Day 129- Count your blessings

112 students absent, over 20 sent home, 14 teachers absent, and only 2 substitutes. Out of the 6 first grade teachers, only 2 were well enough to make it in. Not too bad considering only 1 of the 4 fifth grade teachers came in.

So, one of the subs covered Ms. Beckett's class, Ms. Vaughn (our school's attendance secretary) covered Ms. Payton's classroom, and Mr. Russell and I split Mrs. Cox's and Ms. Leahy's classes.

As is turns out, every grade had to split at least one class. In fact, Mrs. Watts, one of the kindergarten teachers, offered to split her class and substitute in one of the fifth grade classes. Brave woman. While she survived the day, and said the students behaved well for her, she confided that she missed her little ones. She's just a Kindergarten teacher at heart!

With 3 of my students out sick, and an extra 11 students, I was up to 26 students in all. I know some teachers are accustomed to this number. I will pray for you nightly. It was not a bad day, but it's hard to teach when it's also hard to move around. Every chair in my room was occupied.

We stared with this book:

Call me crazy, but it seemed fitting. :)
We read the book, discussed fact and fiction, then dispersed to complete a writing project. Each student received a blank sheet of paper with the expectation they they were to create a new animal to put in the General Delk Zoo.

First, students had to either trace their hand or their foot to create the outline for their new animal. Next, students had to decorate their animal and give it a name. Last, they had to describe their animals using adjectives and science categories. (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc)

Sorry about the picture quality- I left my regular camera at home!
 

Pretty fascinating, huh? I'm not sure if I would feel safe going to see some of these animals in a zoo. My students assured me that their animals were harmless, even the ones that drink blood. (Yes, I told them they could be as creepy and gross as they wanted. Blood included.)

In math we practiced counting money and used a cut-and-paste activity to match coins with their totals. Here we have my students hard at work.

At the end of the day, I brought out another book about animals, or really, about one very special animal. His name is Julius.

If you'd like to hear the story, click {HERE} or watch it below!

For our writing activity after the story, we made a chart of people we love to have visit, and animals that would make crazy pets.

Students used the writing prompt and had to add to it. (sorry about the lighting- no flash on this camera)

 After the wiring prompt, students worked on a 100 problem addition problem sheet and, once they had finished, were allowed to enjoy indoor recess until the bell rang.

**Parents- please encourage your student to wash hands throughout the day at home! This virus is nasty! Also, students with a fever are NOT allowed at school. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that students be 24 hours fever free before coming back to school.**