What They Have to Say

It's the last week of school! Tuesday and Wednesday my kids performed their reader's theatre, three times for three different classes, two fourth grade classes and one third grade class. My students absolutely loved it and got great reviews from both teachers and students. I am so proud of them!

With the end of the year approaching I've been giving them assignments that focus on their thoughts and opinions of school. On Wednesday the students wrote a letter to my next year's class. I asked them to tell them "how to survive fourth grade." They laughed when I told them that. My kids wrote things like "don't forget to do your homework, so you don't have to sit out during recess" and "get quiet when Ms. Hernandez asks you to because if you don't she'll start coloring the word RECESS and each letter she colors will cost you four minutes of recess." The tips they gave my future class were funny and helpful. I love the letters. I can't wait to give them to my next class.

Today, my students wrote a letter to themselves that I would deliver to them their first week back from summer vacation, their first week as fifth graders. They were to write helpful hints to remember that would help make their fifth grade year successful. I had them seal these, so they wouldn't be opened until them. A few of them were calling them time capsules and another student responded, "No, not really. We'll get to open them in like three months."

These letters are definitely getting me excited for next year!

Tomorrow's the last day of school. It's going to be a fun day. They're bringing board games and I'm bringing my karaoke machine. My students gave me a cheer when they heard that. They're eager to demonstrate their singing talent. We'll see if Hernandez's Class Gots Talent!

Teacher Talk

RP is making a scrapbook cover that goes along with a book she read.

RP: Ms. Hernandez, how do you draw a dog?
Me: The best you can
RP: (smiles and starts coloring and drawing)

RP's goal was to actually get me to draw the dog for her, but with my response she knew that I knew she could draw it and it didn't have to be perfect.

BB comes over with his scrapbook cover.

BB: Ms. Hernandez, is this scrapbook cover good?
Me: What do you think, what do you like about it?
BB: (looks at the cover, thinking) Well, it doesn't have very much detail. I think I need to put more detail.
Me: Okay, if that's what you think.
BB: Okay.

BB wanted me to tell him something about his cover, but I left that up to him. I let him decide what he thought about it. It worked out perfectly because instead of me telling him he needed to put a little more into it, he decided that for himself. The less I have to dictate to them the better.

Reader's Theatre

My class is performing a play based on the children's book "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon." It's a comedy based on famous nursery rhymes and stories like Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffet, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk etc. The story centers around the characters from the following nursery rhyme:

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

In the story cow, cat and dog are searching for their missing friends the dish and the spoon who ran away together, like they always do, but never came back.

The kids are doing an awesome job with it. Some even change their voices to fit with the character. I have one who chose a sinister Hispanic voice for the big bad wolf and another chose a high pitched mischievous voice for the spider. They are really paying attention to their lines and making sure they are portraying the mood. I have to say, there might be some future actors in my group from what I've seen. They will be performing their play in front of some other fourth grade classrooms and I think I might invite some lower grade classes as well. Who knows, maybe I'll make it a tradition for my classes to perform a reader's theatre in the future years. That'll be something to look foward to from Hernandez's Heroes.

Lonestar 5000

I'm part of a Run to Walk club and we've been training for a 5K that we ran today, the Lonestar 5000. The group is made up of teachers at my school who are all at different levels and different goals. I was the "star student" of the group, but my goal was to run my best the entire race. I never was really concerned about my time, just that I would run a 5K for the first time. I usually just walk the 5K's I've participated in. In the morning I actually had some pre-race jitters, but I calmed down and kept reminding myself that I wasn't running for a competition. In the end, all the member of the club finished by their goal time or better. I ran it in 28 minutes. I was a little disappointed in my time because I know I could have done better, but I had to stop running for the 2 weeks prior to the race because of some knee injuries.

Along with the Lonestar 5000 another event started about 5 minutes after and used the same route; it was the Mighty Texas Dog Walk. The area was swarming with the four-legged pals. Some of the dogs had received special grooming for the event. There were dogs with mohawks and their hair was dyed fun colors like hot pink and neon green. I never thought of giving your dog a mohawk. I'm completely in love with the idea and have decided to give Dusty the adventerous look.

