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
I'm continuing my personal study of Debbie Miller's book Teaching with Intention. I looked at chapter 2 this week. {If you are interested in my take on Chapter 1, go here.}
This chapter
starts out by talking about a specific classroom as an example, and
Debbie Miller says this teacher had a vision of what she wanted for her
kids, "and she made conscious decisions and taken deliberate actions to
get them there."
Miller then talks about how she came to define
her own beliefs and she says she wishes this for us, the reader also.
She asks to ask ourselves, "what do I value?"
Miller suggests that taking time to do some writing about our practices
helps us figure out what we value. I did some of this when I first
started skimming this book, but I feel I need to continue this practice.
I think it is very easy to feel tired at the end of the day, and
writing about what's gone on just seems like another huge task. I certainly feel this way today. But I also know I enjoy writing and I
really enjoy looking back over what I've written. And I want to be a reflective teacher.
So, I'm asking you, like Debbie Miller asks in her book, what do you value in your classroom?
Yes, today is Sunday - but I really wanted to do Five for Friday from Doodle Bugs Teaching. It helps me remember the good things. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to post on Friday - my teenage daughter usually hogs the computer if she isn't out with friends, and that's exactly what happened. So, I thought it would be clever to do 6 for Saturday - since I was late. Ha! We met with our tax guy, ate breakfast, ran errands, and it was prom night. No can do. I would attempt 7 for Sunday, but I just don't think that's going to happen. Anyway, on to the 5 {at least!}
1 - It was prom night Saturday and my daughter looked so special. She got her hair done and she had this gorgeous red dress that came about mid thigh and silver high heels that showed off her long legs. Her group of friends ate dinner over at one girl's house, and then they went to prom together and then other places until 5:30am. The most wonderful thing is, we just don't worry about her. She's a good kid. And she said she had a good time, right before she headed to bed.
2. My little math friends - Oh, my goodness, we are working on fractions. We cut rectangles into halves and fourths and even tried thirds. We drew circles and rectangles and partitioned them. I brought in 3 different shaped pasta, and we wrote fractions based on what we had. We're getting there, but I'm surprised at how hard it is.
3. Basal Reader - Because we had a short week, I did something a little different. Our story this week was called "Half Chicken." Usually I read (or have the online book read) and then stop about every page for questions. This time, I read straight through. The next day, we went back and I had the students reread a particular page to find the answer to a question. I kind of liked doing it this way. I may do it again.
4. I've been working on lesson plans all weekend and I have at least an outline for each week until the end of the year. It's a great feeling!
5. We're getting a refund! Yah! Doesn't always happen, so this is good news!
Happy Sunday to you. It's supposed to be a beautiful day here; I hope it is for you, too.
Sara
I have soooo many books that I want to read. They clutter the floor beside my bed. And I have a bookshelf in the empty bedroom in our basement that is starting to overflow.
So... I decide to take Monday evenings and do some actual reading. I started with this:
I had already read the first chapter and skimmed through most of the rest of it, but I've got my own copy now, so I went in with yellow highlighter - wowza! {I was also looking on my nightstand for a pencil but couldn't find one. I was thinking of really going crazy, and writing notes in the margins. What next!}
The first part is called Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices. The first chapter is called Picture Perfect: How Does Your Ideal Classroom Look, Sound and Feel? And I highlighted the very first sentence: "If I were to ask you to close your eyes and envision the perfect classroom scene, what would you see? What would you hear and smell and feel?"
And then, Debbie Miller says, "Once you take the time to envision exactly what it is you want for you and the children you teach, you can set about taking action and bringing your vision to life."
Personally, I think this is the perfect time to start thinking about this. It's getting close to the end of the year. I can think about things I think aren't working, and what is working {yes, please Sara, do this! (because I seem to be a pessimist)} And what do I want to do differently.
I need to make notes. I need to think about what's important to me. Like, I want my class to be enjoyable. I want, for the most part, for my classroom to be somewhere my kids want to be.
