from the porches

prompt boxes

Today I let the second graders use AlphaSmart computers to type expository or narrative papers.  We only do this about four times a year simply because the students will not be tested by keyboarding, but by pencil writing and it is almost spring break.

Do I let them write from boxes?  Or do I let them use AlphaSmart computers?  I was in a dilemma.  I finally thought:  Both.  After all, these little guys are almost third graders.

      

After Merry Jennifer and Sam married and moved to Miami I found all these cute little boxes with Dove candy in them.   "What do I do with these?"  I wondered.  By now the Dove candies were white with age so I called MJ in Miami.  "Do you want these boxes with Dove candy in them?"

"No, Mother.  Throw them out," she said. 

But if you know teachers, we throw NOTHING out.  So I ate ALL the White candy and save the boxes.

Then I remembered all the miniature collections I had.  So I figured,  "I'll put these little miniatures in these cute little boxes and let the children write about them."

      

 Boy, were they a hit!  The kids went nuts about the boxes.  They couldn't figure out which box to write about first.  In the meantime I bought other miniatures.

      

I bought animals, action figures and even a tiny Bible at Michaels.  Some of these little toys cost me $5.00-$6.00 a piece.  I kept them in a double layered tackle box and fishing boxes.

Anyway, for years the first and second graders have had the priviledge of writing from the boxes.

      

But today the children were allowed to write from the boxes AND on the AlphaSmarts.

      

They absolutely loved it. 

      

They did not play with the toys and what I learned was that children who have poor handwriting skills typed a better story on the AlphaSmarts.

      

So all in all, it was a wonderful day in my writing classes for second graders!

can you see

This morning I was a little frustrated with two of my "new" reading groups of third graders.

      

As most of these children read aloud to me, they stumbled upon words and misread words and inserted words that weren't there.  Finally, I asked,  "How many of you need to wear glasses?"

Do you know that six out of eight of these children were prescribed reading glasses; and yet, only one girl wore hers.

      

I asked each of these children why they were not wearing their glasses and told them that maybe, just maybe, that was why they were in remediation groups.

      

Then I wondered if they could see the pecan trees leafing out...or the petals on the flowers.

      

When it got to the bottom line, the children told me that either their glasses were broken or too little for their big heads; but one reason I despised was,  "The other kids will call me names."

I know this is true of children.  They can be cruel.  So I asked the one girl with her glasses on,  "Do children make fun of you?  Do they call you names?"  She told me they did not. 

Then I posed the question,  "Would they laugh if you read out loud this sentence, "My dog persimmoned through the bush."

They all agreed the others would laugh.  I then told them that when they mis-read words, it sounds just as ridiculous.

They're all thinking about our discussion.  I have sent two forms home for possible help from the Lion's Club.  The saddest excuse was,  "My mama doesn't care if I can't see.  She don't have the money."

lizard

      

                                     Sunday morning lizard

 We saw this lizard outside of Petco this morning.  He was basking on a tree branch and he watched me closely to see if I was going to reach out to him.  But I know better.  Let lizards lie.

flower bed

      

We are getting a new flower bed in front of the house.  Two women worked for three days in the dirt planting colorful flowers for our enjoyment.

      

We have annuals and perennials.  I don't know the names of most of the flowers, but will by the time they are finished. 

      

We got a heavy rainstorm yesterday and are expecting another one this afternoon.

      

A few of the flowers got battered around by the downpour.

      

The women installed an irrigation system set on a timer, which will be perfect for the long hot summer days.

       

 Check out the bumblebee in this next photograph. 

      

By far it was the largest bumblebee I had ever seen.

When the flower garden is complete, I will post more photographs.

if you're happy and you know it

"If you're Happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."

Yes, mam.  It is Friday afternoon and the beginning of a glorious weekend.  Our school must have had about twelve teachers out today.  Lucky them.  But I was there.  It seems I only have about a day and three-quarters available for "sick leave" until the end of May.  So I am plugging away with six (6) small reading groups and two writing classes a day.  I'm thinking maybe somebody has changed my job description.

But, I'm having a good time because we're on the downhill slide.  Wait.  That would be the downhill

S..

             l...

                               i..

                                                  d..

                                                                      e....

And then it's Summer!  Yea!  Yea!  Only 38 or 39 school days left.

And because I am so happy I'll show you a picture of plants being planted in front of my house.

      

The only other time we had landscaping done in our yard was when Merry Jennifer and Sam married.

I'm saving the before and after pictures for when the project is completed.

Have a great weekend.

happy

Here are a few things that make me happy today:

      

                          The Cherokee roses are blooming.

      

      

               Check out this Cherokee rose vine.  Looks deadly to me.

      

             I'm also happy that we got a nice gentle rain day before yesterday. 

      

                  Don't you know the plants loved that rain as much as I did.

Also, the pecan trees are budding.  It is official.  Winter is finally over.

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

get outta' town

This afternoon I was teaching a small group of four students.  Somehow the subject of "Mayor" came up.  I told the children that my husband was Mayor of Fort White, just in case they didn't know.

"Get outta' town!"  one girl shouted.

Another girl put both hands over her heart and said,  "So you're the Mayor's wife?  I can't believe I know the Mayor's wife."

The third girl said,  "I knew that."

