a dream I married a bubble!"
~Krista

"I tired to make a bear, but it didn't work...so I made a beaver"
~Bradley

Well, those are the ones I can remember right now. Some might not be as funny because they are probably "you had to be there" incidents. But maybe you get a laugh out of some of them. I just love 6th graders!

The World Today

I watched this video in a technology teacher workshop I am taking. It was really interesting to me. I want to see what you think of it.



Interesting huh? Sometimes it is sad to think about how things have changed in the world today. That technology has been so useful yet so destructive. It can be used so affectively in the educational world, yet take away from student's learning. I don't know...I am really terrible at expressing my thoughts into words, but I just found it a very interesting video with a powerful message. So were we better off before all this technology or are we better off with all the advancements now?