It was a great morning and I look foward to participating in my next 5K, which is tomorrow. I'm taking part in the Bagel Fest 5K with my friend Katie.

Mean Girls

We have a case of Mean Girl Syndrome at my elementary school. Some may say that it's just girls being girls, but the events going on have definitely crossed the fine line between girl drama and emotional bullying. Every class has 'em. Girls who seem to delight and thrive on making other girls feel miserable and inadequate. Girls making fun of the way you dress, the way you look, the way you act, or anything else they can beat you down with. I've come to the conclusion that maybe these girls wouldn't have such an effect if they didn't have an entourage mimicking their every move or not standing up to what they know is wrong. Unfortunately, I have more than a few of these girls in my class. Whether they're leaders or followers, both make healthy classroom relationships among the students next to impossible. What can we do? There are only so many classroom talks or discussions with the counselor that we can have. As teachers we can try to protect the girls being targeted, but we can only protect them at school. The bullying continues outside of school and we can't do anything about that except tell the girls to stay away from each other and alert parents, but that seems to never work. The mission seems impossible, but as teachers we will continue to fight back.

Comet, Meteorite, Same Difference?

I gave my students quiz 1 from the "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" book. I told them it would be a challenge to get all the answers correct. Any person that got them correct would get to pick a prize from the prize box. I told them they could use any resource in the classroom to help them answer the questions, but they couldn't help each other. During the course of that time Jason came up to me.

Jason: Ms. Hernandez, the dictionary says that a comet is made of rock and metal.
Me: Oh really, show me.
Jason: (runs over and brings me the dictionary open to the page he was looking at)
Jason: See!
Me: That's the word meteorite. Are they the same thing?
Jason: Oh, no.
Me: Okay.
Jason: (walks away, now searching for the word comet)

It's funny how he didn't even realize he looked up the word meteorite and tried to say it was the same thing as the word comet. Funny or just plain ridiculous?

Quiz 1 ANSWERS

Answers to Quiz #1:
1st: October
1st: False, Africa is a continent made up of many countries. It is south of Europe though.
2nd: The Gulf of Mexico
2nd: Four: Mis-sis-sip-pi
3rd: False, The year 1492 was near the end of the fifteenth century.
3rd: There are 225 feet in 75 yards, three feet to a yard.
4th: False, Comets are comprised mostly of ice and dust.
4th: Nitrogen
5th: Less
5th: A. The frontal lobe of your brain controls your learning and decision making.
$1,000,000: The intruments that most normally comprise a string quartet are: two violins, a viola, and a cello.

Teacher Talk

All names have been changed to protect the identity of the students.

Eddie comes up to me during the Science Benchmark and wants to ask a question. Eddie has the tendency to read the quesiton along with all the answer choices and then finally ask me a question about it. He started to do just that; when he started reading the answer choices I interupted and said, "Yeah, I know what it says, what's your question?"

I have no problem with him re-reading the question in front of me, but reading all the answer choices, too! That takes way too much time, time I don't have.

Paramount Event of the Day

This segment will be dedicated to a major events or occurences at school.

Today's event centers around my inablility to pop popcorn. I enjoy popcorn because it's a low calorie, low fat snack that I can enjoy without feeling guilty. During my planning period I decided to pop some popcorn into the microwave (couldn't resist making the pun). I carefully read the directions and punched in 5 minutes and pressed start. Pop. Pop. Pop. I was listening to see how close the pops were to eachother to make sure I didn't burn it. Well, I have a portable buddy and she happened to come in and struck up a conversation. Next thing I know I smell burning popcorn, turn around, and crap. I open the microwave and steam is billowing from the popcorn bag. Nooo! Okay, this is where I should have let the popcorn be, admit defeat and thrown it away, but no I had to see. I had to peek in and check for any surviving puffs. As I pull open the bag another cloud of smoke escapes and my room starts getting clouded with smoke and the smell of burnt popcorn. Oh no!!! I run over, open the door, grab the trash can and throw the popcorn bag in the trash can. I leave the trash can outside using it to prop the door open. It's not helping. The damage is done. I immediately grab one of my students books and start using it as a fan, trying desperately to get the smoke away from the smoke detector. Luckily, the alarm doesn't sound. I start thrusting all the windows open hoping it will help release the smoke and smell. In the end my room is smokeless, but the odor of burnt popcorn is still in the air and as many teachers have warned me the effect might be a lasting tribute to my popcorn woes.

