I Won!!!

I won a contest that I didn't even know I signed up for!!!  What did I win?  That's the best part!

Guess...

Nope, not that.

Nooooo, not that either.

Okay, I'll tell you.

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

Wait

for

it...

I get to jump off a building!!!!

For FREE!!!

Yes, jump.  Yes, a building.  Free?  Well, yes, technically. But it's for a good cause so I'm hoping to raise money anyway.  Curious yet?

I signed up for Over the Edge for Kids Included Together. Participants raise $1000 for the opportunity to rappel 33 stories off the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, CA. Kids Included Together supports  the inclusion of children with disabilities in out–of–school time programs.

I signed up after a friend talked me into it and was trying to raise money. I'm a terrible fund-raiser, but thought I'd try anyway. Then, just today, I found out I won a contest I didn't know about and Viola! How exciting!

My team name is Wear the Cape, though I'm the only person on my team so far (hint hint?).  I'm going to ask if I can wear a cape, and I have a fund-raiser idea that includes making capes.

More to come as this unfolds!

Link to more information.

Link to my fundraising page.

[Friday Free-Day] Yo! Snaps

I'm puttering around this post trying to figure out how to describe what became, this Spring, a phenomenon in my classroom. It's quite near indescribable, but it's also amazing and worth sharing.

Where to begin...?

On a Tuesday I "threw a snap" to one of my students. It's something I used to do with my friends growing up.  It makes little sense in the real world, but every once in awhile I have a student that identifies with it.  In this game you pretend to throw, bounce, dribble, and catch a pretend object.  Each time the pretend object is caught, or thrown, or bounced, you make a snapping noise. I found a game called snapball on Urban Dictionary.  Maybe they explain it better? Or this YouTube Video.

Anyhoo, two of my turkey-butts became enthralled with it and threw snaps at each other for the rest of the day.  Their little fingers were all red from snapping all day.

Then I was out sick for day, and I came back to brand-new, highly-developed game called "Snaps." Fifteen to twenty of my twenty-five students are throwing snaps at each other in their spare time.  They are creating "designer snaps" on paper, and then "snapping" them into play through a complicated induction snap.

For the rest of the school year, the kiddos created snaps on paper, inducted them into play, and "tossed" them back and forth throughout the day.

Here is the original page of snaps form that day.  These were later revised and entered into a "Snap Notebook" (revision!!!  of a sort).  Below are the following snaps (left to right):

Row 1: Rasta Snap, Cracked Window Snap, Dr. Pepper Snap, Bacteria Snap 1, Bacteria Snap 2, Plaid Snap, Ribbon Snap, Smart Snap, Iron Man Snap, Row 2: Crying Tree Snap, Star Trek Snap, Boss Snap, Asterisk Snap, Yellow Snap, Rainbow Snap, Quest Snap, Ninja Snap (?), Teeth SnapRow 3: Tiger Snap, Firework Snap (?), Pizza Snap, Boss Snap #2, Striped Snap, Abstract Snap, Church Snap, Cat Snap, Two-tone Snap

 True, it became distracting at times.  Truer still, it was a wonderful learning opportunity that completely tickled my fancy.  When I sat back and looked at it from a different perspective (a la Monopoly with my favorite San Diego Area Writing Project Fellows), I found ways to incorporate all different things into what the muffin-heads were already highly motivated to do:

• learning, discussion and practice using implicit and explicit rules
• Naming, grouping, and defining snaps
• using Google Hangouts to share our snaps with a fellow teacher in a neighboring district (so much fun that was!)
• using planning tools and the classroom Ipod Touches to design an app to share our snaps
• understanding and dealing with our disappointment when time and technology interrupted our app-making plans
• art (drawing snaps takes effort!)
• imagination and creativity
• fine motor skills and gross motor skills
• PE (we had a rousing game of snaps outside one day--we were all exhausted)

So...  that is the Snap phenomenon.  It tickles my heart and my brain.  My turkey butts are amazing!

[R@ndom] Sign Me Up!

I am not telling untruths here--I received an email from a local public radio station that started like this:

[R@ndom] Under Construction

I'm trying out some layout changes.  Feel free to critique.

[WtC Wednesday] Personal Heroage

Pardon the day-late-ness of this post.  Here is what I managed to write in flu-ridden state yesterday:

"In my searc for adequate definits of the erm "hero, I have found.... little that I likes."

 Ermmm... yeah.  So I am trying again.

I was looking for good definitions of the term hero. I didn't find any I liked yesterday, but am guessing my altered state may have limited my ability to judge appropriately.  In the meantime, however, I have changed my mind about what I'll post for Wear-the-Cape Wednesday.

I'm going to send a

OUT

to ALL of the teachers that are working through the end of their school year. It's the end of the marathon my caped friends, and it feels like it's uphill right now. Bless our hearts for doing it.  It matters!

Fly!

[Mentor Text Monday] Maniac Magee

Briefly, I define mentor texts as a piece of a writing used as a model.  There is more to it, but let's start there.  Eventually, I'll post a page with more of a definition or guide.

I'm not sure exactly how Mentor Text Mondays will go, but you can bet on your teaching patootie, that there will be Mentor Texts.  As for Mondays...   that's negotiable.

I recently started reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli with my young'uns.  Every page has something amazing.  EVERY SINGLE PAGE.  I'm not even being hyperbolic here.

Here is the first paragraph of the first chapter:

I read it out loud.  They read it again to themselves.  I asked one of my go-to guiding questions, "What do you think I noticed first thing?"  Here is what we found:

This says that the author uses Repetition for Effect, a hyphenated modifier, and some mix of hyperbole, figurative language, and mythology.  We spent some time talking about the differences and similarities, and how to use this in our writing.  There was a lot of discussion about heroes and myths associated with heroes.  Then, we wrote.  You'll see evidence of our discussion of heroes.  You will also see that these are not revised or edited pieces.  This was a practice in writing craft, not a practice in revising or editing.  I'll share that later (thanks to Jeff Anderson and 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know

 

[Survey Results] A Windfall

Well my caped friends, the results are in.  Here is the short version:

Survey Topic: Weekly Blog segments
Survey Duration: 5 days
Survey Participants: 44 page views, 10 responses
Summary of Results:
Well, truthfully, if I'm speaking to an audience of 10-44 people, I get to write about whatever I want!!!  Whoot!!!!  Taking into consideration a couple of very popular suggestions, here is the current blogging plan:


Mentor Text Monday (trust me, you'll love it)

Wear-the-Cape Wednesday

Friday Free-Day

I will also start working a few series:
When-I Was-a-Kid Series

Art Lessons and Ideas Series
Technology Tips Series
Think-About-It Series
Because-I-Said-So Series (kidding...)


Please feel free to give feedback any day or every day.  If I know someone is reading, maybe I'll be motivated to write!  Enjoy your lovely Monday.

[Student Work] Late

From a student journal today.  We've been writing 15 minutes a day all year.   This makes my heart smile.

Late start.

Barely made it.

Happy I'm not late.

The guy in the taco shop took forever,

Singing his songs and drinking coffee.

Irritated already

So please

Leave me alone

Stomachache

Foot cramps

Head ache.

                                                          -A.