My apologies to Dr. Seuss

Imitation is the highest form of flattery right?

In that case....

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

The teachers were trapped at indoor recess

All that cold, cold, wet day.

We sat there with our short people,

We sat there, we twenty two.

And we said, "How I wish

We had something to do!"

Too wet to go out

And too cold to play ball.

So we were trapped in our classroom

which is no longer any fun at all!

So all we did do is get 

cabin fever and headache after headache

And we did not like it.

Not one little bit.

...like seriously, so OVER indoor recess!

And then 

Something went BUMP!

How that bump made us jump!

We looked!

Then we saw 'her' step into our room!
We looked!

And we saw her!

Mother Nature came in with a zoom!
And she said to us,

"Why do you sit here in such a gloom?"

"I know it is wet

And the sun is not sunny.

But we can have 

Lots of good fun that is funny!"

"I know some good games we could play,"

she said.

"I know some new tricks,"

Mother Nature said.

"A lot of good tricks.

I will show them to you.

Your teacher

will not mind at all if I do."

The twenty two short people

did not know what to say.

"Our teacher is tired of being stuck inside.

We think she ran to the closet to hide!"

But the class fish said, "No! No!

Make grouchy Mother Nature go away!

Tell her

you do NOT want to play.

She should not be here.

She should not be about.

She should not be here

when your teacher is out!"

"Now! Now! Have no fear.

Have no fear!" said Mother Nature,

"My tricks are not bad,"

said Mother Nature.

Uh really?  Can you say Polar Vortex?
Can you say an inch an hour of snow?

Can you say 30 below 'real feel' temps?

Mother Nature...You're one cranky chick!

"Why, we can have

lots of good fun, quite a hit,

with a game that I call

Outside recess.

Ever heard of it?"

"Heard of it?" said all twenty two.

"We've heard legends of old,

when children went outside when it wasn't too cold."

Mother Nature just listened and just sat.

She started to wonder...

...have I been as cruel as that?!

She realized this just won't do,

so out to the sky she flew.

With a flick of her hand,

Mother Nature started to thaw the land.

Snow melted,

Warm breezes blew.

The sun came out,

the teachers didn't know what to do!

They all realized that this brutal winter

had been just a bad dream.

They now looked forward to recess

when the kids are outside when they scream.

My apologies to Dr. Seuss,

as I've butchered his famous book.

But it got my teacher peeps

to come to the blog for a quick look.

May the outdoor recess sun shine on your face,

May these freebies make your classroom a happy place!

From sunny Florida,
Comes Queen Chaos to the rescue!
I've been working hard
On making these freebies...just for you! 
Remind me of your winter blues,
When August is not fun.
I'll be melting in the sweltering heat
From Florida's unrelenting sun.
Valid point sista!

Maybe then (just to be nice),
Someone up north could ship me some popsicles on ice.
I'll hook ya up!
 

Here are some Cat In The Hat writing papers from me to you!

Several different choices to give your kiddos something to do!

The Cat In The Hat: Writing Paper
Fat lines, skinny lines,
Or no lines at all,
Choose your favorite type of lines,

Print, write, draw & tack them to the wall.

Full sheets, half sheets,

Choose whichever sheet you like.

Quick! Keep your kiddos busy

Before you feel like going on strike!

The Cat In The Hat: Writing Paper
Have your students write about
Their favorite story part.
Then have them draw a picture
In the box to add their art.

Have your kids
Label The Cat In The Hat

It'll take up some energy.
What do you think about that? 

 The Cat In The Hat Labeling Sheets
For the quickest way to label,
Grab a pencil and write at a table.

If TIME
Is what you're trying to lose......
Students can cut & glue the labels
When you're feeling the cold weather blues.

Just in case you want to see...
More labeling sheets from me!

With all of the talking
That the children like to do...
Have them retell the story,
With the puppet I made just for you!

This Cat In The Hat Puppet
Is super simple & made for you with love.
I'm crossing my fingers that Mother Nature
Stops sending you snow from above.

 I made some Cat In The Hat Organizers
To use when the skies are gray.
Have your kids write, write, write, write
On the next cold, cold, wet day.

