Bumpers Were Made to Help a Brother Out

It's time for another episode of As Seen On the Bridge.  It sounds a little like a soap opera doesn't it?

This is a scene I see quite frequently around the city.

The first time I saw it I wondered what in the world was going on.  After observing for a minute or two, I realized that the first motorcyclist had broken down.  The second motorcyclist, most likely a stranger, came up behind the first and placed his foot on the first motorcyclist's foot pedal, thus using the power of his motorbike to propel himself and his new friend's bike forward.  They rode like this until they reached a repair shop or a gas station depending on what the problem was.  This is a fairly common occurance in the city and doesn't really surprise me any more.

It was, however, a surprise yesterday afternoon when I saw it happen with cars.

I was crossing the bridge when traffic began to slow down due to a taxi which had broken down.  The taxi directly behind it looked to be going around the first taxi when suddenly, he stopped and pulled in right behind him.  I thought perhaps he was going to give him a jump but instead he pulled up right behind the first taxi bumper to bumper and then began to push him all the way across the bridge.  Ingenious!

Now that's something you don't see every day!

Whatcha Doing at the Dunes?

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

"Making sand angels," said the wee little one.

Whatcha doing at the dunes? 

"Burying my fingers and toes," said the medium one.

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

"Sailing into the sunset," said the high flying one.

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

"Tooling around," said the fast driving ones.

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

"Chasing that runaway truck," said the little boy one.

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

"Sumo stylin' it," said the crazy jumping one.

Whatcha doing at the dunes?

 "Enjoying it! Relishing it! Drinking it all in," exclaimed the whole lot of them.

Clacker Mystery Solved

Remember this fabulous little toy?

I'm thinking it must have been cool in the late 80s early 90s because I was at the place where it hadn't quite reached annoying status.  It was just a fun little toy to play with when you were bored. 

Now I would consider it annoying!  How do I know this?  Well, for the last three years I have heard this clacking sound in my apartment.  I always thought that it was coming from outside in the trees and so I assumed it was a bird.  I began to wonder why God thought that the clacking sound was a cool sound for a bird because I wasn't feeling it.

Enter the days of poor to no internet access chez moi (this would be for approximately the last three months).  At the worst of times, I've been driven out into our little office library to connect my computer to the landline there hoping  for internet that moves a little faster than a snail's pace. 

It's here that the clacker mystery has been solved.
It's not the delightful call of a bird but rather the clacking of a gecko.  It's loud for such a little creature! I can hear the sound coming from behind the books and I know geckos are the only ones roaming around back there. 

I'm still wondering why God thought it was a cool sound to give them but I'm glad to have the mystery solved!

Blowing Bubbles and Writing

The last couple of weeks in Writer's Workshop has been all about process writing or "How To" writing.  I found this fun little craft and writing activity over at the Teacher Wife .  We started out by chewing Bubble Gum and discussing the process of how to blow a bubble with bubble gum.  Then I sent the students off to write it all down.  We worked all week, editing and perfecting our writing.  Then on Friday we made the craft.  Crafting with 26 First and Second Graders almost drove me over the edge!  Thank goodness Crystal was here to help me.  They turned out pretty darn cute.  I think these ones bear a striking resemblance to their makers.

Now I leave you with one important piece of advice gleaned from this First Grader's Writing. 

That's right friends, when you are all finished don't forget to

"Fow it in the trash!"

Noun Town

This is a winning idea for teaching nouns for any First and Second Grade teachers out there.  I ran across it two years ago online somewhere so this is the second year that I've used the Noun Town to teach my students about nouns.  This time around the town was far more developed. 

Here is how the town and the lessons progressed:

Day 1:  Introduction of nouns as people, places or things.  We added places to our town.

How about that school or the pet shop?

Day 2:  Reviewed the definition of nouns and added things into our town.

You have got to love the little frog and his frog house and palm tree.

Day 3:  Reviewed the definition of nouns and added some people into the town. 

Look at the lady swimming! It's my personal favorite! :)

Day 4:  We turned our focus towards plural nouns and discussed nouns that have "s" added on to show more than one.  I let the kids choose anything in the town and make one more of it.

Stoplights.

Day 5:  We discussed nouns that end with  s, sh, ch, or x which when made plural have an -es added on to the end.  We then went back to the town and using little post it notes of different colors we labeled the things that we had more than one of that had s or es endings.

Day 6:  We discussed nouns that have a whole new spelling when they are plural such as mouse and mice.  The kids had also discovered that nouns that end in y need to have the y changed to i before adding es so we went back to the town and labeled anything we found like this with two more colors of post-its.

Day 7:  We talked about nouns that show ownership (eg. the town's mini museum).  Then I gave the students a sentence strip and let them write a sentence using a possessive noun to describe something they saw in the town.

There you have it!  Noun Town!  This group was very creative with opening doors, windows and flaps on the mailboxes.  Can't wait to see what the next one looks like!

100 and Running the Factory

To celebrate the 100th Day of school, I asked my students to imagine what the teachers at our school will be doing in 100 years.  Lookie here...one of my students wasn't too far off.

This, after all, is one of my side jobs.  Okay, well, I don't make the coke but I make sure our staff lounge is stocked with coke, sprite and fanta every week.  So it looks like I will be developing this relationship with Coke as the years go by.  One thing I will tell you though is that the

"hot cokeacola"

AIN'T NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!

Endless Giggles

 Hey there, Jolly Giant!

When we put you together,

we had no idea that you would make us

chuckle

and

chortle

and

laugh until our little tummies hurt.

You may look as mean as a snake,

but we aren't fooled. 

We know that you just love patting us on the head,

holding our hands

and having us admire your teeny tiny giant feet.

 

You didn't quite meet dress code.
That was pretty embarassing and definitely, our mistake!

But now that you've got your snazzy green shorts and new shoes

you are definitely ready to have your picture made.

  So if you don't mind,

we're each gonna hug you in our own special way.

Then we'll all love on you together

because you have made us giggle endlessly these last two days!