Love

Each time I meet a group of students, I think: There is no way that I'll ever be able to love these students as much as I loved the last students.
And then God takes my heart and opens up more space for more children.

Ephesians 3:20-21~ I love that My God goes above and beyond all that 

I could think and ever hope for!

Author Party (final post)

The final blog containing another wonderful tale about the Digestive System.
Presenting:

Munchie's Journey

I dedicate this book to HCA and Christ.

"Hi, we are the Munchies. There are four of us."
"I'm Captain Cheeto."
"I'm Sergeant Sun Chip."
"I'm Private Pretzel."
"And I'm Dummy Dorito."
P.S.- Dummy Dorito is new.

"Today was just a normal day of walking around our camp, then something happened. We were called to the General of the Munchies. He said we had to be digested. I gladly accepted that offer, but then he said that we had to bring our newest recruit: (Hint) Dorito. Well the good news is that I could bring two other men. I brought Pretzel and Sun Chip. When we got out of the camp, we ended up in some disgusting mouth."

"Then the tongue pushed us down the esophagus. It felt like we were going down and endless hole. While we were falling, Pretzel was singing some strange song about us falling down the esophagus AND screaming."

"We finally landed in the stomach. Well I really don't want to tell General Munchie what we did in there. We kind of threw a pool party. It was fun!"

"Then out of nowhere, a giant hurricane made us go down a drain of some sort. The current was so strong that it snapped Pretzel in half. Also Sun Chip got separated from Dorito and me. I think we won't be seeing him anymore."

"Then we figured out that we were in the large intestine, and it, well, it leads to the rectum. But the current got slower, and we had to swim hard to get there faster. I didn't really care because I was a good swimmer. But Dorito wasn't. He was horrible. Lucky he had me with him, otherwise, he would have been killed."

"Finally after what seemed like an entire day... we got out. I was so happy I didn't care how I smelled. We got back to our camp and got promoted. I am now First Lieutenant General and Dorito is now Lieutenant Captain."
THE END

The Wonders of God in Creation

As a young camper at Greenwood Hills Bible Camp in Chambersburg, PA, I was introduced to a book that I will hold dearly for the rest of my life. It is titled: The Wonders of God by William MacDonald. It is a compilation that the late Bill MacDonald wrote containing just what it says, Wonderful things that God has done in Creation, in Providence and in Redemption. The stories contained in it are all 100% true. 


Today there was no question that I would share just a snippet or two of stories about God's amazing creation when teaching a Bible lesson in the afternoon on our field trip to the local bird preserve. 

As a professional teacher for only a few months, I have already learned that sometimes lessons will change and touch me more than I ever expect. And as I taught this lesson three times in a row this afternoon, my heart was so overwhelmed with God's amazing and profound Creation! What a wonderful God I get to serve. 


Psalm 8:3-4~ "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have ordained. What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?"


Parents, I recommend you pick up a copy of this book and add it to your family library. Even by reading one story a day, I truly believe that this book can draw and bless your hearts to worship the one true God!

Author Party (Post 2)

My students' stories continue to amaze me. Presenting:

The Meaty Race!

I dedicate this book to all who read this, Mr. Modica,
family & friends.

Once there were 2 meatballs. Their names were: Meaty & Ball. One day they decided to race. To THE MOUTH! They made it to the esophagus. It was long.
While they were going down Meaty said, "Hey, I think we've reached the stomach!"

"Ouch!" "That hurt." Ball exclaimed.
"Hey! We're stuck in the stomach!" Meaty shouted.
Well they were stuck for 2 days, then off they went. Now they were in the small intestine.

"Wow!" shouted Ball.
"It's huge!" exclaimed Meaty.
6 days passed, and they've just reached the large intestine.
"Great," whispered Ball. Meaty is winning.
Day 7- They've reached the rectum.
"WEE! PLOP!"

They're in the toilet. FLUSH! Now they're in the sewer.
"10 FEET TO VICTORY!" shouted Ball.
Too late! The sewer gator ate them.

THE END!

I hope that I never meet the Sewer Gator. This gave me quite the laugh. My students are so creative!

