Number Wall

This is a post from one of my encounters last school year.  I mentioned it in yesterday's post so I figured I should re-post it in order for you to understand what I was talking about.  Here you have it "Intervention and the elusive number wall!"

So intervention is a time when you work with a few students for a period of time when they need extra help.  I had three kids today and we were working on sight words, letter sounds, and numbers.  Sight words went okay and letter sounds weren't too bad either.  I did have to separate the kids at one point because they would look at each other's white boards and cheat instead of trying it themselves, they even copied each other's pictures, but whatever, they were getting it.  The best and most frustrating was when we did numbers.  I would say a number and they would have to write it and show me. Not too bad, right?   I didn't think so seeming that the numbers were on the wall they were staring at.  Here's what happened:

Me: "Okay guys, write the number 12."

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Me: "If you don't know count the dominoes on the wall and write the number that is at the top."

Kids: "Okay. 1, 2. . . 11, 12, 13. . ."

Me: "No stop.  We're only going to twelve.  Once you reach twelve write the number."

Kids: "Okay.  1, 2. . . 11, 12, 13. . ."

Me: "We only want twelve, don't go past it."

When they finally understood that we were only going to twelve, they then wrote down numbers such as 13 and 14, because those are definitely the number 12.

Moving right along. . .

Me: "Okay guys, write the number 5."

They were done in maybe 3 seconds.  Well it's good to know that you are good with the first five numbers.

Me: "Very good!  Okay, write the number 20."

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Me: "Count the dominoes."

Kids: "Okay.  1, 2, 3. . .19, 20, 21 ,22."

Me: "Stop.  We can't count past 20 if that's the number we want.  When you reach 20, stop and write the number."

The best part about all of this is that there are only 20 dominoes on the wall, so the fact that they are going past the highest number on the wall is baffling and hilarious, yet frustrating in the moment.

Kids: "Okay.  1, 2, 3. . .20, 21."

Me: "No, stop. write the number 20."

Kids: "Oh, okay."

They write.

Me: "Erase, 20 does not start with 1.  Look at the dominoes."

Finally one gets it and, like clock work, the other two copy.

Oh Kinder!

The Eleventh and Twelfth Days of Oh Kinderness!

Seeming that it has taken forever and a day for me to write these, I decided to write about days 11 and 12 as opposed to just day 12.  Enjoy the madness. (Oh and I decided to keep with the backwards theme).

On the twelfth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, twelve students misunderstanding a dozen.

Some of you may remember from my Oh Kinder! posts from facebook the kinder counting wall.  If not I'll refresh your memory.  I was trying to get students to count to a certain number using the number line on the wall.  Students would get to the number and count past or skip the desired number and it was super frustrating, yet funny (I'll copy the post later for your reading pleasure).  Anyway, this was a similar situation.  I believe I was in a first grade class and we were moving through a practice test.  One of the questions came up about how many eggs come in a standard egg carton.  The question looked something like this:

        Quandora has a carton of eggs.  How many eggs are in the carton?

        A) 14

        B) 6

        C) A dozen

        D)3

Oh, and there was also a picture of a carton of eggs.  Looking at this question I didn't think it would be too hard to answer, but I'm working with first graders, their minds are still molding.  So here's what went down:

        Me: So how many eggs are in the carton?

        Dolly: 7!

        Me: Is seven an option?

        Dolly: No.

        Me: then how can that be the answer?

        Dolly: I don't know.

        Me: Remember, it's one of the answers shown.  Count how many eggs are in the carton.

        Broseph: 14!

        Me: Did you count the eggs?

        Broseph: No.

        Me: Well count the eggs and then give me an answer.

        Bloquita: 12!

        Me: Right, but do we have 12 as an option?

        Bloquita: No.

        Me: No, we don't.  But which option could be 12?  Three are numbers we know, one is not.

        Bloquita: B!

        Me: Is six the same as 12? 

        Bloquita: No.

        Me: Then how can six be the answer?

        Bloquita shrugs.

This went on for a bit.  They finally figured it out as I guided them through the fact that 3, 6, and 14 do not equal 12, so we finally decided that a dozen was acceptable.  So fabulous!

On the eleventh day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, eleven practices of this song (the original).

