"Wonder"ful activity, 2 Truths and a Lie reveal, and burst pipes!

As part of our class reading of Wonder, we have been really thinking about character traits and how we should think about and treat others.

So to help take advantage of the wonderful community building opportunities presented by this novel, we begin each reading by having one of the kids in the class sit in a chair in front of our marker board. The rest of the kids think about this person's positive character traits and write them around the head of the featured kiddo. You should see the smiles on the students' faces when they get to turn around and read what their classmates think about them. I make sure to e-mail the picture to the kiddo's parents that evening too. I pinned this idea on pinterest a long time ago and have been waiting for a reason to use it. 

Here's an example:

This is just one of the extension ideas I included in the novel unit I wrote for this awesome book. If you're planning to read this book with your kids, I hope you'll check out my 170 page unit on my TpT Store! Just 9 smackeroos for the rest of March!

So, earlier this week I played 2 Truths and a Lie as part of Flying into First Grade's "Let's get Acquainted" Linky party. Lots of people guessed my lie, so maybe I made it too easy!

1) I really did give up a full ride to West Point, as well as a few other colleges in order to become a teacher. 

2) I really am a double gold medalist in the Jr. Olympics. This ties directly into #1! My gold medals are in marksmanship, one team medal and one individual medal. My shooting ability is what almost determined my future. Luckily I received a number of academic scholarships to non-military colleges that allowed me to go that route, which is why I'm a teacher today and not a professional marksman! Whew! I really dodged a bullet there! :groan:  ;)

3) So that makes my lie that I've taught every elementary grade level. I have taught Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 1st/2nd multi-age, and 5th grade. I've never taught 3rd or 4th grade, though I would be interested in doing that one day!

Finally, I figured I'd share a "fun" event from today. We were in the middle of taking our spelling test when suddenly one of my kid's desks is soaking wet. Turns out there was a crack in the water pipes running through the ceiling above his desk. I love how my kids completely ignored the repairmen and just kept taking their test!