You probably know this clown pretty well. You've sat next to him at parties, shared a cubicle with him at work, and maybe you even dated him (or her). His name is Wasfunnyonce, and here is his evil, brain-eating power:

 I get people to use humor at the wrong time, the wrong place or with the wrong person.

Fans of the TV show "The Office" know the main character, Michael Scott, to be the ultimate in Wasfunnyonce-ness. Witness one of his less offensive moments (well, the least offensive one I could find!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=4pwYjcaBqP0

Another Wasfunnyonce characteristic is telling the same joke over and over and over again (For Office fans: "That's what she said").

 I actually come from a long line of un-funny clowns. My parents had maybe 4 jokes that they told when I was growing up. And they weren't really good jokes. In fact, they were unbearably corny. But, man, those two cracked up every time they told them!  And they told them over and over and over. Why? Because my parents lived to torment their children (remind me to tell you the story of my father, a pair of sequined bell-bottoms, a fog machine, and my 7th grade dance). When they told one of those jokes, at least one of their 3 children would cringe. "Daa-aad! You tell that joke all the time! It's not funny!!!!" Even better: telling the jokes in front of our friends. Ugh, how embarrassing.
Now that I am older and wiser, I have great respect for my mother and father and their painfully unfunny jokes. Now I have my own children to torment, and a willing accomplice in my husband (who is the youngest of 6 children, so he is a true master of immature humor). My husband and I, however, have only one joke. The more we tell it, the funnier it becomes... to us.

Here it is:
(To be told in the car as you drive past a cemetery)
" You know what I hear about that place? People are just dying to get in!"

On one particularly long family vacation we told it so many times (8 cemeteries in under 3 hours!) that it nearly brought my son to tears. "Am I the only mature person in this car?" he asked. We were silent for several minutes, and then, believe it or not, we passed another graveyard.

Husband: "You know what I hear about that place?"
Son: "Daddy, stop it! I know! People are just dying to get in!"
Husband: "Nope. I hear it's got soul."

Comedy gold.

 Have no fear, parents, I only torture my own flesh and blood like that.
 I do, however, LOVE corny jokes.

So this week we invited Wasfunnyonce to join us as we played around with some silly Halloween riddles. Before we began, we discussed what a riddle is. I found this definition in the article linked below:

"A riddle is a question that turns into a joke. It starts with a puzzling question and ends with an answer that surprises you and usually makes you laugh. The answer to the riddle is called the punch line. The question and answer make a riddle when the same words have two different meanings."

Some common elements found in riddles:


Answers that rhyme
Puns
Idiomatic expressions ("You are driving me batty!")
Homophones: two or more words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings. They may or may not be spelled on the same way.
Examples: write and right, desert (to abandon) and desert (a thing deserved)
Homographs:  share the same spelling. They may or may not have the same pronunciation.
Examples: present (a gift) and present (to introduce)
 


These are all such important pieces of spoken language and comprehension, not to mention the social benefit of being able to tell and understand jokes.

I was curious to see if the kids could match riddle questions to the punchlines, so I began by reading one question, and giving them several punchlines to chose from. For example:

Why did the vampire go to art school?

a. He was thirsty
b. He was dead and lived in a coffin
c. He wanted to draw blood.

They got a big kick (Idiomatic expression alert) out of this activity, and I caught most of them reading and rereading the riddles after I posted them outside of the room. Hopefully you heard a few at home.

The next day I presented them with some new riddles. This time, I left it up to them to provide the punch lines. This is a tough skill, even for our clever kids, and I am curious to see how their riddles progress as we continue to play around with language.

Here are some of the responses:
"What did one ghost say to the other?"
 "Boo!"
"You're so dead...I like you!"
"Hey, Ghost. What's up?"
"I can see through you."
Real punchline:  "I don't believe in humans."


"Why did the zombie go to the doctor?"
"Because he had a cold."
"Because he's been awake for 500 years."
"Because he had a Z-ver!"
Real punchline: Because he was dead on his feet!



For more information on why riddles and jokes are so important for reading comprehension and language development (and to learn to throw around the phrase "Metalinguistic Awareness" like a pro), here's an interesting article:

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/28315/



 I'm sure you can tell by our spooooky riddles that we are full tilt Halloween around here. We even came up with our class name (finally!): The Haunted Class

To kick off the month of October we wrote some eerie acrostic poems. An acrostic poem uses the letters in a word to begin each line of the poem. All lines of the poem relate to or describe the main topic word.
Here is the one we did as a group on Monday:

And here is what some of the students did on Tuesday:

On Thursday we were inspired by this read-aloud book:

So we wrote our own menu for an old witch (gluten and dairy free, natch). If you don't know the original tune for the classic "I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly", ask your child to sing it for you. Here's the Haunted Class' version:

I know an old witch

who swallowed a spider

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a Frankenstein

Gobbled it down with out a whine,

She swallowed the Frankenstein to eat the spider,

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a demon,

Without any meaning she swallowed a demon!