Have kids write 3 sentences,
Super duper easy,
Have them write and have them read....
Easy, lemon squeazy.
The Cat In The Hat is... 
The Cat In The Hat has...  
The Cat In The Hat can...  

 Choose the lines that are best for your class.

 Print in black and white
To save on ink,
Just trying to save you $$$....
Good idea, don't you think?

Broke, broke, broke,
What's worse than being broke?
Being broke, cold, & exhausted from all that noise, noise, noise....
That's MUCH worse than just being broke!

Here are some bubble organizers
To write about The Cat.
I made them extra big for writing...
They're wide and nice and fat.

Have your students write 3 things
About that silly cat.
Maybe: "He is tall.  He likes to rhyme.
He wears a striped hat."

Cat In The Hat Guided Reading Sheets With 3 Levels Of Reading:
Have your students read,
and bubble in the answers on the sheet...
So that when they have to take the state mandated test
They'll be prepared for the multiple choice questions that they'll meet.

This first one is simple,
Just fill in the sight word that makes sense,
So that when they see pages and pages of bubbling in May
Our little kiddos won't get all tense.

If you like these sentence bubbles for your students to do,
There are more available....just for you!

This second set is harder
We get better every day,
At reading, reading, reading....
Practice makes perfect, I've heard them say.

 

Differentiated Instruction is the way to go, 
Have your students read on different levels while outside you still see snow.

To keep it simple for my brain

I use the same question and answer sheet,

For the mid and harder levels....

Students' needs I will meet!

Saving ink, saving ink,
Print this next set to save your ink!

The Cat In The Hat Sentence Structure Circles
Differentiated Instruction: 2 levels
Sentence Structure Circles are my new brain child,
See if you can use this when your students are going wild!

The Cat in the Hat, the Cat in the Hat,
Let's just draw the Cat in the Hat!
Review the author and the illustrator
Then just have your students draw the main character!

 Cat In The Hat Drawing Paper:

Thing One and Thing Two have come here to play,
Keep Kinders busy reading & writing on a desperately cold day!

Cat In The Hat...Thing One Labels

 "Label me! Label me!" Thing One will say.
"Label me! Label me, on this cold, cold wet day!"

Cat In The Hat...Thing Two Labels

 "Hi there, all of you!
My name is Thing Two!
I have an activity for you to do...
I want you to label me, too!"

Thing One and Thing Two Organizers

Three simple sentences for one and all.

Make writing fun, let your kids have a ball! 
Thing One and Thing Two are funny.
Thing One and Thing Two have blue hair.
Thing One and Thing Two can run fast.

Bubble Organizers For Thing Two and Thing One.
Our writing time is never done.

Have your students write 3 things
About Thing One and Thing Two.

How about: They are small.

They made a mess. Their hair is blue.

As more ideas pop in my head,
I'll add them here for you,
You might want to come back and look to see
If I added more to do.

Thank you Regina for all of this awesomeness!
I think I'll hate winter a little bit less!

Winter? So over it!

Raise your hand if you have

a snow shovel on your porch

and a snow scraper in your car.

When I went to college in Utah,
I discovered the cool trick of using a
credit card/driver's license/student ID etc.
to scrape snow off of car windows....who knew?
Yep.  Common knowledge in these parts.
In fact, get this:
I had a frenemy in college
who (for my birthday one year)
gave me a snow scraper.
Very important to the gist of this story
is one small, teeny-tiny, minor detail....
I.didn't.own.a.car.
She did.
Oh no she didn't?!
Rude much?
I guess she wanted me
to stop using my student ID
and start using the proper tool to clean her windows.
Huh.

