"I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful." Oscar Wilde

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Mother Goose Olympics 2010

I must have been crazy the day I suggested having another Mother Goose Olympics at school. This time we combined two classes in the morning and three in the afternoon. I'm exhausted. The children had a wonderful time. They kept telling me how fun the Olympics were. We even had a member of the U of U’s football team come and help with the activities in the morning!

We had the children stay about 5 minutes at each activity. It worked out that just about everybody got to go through a given activity at least 2 times each. I'm not sure who laughed more, the students, their parents, or the teachers!

• Jack Be Nimble obstacle course: Line up hula hoops lying flat on the ground about six to ten inches apart, 5 or 6 hoops will do. Have the students jump over and trough the hoops down and back and then the next student until the last one.

• Baa Baa Black Sheep relay: Use a plastic trash bag and have the children hop down the far cone and back. Switch with the next student in line until all done.

• Jack and Jill relay: Dip a paper cup (pail) into a LARGE bucket of water run to the other end (don't spill it) dump the water into another waiting bucket run back and the next one in line does the same. The trick is not to spill water or fall down and break your crown.

• Little Jack Horner/Simple Simon Pie Plate Balancing: Hold a pie plate above the head, run down the course, around a cone, and back handing it off to the next student.

• Hey Diddle Diddle Spoon Race: Each team stands behind its hoop. One team member balances one ball on his/her spoon- without actually touching the ball with his/her hands! They walk as fast as they can to the chair at the far end of the course, around the cone, and back. The child then places the ball into their team's hoop, passes the spoon to the next team member, and sits down.

• Diddle Diddle Dumpling Sock Race: Each team stands behind their chair. The first child on each team puts one large sock on over his/her shoe. They then run down and around the far chair and run back. The runner takes off the large sock and gives it to next person. The child then sits down.

• Mother Goose Waddle Race: The first child places the ball between his/her knees, waddles to the far cone and back -without holding the ball with their hands. The child then passes the ball to the next team member and goes to the end of the line.

We had the children make crowns before the games began. I got my clip art for the crowns from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/?pID=clipart

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Update on School Starting!

After two weeks of class with the little darlings I moved my entire classroom this week. Yes, and I also taught class while I was doing the move. 23 years of C.R.A.P. was moved into a smaller classroom. I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!! I need to organize and dejunk! I also dropped my class numbers to 28 in the morning and 23 in the afternoon. Hopefully that will make things a little easier. My school opened up a new afternoon class and eight of my little darlings moved to the other class. I'm not sure who they are because then names of the students moving that I was verbally told and the names on the list on paper I was given don't exactly match. I'm going to have to wait until Tuesday to find out what is going on. If the paper list is correct I think I might have some very upset parents. I left all of the moving assignments up to the office. I didn't want to be in the middle of that mess. If there are any problems I'll have the office hand them. I had no say in the matter and I'd like to keep it that way.