She swallowed the demon to kill the Frankenstein,

She swallowed the Frankenstein to eat the spider,

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a mummy,

Right into her tummy, she swallowed that mummy!

She swallowed the mummy to get the demon,

She swallowed the demon to kill the Frankenstein,

She swallowed the Frankenstein to eat the spider,

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a snake,

Like a piece of cake she swallowed that snake!

She swallowed the snake to strangle the mummy,

She swallowed the mummy to get the demon,

She swallowed the demon to kill the Frankenstein,

She swallowed the Frankenstein to eat the spider,

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a pumpkin,

Her belly was thumpin’ when she swallowed that pumpkin!

She swallowed the pumpkin to bite the snake,

She swallowed the snake to strangle the mummy,

She swallowed the mummy to get the demon,

She swallowed the demon to kill the Frankenstein,

She swallowed the Frankenstein to eat the spider,

I don’t know how it got inside her

We’d better hide her!

I know an old witch who swallowed a bomb.....

KABOOM!!!!!!!!

"Who's that trippin' and trappin' over my bridge ? I say who, I say who?
Who's that trippin' and trappin' over my bridge? I say who?
Is it....YOU???"


 Thanks to the Rockin' Billy Goats app on the ipad we've been trippin' and trappin', rockin' and rappin' all week long. I highly recommend  this lively version of the story for all of you ipad owners.

I found a version of the terrific storyteller, Storyteller & Author Dianne de Las Casas, telling the tale to a group of kids. Watch this video to hear the story and learn the songs. I love the way the kids jump every time she shouts "Hoogedy boogedy woogedy troll!"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_shtehmKY


The Scaretroll (and his 3 Billy Goats) moved to his new home at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens today. A BIG thanks to the awesome John and Jennifer O'Connell (parents of the equally awesome Jakob) for designing and building the frame (out of an old bicycle!) and delivering the finished product.  The students tore fabric strips and tied them around the frame. I got shot down on painting the goats--but honestly, they look pretty cool as is. Here's our fella...

and here are some close ups from Jennifer O. She couldn't resist adding a little extra hoogedy boogedy (with a dash of woogedy) to the face.

Make sure you get a chance to visit Mr. Troll at the gardens in October. Sounds like a good opportunity to get the classroom gang together for a weekend outing, doncha think?

We learned a fun new math game this week. An old favorite from my childhood:

It's been years since I played this one and I was excited to teach it to the kids, especially since Rack-o fits in nicely with our recent greater than/less than math activities.

Here's how you play (thanks to Wikipedia):

The deck consists of 60 cards, each containing a number from 1 to 60. Each player has a rack containing 10 slots to hold his cards.
A dealer will shuffle the cards and deal 10 random cards to each player. The players will take one card at a time, without looking at what number is on the card, and place it in the first available slot in their rack until the rack is full. For example, in slot 10 you might have 3, in slot 9 you might have 23, in slot 8 you might have 59.
Each player's goal is to replace cards that are not in ascending numerical order with cards that are. The cards need to be in order from lowest to highest, although they do not need to be consecutive. For example, if a 58 appears in slot 1, you know you have to replace it with a smaller number. This is where the strategic thinking comes in, as you must decide what numbers to discard and what numbers to keep. A player may not switch the numbers within his own rack; only numbers drawn from the deck or taken from the immediately previous player's discard can be used.
It is not necessary for numbers to be a certain number value or in consecutive order as long as they are in numerical order from lowest to highest. You are considered the winner if, for example, you get an order such as this: 1, 27, 31, 39, 43, 46, 50, 56, 59, 60, even though the jump from 1 to 27, for example, is large.
Each player, in their turn, will either draw a card from the remainder of the deck, or will take the card discarded by the previous player. He will then put that card into one of his own 10 slots and will then discard the card which he has replaced in that slot. To win, you must yell "Rack-O!" as soon as your 10 cards are in numerical order.
Confused?
Here are some winning Rack-o displays from our class:

The one where Aidan beat me...

