Friday, August 14, 2015

SUPER Five for Friday







Hi!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! Where is summer going?  I see so many people starting back to school, it just feels like fall already. We start September 9th, which is late- but we also go until the bitter end of June, which is late.  So, I'm enjoying every minute left.  

We moved in January to a rental house, because we thought we sold our house.  Didn't close. We waited longer.  Thought we sold it again.  Didn't close.   HUGE long story.  Moved back again last week- actually we are still doing it.  So I'm tired.  But also so glad that we're doing it during summer, not during school. 
                         

This is going to be a Superhero theme Five for Friday- except for #1.  

That's going to be a little story to go along with this sad little saying. I added some illustrations to make it less pathetic and whiny go along with the story. 
Good thing I have this blog, so I don't have to whine out loud (except to my sweet Jeff). Only to all of you.  Cause this just happened. 

Every year for the past four years, I've gone in one day in the summer to put all of the permanent folders and ELA folders together into the new classroom groups K-5.  I just like to do it by myself, in the quiet conference room, to help the secretary, who is crazy-busy, and to say a little prayer for each class while I do it.  It's just time consuming, not hard, so it's sort of fun to do. Today was that day.  

A few days ago, the floors in the hall were waxed.  I knew this.  I didn't go in the side door that was roped off because I knew this.  However, in the conference room , there is no phone service, and I knew my daughter was going to stop by for my insurance card.  So, I was trying to get service, so I knew when she arrived.  I went out the side door, took four steps in the hall to the outside door. and thought, "OH NO." 

                          

Now, the floors were dry, but not dry-dry.  I felt awful and slinked back into the conference room.   But that wasn't the end of it.

A janitor saw me from down the other end of the hall.  He must have told his boss, who yelled from the other end of the hall, "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I CAUGHT YOU!" (Except make that font like size 500, cause it was loud.) I said, "I am SOOOOOOO sorry." 

                    
Then he said, "DON'T WALK ON THE FLOORS,"  as he locked the door I went out of right in front of me. So I know just how little kids feel when they are punished and someone locks something up right in front of them.  Yes I do.   I just kept saying, "I am SOOOOO sorry."  

                    
But then, he went to my PRINCIPAL and told him to keep his "GD" teachers off the floors.  Mind you, this man KNOWS me and has known me for eight years since he's been there- and I have always been nice, blah blah blah.   So I was like....

                   

My principal joked it off with me and said the floors were dry anyway. He also knows me well, and knew I was there doing a favor for everyone getting the folders ready, and probably knew I thisclose to crying a little. I wanted to cry. 

 By the way, you can't even see my little footprints in the hall.  Thank GOODNESS. The floors are perfect.  

I wanted to mess up all the folders  pack up and go home.

                                      

But I forgot for a second that I am old and an adult and a big girl. So I finished my "good deed," and left with a smile.
I know... that's not nice.  


Today did, however, remind me to speak kindly and gently to my little ones when they make a mistake.  Or to big ones.  Anyone.  You don't have to be five to feel like crying when you get yelled at for making a mistake.  Although, since I may have the thinnest skin ever, I really always try to remember this anyway.  I still remember getting yelled at in 2nd grade for cutting a leprechaun out of the wrong green paper- so....  yeah. I may need some sort of therapy.


For some reason, I feel like if I had quoted this today, it may not have been well-received.


OK. I'm done with the pity party. I did make a mistake.  I MADE A MISTAKE.  The kids will LOVE to hear about it when I share it someday during rug time.  They eat it up when I tell my mistakes.  



On to Superhero stuff!  Oh my goodness, these first bulletin boards remind me of yet another janitor story.  #whiningagain.   I take care of three bulletin boards in the hall.  As I was putting them up quietly in the hall last week, a janitor walked by and said, "You know, the kids won't even notice these."  So I said (Pollyanna-ish), "Well, I'll notice them."  Thinking he would say, "Oh, I know, (insert something nice.)"  But he said,"Well, I will too, cause I saw you putting them up.  But nobody else will!"  BAM.


Now, I'm really done with the whining.  Let's go!  These must be tests.


Here are my bulletin boards.  Our school is Apalachin Elementary School (AES).
I made the pictures at PicMonkey. I love PicMonkey.  I use the free version, and there's plenty there to use!  When you edit a picture, and click the apple on the left side, there is a Comic Heroes choice with fonts and fun things to insert.  

Here was the picture I used for the "S."


Or this would have been good- and not cut off... I just sort of like the "real" Superman picture. 

And the "W."


On this next board, the middle square at the bottom is a little locker mirror.  This bulletin board is over our Lost and Found table, so the mirror is right at the right height for kids to look in as they search at the table. 


For the bottom board, when school starts, I'm going to replace the random pictures with pictures of students in the school doing kind things. 