I actually had to practice this song with a couple of classes, one kinder and one first grade.  The first grade class did a great job, kinder not so much.  I don't think the kinder class had learned all of the days yet, or if they had, they struggled to remember.  It also might have been the fact that they are still learning to read and couldn't follow the board very well.  Whatever the case, I basically sang the song by myself while the kinders made strange grunting, humming, and screeching noises.  Needless to say, first grade did way better.  So this particular teacher had cards for the students to look at.  To make the song into more of an activity, I chose twelve students to be the days.  Each got a card and had to raise it when it was their day.  So we went through the song like normal, but when we got to the fifth day they tried to sing it the same as the other days.  Well this just wouldn't do.  Those five golden rings are super special, I don't particularly know why nor do I care, but those kids needed to sing their hearts out for that day.  So I sang it for them and told them that traditionally the fifth day is the loudest.  The first couple of times they would look at each other for approval, seeing if everyone else would follow along.  By eight maids a milking they had it down and by twelve drummers drumming I think my ears were bleeding.  At nine ladies dancing we closed the door because the sound was echoing in the hallways.  Oops.  The boys made a competition out of it, yelling in each others' faces, I'm sure spit flying into their eyes and the girls sang at the top of their lungs and laughed.  When we were all finished I imagined the teacher practicing with them the next day, unaware of the ear-piercing monster I had unleashed.  Oh well, at least they know the song and can sing, right?

Oh Kinder!

The Thirteenth Day of Oh Kinderness!

Well, here we go everyone, starting with the thirteenth day of Oh Kinderness:


On the thirteenth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, thirteen students laughing at my "BURN!"


So this story is definitely one of my all-time favorites!  It is up there with the kids miscounting on the number wall and the phone number on the hand boy (which, by the way, he was in this class).  I was teaching in a sixth grade class and these kids were beyond nutty this particular day and quite disrespectful, a typical sub day.  At most of the school sites where I sub the sixth grade students change classes, which means I have two to three different groups of students throughout the day.  For some reason there is always a really good group, a not so good group, and a "I wish I had a yard stick to slap on this table" group.  The group I am talking about is the yard stick group.  Things were getting out of hand and I had just about had it, so I gave a short spurt on my whistle.  I know, I know, this was a terrible thing to do because it shows a lack of control, but I did what I had to do (sorry to all of you educators out there).  Immediately after one of the students who had been pushing my buttons throughout the day looked at me and uttered these words, with much attitude may I add, "Oooo, you're not supposed to blow a whistle in class.  You're gonna be in trouble."  Wrong answer missy.  Fire was already burning in my bones and she just made it spread.  I looked back at her and without missing a beat I replied, "Well I just did."  Almost immediately another button pusher, probably the worst one in class, turned around amidst the oo's and ah's, put his hand up and said, "Oo BURN!  That's a burn!"  It took everything in me not to burst out laughing and give him a high five, so instead. . . I burned him back :)  My response was "Button pusher, what makes you think I would give you a high five?!  Put your hand down."  Of course, everyone then laughed at him and we were able to get back to the lesson.


Word to the wise children: Don't mess with Miss S.


Oh Kinder!

The Twelve Days of Christmas After Christmas

So before I started telling these stories, I thought it might be beneficial to re-post this.   Enjoy!

Well hello everyone who has been waiting months and months for me to do this.  It has been a pretty crazy semester and I am very sorry for not writing anything.  I have many stories saved up and I thought that I would stay in the Christmas spirit (seeming that Christmas is over) and give you a preview of a few of the stories to come.  I have decided that there is no better way to share than in true, musical fashion.  So here we go:

The Twelve Days of Christmas, or as I like to call it, The Baker's Dozen Days of Oh Kinderness (I suggest you read through once and then start from the bottom and work your way to the top and sing the song for the big finish):

On the first day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, a run in with the phone number hand boy.

On the second day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, two teens asking if I'm married.

On the third day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, three insect questions.

On the fourth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, four office write ups.

On the fifth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, FIVE dog dying dreams!

On the sixth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, six sexual harassment discussions.

On the seventh day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, seven grabby pizza sauce hands.

On the eight day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, eight lunch line converstaions.

On the ninth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, nine large squash stories.

On the tenth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, ten children running with scissors.

On the eleventh day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, eleven practices of this song (the original).

On the twelfth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, twelve students misunderstanding a dozen.

On the thirteenth day of Oh Kinderness my students gave to me, thirteen students laughing at my "BURN!"

Don't worry about this not making sense, it will later :)

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, full of family, rest, and love.  Have a wonderful new year and be ready for these stories to come to life as 2012 begins.

Love you all.

Britt (Miss Salley)

Oh Kinder! Gone Blogger

Well everyone,
Here we are in 2012.  A new year and a time for something new.  Lauren has been pushing me to do this for quite some time now and I figured why not start 2012 out with a BANG!  Oh Kinder! has officially gone blogger!  The content remains the same, but the home has changed.  I hope you enjoy it and I hope that I can keep up with my posting :/
Can't wait to share my stories of Oh Kinder! with you.