But the only African American boy said,  "Ohhh, my mama loves him.  She talks about the Mayor all the time."

By now I'm wondering if it is 'good talk' or 'bad talk', so I asked what she said about my husband.

This ten year old boy couldn't tell me what she said except that the Mayor was speaking in Gainesville soon and his mama and all her friends were going to go hear him speak.

"Well, I didn't know he was speaking in Gainesville,"  I answered, but told the boy I would ask my husband exactly when he was speaking there and about what.  Then I added,  "Are you sure we're talking about the same Mayor?"

"Yeah," he answered.  "His name is Obama or something like that, isn't it?"

Now it was my turn to shout,  "Get outta' town!  You're talking about the President, not the Mayor!"

I'm thinking his fourth grade teacher should make sure she has this child's attention when teaching social studies.

a travesty

Saturday afternoon Truett and I went to a Cajun party on the Santa Fe River. Most of the guests wereTruett's age or older.  Nice folks.

Saturday was a beautiful day.  The temperatures were in the high 70's, the dogwoods and azaleas were in full bloom, and the river was so peaceful and quiet.

      

Last year at the Cajun party we saw an otter playing hide-and-go-seek in the river, but unfortunately not this year. 

The guests at the party all live along the Santa Fe River, with the exception of Truett and me, and they refer to themselves as the "River Rats".  This group has about five parties a year and we have been blessed to be invited and get to know nice, retired couples.

      

I walked along the river bank and took photographs before everyone arrived.

      

I was taken with this old oak tree that extends out into the river.  It would make a great climbing tree if I was still ten years old and lived on the river.  The river's width is about 125 feet across.

       

But as I was standing on the river bank I heard an loud ominous sound.  It made me think of Watership Down , the panic I felt.  I felt like a small forest animal wanting to flee. 

"What is that?"  I asked; but my question was immediately answered when an air-boat came charging around the corner.

It was a horrible noise.  I stood with my mouth agape, my fingers in my ears, and watched.  Then another. . . and another.  . .and another.  All total, four air-boats zipped through this peaceful Santa Fe River, sending rooster tails of water high into the air along the bank.

Don't think bad of me, but I so wanted them to crash in the shallow water. 

I've always wanted to ride on an air-boat, and still do; however, the narrow Santa Fe River is NOT the place for them.  The "River Rats" said they are trying to do something about it and I sincerely hope they can.  These air-boats need to be on wide non-residential rivers or on the Everglades! It is such a travesty. 

Then I wondered about the otter and hoped it was safe.

little river springs

Saturday morning Truett and I took a drive to Little River Springs. 

      

                 This  photograph was taken by Truett.

Little River Spring is located right off the Suwanee River in Suwanee County, near Branford, Florida.

      

The last time I was at Little River Springs, it had no rock walls and wooden docks.  There was only one rickety wooden staircase that led down to the spring.

      

This photograph shows the entrance to the underground cave system that divers explore, to the left of the fallen tree.

      

Little River Springs is maintained by Suwanee County and not by the state of Florida.

      

It's really a pretty spring with its limestone walls and formations.

      

      

Even the limestone rocks lining the parking lot have character.

      

      

Little River Springs is free to the public, which is a good thing.  However, because there is no cost to swim here, the public isn't conscientious about keeping this county park clean.  I didn't show you the trash strewn along the rock formations or at the edge of the water, but it was there.  Unfortunately, that seems to be the norm with county parks.

      

This spring is a perfect place to bring the family for a swim or picnic.

catching punky

The second and third graders have been writing narratives.  The elements of a narrative are characters, setting, and plot.  I've been teaching that the children must have a conflict or problem in their stories so that their stories can move along, with a resolution to the problem at the end of the story.

      

It's not easy for children to come up with a problem to solve, so I reminded them that everyday life contains tiny problems that could be solved.  For example, I used my attempt at catching Punky as one of those annoying problems I had to deal with this week.

      

Punky had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday which meant I had to box him up in the crate.  My problem was simple.  I had to catch him first and then put him in the crate. 

Here is a basic outline of my story:

    First, I tossed catnip in the crate. Punky sniffed the catnip and got halfway in, so I decided to help him along.  The minute he felt my hand on his rear end, he flipped around and dashed to the living room.  Drats!

Next, I grabbed his little ball with the bell in it and shook it.  Punky was interested for a moment, but when I threw it in the cat carrier, Punky lost interest and just layed down and stared at me.  Good Grief!

By now it's almost 7:00 a.m. and I need to get to work for car rider duty.  So I came up with one more plan...Friskies salmon and tuna treats.

      

I dropped a treat in front of punky and he gobbled it right up.  Ah ha!  This may do it.  So then I tossed a cat treat in his crate.  Punky walked to the crate, but I coughed about that time and my little orange kitty scampered to the living room again.  Good golly Miss Molly!

I was not only late for work at this point.  I was exasperated!

"I've got the solution,"  I told Truett.  "It's really simple."

"What is it?"  Truett asked.

"I'll cancel his doctor's appointment."  And I did just that, which brought my narrative to an end. 

I did remind the children that this story had an ending, just not the one I was hoping for.

So think about your life and an annyoing little problem you may have.  Then think about how you will solve the problem.  Write it down and voila...you have a narrative.