Blog Segments

I've decided to shape my blog like a radio show with regularly scheduled segments. I think I'm going to have a segment called "Teacher Talk". This segment will focus on quick responses that teachers have to student behavior. The responses will come from me and some of my fellow teachers.

Another segment will be "Are You Smarter Than Really Smart Kids". You know what that one's about. I'm still thinking of a few others. If you have any ideas feel free to offer them up.


Again, these changes are to help me keep my blog updated.

Teacher Moment-Happy Mother's Day!

It was Friday; the Friday before Mother's Day. The students had made Mother's Day cards and a coupon. The coupon's were for things like: washing the dishes, vacuuming the carpet, taking out the trash, and other such helpful tasks. I wanted to leave the kids with an important Mother's Day message: "Guys, don't forget it's Mother's Day. Go home and appreciate her, she does a lot for you!" Many students then said, "But, Ms. Hernandez, you're like a mother because you do a lot for us." Another student said," Yeah, you're like a mother, but you also teach us stuff." That was one of my biggest teacher moments of the year.

Are You Smarter Than Really Smart Elementary Students?

I've seen the show, played the board game, and own the book and I've come to one conclusion. The questions and the grade levels don't match up. I don't know who these first graders are that know where the Constitution was written or how many days are in a non-leap year. I'm sure they exist, but they are definitely in the minority. Some of my fourth graders would have trouble answering these questions, especially the one about U.S. History. They won't be focusing on U.S. History until 5th grade.

I wish you luck on these questions. Don't get down if can't answer them all without assistance. The majority of people are right there with you. Unless you're one of the first graders the TV Network seemed to happen across.

1st Grade: Social Studies
In what month do Americans go trick-or-treating?

1st Grade: World Geography
T or F Africa is a country south of Europe.

2nd Grade: U.S. Geography
What is the body of water between Florida and Texas called?

2nd Grade: English
How many syllables are there in the word Mississippi?

3rd Grade: World History
T or F Columbus discovered America in the fourteenth century.

3rd Grade: Measurements
How many feet are there in 75 yards?

4th Grade: Earth Science
T or F Comets are made up mostly of rock and metal.

4th Grade: Chemistry
On the periodic table, what element is represented by the letter N?

5th Grade: Math
Is the fraction 3/7 greater than or less than 7/10?

5th Grade: Biology
The frontal lobe of your brain controls...
A. your learning and decision making
B. your hearing and memory
C. your sense of touch
D. your sight

$1,000,000 Question
5th Grade: Music
In classical music, what instruments typically comprise a string quartet?

Book Fair Madness

Many teachers have expressed their disdain of the Book Fair. They say their students get crazed at the opportunity to shop and for some time that's all they can think about. Well, I have to admit that the Book Fair has similar effects on me. I love books, but even more, I love shopping for them. Book fairs are my favorite way of purchasing books because I can shop while never leaving the comforts of my school. Not only that, but being a teacher I get the unsurpassable deal of buying three books and getting the fourth free of charge. After school today, teacher's were able to get an early preview of the books, fill out wish list sheets, enter for a prize drawing, all while enjoying refreshments. Being my crazed self I asked if we could make any purchases and the librarian replied with an enthusiastic yes. I was thrilled and rushed back to my classroom to grab my purse.

After some time of browsing I settled on a Chronicles of Narnia set of 3 books, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader Companion Trivia Book, and 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny. The last was recommended to me by Katie, fellow 4th grade teacher.

Everyday I hope to post a couple trivia questions in my blog. Answers will follow in the following day, along with new questions. Hope you viewers have fun. This will help me post everyday, so says my friend Katie.