Raise your hand if during

the months of January and February

you actually look forward to the morning

in hopes of getting "that call" 

signifying you can go

back to sleep since it's a

SNOW DAY!
When I taught Pre-School in Colorado
I loved, loved, loved snow days.
Suiting up my two children (I only had the 2 oldest at the time)
and taking them outside to build snowmen
and ride on sleds was so much fun.
Snow days were a totally new experience for this Texas girl.
EXCEPT for the year that we lived in Dallas.
I was a junior in high school and it started to snow.
Well....in Texas if it snows even a teeny, tiny bit
(you would call it flurries, Angela, seriously)
EVERYTHING shuts down.
Most people don't own front wheel drive vehicles--
I didn't even know that they existed until I went to college
in Utah--and they just don't know how to drive in the snow.
So....Voilà!  Snow days with just a teeny tiny bit of snow
(maybe an inch at most).
 Raise your hand if you have little
pools of water, slush, and mud throughout
your room from students who forgot their shoes 
at home so they have to wear their snow boots all day.

Let me tell you about Colorado snow.
It's beautiful, and you're so high up close to the sun
that it melts almost immediately off
of the roads and side walks
(other than the areas that are shaded from the sun).
When I lived there, there really wasn't any slush,
just white snow. Of course we still had snow plow trucks
that would run through the streets,
and we still had to plow our side walks to be on the safe side....
but the sun did a lot of the work.
Amazing.
None of that gray, sludgy snow
that stays on for weeks, or months.
On the down side...
the sun in Colorado does horrors to your skin.
My friends used to laugh at me
as I went through bottle after bottle of moisturizers.
I would slather myself up constantly.
Oil of Olay was my friend.
When we moved to Florida,
I was relieved that I wouldn't have
to spend so much money on moisturizers anymore.
Another bonus of being so high up....
very few bugs.  No more Texas roaches.
You have to have experienced a flying Texas roach
(who can actually chase you) to really appreciate
the great relief I felt
when I discovered that Colorado has
no roaches.
What?!!!
Yup!  Woo-hoo!
All of a sudden the dry, weathered skin
isn't looking so bad!
Let's see....
Roaches or dry skin.....roaches or dry skin...hmmmm. 
I'm talking 2 inch long bugs
not including the length of the antenna,
AND they can seriously fly.
Not for long stretches (they're not birds),
but for long enough to completely freak you out.
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor,
clean or neat, EVERYONE in Texas
has to deal with these little critters.
The exterminator is your friend.   

Raise your hand if your students'

feet have not graced your playground

in weeks.  WEEKS people!
That.Is.Absolutely.Frightening.
That's all I have to say about that! 

Let's do the math on this one.
Indoor recess for WEEKS with 22 children = 22 Children with severe cabin fever
22 Children with severe cabin fever =  1 teacher rocking in corner
I don't like that kind of math!



Here's a little something that might put a smile on your face!
Or maybe a grimace...
just stretch that grimace a little upward
(yes, I know that you now look like a pyschotic groundhog),
but pretend it's a smile, and throw this
into your snow activities for next year.

 The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Story Map:

Here's a little more in depth version:

Different lines for different teachers.

How about a black and white version to save on ink?

Raise your hand if you can't

even SEE your playground because

it's covered in snow and ice.
Smile, Angela, Smile!
I've got something else for you!
 
A Snowy Day Organizers

Write 3 sentences:
A snowy day is...
A snowy day has...
A snowy day can...

A Snowy Day bubble maps:

Draw a picture of a snowy day and write 3 things about it.

Here's a version with The Snowy Day book title by Ezra Jack Keats:

The Snowy Day bubble maps:

Draw a picture of The Snowy Day and write 3 things about it.

If you have been "lucky" enough

to raise your hand for any or all

of these, I feel your pain.

My kids always like the part of the story
when Peter puts his hand in his pocket
and his snowball has disappeared.

Oh.

my.

golly.

I am so OVER winter!

Here's the view
outside my classroom
window in Illinois.

Sky is gray....all the time.
Ground is white...all the time.
Trees are white....all the time.

Roads are white...most of the time.

Roads are slippery....most of the time.

Roads are slushy...some of the time.

Roads are full of potholes...all winter long.

Good times....NOT!!

However, for some folks here
in the Land of Lincoln, winter is good.

If you're a snowplow driver,
then life is good.

If you're an 11 year old boy
who owns a dog that loves the snow,
then life is good.
How stinkin' cute is that?!