The one where Annabella beat me

The one where Oliver beat me

Tani and Aidan celebrating the fact that...yep, you guessed it...they beat me.

So, Rack-o seems to not be my game anymore. I swear, I'm not letting these kids win. What gives?



Introducing...

Red Bow Tie and Black Bow Tie! 

 No, silly, tadpoles don't wear bow ties. Frogs, yes. Quite dapper, those amphibians.

But tadpoles???? Don't be ridiculous.

Tani just liked the sound of "Red Bow Tie", and so did the majority of the voting class members.  And since there are two, the other one just had to be named "Black Bow Tie". We are so excited about this addition to the class zoo! These see-through tadpoles (you can actually see their hearts beating) will morph into frogs over the next month or two.Test your child's knowledge on the life cycle of a frog by showing them these pictures. Can the remember what each stage is called? At which stage do they have gills? When do they develop lungs?

Ribbit.

"MOOOOOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!"
At 4:30 this morning I am jolted out of my sleep to a bloodcurdling shriek from the hallway.  It's my 6 year old daughter, and she sounds like she's just seen a ghost. Or an intruder. I leap out of bed, full on adrenaline coursing through my body. My husband has already left for work, so I'm frantically searching in the for the first thing I can find to inflict maximum damage upon whoever, or whatever, is about to abduct my child. I grab a lamp in my left hand, the iron in my right. Like Chuck Norris, I kick the open the bedroom door and see my girl, sobbing uncontrollably at the foot of the stairs.
 "Lolly, what's wrong?"
 Is there someone waiting in the shadows? Did she fall down the stairs? Is she bleeding from her ears? What could cause her to scream like that at 4:30 in the morning?
She holds up an empty cup. I can barely understand her through her tears, "ISPILLEDMYWATER!"
"What, honey?"
"I came downstairs to get a drink and I *sob* spilled *sob* my *sob* WATERRRRRRRR!!!!!"
I carefully put down my weapons (before one of them becomes lodged in the side of her skull), take a REALLY deep breath, and sit down on the stairs.
"Lolly," I say, in my best teacher/mommy voice, "Do you think your reaction matches the size of the problem?"

Problem Scale

All day, every day we run up against problems. Most of them are small, or a "glitch" as we showed the kids on the "How Big is the Problem?" scale. Dropping your pencil, misspelling a word, having to wait your for your turn on a swing: small problems. Others seem a little bit more difficult; skinning your knee, getting in an argument with a friend, losing a favorite toy. Then, there are big problems: breaking a bone, getting bullied, a car accident. Sometimes a small problem can seem big depending on our mood, time of day, amount of sleep we've had (amount of coffee we've had...) Being able to reflect on the size of the problem is an important skill, and one that is really hard for some children (and too many adults) to master.

Below is our "Problems and Reactions" visual (the students called them "problem donuts"). Your reaction should match the size of the problem. Small problem=small reaction. When reaction and problem match, you are showing Expected Behavior.
Problem: I got up to go to the bathroom. When I returned, a classmate was in my seat.
Expected Reaction: "I don't know if you realize, but I was sitting in that seat. Can I have it back, please?"
When the size of the reaction is bigger than the problem, however, you are showing Unexpected Behavior.
Unexpected Reaction: Screaming "Hey! Get out of my seat now!" and pushing the other child.

See Glassman at the bottom? He shows up when you have a really big reaction to a not so big problem!

 We'll be practicing this skill all day, every day. Let me know if you want copies of these visuals to keep at home. I've got one on the fridge at my house, and you can believe I whipped that baby out this morning at 4:30. Spilling water? Small problem. Giving Mommy a coronary at 4:30 am because you spilled water? BIG PROBLEM.

 What are we watching?

If your child came home telling you about men in trees, they weren't lying.
When we got to school on Monday there was a bit of an emergency situation: a large branch was blocking the driveway. A kind neighbor helped up cut the branch--just in the nick of time for carpool.
The tree (pecan) was later pronounced dead, and on Tuesday was taken down. Wow, what a sight! We spent quite a long time watching this amazing process.

It's hard to tell, but there's a man with a chainsaw in that tree!

Several of the logs now adorn the playground. Not sure what we will use them for, but the children sure had fun playing on them, rolling them, and hopping from log to log!

What are we learning?

We're still digging on insects and arachnids. One of my favorite moments this week was when a spotted a child staring at his "Ant" art that we made last week. I was busy trying to refocus him on the task at hand, but he insisted on getting his ant (well, he actually made a termite). Finally, he said to me, "I have to have the termite. I've got to fix it!" When I asked what he needed to fix he said, "I only put 4 legs on it. But an insect has 6!" AHA!


