Oooo...It's a Mystery!!

The mystery may quite possibly be... how do I even have energy to post today? Seriously, my kids were crazy today! I mean they would not STOP talking! After conferring with my sister after work today I realized my kids are crazy because...
of me!!
Well, I don't know if this is true but I was thinking about everything we did today and maybe it was TOO fun! Is it possible? Can I provide too much fun for my kids and they just don't know how to handle it all? They were really calm during a traditional reading lesson. Did their seat work like champs. They were even good little workers during center time, then language arts came and POW--they would not shut up! We have been learning contractions all week! Yesterday we did "Contraction Kids" from The Inspired Apple. I did this with my kiddos last year and they LOVED it! I think it is just the cutest thing ever! See below:

Look at that hair! HA!

Anyway today I thought we could do something a little more intensive- Contraction Surgery. You would have thought I gave them a present! They were so excited when I was modeling how to fix the contraction with the band-aid. Then when I turned it over to them it was a melt down! I had kids crying b/c their band-aids were sticking together, they all the sudden couldn't figure out how to cut the word just right so the o was missing, etc. It was like chaos (and of course, my assistant wasn't there!) I was just happy when those 45 minutes finally came to an end!

Then after lunch we were doing place value (again?! when will this unit end!) Yesterday I couldn't find the mats and had them write on their desks with a dry erase. See here. They were freaking out about where they write, how they write, what color marker they have... then during math they would not shut up!

Am I too crazy for my kids? Should I pull out some workbooks? (Oh NO!) I am just going to have to mellow it out tomorrow!

Anyway, the real mystery is my mystery sentence center. At the beginning of the year we did mystery sentences together everyday. We unscrambled a sentence, wrote it, and at the end of the week (after 5 sentences) illustrated the story it became. Good handwriting practice and prediction work. After Christmas I decided to put this into a center. Here is what is looks like [on a Wednesday afternoon]:

Everyday I put a new scrambled up sentence in the pocket chart. The sentences are made from/with spelling words. The kids have to unscramble the sentence then add 4-5 more sentences to make their own story. Most of them love it! Then after center time I have them share their stories and I just love that-- listening to them read their own stories is delightful! Today one of my boys (who isn't especially motivated to do his best work all the time) actually did his best work in this center.

[If you can't read that: Which is shorter your hair or my hair? If I get a haircut my hair will be shorter than yours. I am gettig a haircut this weekend. And I told my mom I wanted it short. I got my hair short so my hair is shorter than yours.]
I was so impressed and had to share what a great thinking center this is. Now, I am going to go eat dinner and try not to think about this day any more--- until I grade papers later! LOL-- I know you understand!