Search results matching tags 'holidays' and 'teaching'

my second favorite holiday

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:22:00 GMT

Tomorrow is February 2nd, Groundhog Day! It is my favorite holiday (after Halloween, of course). These are some reasons why I love Groundhog Day so much:1) Punxsutawney Phil is so fat and cute.2) I get to read Geoffrey Groundhog saves the day to my classes, and offer the kids extra credit if they can tell me if Phil saw his shadow or not.3) I am fine if there is more winter, and fine if

You Might Be a Teacher Grinch If…

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 13:59:06 GMT

Does it seem like people are getting “Grinchier” the closer we get to the holidays? This time of year can be particularly stressful for teachers who have to juggle their own holiday preparations at home in addition to school holiday concerts, projects, report cards, assessments, and those dreaded holiday parties. Find out if you’re a teacher Grinch by taking the quiz below.

You might be a teacher Grinch if…

You complain about your students in the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You complain about parents in the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You complain about the principal in the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You complain about your co-workers in the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You complain about the gifts you receive from your students (5 points)
You make your students work on the last day of school before vacation (5 points)
You hoard holiday goodies from the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You re-gift presents you receive from your students to your co-workers or family (5 points)
You steal food from the refrigerator in the teacher’s lounge (5 points)
You steal decorations from the teacher’s lounge to put in your house. (5 points)
You send a note home to the parents listing your favorite gifts from the most expensive store in town (10 points)
You bring store bought cookies to the staff cookie exchange (10 points)
You bring a fruitcake to the staff holiday party (10 points)
You give your students jerky at the class party and tell them it’s Rudolph (10 points)
You have your students write letters to Santa and return them marked “undeliverable” (10 points)

Evaluate your score using the following “Grinch Scale”:

0-20: You really are a heel
21-50: You’re as cuddly as a cactus
51-75: You’re a nasty, wasty skunk!
76-100: The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: “Stink! Stank! Stunk!”

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Photo Credit: Kohl’s

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Holiday Traditions

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:00:19 GMT

Living in a very diverse metropolitan area I have had Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in my classroom- all at the same time. As you can imagine, navigating the holidays can be tricky, I am very careful to be inclusive instead of exclusive. Our focus during the month of December is fairy tales with an emphasis on The Gingerbread Man. We make gingerbread houses out of milk cartons and sparkly snowflakes as gifts for our parents. If a student celebrates Christmas they can put the snowflake in their tree, but if not it has a magnet on the back which is perfect for holding papers on the refrigerator. One year I was explaining the different uses for the snowflake when one of my more interesting students, let’s call him Sammy, spoke up and shared a story I will never forget.

Sammy: We don’t have a tree.

Me: That’s o.k., lots of people don’t have trees; you can put the snowflake on your refrigerator.

Sammy: Maybe I can put it on the Christmas Fish.

Me: (intrigued and thinking maybe this is a cultural or religious tradition I haven’t heard of) Wow! You have a Christmas Fish? Can you tell us more about it?

Sammy: Well, my mommy puts him on the wall and he sings Jingle Bells!
(I now realize he’s describing a Big Mouth Billy Bass!)

Another Student: Where does Santa leave your presents?

Sammy: He leaves presents under the fish but we have to turn him off or he will scare Santa away!

Me: Well that sounds really cool! Thanks for sharing Sammy!

Photo credit: Amazon

I quickly made a modification to Sammy’s snowflake and put a large loop at the top so it could hang around Billy’s neck.

The last day of school before our Christmas vacation some of the students brought me presents. Working with students and families from around the world always makes for very interesting gifts, but this is one year I will never forget. One of the students- not Sammy, gave me a Big Mouth Billy Bass!

The moral of this story is embrace the beliefs and traditions of all the students in your classroom and never say “that’s really cool” unless you’re prepared to write a thank you note that reads “thank you for the lovely singing fish”.

What are some things you do in your classroom during the month of December to include all students?

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National Ask a Stupid Question Day!