These images are from Julie at Less-Than-Perfect Life of Bliss.  This blog post has SO many adorable superhero ideas that she used for her son's birthday party. I liked them because they were so clever, but realistic, and I could actually see myself doing them. That's the kind of idea I like (unlike so many fancy cakes I see that are so pretty but are never going to happen for me...). 



I LOVE this next bulletin board! It was on buzzfeed- with no link.  After these first boards come down, I want to do this.  You could also do Spiderman with "We are AMAZING," Fantastic Four with "We are FANTASTIC," Superman with "We are SUPER friends," Wonder Woman with "Our WONDERFUL Year,"  etc. etc!

Something like this is going beside our door.  We can't put anything on our doors, just beside them.

I wrote a sign that says, "We are..." 

                              


Then underneath it says,  "We are..."

I made these to go over the children's lockers.






These are what I made (again at PicMonkey) to put on the children's lockers.


I haven't had a chance to put these up yet and take a picture... did I mention the floors in the hall aren't dry?  


These are some Superhero sayings and pictures I liked- and thought I could do some different things with later on during the year.  


I thought this would be fun to put up on a board, and have people write Random Acts of Kindness they've done on sticky notes to put up around it.







These are some adorable Superhero craft ideas I loved!


This would be a really cute Superhero activity to use with a full length photograph of the child, and then have him/her make a hand print cape (not only for a card.)


I'm going to have the kids make these (below) for over their lockers.  I'm going to use a blue hand (fingers together) for the body, and a red hand for the cape. No feet painting- because I can't imagine that especially in September.  I'm using a real photo for the head.  They'll make the superhero in the middle of a paper.  

On the top, I'm having them write "I am SUPER,", and then  on the bottom of the paper "at_______. "


I'll show you how they turn out when they're done!

Design Dazzle shared this adorable Super Power jar idea that she got from Sugar Tots.

                         

I love this idea for turning the kids into Super helpers!  You could add anything you wanted- Wonderful Walkers, Super Eagle Eyes, Fantastic Friends at Lunch, Amazing Workers...  Her ideas are free to download at her site!



I found these masks at Stuck-On-Glue blogspot.  They would be lots of fun for the kids. 
Katrina from A Love For Teaching made this great bulletin board.
A Love for Teaching: Superheroes for the year! Fun lessons for the beginning of the year : )
I don't know where to find these, but I saw them on Pinterest with no link.  Who would think there would be a Superhero for each letter!

Look at these great paper plate masks from Meaningful Mama!
Superhero Paper Plate Mask with Free Printable Template

Superhero Alphabet Flashcards

Finally, go ahead and figure out your Batman name!   



 Have a wonderful weekend!





9 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so sorry no good deed went unpunished for you. That stinks. I love how you connected that to your little friends. That happened to me at an in-service. The presenter had us do a writing thing, but kept interrupting us to clarify the instructions. I can't concentrate!
    Love your bulletin boards -- just too cute! Hope things turn around for you. Sara

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    1. Thank you, Sara! :) Now that I wrote it down (and I see Britney Spears' reaction to it) it seems much better. Have a GREAT year!

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  2. Great theme! I like how you re-framed those (super annoying) situations as "tests." Everything is a learning experience!

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  3. You make my day, Carolyn! The good news is you helped the secretary (and said a prayer for all the kids), the bad news is you may have a hard time getting your room cleaned this year! HA! Great post!

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  4. Hi Carolyn, At first your story made me happy, and then sad, and then MAD, and THEN glad... that you did the good deed anyway, and that this could be a story out of my life... or many lives... and we just have to keep on trucking. I'm trying not to go back to mad when I think about the custodian... And oh, yeah, the rest of the post was good, too. See you later! Kathleen

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  5. Aww! I would have cried! Our custodians are crazy about their floors too. We always get told not to move furniture around and drag it across the floors. Which...I always do anyway because I need to get things set up and no one is ever around! But every time it makes a loud noise, I just cringe! I'm always worried they will storm in! So...I can't believe that you teach at Apalachin Elementary! We just recently moved to this district! It will be a few years, but that is where my son will eventually go! Small world huh?!

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  6. I would have definitely cried! I hate he made such a big deal out of it and even went to the principal. Love all the pictures!
    Stephanie from Principal Principles

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  7. I'm sorry for you sad story! I guess we all need to be reminded from time to time what our little ones feel like when they forget things and are then super sorry for it. In other news, I LOVE your super hero ideas. The "our work is incredible" Hulk board is my fave. Who knew there was a super hero for every letter in the alphabet??

    -Amanda
    Kindergarten Teacher at the Wheel

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  8. Wow...what a reaction! I understand custodians don't want their work messed up but that was too far to go! That Britney Spears reaction is EXACTLY what I would do in that situation LOL I would feel all your feelings, too. And frankly, ALL kids notice that stuff. Did someone drink rotten milk? Geez. Those boards are fantastic! When you do that Hulk one, I so want to see! That's will be amazing!

    Apple Blossoms

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