What...I have a blog??!?!?

I promise I did not forget about you all...promise!

Once again life has taken over, and of course my classroom schedule became hectic as well.

We did sell our house (yea!) and are temporally moved (squished) in with my mother and sister. I'll update you all more on what our future plans are, but you will have to wait like everyone else for that :) My hubby and I celebrated 10 years together (while packing and moving), not our ideal 10 year anniversary...we had thought of doing something grand when we talked about it a few years ago...but we had no idea then that we would be packing and moving. So those plans were put on the back burner, maybe next year.

My family did get together for our annual Eggextravaganza. I somehow managed to upgrade the girls' Easter buckets (after digging through boxes to find my cutting machine). I love how they turned out!

Feel free to add captions to this one!

I must admit I am a bit of a chevron freak...along with polka-dots!

I did somehow manage to make it to Spring Break...it was rough that last week. I had to give my transition students the 4th grade CAR (content area retest), manage behaviors (SPRING FEVER hit my room hard, 2 in school...reflection room attendants, and two suspensions...my AP kept giving me chocolate, not such a good sign).

We have also been booking it through our Social Studies content. Teaching Civil War to present day is a TON of material! I love my co-workers and how well we work together when planning. We have been integrating  Social Studies into our Reading lessons like crazy! If you haven't already done so, head over to ReadWorks.org  it's free and a lot of their passages are Science/Social Studies common core...and it's FREE!!!!

Once I finally got my daughter over croup (again) Spring Break came as did the pollen! Which knocked me on my bottom. Ever wonder how much your child touches your car? Well head to the south and park your car outside overnight, and tada...POLLEN ART! This picture does not do it justice.

We did manage to do a few things around town...it's a little different when you don't have your own house and are staying with someone else.

 Someone went to the dentist! I did too, but I have to take Valium just to get a cleaning; therefore, my picture is not as cute :) 

She got her hair cut and done! 

And we hung out at the park

Overall not too bad of a break, but nothing real exciting...and it's almost over. 

We head into the home stretch when we get back...one week of test prep, finish curriculum madness then state testing begins! I don't have any amazing plans or packets...just not enough time! I will say that another great tool I have been using is LearnZillion.com...and they just came out with an app for your ipad or iphone. It's common core aligned as well. 

After testing the true madness begins! Maybe I'll have some fun things planned to keep them busy....no promises though :) 

March Madness

Well boxes are being packed and my inner OCD is FREAKING out! Living in a house that you are packing, well there is just no keeping it neat and clean. On top of that March Madness has begun....I panicked a little when I wrote this on Friday!

Does your March look like this???

On another note Friday was favorite book character day. I went as the Paper Bag Princess. If you haven't read that book it's a MUST. Also here are some of my great co-workers and their costumes!

And finally...my daughter also had favorite character dress up on Friday, she went as a sassy Pinkalicious

Here it is!

Items to Gather:  

• empty 7-Up/Sprite bottles
• holiday ribbon
• scissors
• hole punch
• writing/tag printables (click here for them)
• optional: glitter, four leaf clovers, gold coins, Lucky Charms, etc.

How to:
1. Begin by cleaning and emptying the soda bottles (including the labels)

2. Have the students use the printable to write their narrative on how to catch a leprechaun. Their writing should include items they can use in order to catch a leprechaun, these items can be placed inside their bottle. Items can be ones the teacher provides or items the students bring from home, but they must be able to fit inside the bottle.



3. The student will roll up their writing and put it inside the bottle.

4. Use the ribbon and printable tag to decorate the bottle.



Teaser...

Head over to Classroom DIY blog tomorrow to see what I will make with these:

Excuses...

Excuses...as teachers we hear so many of them throughout the day. I know you will all agree with me. "It's not my fault, my mom forgot to put it in my backpack"..."But I finished it, I just left it at home"..."I told her to shut up because she needed to" (yep heard that one today)..."They (referring to those bang snaps) were just in my pocket and I gave them to only two friends"....(again heard that one today).

My days, as of late, seem filled with excuses...more so than usual. Including ones from my daughter..."I was trying to move the chair back like you told me to and it slipped" (this excuse came after the kitchen chair fell on her toe causing the skin to pull away from the toe nail, and of course after I told her to quit playing with the chair). My students are also "extra full" of them these days especially when it comes to writing. I know we are doing a TON of writing with the state writing test looming around the corner, and part of me is ready for it to be here and gone, but the other part knows I need to keep getting them ready. "But I filled the whole page" (yes you did...putting three words on each line) "But I did write in paragraphs, it's just one big paragraph" (oh yeah that excuse was given).

