When Kids Wear Costumes and It's Not Halloween

Every school has them.  They’re meant to boost spirit or raise something for a cause.  Kids love them, sometimes teachers love them.  Yes, that’s right, Spirit Weeks.  They always start with a “Crazy Sock Day” or a “Crazy Hair Day.”  It usually ends with a “Pajama Day” (nobody is complaining about that!).  Somewhere in there, you have to have a “Superhero Day” or “Favorite Book Character Day.”  At some point during the week, you will have kids coming to school in costumes.

Now you know, when it comes to education, we can’t afford to waste time.  But these times are precious (if only for the stories), so we also MUST take notice and make the best of it!  I’ve chosen 3 of my favorite “costume” experiences from The Hood and how I made the best of it.

#3.  Superhero Day, 2011:

This is a tough one to get participation, unless you open it up to “whatever costume you used for Halloween.”  So I had 5 superheroes this particular day.  Which automatically makes them feel awkward and insecure because they are dressed up and most people are not.  I had to play it up and make them feel super awesome so they wouldn’t emotionally shut down for the rest of the day.  Solution: photo shoot.  I took 5 minutes at the beginning of the day and had individual photo sessions, then one group session.  This also got all the excitement out of the way early, so they were pretty focused for the rest of the day.

#2.  Superhero Day, 2013:

This one was more about me.  I was the one really dressed like a fool.  I have no solution for teachers who dress up and feel stupid.  Check back closer to Earth Day for the whole humiliating story.

And #1.  Random Day, 2012:

Keep in mind, this one had no connection to any school-sponsored spirit day.  However, it will forever be known as “The Day the Peep Came to School.”  That’s right...Peep.  As in Marshmallow Peep.  I saw him from across the gym when I went to pick them up in the morning.  Dressed as a Marshmallow Peep (He also wore this to Superhero Day).  Not wanting to make a scene in front of the whole school, we got back to class and I calmly told him that I appreciated his sense of humor, but he needed to change into his regular clothes for the rest of the day.  He flat refused.  Shocked (because this was not usually a combative child), I changed my tactics.  Bargaining.  You can wear it during Morning Meeting, lunch, and recess.  His counter proposal: he would only wear the costume during the appointed times, but I had to call him “Peeps.”  Solution: He got to wear his costume during the times I was less concerned with his cognitive focusing.  I got my way during the times in which he needed to focus on the learning objectives.

The point of the story is this:  Enjoy the dress-up days, but set limits.  That way nobody loses their mind!

Jodie

Teaching Math with Word Problems

The other day, I’m working with one of my math small groups and we’re looking for keywords in word problems that tell us to add.  I read the problem to them, then they worked it out on white boards.  Now, I always make my kids prove how they solved the problems.  I tell them that I care if they get the right answer, but I care more that they know how they solved it and why it worked.  Hence, we’re looking for keywords in the word problems.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Great job!  You all solved the problem correctly.  But how did you do it?

Student A: I solved it by adding.

Me: Yes, but why did you add?

Student A:  I added because I wrote a plus sign.

Me:  Ok, why did you write a plus sign in your number sentence?

Student A:  *puzzled look

Student B:  We wrote plus signs because you told us we were working on addition word problems.

Me:  *sigh* But what if I had lied?  You need to know when to add and when to subtract.  So what words in the problem made you think you should add the two parts together?

Student C:  Ms. Wyckoff, you never lie to us. 

Me: “You’d be surprised.”

Ok, I didn’t really say that.  But I thought it.  Eventually, they made it to the place of understanding I was hoping for.  With gasps and smiles and the “Ohhhhhhhhh” of understanding, they got there.  They’re learning to think critically about these questions that are presented, and using logic and reasoning to solve them.  That’s what I love about word problems.

I put together a set of word problems for each season, as well as a bunch of the other units I teach in a school year.  It’s great to have these on hand to pull out as a “Problem of the Day,” as a sponge activity if you have an extra few minutes, or to use as a resource during small group instruction.  Click on the link and grab a FREE SAMPLE!!!

Or HERE for the whole ocean package!

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Or HERE for the whole bundle!

Jodie

ABC’s of Yoga for Kids

Sometimes, kids are just out of control.  They are incapable of controlling their bodies.  They are completely unaware of what their bodies are doing in the space around them.  My first year of teaching (in kindergarten), I found myself saying things like “In kindergarten, we walk forwards to see where we’re going.”  Or “While we are learning together on the rug, we sit on our bottoms instead of rolling around.”  Or “In kindergarten, it’s important to keep your clothes on.”  And I kind of figured it was just because they were 5 and had never really been in an organized setting before.

But then I moved up and started teaching 2^nd grade.  And I still found myself saying those same things!  But it was even more ridiculous!  They would be standing in line, not even walking yet, and just fall over.  We’d be doing work in their seats, and they would fall out of their chairs.  Not like they were going to sit down and missed, they were ALREADY sitting in their chairs and would somehow not be able to stay there.  And I found myself with this stupid look of incredulousness on my face because I was thinking, “How is this happening?  Were you born in a barn?  I know you’ve been going to school for 3 years, you should be able to walk without falling over by now!”

If it were just one or two students, I would be calling in specialists for second opinions because I thought there was some kind of sensory issue going on.  But it was the majority of the class.  And the more these kinds of things went on, the less patience I had with it because it seemed that they were just trying to draw attention to themselves.  But as I paid closer attention, I came to realize that they simply had no idea how to control their bodies in space.   Then I found this book, The ABCs of Yoga for Kids.  What better way to teach kids self-control than yoga? 

So we started practicing.  Every day before we started, I set the focus.  “We’re doing this so you can learn how to control your bodies.”  Then we’d spread out around the room and try a few poses.  We practiced breathing, transitioning between poses, holding poses. 

Look at the balance here!  

It was a mini-miracle!  I even noticed a significant decrease in the amount of talking out and interruptions.  They were connecting what they learned about controlling their bodies and began controlling their voices as well. 

So if you have a class that shows a ridiculous lack of self-control, you should try using yoga as a tool to teach them!  It made a world of difference for my class!

Jodie