Keep An Eye Out For More Curtains

I got another shipment of curtains in the mail from my wonderful grandmother and she has outdone herself!!  I am not going to give them away just yet but when the time comes I will post pictures of them.  I already told my kids all about them and I also made it into a game.  I told them that new curtains would be coming soon and if when I put them up they notice and secretly tell me, they will get a treat!  It should be fun and then the fun curtains will not go unnoticed!!

Team Roskelley is Really #1

Maybe it is because they knew I was a new teacher, or maybe I just lucked out but my 3rd grade class (team Roskelley) is definitely the place to be at Sego Lily Elementary!  The kids in room 28 are a dream come true.  oh they have their moments, don't get me wrong but overall they are well behaved, polite, cute, and most importantly FUN!! I often find myself joking around with them and forgetting that I am supposed to be the adult in the room:)  but we work hard so we can play hard!! 

In Miss Roskelley's  room you can earn teacher points as a class.  You earn these by doing an activity quietly without being told.  If I get a good report from another teacher that the class behaved well.  If as a class you handle a situation particularly well (like I have to leave the room to talk to another teacher briefly and when I come back you are all working), and much more.  You can never earn a teacher point unless the whole class was involved and you can also loose teacher points if things get carried away.  After you earn 15 points we all get to have a party.

Last week my kids were getting close to earning their 15 teacher points and kicked it into extra good behavior to get the last ones.  Finally they did it!! We got to vote on what kind of party we wanted to have and the winner by a land slide was ROOT BEER FLOATS!! I couldn't have been happier!! (I told you they were cool).  So I bought all the stuff the night before and was so excited for our party the next day.  Well the next day came and it started off on the wrong foot.  I slept through my alarm for the 1st time in ages and on top of that I had come down with a horrid cold and felt like an elephant was sitting on my head.  I couldn't call in sick.  IT WAS OUR ROOT BEER FLOAT PARTY!!  So I threw on some clothes and headed out.  My kids noticed right away that I was not feeling well so they were perfectly quiet all day and ran around getting me tissues and my water bottle when I needed them:).  When it was time for the root beer floats the kids again all sat quietly finishing up their work, they ALL said thank you individually as I handed them a cup.  Then they said thank you again as a class when they were all done.  I wanted to bring them treats everyday!! Maybe that is what they were after (they are pretty sharp)!  

Another example of the fun things that go on in room 28 happened a few days ago during math.  Tanner is the class clown and very outspoken.  He is always cracking jokes and everyone loves him.  He gets his work done and his jokes are never mocking or hurtful so for the most part I just laugh at him along with the class.  On this day we were playing a rounding memory game on our Smartboard.  Everyone wanted a turn and every hand was raised.  I noticed lately that I have a tendency, when this is the case, to only call on the boys in the class.  So today I was only calling on the girls. Tanner was weaving his hand and cracking jokes left and right.  Finally after I ignored his hand for several turns he calls out "Miss Roskelley, you NEVER pick me!!" I responded with "Well Tanner if you sit quietly and raise your hand then maybe you will get a turn."  So he actually did.  He sat there silently with his hand raised for 5 more turns (he must have really wanted to play).  So I said "OK, tanner:)"  As I said this he jumped up and yelled hurray!! The rest of the class chimed in with a cheer also.  Tanner then ran to the front high-fiving everyone who was sitting in the aisle.  He found a match and then ran back to his seat high-fiving everyone again.  At lunch that same day the teacher across the hall made a comment about how fun it sounded in my class.  Really it was nothing I did.  I just got a really great bunch of kids!!