Songs that Resignate with Kids

So this last week we were reading a story from our anthologies called Grandma's Records.  One part of the story talked about the grandma's favorite song and how whenever she heard it she would stop to listen to it.  We talked about why it was her favorite (It reminded her of the country she had immigrated from.).  Then I asked my kiddos if they ever had a song that they listened to over and over because it reminded them of something important.  I got the usual Utah answers: "I am a Child of God", etc.  Then one of the boys yelled out, "Broken Road by Rascal Flatts!"  As he was deathly serious, I paused and had to take a deep breath before I burst out laughing.  The thought going through my mind was that this student is eight years old!  Has he already found his soulmate?!?!?!

Tell Your Kids They're Smart!

Neuroscientist Sara Bengtsson, devised an experiment in which she manipulated positive and negative expectations of students while their brains were scanned and tested their performance on cognitive tasks. To induce expectations of success, she primed college students with words such as smart, intelligent and clever just before asking them to perform a test. To induce expectations of failure, she primed them with words like stupid and ignorant. The students performed better after being primed with an affirmative message.

Examining the brain-imaging data, Bengtsson found that the students' brains responded differently to the mistakes they made depending on whether they were primed with the word clever or the word stupid. When the mistake followed positive words, she observed enhanced activity in the anterior medial part of the prefrontal cortex (a region that is involved in self-reflection and recollection). However, when the participants were primed with the word stupid, there was no heightened activity after a wrong answer. It appears that after being primed with the word stupid, the brain expected to do poorly and did not show signs of surprise or conflict when it made an error. (See how playing the part of an optimist can help your health.)

A brain that doesn't expect good results lacks a signal telling it, "Take notice — wrong answer!" These brains will fail to learn from their mistakes and are less likely to improve over time. Expectations become self-fulfilling by altering our performance and actions, which ultimately affects what happens in the future
It was a good article, if you want to
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2074067,00.html#ixzz1O8IZ56ik

Firealarms and Farting Bees

So we had an earthquake drill today.  As we were walking outside after the "earthquake" stopped, the firealarm was going off.  It is loud and very annoying.  One of my girls shouted, "It sounds like a farting bumble bee!"  I chuckled :0), asking myself if she had ever heard a bumble bee fart?

Economics!

Today we had a local credit union come in and give the students a lesson on economics.  It was fun!  They put them into groups and pick a president for their paper chain making company.  Then the president gave each of them a job to do.  Then they gave them about 10 minutes to make a paperchain as long as they could get it.  It was fun to watch as they tried (and sometimes failed) to find the most efficient way to make paper chains.  In the end they got a dollar for each link in their chain.  Then they went back to their companies and split up the money.  They then got to spend their money in an auction.  I got to be a tax collector and if they were talking when they shouldn't be, I got to take a dollar.  I think I might have been having more fun than the kids! 

The kiddos learned about supply and demand, productivity, efficiency, and equilibrium.  It was a great activity!  If you live in Davis County and teach third grade, you should check out this program by Horizon Credit Union for your class!

The Taste of School Water

This morning a student got up to get a drink.  He suddenly says, "Gross!  It tastes like mascara!"  I then asked him if he had tasted mascara.  He hadn't, but he imagined it tasted like that water.  LOL :0)

Pregnant?

We're doing our morning routine and as we stand to do the pledge a boy sticks out his belly and rubs it saying, "I'm pregnant!"  Of course the whole class is rolling on the ground and I'm trying not to react because that would make it even more crazy.  I had to turn away and cough to hide my laugh.  It was great!  Then at lunch the same student comes in to get his coat and yells, "I'm Superman and I love dancing!"  Suffice it to say it was a day full of funny comments. :0)

Dear Parent,

I am your child's teacher not your thearapist.  Please don't tell me more than I really need to know.

Thank you,

Your Child's Teacher

Ever had a week where you ask yourself what you were thinking going into your current profession? Well, this week has been like that for me...My class is bouncing off the walls for no apparent reason and it's driving me crazy.  I just keep reminding myself that they are better than last years class and it will all be okay when they get it out of their systems.  In the meantime we take a lot of Brain Breaks and get them moving around and socializing with others.  It seems to help some.   If I have to listen to another groan or complaint I might just take a mental health day!

P.S. I'm doing great on my teacher goals so far!  Except the grading papers, which I intend to catch up on this weekend. :0)

Welcome to the Year 2011!

Well, it's a new year and just like other new years we spend some time in class talking about goals we would like to accomplish in the next 365 days. 
My goals as a teacher:

1. To keep my desk cleaned off by putting away things instead of just piling them up.
2. To keep up on my grading, so report card time doesn't stress me out too much.
3. To do more writing in our classroom.