Five for Friday

I'm doing 5 for Friday after my downer post yesterday - gotta think about the positive!

I did my {unintentionally on my part} emergency DRA testing last week. Some of my higher kids either didn't pass or barely passed. So this week, we were reading what I considered a rather blah story during Guided Reading {our district requires that we follow the Journeys curriculum}. Anyway, these little guys were retelling and asking each other questions and really acting like they knew the story. So I said something to them - and they told me the reason why was because the story was interesting {?What??} and they could talk to each other about it, so that helped them remember. Ah, that I can understand. And really, if you think about real world collaborations - talking is how we figure things out a lot of times. So that makes me feel good about all the times I have them stop and talk to a partner while we're reading our story for the week.

To go along with that - this week, I gave the kids sticky notes before we started our story - 



and asked them to write a question that could probably be answered as we read the story. It was fun to watch how interested they were - especially when they got to read their question to the class and we'd discuss the answer.

To go along with that, during guided reading, after we had read their story, I gave them a sticky note and asked them to write a question for the other kids in their group to try to answer. The best part of that was when I asked the child with the question - did that answer your question and they would say no - we'd have to keep digging.

I had this grandiose plan to encourage better writing from my kids, following some ideas from Sugar and Spice but I think I was rushing a bit and my kids didn't get it, so I stopped and regrouped {yeah, me, sometimes I'm not smart enough to do that!} So they each had a magazine - Ranger Rick - and they had to do simple research on their animal. Then they were to write about where the animal lived, what it looked like, something the animal does, and something unusual about the animal. Then, I had them find a picture of their animal and put it on a powerpoint slide. And then - oral presentations - with their animal picture showing on the slide behind them. They turned out pretty good, so yeah there!

 

I made a cute little poster/sign thing for my blog. I just love being creative - especially when I like how it turns out!

If you've got some good stuff to share, you can link up!

Five for Friday - 4/4

I think I can, I think I can... actually write a blog post tonight - LOL!
Here we go....
Our school had "spirit week" for the now not happening state testing our 3rd and 4th graders were supposed to do next week. Kansas has had some glitches, so first our school, and then our district postponed the tests. However, we went ahead and had spirit week this week... culminating in a pep assembly... next week. Yup, makes sense to me, too. 

However, today was 70's day. Yeah, kinda like the 2nd pic on Doodle Bugs' post. And our first grade team, a lovely bunch of ladies, dressed up like that. It was fun to see!

I got this new little guy right after the first 9 weeks. He's one of those kiddos that I'm thinking might have just gotten shuffled around under the guise of "boundaries." He's interesting... he seems to take forever to answer when I ask him a direct question, but then he's always blurting out answers when I'm not wanting him to. What a dichotomy. And today, he was reading this short little story, and I asked him to retell it. And he was doing that... very sloooooooowly. And I teased him just a little, and this little smile appeared. And I was thinking that might be the first smile I've seen all year. Which made my heart smile a little.

My two lowest readers {yes, one of them is my friend right up there under #2} wanted to read poems this week during guided reading. So I told them they had to practice and then read them to the class on Friday. They did. But they were both so fast, and reading right into their paper, and a little soft spoken {even after I made them go to the front of the room and practice 1 word to see if I could hear in the back of the room!}. But my class did me proud. They all clapped for the two boys, just like they had heard every word! Yeah team!!

I decided to see if I can't get a new desk at school. If you have read any of my posts, you've seen a couple where this is a major decision-making undertaking for me - LOL. I don't know how these things are decided but last year I did get the 20 some students desks I requested. 
Along with that, I've been purging, purging, purging my files. Except I started going through my math centers today, and Did Not do a very good job of tossing. 

This is a big yahoo who and praise the Lord for me! Let's see, how did this merry-go-round start? Oh yeah, our art teacher is retiring, so a 3rd grade teacher is moving there. A Kindergarten teacher is taking her place. And a 2nd grade teacher - my co-teacher is moving to Kindergarten. And a 1st grade teacher is moving up to 2nd. While I'll miss my co-worker {well, she'll still be in the building, but you know...} I'm excited to teach with this new gal who seems full of ideas and energy and really cares for her kids. I had thought about trying a different grade level myself, but I think this shaking up our team a little will be the fix I need. 

What about you? What's new, exciting, uplifting, fun, or just worth sharing about in your world?

 

9/6 Five for Friday

I'm thinking as I go here - I hope I can count to 5!