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:25:00 GMT

Let's Celebrate!!! Today is National Ask a Stupid Question Day, although being a high school teacher, it seems that just about everyday is Ask a Stupid Question Day. So for me, this will be just a normal, typical day.

Anyway, Ask a Stupid Question Day is celebrated in the United States, usually by school students and teachers. This holiday is for taking the opportunity to speak up and ask all those questions you've always wanted to ask but you didn't because you thought it was a stupid question. So go ahead and ask all those questions you were afraid to ask. Let this holiday be the day you find out many answers to all your many questions. If it's a stupid question, don't worry about it, It's ask a stupid question day so it's alright.

Believe it or not, Teachers created this holiday. According to holidayinsights.com, "the roots of this special day go back to the 1980s. At the time, there was a movement by teachers to try to get kids to ask more questions in the classroom. The kids would then ask stupid questions to make the teachers happy.

I for one, am not a big fan of this holiday. But I plan to take advantage of it. For every stupid question I get asked, I am going to ask a stupid question right back. I observed Todd Jacobson and Clay Arnold's several times over the last few years. They are the kings of asking stupid questions to their students (Although they do it unintentionally -- It is just the way they are.) I have taken notes and I am ready!!! Let the stupid questions begin!

4th of July Worksheets

HaveFunTeachingDotCom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:06:00 GMT

Free 4th of July Worksheets. Check out these Fun July 4th Worksheets, Fourth of July Activities, 4th of July Crafts and Independence Day Worksheets. The Free-Worksheets.com Blog is here to give you everything you need to celebrate the 4th of July.

4th of July Worksheets – Click Here

Here are some great 4th of July Worksheet resources and websites for having fun on the 4th of July:

Have Fun Teaching – 4th of July Worksheets, 4th of July Coloring Pages, 4th of July Crossword Puzzle, 4th of July Clip Art, 4th of July Posters, 4th of July Paper
Color Me Good – 4th of July Coloring Pages, American Eagle Coloring Pages, Fireworks Coloring Pages, Flag Coloring Pages, Patriotic Coloring Pages, Statue of Liberty Coloring Pages, United States Coloring Pages, 4th of July Writing Paper.

Holiday Worksheets

HaveFunTeachingDotCom — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:27:00 GMT

Free Holiday Worksheets for teachers. If you are looking for fun holiday activities, holiday worksheets, and holiday coloring pages, check out Have Fun Teaching. Create a fun holiday classroom environment for your kids with these holiday worksheets.

Free Holiday Worksheets - Click Here

Holiday worksheets and holiday activities:

Thanksgiving Worksheets

HaveFunTeachingDotCom — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:51:00 GMT

Free Thanksgiving activities, worksheets, and coloring pages for kids. Color Me Good has over 6,000 coloring pages and tons of holiday Thanksgiving coloring sheets. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Worksheets - Click Here

Thanksgiving Coloring Pages - Click Here

Veteran's Day Worksheets

HaveFunTeachingDotCom — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:12:00 GMT

Here are some free Veterans Day worksheets for teachers and kids.

http://www.havefunteaching.com/holiday-worksheets/veterans-day

You can also check out the Free-Worksheets.com Blog and get TONS of free Veteran's Day worksheets, Veterans Day activities, and Veteran's Day Lesson Plans.

http://free-worksheets.com/veterans-day-worksheets/

Am I still 'fit to be a Teacher'?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:07:00 GMT

This term has been a wopping eleven weeks long. This is a tongue-in-cheek look at my state of mind as a teacher by the end of the term!

In the April edition of NZEI Rourou, a small insert asks the following question: Are you of "Good Character" and "Fit to be a Teacher"?

It continues:

The Teachers Council defines "good character and is fit to be a teacher" as someone who

a) 'has a police vet satisfactory to the Council';

Yeah, this I can attest to, after months of waiting. I applied for my Police vet in November for immigration purposes. (I had to have it done through the South African department of internal affairs, although I hadn't set foot in the country since moving here in 2005.) After months of telephone calls, payments to various individuals (I won't go into details) and desperate emails to family members living in Pretoria, I now have the police vet. Actually, I don't have it. I sent it straight off to NZ Immigration. I've just thought of something: I hope the Council finds it satisfactory, once I get it back!

b) 'displays respect for persons, for cultural and social values of Aotearoa New Zealand, for the law and for the views of others.'