So, what else do I want? I also want to plan more fun, memorable ideas. I often feel that our time together is so structure, that my students and I don't have much time to do some of the creative things I'd like to try. But maybe I need to do a better job in planning those times.
Just this tip of the iceberg has gotten me thinking. What about you, what would your perfect classroom look like? This is like my own personal book study, but I'd love to hear from you, if you have a thought or idea to add.
Thanks, Sara
5 random things about this week - I want to join in, I want to join in! Because I want to remember some of the good things that happened this week. So....
1. After getting a nasty surprise on some mid year testing in math, my 2nd grade team decided to split our kids up according to where they were at learning-wise. As two of my little sweeties left my room to go to their math class, one said, "Bye" and the other said, "We'll miss you." And the first said, "Because we like you." And I told them I liked them too {because I really do} and they said, "No, we really like you." Aw, pitter patter goes my heart. And come back girls, because you are so sweet.
2. Friday's math plans - my co-teacher brought in some tangram patterns that made rabbits. Talk about teaching perseverance - that did it for a lot of my kids. So hard not to jump in. "Mrs. S., I don't have two parallelograms." "Mrs. S., this almost works." "Mrs. S., I can't do this!" Sorry, Charlies, you CAN do it!
3. This was really last week, but it's so great! We paid off our house! Yahoo.
which brings me to...
4. My daughter got into the housing dorm she wanted for college next year. Yep, that's right - trade off a mortgage for college expenses. Thankfully, we are able to trade off and we don't have to do both! AND I'm very happy for my daughter that she got in where she wanted.
5. It's Easter Weekend! We don't get any days off this year, like we have in the past, but really, what's more important than
What's the good word in your neck of the blog world? If you'd like to share, Link Up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.
Happy Easter! Sara
I am such a teacher nerd. These came yesterday:
And boy was I excited!
{This comes one day after telling my sister I've got too many books in my back room. Hmmm. Wonder how that happens, don't you?}
I had started reading my school's copy of Teaching with Intention and decided I needed my own so I can mark in it. It may be difficult to apply some of this because we have a basal series and our district has a certain way they want to teach that - what on what days and even what story what week. But I want to continue to be a better teacher :)
Reading with Meaning - well, maybe same caveats as above - but I really want my little buggers to not only learn to read, but enjoy it. How many of us have stayed up too late reading an engrossing novel? Or want to finish looking at the magazine we just got in the mail? Or look at one more blog post?? (OK, maybe the last one is the one that got you!)
I am holding off - I'm on my last day of Spring Break - so I'm trying to stay away from school things. I think I need a study night. I have so many books I really want to read, but don't seem to have time, or make time for them.
So what's the most exciting thing that's happened to you over Spring Break?
Last week, our basal story was "Gloria who might be my best friend," from the book "Stories Julian Tells." In the book, they fly kites and I definitely like to make connections with our stories. (As I was typing this, I thought that I had written about this last year, and I had. See HERE.)
If you want to see the "How To," go to this SITE.
This year, I got SMART! I had a little friend cut pieces for the string for the kite, and another little friend cut piece for the tail. Ah, I'll just sit here and listen to children read during quiet reading while you 2 work, work, work! :)
It really is fun to do this. And then we went outside and if they ran, there was just enough breeze for the kite to fly. Here's two pictures:
{Really, if you can identify the children in these pictures, please quit your Unified School District job and contact the FBI!}
This was Thursday afternoon before Spring Break. I had decided to make this a "you have been respectful" reward time. For most of my 20 little friends, this is NOT a problem. But I have 3 that it is a huge problem for, and 1 that is starting to become that way. So I told them Thursday morning, that kids who had been respectful in class would be welcome to make kites. I also told them I would find some place else for kids who hadn't been respectful. Guess what? Two kids didn't make it. (I kept track - it was 5 strikes and you're out.) Friday afternoon, I decided to do a repeat - a fun activity in the afternoon for students who had been respectful. Guess what? Everyone got to do free choice on Friday afternoon. Isn't it amazing how that works?
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