I've Been to the Zoo!!

I'm exhausted, so this will be a short one today.
The Triumph:  Another successful lesson taught today on writing.  I have been working on my think-alouds to students, and I think this skill really needs to be practiced more!  It's more difficult than I thought to tell students what my thinking process is, especially when they are a bunch of 5 year olds who just want to join in and help tell my story!

The Struggle:  There are a few students in my class that I have no idea how to motivate to start writing.  So many kids have such great ideas, know their letter sounds, and come up with sentences that go along with their pictures.  Yet, there are only a small handful of kids that will add words to their books, and even fewer who will add full sentences!

The Ludicrousness:  There were many points throughout the day today where I found myself laughing quietly (and hiding my face from the children), including during my writing lesson to the Kinders.  As I write my story to them, I am always reminding them that "it is my story, so it is my turn to talk" and that they will have a chance to share their own stories in their books.  That having been said to them (several times, of course) I still saw many small excited hands waving in the air at me.  So I still include them in my story by making statements like "If you like to have green peppers on your pizza, tap your nose and if you don't like green peppers tap your knee."  Well, for some kids that just isn't enough and they feel like they HAVE to share a statement with me.  One boy in particular is always extremely excited to share and as I was telling them my story of how I got pizza with another intern, he patiently raised his hand.  I talked about the crust, the sauce, the peppers, the mushrooms, the tomatoes.  I reminded students that it was my story so I wouldn't be calling on them, but this one boy still had his hand raised the entire time.  Finally, I asked him if he had something that he needed to tell me.  He said yes, so I asked if it was about my story.  He said no.  So I told him he had to wait, save it in his head and tell me when we were done in a few minutes.
Well, he just couldn't wait anymore!  "But Miss Castleton, I LOVE CHEESE PIZZA! AND PEPPERONI TOO!"  Well, I do too, friend!  And that was the first of several excited outbursts from that student today!  I'm ready to hear what he has to share on Friday!

*"I've been to the zoo" was another outburst from this student during a story about a fish! One of my favorites so far from him!