If you're an 8 year old girl
who loves to play in the snow,
then life is good.
Look at that grin!
Priceless!

....and that is all.

As in, we're done.
So over it.
Buh-bye winter.
It's not me, it's YOU!
Move on.
Take your Polar Vortex
and go back to the Arctic already.
Alaska called.  They want their weather back!
Sing it, sista!
He, he, he....
(I'm quoting Angela if you don't know!)
Actually, the FIRST thought
that went through my head was:
Ouch! I feel sorry for any of
YOUR ex-boyfriends in high school.
Angela doesn't play around!
When she's done......She's done! 

White Christmas.  Beautiful.
Check out the calendar!  It's February.
As in close to the MIDDLE of February 
and we just had our 5th snow day
this week.  Add that to our heat day in August
(because we don't have air conditioning in our schools)
I STILL cannot believe that...Unheard of!
In Florida no air conditioning = M.O.L.D. 
and we are now over our limit of Emergency days.

Yep, now we're into "Act of God" days.
I LOVE the way that sounds.  It just cracks me up.
No school tomorrow kids....it's an Act of God day.
Hilarious! Although it's not.  Sorry Angela.
More snow. So Sorry.
Here....this may help....just a little?

The Snowy Day: Peter Labels 

 Write in the words to label Peter from The Snowy Day.

Label Peter by cutting and gluing the words.

We have to write the State and ask to be
'excused' from school from here on out.
Ugh!  If that doesn't get approved,
we may just be watching the 4th of July
fireworks as a class field trip!
That's another hilarious image. But not. Sorry.
  Raise your hand if you're over it!
...and this time you're allowed
to not only raise your hand, 
but squirm in your seat,
wave your hand wildly in the air...
...just like the short peeps you hang with every day.
Don't forget the shouts of:
Me!  Me! Me! 
C'mon spring!

Mending Fences

Mending Fences...

by King Common Sense

Mending fences can be a sticky situation.

Give me some Gaucho or Concertina wire

any day over mending the fences of life.

The decisions we make,

the things we do,

the things that we say

all have an effect on others.

Sometimes good and sometimes bad.

When the fence is broken

your livestock will flow out of your pastures

and into the road

or onto your neighbor’s property...

It is not contained.

Just like in life.

When the fence is broken,

someone is always the bad guy...

on both sides.

But you have to come clean.

You have to come clean with all involved.

Correct what might have been

misinterpreted or misunderstood,

misspoken or misplaced.

When you mend a fence,

you have to stretch the two pieces

that have separated together

and sometimes even fill it

with a new piece of wire.

Interweaving the pieces together

until they are one.

Sometimes the new piece is stubborn

and you have to really work at it

to get it to take hold.

This is like forgiveness...

Forgiveness is a hard road.

When things have been done,

terrible dark and evil things

and the fence has been left open...

it becomes rusty and worn.

It is harder to put back together

and sometimes a whole new strand

must be put in its place.

This is like how it is to earn back trust.

When you mend a fence

you cannot worry about the cause.

You just have to get the damn fence mended.

So that your livestock can remain safely in your pasture. 

In life it is the same. 

If your fence is old and worn

sometimes poles, wire and tack all have to be replaced.

That is hard work.

But so is mending the fences of life.

If you ain't got the balls, don't step up.

All you will do is slow us down.

Us Cowboy's, that is what we say.

The longer you leave it,

the worse it will be, the harder it is to fix

and the longer it is to save what you've got.

Once you fix it,

you gotta maintain it and not let it go again...

cause then...you may never
be able to recover that section

and you'll have to start all over from scratch.

Yup... mending fences...

I never knew that I married Louis L'Amour.
Dang girl!  Your husband's got it going on!
Not sure what prompted that...
...but sheesh!  Well written!
(Family, Funerals & Forgiveness)
He gets an 'A' for the day.
Aren't I the lucky one?
BTW....I love the sound of
"Give me some Gaucho or Concertina wire",
but I had to actually look it up.
I'm so glad that King Common Sense
knows things that I don't!
He is the yin to my  yang...
or, the Cowboy to my inner Indian Princess.

Happy Mending!