Below are some scenes from a math puzzle:

We have been discussing the terms "greater than", "less than" and "equal", along with the symbols:< > =.


We gave the children a bag of plastic animals and a bag of plastic eggs.

 We posed the questions: Are there more animals than eggs? Are there more eggs than animals? Is there an equal number of animals and eggs?

 Here are some students practicing greater than and less than equations.

 Wanna know what the answer was?

Ask your child...

REMINDER: Next Friday is conference day. The students will be at school that day and I will have a substitute.

The awesome John O'Connell, Jakob's Dad, is putting together a frame for our scaretroll!! The drop off deadline is a week from next Tuesday. I need 2 things from y'all:

1. A volunteer to take the troll to the Botanical Gardens either that Monday or Tuesday.
2. Some old clothes of yours or your child's to dress our fella in!

Thanks!!

Oh, yeah, folks, it's FRIDAY! And do you know what that means?
It's time to dance. Salsa? Swing? Nah, those are more Saturday type of dances. And don't try to teach me how to Dougie or bring back any old school Running Man.
Today, my friends, we are gonna dance like we have ants in our pants. 

Here's Eric Herman to show you how:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWycl8vR5c

 Once you shake 'em out of your pants, ask your child about ants. What type of animal is an ant (insect, mammal, reptile, amphibian)? What characteristics makes an ant an insect? What are the body parts of an ant?

Ant art:

    

Here's a thinking, science, and art activity rolled into one. The students learned the parts of an ant: head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, eyes. We gave them a bag with foam balls (painted the day before in ant colors...did you know there are actually purple ants?), toothpicks, coffee straws, and googly eyes. The instructions were simple: Use these items and glue to make an ant. Some students welcomed this challenge and spent quite a while experimenting with their materials before figuring it out. Others took cues from their neighbors, watching carefully and patiently. Some needed extra teacher assistance and a few engine breaks, but everyone finished the project with a cool ant!

Ant reading and writing:

We read the book "Hey, Little Ant" by Phillip M. Hoose, in which a tiny ant pleads for mercy when a boy threatens to squish him. This book challenges the reader to step into the shoes, er, claws of a tiny ant.

After reading the story, we asked the students: Now that you have heard the ant's point of view, would you still squish it? 
Here is what they wrote:

"I would choose to not squish it because what has the ant done to me?"
"I would not kill the ant because I want it to live with its family. I would not want to be killed because my family would miss me."
"It depends. Some days I would. Some days I would not. The day I would not kill the ant is because it would leave one less ant to protect the queen. I don't know why I would kill an ant."
"I would squish it because I will make it die in two seconds."
"I would not squish an ant because it is good for nature when you do not squish an ant."
"I would squish an ant because my mom thinks they're gross."
"I would not squish an ant because its nature. I love nature."





Unfortunately, ants were not the only unwanted pests to join us in the room this week.
The beast below has been spotted, lurking under bridges, waiting for juicy goats to cross.

    You may have heard his name: El Chupacabra

He stars in the story "The Three Cabritos" by Eric Kimmel, which also features 3 musical goats who are looking to spend an evening jamming at a Mexican fiesta. It's not an easy task crossing the bridge over the Rio Grande, however, for the nasty Chupacabra lives underneath. The Chupacabra is a legendary creature in Mexico and Puerto Rico, famous for sucking the blood out of livestock. Chupar "is "to suck" and cabra "goat". The kids (your human ones, not the cabritos) had a blast acting this one out and were fascinated to hear tales of mythical this animal vampire. Or is it mythical...???

Side note:  After reading this book at home, my 9 year old son wants me to make sure that everyone knows that the Chupacabra is not real ("However, Mommy, I still believe Bigfoot is real") He insisted that I share this with you:

 http://news.discovery.com/animals/chupacabra-mystery-solved.html

Well, darn it, if that doesn't take all of the creepy fun out of it. Go on, let your goats roam free.



Conferences are on Friday, September 21. These  informal meetings are a good this time for me to let you know how your child is doing in class, as well as set goals for the year and answer any questions you have.

Here is the schedule. If you need to switch times, please contact the family you wish to switch with...but don't forget to let me know when you're coming in!

9:00 Aidan

9:30 Tani

10:00  Paul

10:30 Oliver

11:00 Bo

11:30 Annabella

12:00 Jakob


One last item:

It's time to start on our scarecrow (scaretroll? scarechupacabra?). I was thinking that it would be easy to find on local hardware stores, it being almost fall and all, but I sure am having a tough time getting my hands on a bale of the scratchy stuff. So, if anyone would like to donate some to the cause, we'd really appreciate it.

