The Marshmallow Challenege, Cells, and a Baby

Oh me - oh my. Have I been a slacker or what!? These last few months have F.L.O.W.N. by. Whisked away by Father Time. I cannot believe it's the middle of September and I also cannot believe that I haven't posted anything since July. What a loser.  But in my defense. I am pregnant. Ha! Seriously! I'm almost 12 weeks and feeling every ounce of misery that poor pregnant women often go through when they are in the early stages of pregnancy. This is my first pregnancy, so I'm probably just being a whiner more than the experienced preggie would. I sleep all the time, I eat junk like crackers and cheese and frozen yogurt and bread because I cannot even be in the same room as anything else. Smells make me sick. Any smells. Sweet smells, garlic smells, onion smells, basically any food smells - and the WORST. People's breath. I can smell you a mile away if you've had anything remotely close to Italian food and it's AWFUL. So I stay at home all the time and I when I talk to people I can't look at them or be in close "conversation" distance from them, so people probably think I'm just a jerk. But the good news is that my energy is coming back and I am counting down the days until my second trimester starts. Maybe I will be able to eat my beloved Mexican food again. Oh, Chimichanga smothered in queso - how I've missed you!!!

Anyway, so I just wanted to throw that out there and I also wanted to share my first few weeks as a teacher. It's been soooo daggone hard on me. I feel like a terrible teacher because my heart just has not been in it because of how sick I've been. I mean I waited SO LONG to step into my very own classroom and now that's it's here - I can't enjoy it and embrace it like I had envisioned. I am so thankful that I started my plans back in June because having them done has been my saving grace. But it has been really fun and we have done so many cool things in my room already! The first thing we did as a class was the Marshmallow Challenge. I won't bore you with the details of it because you can just click here to read all about it. But I WILL put up some cool pics from our very own Marshmallow Challenge. Have a peek!

They loved it and I highly encourage you to check out the link above and DO THIS in your classroom! They learn the importance of listening to each other's ideas, working together, and most importantly, the importance of PLANNING!! It's really neat to see these awesome, super-tall structures develop and then when they wait until the last minute to put that marshmallow on top..the whole structure collapses. They scramble to get it right - and to make sure it's TALL - when in reality if they stopped and thought about it...they would realize that EVERY group is going through the same thing. All they would have to do to win is create a structure only tall enough so that when the marshmallow is placed on top...it doesn't fall down. We loved it and I'm so glad we did this the first week!!

These next few weeks, we're learning about the parts of a cell and comparing plant and animal cells. I love teaching this stuff!! It's as much fun for me as it is for the kiddos. I found the most hilarious RAP on TeacherTube and they went berserk for it!!! I will definitely be hearing the kids recite this rap for the next few weeks. Check it out here. It's worth a listen!

I am in the process of creating a "Pin the Organelle on the Cell" game in addition to an "I Have, Who Has" game - cell edition. I have used the I Have, Who Has game format for so many things. It's a great go-to game, especially for reviewing. It's also a great way to quickly asses who "gets it" and who needs a little help. Once I have the I Have Who Has Game, I'll post it up along with pics of my Pin the Organelle on the Cell game.

DiscoveryEducation.com has been my best friend this year. There are TONS of great resources on that site. Below is the interactive cell that I found on there. Go check out that site if you haven't already "discovered" it. Ha! See what I did there?

Last thing I want to share is this pre-made cell version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". It's fantastic!!! I found it here. But look how cool it is!! I am so glad this person offered this for free. I would have at least made five bucks a pop off that thing! I can't imagine how much time it took. Nevertheless, I am thankful for freebies.

Okay, that's all for now. I think I've worn off my welcome-back. Now that you know my legitimate excuse, I hope you can understand my lack of posts. I will try to come back next week for more, but I'm not making any promises. It'll be up to my fetus...

Until next time!! Toodaloo!