Meet Rocky!

Our science special's teacher at school has always used a puppet to help engage her students in learning and questioning. Well, the other day I needed a little bit of extra oomph with my students when teaching position words. So, I planned on just pulling out a Beanie Baby to move around. Then have the students describe where it was at (i.e.- it's on the chair, it's beside my foot, etc.) Then, I accidentally grabbed this little guy:

Isn't he precious? I, of course, had to name him and what better than Rocky the Racoon?! He is just so adorable! My students were completely enthralled with where Rocky was and using their position words when describing his location. Too amazing!

 

I have even pulled Rocky out over the past couple of days as my students would become "bored" with one of our Mentor Texts. (I definitely have struggled with keeping my higher group of pumpkins on task when rereading books.) With Rocky helping us to read it has been like having a different group of kids when rereading. Now, I will warn you even the best bunch, like mine, can become silly at times. So Rocky has had to be put back to bed once or twice.

It's also great to have the students sing him to sleep with whatever songs you have been learning. My kids have struggled with their coins a bit. So, I have them sing the songs for each coin to get Rocky to "sleep".

Have a blessed day,