Have a great weekend!

 He's been lurking around the class all week, this rascally Unthinkable. Hiding in dark corners, behind bookshelves, under tables. We're calmly going about our day until *BAM* he leaps out into someone's brain! Often, we can quickly contain this nefarious creature, but sometimes he is contagious. Like an out of control wildfire, he leaps from brain to brain, controlling our thoughts and keeping us from doing what we are suppose to be doing in the class. Who is this vile villain?

ROCK BRAIN, that's who.

Yeah, he looks mighty cute, doesn't he? Don't let his chiseled features fool you.

Rock Brain is the dude that causes us to get stuck on things. He's been known to go by the aliases "Sticky Thought" and "Obsession". Here are some moments this week when we knew that Rock Brain had infiltrated our class:

1. Kid A wants to take an engine break, but there is already a student in the engine room. Teacher asks Kid A to wait, but Rock Brain tells Kid A to repeatedly leave the room and stand in front of the engine room door.

2. Kid B loves to repeat a made-up word. Over and over. Teacher reminds Kid B that the word causes other students to get silly, and can only be repeated outside. Rock Brain tells Kid B to continue to say the word over and over and over (and over and over...)

3. Kid C wants a book. Kid D has the book that C wants. Rock Brain tells Kid C that he MUST have that book. Right. Now. Kid C to attempts to grab the book several times without using his words.

Oh, Rock Brain! How can we ever defeat you????

 Thankfully, there were several times this week that we were able to be Superflex-ible superheros and we crumbled Rock Brain to bits!

Unfortunately, along with Rock Brain comes a whole cast of nasties: Igor Ignorer (ignores the teacher when she tries to help), Nosy McMeddleman (wants to know what everyone else is doing), Brain Eater (distracts us) and Body Snatcher (moves our bodies from the group).  We love to remind the students when an "Unthinkable" shows up, because it gives us a chance to work on behaviors and flexible thinking without making the students feel as if they are bad. It's much easier to say, "Oh, no! I think Rock Brain has invaded your brain!" to say, "You are being bad. You are doing something wrong." The behavior is still being addressed ("Boy, Rock Brain is really making it hard for you to focus on your work right now because he REALLY wants to have that book!"), but the students don't feel as if they are being judged. We help  them  find strategies to defeat the character and allow them to practice these strategies throughout the day. A couple of examples we have discussed:

Self talk: do I really need this right now? What will happen if I don't have this book/engine break? Is this a really big problem? A small problem? How does this make my classmates/friends feel?
Deep breathing/relaxation: Quick! Inhale and squeeze all of your muscles really, really tight! Hold them, hold them...count to 10 s-l-o-w-l-y. Exhale and release!

Do the strategies work immediately? Of course not. It takes practice, practice, practice (I'm still practicing). Do we make a lot of mistakes when we are learning? Of course! We like to tell the students that they can have a "redo" on their behavior, as in, "Hey, I noticed that you grabbed that book without asking. Do you want a redo? Try it again, using your words!"

Want more info? Visit Michelle Garcia Winner's Social Thinking site:
http://www.socialthinking.com/

Thankfully, this week hasn't been all  about conquering the Unthinkables. Being a Superhero is awesome, but we still need time to learn, play and experiment!

We've trip-trapped over a bridge:



 We kicked off our Fairy Tale time this week with "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". Always a favorite thanks to that nasty, ugly old troll! We've acted it out several times already, taking turns in the coveted role of the Biggest Billy Goat Gruff (though I personally adore a bridge-dwelling troll). We certainly have some talent in here. And not just acting talent...see above for some colorful, creative goat masks. And singing? Like a chorus of angels...well, except when I chime in. I was told several times by one grumpy young troll to "not sing so loud." Harrumph. But how can you not want to sing at the top of your lungs to this???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=083031sByf8


We've played some math games:



  
Much more on math games later. You'll soon find out I am a huge, huge fan of game playing as a way to make learning basic skills fun. Stay tunes for some you can play at home!

We've written stories:


Journal topics this week included goats,trolls, explosions, Pokemon, Mario, and, well, underwear. Because underwear is just plain funny.

and we finished the week off with

QUICKSAND!!!
 Yep, we actually made our own version today. Here are some shots of our scientists in the laboratory


:
     
   
 Have a great weekend!!