Author Party

On Friday, we had an Author/Illustrator Party in our classroom. It was amazing! The writing process is a wonderful thing as I watched these young minds shape their thoughts around a fresh idea and work and work at it, then the moment of completion comes along with great pride in all that they have put into their projects. I thought it would be a wonderful way to wrap up our school year by celebrating our final writing project and actually writing books. We had a party where each student was able to share their work with some buddies, and then with the entire class. There was food, guests, and this was truly a great event!
I may be publishing some of their work to the blog in my "spare" time this week as school wraps up. When I asked the student who wrote the first book (below) if I could publish her book, her eyes grew round as saucers. I asked, "Can I publish this to my blog?" She paused for quite a while...
"YES!" She replied. So it is with great pride that I showcase:

The Diary of a Nectarine.



Day 1: I have been in this box forever! (Okay, okay- two minutes).
Since a nectarine cannot tell time, I don't know. It is really dark in here.
Ah! Bright light! Really bright light! Ah!



Day 2: I was just put on sale for $2.00 each nectarine. Is that
cheap or what? I also met some friends: There's Nadine, Nora,
Natasha, and Norris. There is a person coming towards me!
Oh wait, nevermind she is going to the apple container, not
the nectarine container. Humph.



Day 3: I was bought from WalMart today along with 6 apples,
2 other nectarines (besides me), 2 bunches of bananas, some
grapes and some raspberries.



Day 4: I was put in a fruit bowl today. Oww! Hey get off me!
I can hardly breathe! Move it! Hey, what's that touching me?!
Oh it's a hand. I never knew nectarines had hands! Oh, it's a person!
It's a kid! Ah! She is pealing me! Ah!



She popped me into her mouth! Ah! Crunch. Oww! Crunch!
Hey, that hurts! Where am I? Crunch. Ah! I have to get out!
Crunch. It's dark in here! Gulp. Ah. Finally out of pain.



Day 5: I am in line to get tickets to go down the Esophagus Express.
Hopefully I will meet a friend. The food in front of me is a gross looking banana.
He's all brown and moldy and looks old. He also has glasses. He must be old.
*10 minutes later*
I am at the front of the line! I am going to get tickets right now!



I am waiting to board the Esophagus Express. The train hasn't
come yet. Honk! Honk! Wait, the train is here! It's all pink and red.
Eww. I am going on the train!



I met a friend. No, sorry actually two. Their name's are Amy
the Apple and Nancy the Nectarine. I am sitting by them right
now. They say "Hi."



Day 6: I am in the stomach staying at a really fancy and cool hotel.
I am going to stay here for the night. The hotel is called: The Stomach.
Isn't that a weird name? Well it actually matches up because we are in
the stomach. Yawn! Sigh. It's getting late. I think I am going to go to bed.
Good night!



Day 7: I am late! I am going to be late! I need to check out of the
hotel and be done with this place!
I am at the train station to leave to go down the small and
large intestine. I am getting in line to order tickets.



Phew. Finally at the front of the line. "One ticket please," I told
the apple. "Here you go," he answered. He gave me the ticket,
and I ran onto the big, long train. Wait, wrong train. I ran off.
An announcement announced- "There is going to be a slight
delay for the Intestine Express Train A." Oh no! I will have to wait.
*1 hour later*
I am still waiting for the train to arrive. Nevermind. It's here!
I am on the train now and in the large intestine. The train will arrive
to the rectum shortly. Wait one minute. The train is going to keep
on going and fall into a lake! This is not good. I have to get off! I know
this sounds crazy, but I am going to jump off this train, or maybe just
reverse it.



Day 8: I ended up jumping off the train. Whatever. I am walking
down the train tracks and now I am finally back in the stomach.
(To tell the truth, I didn't jump off the train, I got the captain to stop.)
Rumble. What was that?! Rumble. Earthquake! Wait, Tornado!
The huge tornado sucked me up. Eww! It's all gooey and icky.
Goodbye Digestive System! Ugh! I ache all over! I am covered
with goo. I am breathing heavily. I am going to.....



Look very closely at the picture... I think you can figure out what happens here.

