sick day.

I HATE staying home sick. I don't know about any other teachers out there, but I have a hard time giving up control for a day. 

 I've been a sub before.

And I know it can go one of two ways.

1. The plans can be terrible and the kids can rule the room while you're gone.

or...

2. You can bust your butt leaving incredibly detailed plans so that things can be as consistent as possible.

I choose #2.

Always.

I knew yesterday that there was a strong possibility that I would be staying home today. So I sat down at 3:00pm to write plans. I wasn't done until 4:40. I made sure my plans were written to a tee so that anyone would be able to walk into my room and function for a day. Yes it took over an hour and a half. And I felt like poo while I was working on them. But my sub knows exactly where to go in the room to find things and what to do and say to get things done efficiently. (Side note: in order for a sub to have a smooth day, you must also have strict rules and procedures set in place. This is the first full day of school I've missed this year, but I've made sure that my students know what's expected of them. And I'm confident that those expectations will carry over to when I'm gone as well.)

I like to check my email periodically throughout the day if I'm sick to make sure nothing crazy is going on. I got an email from a member of administration this morning telling me that he looked over my plans and was impressed with how organized and detailed they were. He said he was confident a sub would have no problem implementing them. Which is good, because that's what I was going for.

I was also happy when I logged onto Facebook and found this little gem:

I miss them too.

And I'm really hoping I can get back to them tomorrow. 

Because I've officially watched 4 and a half hours of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" today.

And the marathon continues until 7pm.

Eeek.

**If anyone would like a copy of my sub plans, email me and let me know!  lmiller@xaviersoe.org

Dinosaur Week

This was the most fun week! This is the first year I've ever taught about dinosaurs and we had so much fun!

Monday was our intro to dinosaurs. We talked about what we knew (which was mostly from watching Jurassic Park.) Then we talked about the fact that they are all extinct. One smarty asked, "If they're all dead, then how do we know anything about them? So I was able to bust out this cool visual for them. I found this awesome T-Rex at Walmart for $5! We talked about how the dinosaurs died, and then all that was left was the bones. And that scientists can study those bones to find out things about them. The reaction while I peeled the skin off this guy was priceless. A mix between horror and fascination. Then the same smarty asked, "What happened to the skin? Where did it go?" I was not about to explain decomposition to 5 year olds (I don't want to terrify them about what happens to things when they die!) So I just said, "Well, it just kind of goes away after awhile." They seemed to think that was an acceptable answer.

Tuesday we learned all about carnivores and herbivores. We put food in each dino's belly based on what kind of dinosaur he was. We did some research and learned that carnivores had sharp teeth and walked on two legs. Herbivores had flat teeth and walked on all four legs. So the rest of the day, each time the kiddos saw a dinosaur, they were analyzing it to see whether it was a carnivore or an herbivore! So fun!

Then we did some writing based on our research!

Wednesday was for learning about paleontologists. We learned about the different tools these scientists use to help dig up bones and study them. One tool we learned about was a magnifying glass. So we got to be student-paleontologists and use magnifying glasses to get an up-close look at our dinosaurs! (This was a hit!)

Thursday was all about the T-Rex. Throughout the week, he was clearly the class favorite, so we did some in-depth learning about them.


Friday was time to wrap it all up. We reviewed what fossils are and then we got to make our own! I got this tub of Crayola Air-Dry Clay. I gave each student a scoop of clay and they got to push their dinosaur into it. We're letting them dry over the weekend, and then each student will have their very own fossil to take home! They loved this!

We also examined a life-size dinosaur footprint. We estimated how many of our feet it would take to equal a dinosaur foot. Then we experimented by putting our shoes in it. It took 33 of our shoes!

 They wanted to take a "foot picture," so I obliged. Now I'm looking at it and realizing how many of them are wearing mismatched socks haha!

We ended our dino week with writing. I asked students to write as many facts about dinosaurs as they could.

"Dinosaurs are dead. Carnivores eat any kind of meat. Herbivores eat plants. All kind of dinosaurs lays eggs. Carnivore eats turkey. Herbivore eats flowers."

The major take-away this week is that they're dead. But I'm about to teach you something new:

To be a dinosaur, you have to:

-Lay eggs

-Walk on toes

- Have an s-curved neck

- Have skin or feathers (no fur)

So we learned that chickens are modern-day dinosaurs. The freaked out about this!

And that concludes Dino Week 2015. 

(Congrats if you made it to the end of this long post!)

xoxo, Mrs. Miller