1 - I love my class! And so did my sub yesterday, the science teacher, the school counselor, and even people at church have heard! 

 

 I have enjoyed my 3 weeks with them. I've got a smile on my face. It's a good year and I'm just going to be happy about it.

2 -Finally getting used to my totally different than before schedule! Math's in the morning - our afternoon is Long! Lunch is early, etc., etc., etc.

3 -

 

My hub bub and I went to Denver last weekend - watched the Rockies lose and Todd Helton NOT hit his 2500 {he did it the next day}; went to a wonderful little biscuit place sorta downtown that was delish! I had a strawberry shortcake one - yum; went to the this hole in the wall Mexican food place - double yum - probably the best meal there; first trip to Container Store - bought some fun stuff; and went to the Aquarium, which I was thinking I wasn't too excited about until we started seeing all sorts of cool things like a sea turtle, manta rays and sharks and so on! 

Is this not the coolest - it's a manta ray's underside, he's going up the glass tunnel that separates us.

4 - 

 

{hee hee - I bought a bumper sticker like this - but it said Dear Math Book... for my daughter when she was having a wee bit of problem with her math class.} Going without a workbook for the first time ever in Math - and it hasn't been too bad. I've made up problems and shown the on the Smartboard - and I'm able to add all my munchkins names - so it's like a treat. Today I had one that one boy had 9 aliens at his house - so I asked him if his mom knew about that. He said she didn't :)

5 - Work Weekend - 

 

Our reading series {Houghton Mifflin's Journeys} does units of 5 lessons, so I like to plan those five weeks of lessons and get them out of the way. Then I just have to tweak them the week before. So that's what I'm going to be doing this weekend - holed up in the basement, chained to the computer. But I'll be glad to get them done!

Ok, so link up if you want - if you have something to share. 

A look back at this week - 5 for Friday

Well, I was trying to count up and see if I could think of enough good things that I would have 5 to share. I think I do - so I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching. {HeeHee - just thought of the last one, so I'm good!}

1. Our school had 2 merry-go-rounds at the beginning of the year. And then they were gone. I was on recess duty that day, and it was really kinda weird. At lunch, they were there and at the afternoon recess, they were loaded on a truck. The kids' faces were so sad as around the corner on the back of the truck went our merry-go-rounds. Well, like 6 months later, we got these new things. They are these little stands that stick up various heights. And they are far enough apart that the kids have to jump from one to another. So can you guess what happens when we get new play equipment? Ummm, yes - lots of "discussions" about how to use said equipment. 

So I snapped this picture when I was going to write about how well the kids were problem solving. 

But just moments later, I realized I would have to revise my perception when I had 3 sets of kids separately come and tell me: so and so is being bossy, or mean, or cutting in line. Blah, new equipment is closed - try again on Monday {when I'm not on recess duty!}{And the kids told me the teacher who will be on duty Monday won't let them - ah, poor little babies.}

2. Just entered a Scholastic Book Order. Yeah for my parents - I have one in particular - that place orders. I had enough points to get their latest Knowledge Quest set of books - on the Earth. This is a set of 8 books and a teacher's guide about a certain topic. I've gotten the insects one and the water one, also. 

3. I finished our unit on Dinosaurs today. We read about dinosaurs - carnivores, herbivores, T-Rex, triceratops, and fossils. And today, we made fossils {well, you know, fake fossils, duh}.  First of all, I made some homemade clay last night. I made two batches. Today, it was apparent that one of them was a good batch and the other, well, it wasn't so good. One was great and the other was a sticky mess. And I never even thought to bring some flour to school to help fix things. My idea was for the kids to play and create for a while. Then flatten out their dough and make impressions with different things like paper clips, bottle lids, tongue depressors, etc. Well, some worked, some didn't. They are sitting out drying this weekend. We'll see what they look like Monday.

4. We started a unit called "The Best Part of Me." I got the idea from HERE - a Scholastic blogger named Genia Connell. Her kids made poems about their best part of themselves. My kids are mostly writing paragraphs - but it's good. They decided on the best part of themselves, then told me how they wanted me to photograph that best part. Now they are writing. And lastly, we'll put the photo and the writing together on construction paper. 

Here's a couple of no-face photo examples:

 The top guy is writing about his muscles, the next his hands and the girl is writing about her brain. 

 5. My fifth one was going to be that I get to see my hub-bub tonight after his trip out of town, but by the text alerts I've been getting, I'm thinking he might be spending the night in Dallas. Hopefully I'll find out soon. - OH YEAH - my hub-bub's connecting flight has been delayed 20 minutes - maybe that's enough for him to get on the plane. 