 I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. What a creative writer! I want this student to publish some of their work as they get older. I am so proud!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Prepping a Mother's Day project wasn't easy because there are two kinds of moms:
1. Those who love their child's artwork, but prefer not to accumulate it at home.
2. Those who love their child's artwork, and it makes up their entire decorating scheme.

These are the two spectrums that I have observed and read about over the years. I love both kinds and those in between. Being that I grew up with a pretty standard #2 Mom- (I love you Mom!), I find myself struggling with saving or disposing of the artwork that I receive... even if it is just a few scribbles on a page that a child produced during indoor recess. I remind myself that the amount of love that I have for children doesn't have to equal the amount of space that their artwork takes up in my home. All that being said, we did make homemade flowers, and the students enjoyed this project very much! We wrote notes about what we appreciate and love about our mothers and made flowers to go with them. I am posting a picture of all of the flowers put together below. You get to enjoy them from a few angles.

Happy Mother's Day!

Quality Picture Books

All of you could probably rattle off a dozen or so picture books that were among your favorites growing up. I loved The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, The Mitten by Jan Brett; I love books by Dr. Seuss, and anything about Curious George and Amelia Bedelia. I think we could all agree that the picture books that make us laugh quickly become our favorites. 

In our classroom right now we are writing creative narratives on the digestive process from the food's perspective. My students have written stories and currently spend their time working on illustrations to go with these stories. We are going to assemble them into books next week. I am SO EXCITED! Next Friday we are having an author/illustrator party complete with guests from around the school and lots of delicious food. 


In light of this big undertaking, we have been reading lots of quality picture books. Just to name a few: we read The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco and The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

And today we read one of my new favorites: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead. 

The students were laughing out loud at these illustrations and kept asking me to go back so that they could continue to enjoy them and laugh. Talk about heart-warming.

Character Cans

Character Cans: I found this idea in a Mailbox magazine from ten years ago, and I was pretty excited about pursuing it with my students. They enjoyed this detour from the regular Reading Response Journal, and their projects turned out quite fabulous!
Their Character Cans had to include the following:
1. It was to be a character from the book that they have been reading during silent reading time.
2. They had to draw a picture of their character using the descriptions in the book to help them.
3. Then they had to glue that picture to the outside of a can and write the title of the book, the author, and the name of their character. Some of them added quite a few illustrations to their cans.
4. Inside their can, they had to put 7 symbols or draw pictures that showed what their character is like.

On Friday, in pairs, they presented their character cans to one another. I took lots of pictures. Check out how some of their cans turned out:

Free Write Creativity

In class today I gave my students thick packets full of creative writing topic ideas. I allowed them ten minutes to work on a topic of their choice. It was a free write activity that they enjoyed very much. Here are some examples of their work. This really highlights how creative they are. Enjoy!

Pretend you are an inventor. What would you invent and what would be its use?
If I was an inventor, I would invent the no gravity pack. So what you do is put on the backpack, then press the little green button that says START. So then if you jump you will go up a little slow then you float back down safe. So if you want to do a flip you can.


If you could design the coolest yard or play area for yourself, what would it look like? How big would it be?
If I had a play area it would be as big as the Willis Tower. On every floor there would be different activities and there would be a water slide that went down the big building on the outside. To go up there would be escalators and elevators. One floor there would be a trampoline. Since I do not know how many floors are on the Willis Tower, I will just say there are 40 floors. On the first floor there would be trampolines and bouncy houses. On the second floor there would be a big pool and water slides and a bunch of water-ish activities. On the third floor there would be carnival rides (except a ferris wheel because it is too big.) On the fourth floor there would be games. On the fifth floor there would be playgrounds. On the sixth floor there would be miniature golf. 


If I could have a holiday that everyone could celebrate, what would it be and what would people do to celebrate?
The holiday would be Childrens' Day. All you do is celebrate your children and do whatever they want to do. You do buy everything they want to buy. It will be tough, but the holiday lasts for 5 weeks! Everyday you get 5 seconds of break time.
Childrens' Day is a child's dream. I would want to go to all the fun places. These are fun places: amusement parks, rides, water parks, Disney land & world. I could go to HollyWood and meet famous people. The parents would never run out of money. I love Childrens' Day!