Well, I have a bit of a confession to make here. While I do respect said persons, cultures and values of Aotearoa and also the law... the views of some others are not always to my taste! And by the 11th week of the term, I find myself, well, a trifle outspoken. I don't think I actually always display the respect I feel. As a matter of fact, what I might be displaying is considerable disdain at some people's views. (I'm thinking: That's ridiculous! I don't agree. What a nincompoop! Oh, no, don't ask me to do that stupid admin again. It's too much work / too hard / too boring. I don't wanna!) I'm not normally a negative kind of person, but I seem to have undergone a personality change of late. Hope no-one gossips about me to the council! I probably just need some rest!

c) 'upholds the public and professional reputation of teachers;

I haven't been dancing on the tables recently, so I reckon I could say 'Yes' to this one. Fat chance of putting the reputation of anyone at stake, including myself, with the work load we teachers have! Life has pretty much been school, school, school for the past 11 weeks. Note to self: Go somewhere, over the rainbow, where no-one knows you're a teacher, and have a wild party during the holidays. Stay up until at least midnight. Be wild. Throw all caution to the winds, and go to bed without flossing.

d) 'promotes and nurtures the safety of learners within his or her care;'

Yes, they've got the 'his or her' part right. I don't know whether I'm Arthur or Martha by week 11. Regarding the 'safety of learners' I've told my learners all about Cybersafety, Road Safety, Water Safety, not talking to strangers (except while blogging) and saying 'No' when it's appropriate. I've encouraged them to wear their hats all summer (repeatedly) and their shoes on rainy days. I've asked, cajoled and commanded them to 'walk, not run'. I have reminded them over and over and over again to wash, blow and wipe the appropriate body parts. How do you 'nurture the safety of learners'? I've nurtured the learners themselves, though. I've even been pretty patient. Well, mostly.

e) 'is reliable and trustworthy in carrying out duties;'

Oh Dear! Does that include Road Patrol? Shh, don't tell anybody, but I forgot to go out the other day to check on the duty parent. No-one noticed. Does that make me unreliable? I can say uncategorily that I am trustworthy, though. You can trust me to put my foot in my mouth at least once a day. You can trust me to forget to check that my window monitor has closed the windows. You can trust me to steal a few moments of quiet before I go out to field duty. You can even trust me to wait until after school before I read my RSS feeds. Except today. I have to confess, I sneaked a peak today.

f) 'is mentally and physically fit to carry out the teaching role safely and satisfactorily.'

I dunno...! Kids drive you crazy on rainy days. And windy days. And hot days, too.

Physically I'm not doing too badly. I do count kilojoules and at least once a fortnight I remember to wear my pedometer. (So far my upper limit has been 7500 steps per day.) Not completely sedentary. I have the occasional wack at a golf ball at the driving range. I even beat my teenage kids at mini-golf the other day. Much to their chagrin!

Mentally? Is it OK to keep on babbling away, while you have a group of kids looking at you in awe and wonderment? No, it's not the riveting lesson I'm teaching that's creating the awe. It's the fact that I've absent-mindedly reverted to my home language - which they don't understand. Am I still mentally OK, if all I want, after a term of hard work, is to crawl under the covers with a soppy, mind-numbing, zero-literary-value-at-all love story? (I've been reading kid's books day after day, week after week. I have to progress to adult fiction slowly, step-by-step.) Can the snappy, grumpy, growly, quick-to-criticize, slow-to-smile, cannot-be-pleased-even-by-a- chocolate-peace-offering person I have become (after a hectic first term) still qualify as 'fit to be a teacher'?

I realise that I do have some introspection to do about my character and desirability as a teacher. But first I'm going home, pouring a big glass of red wine, and relaxing with my feet up! I'll worry about the laundry/ planning / groceries / kid's squabbles / term goals / classroom displays next week. When I'm on holiday!