Happy Weekend to you - Mine will be filled with graduation plans and yard work - but the kind I like. 

Sara

Random Thoughts about my week - Five for Friday

{OK, I really, truly was writing this on Friday, but Firefox kept shutting down on me. I finally gave up when my daughter and a friend came home, but I was thinking about it and realized it was the way I was trying to add pictures. So here's try two, a day late.}

How was your week? How was your Friday?
My week seemed long. And my Friday started on a sad note. I was in a meeting this morning when I found out I didn't have the sub I had planned for so I could do DRA testing with my kids. {I don't have to tell you how much fun it is to make sub plans and then have no one come.} All through the day, my kids kept asking when the sub was coming. They just didn't understand why no one was coming. Crossing my fingers and hoping for Monday.

 But here are some good things:

1. Watercolor and Salt paintings - I wrote about this earlier, but now I have pictures! This project went along with our story Half Chicken. Half Chicken only has half of everything, that's why most of the chickens only have 1 leg. Anyway, we drew the chickens on one day, then watercolor painted the chickens on the next. After they had painted, the kids sprinkled some salt on their painting. Most of them didn't work out as well as I had hoped. I don't think their chickens were wet enough for the salt to suck up part of the liquid to make a textured look. Next year. The next day they added backgrounds. I let them do whatever they wanted on the colors because the illustrations in the book were pretty bold.

 2. Dinosaurs - I'm taking part of Deanna Jump's dinosaur unit and adding some of my own things and books that I have available. Of course my kids are enjoying this. And I've made some learning charts. I should say, we've made some learning charts. {This idea is from the Teaching with Intention book.} After almost everything we've done, I've had the kids write on a sticky note and we've added the sticky note to a chart. {As usual, pictures to come, I guess, since I didn't take any.}

3. Subtraction - I've used Math Coach's Corner's Regrouping unit and Hooray! in my low math group, almost everybody "gets" it! I think I'm down to 3 or 4, and quite frankly, that's 3 or 4 out of the whole 2nd grade (since we've grouped them by level). This is such a hard concept - I didn't realize until I started trying to teach it!

4.  I hope this isn't too silly - but I think the end of the year is getting to me. The behaviors - ack! Anyway, I've made a conscious decision to try to enjoy my students the last couple days. To laugh with them. To take a minute to notice something. To put a hand on a shoulder.

5. Happy Anniversary to us! I was thinking this morning, my hub-bub and I have made it through lots of thicks and lots of thins - and we still enjoy each other. To celebrate - a nice lunch out and the movie 42. Looking forward to spending the day with him.

I'm linking up at:

Have a great weekend - Sara

Five for Friday - 4/12

Yahoo, it's 5 for Friday time - I'm linking up - ON Friday! Wow!! 

If you want to "play" - link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

1. It's Friday! Yeah. Friday's are my recess day, and even as I put on my (brown colored so they don't look too much like sneakers) New Balances, I knew my feet were going to hurt today. Does anybody else have this problem? What do you do? I'm thinking of investing in some thick socks. I looked on Zappos.com (where I buy a lot of my shoes) and there are some socks for $80!!!! I really want to met the person who buys $80 socks. 

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'm very happy it's Friday and I can rest my tootsies. Well, really the bottoms of my feet are what hurt, but anyway. 

2. Mega support from a parent. Sometimes I've been afraid to contact a parent because I'm afraid it won't do any good. I have a kiddo that's having some difficulties, and Dad has emailed me two days in a row, wanting to know specifics. Thank You!  

3. I did running records this past week. My school is really focusing on fluency and wpm this year. I have 13 kids reading at 92 wpm, where they are supposed to be by the end of the year, with another 3 or 4 that are just a bit short of that. So that's a yahoo and yeah!

4. I finally got to do my Salt Paintings. {This is a year after I found the idea, but OK.} And pooh, forgot a picture. Maybe Monday - I need to put a note on my phone reminder. Anyway, they turned out pretty cool looking, and it always surprises me how much the kids enjoy art projects. This is the example picture. Wait til you see some of mine :)

5.  My daughter and I were home alone last night, so we splurged and had Applebee's - steaks for each of us, and watched "Hart of Dixie on Netflix. It's such a fun show. And I love watching without having to go through commercials.

Ah, my dear reader friend - Happy Friday to you! I hope you have a terrific weekend!
Sara