So...my question to you is...what excuses are you hearing lately? and what are you doing (if you are gearing up for a state writing test) to keep your students interested?

Finally I must share part of my own excuse with you all as to why things are sparse this year...the first being my class load. Not to whine or complain because we all have a ton of work to do, but being in a new grade level and having transition students has been a HUGE workload.

I have already met with my transition student's parents at least four times (face to face) this year. I have 7 that are in response to intervention (progress monitoring for possible SpEd referrals), three that have been referred to SpEd (more paperwork), all 10 have to have individualized learning plans, all 10 have to have academic contracts (because they aren't passing), some of them have to have lessons and grades given to them in the 4th grade content areas they didn't pass on top of regular 5th grade content (so I get to teach 2 grade levels), and then the regular 5th grade paperwork and content....not to mention conferences next week!

On top of that I was asked to help coach a high school basketball team (my old high school)...of which I was SO excited to do but that is extra time there.

And my biggest excuse yet...we FINALLY sold our house!!! But we will be moving to a temp location in less than a month. So I must apologize in advance for another lack of posts in the future. Is that a good excuse????

Reading Stations

Just a little update on my reading tubs/groups....I am currently doing a lot of one on one during my guided reading time, but I do have a good rotation set up for my tubs.

Tub 1: Is Making Words

Have you ever seen this book? I love it and so do the kids. I usually type up a little half sheet of paper giving them a few clues as to how many three letter words...etc. I also started rotating in a word game that they enjoy (any competition is good for them). Therefore I have linked this game for you all...FREE!

Tub 2: Listening Station

We are currently listening to The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I use some comprehension questions here and there, so I know they are listening!


Tub 3: Word Ladders

Again...another great resource! You can print a few, laminate them front to back, and have the students use vis-a-vi markers.

Tub 4: Boggle
I use my board that is on the wall, click here for the printables. I also found a great FREE worksheet for the students to show there work here!

Tub 5: Nonfiction Reading Comprehension

This is yet another GREAT resource! It is FULL of cross curriculum concepts. This is my independent work station. 

Tub 6: Media Center

I hope this give you a few ideas to help get you through the month. I know I am stretched very thin right now...it's crunch time for the GA Writing Assessment  and my remaining transition students are gearing up for the CAR retake, again. Not to mention those parent/teacher conferences just around the corner. Whew! I hope you all are hanging in there! 

AWESOME Guided Math Games!

Again I went MIA for a little while..sorry! Things get hectic and while I have tons of ideas and things to share with you it always means staying up past my bedtime (yes..9pm is past my bedtime) to get them out in blogger world!

I have really been wanting to share these two AWESOME math games that are staples in my math tubs for centers. My students literally fight over these games!

The first one is Witzzle Pro. This game was used first with our math club. They would compete against each other then go to a tournament to compete against other schools. Last year we implemented a school-wide competition, but before I get into how you can use it as a school or just a center here is how you play.

The basic directions are: 1. Draw a card,  2. Get a target number (this can be done by rolling a die, two dice, larger number dice, or just using the date), 3. Select one row diagonal, vertical, or horizontal and using the numbers one time mixed with basic operations (add, subtract, divide, multiply) as well as the PEMDAS (order of operations)..solve for the target number (using a pencil and sheet of paper, they must write their equation) 4. Once a student has solved for the target number they will call out "Witzzle", 5. All other players must then put their pencils down and check that student's equation. 6. If the equation is correct that students takes the card and then chooses another (starting over again). 7. If the equation is not correct, that student is out for the round while the others try to find a correct equation, 8. The winner is the student with the most cards at the end of a given time.

Again, my students LOVE this game. So not only do we play it in class, our entire school plays a round of Witzzle Pro a week. On morning announcements a Witzzle card is given (we use Wednesday...Witzzle Wednesday!), the students copy the card down and our target number is always the date. Each teacher also has Witzzle Game Boards (enlarged empty Witzzle cards) hanging in their rooms. We copy the card onto the boards and the students have time to come up with equations. In fifth grade they have to come up with 2 different equations to be entered into our drawings...but they differentiate among different grade levels (example: smaller target numbers, one equation, use any of the numbers on the card, only add...etc). This year our 5th grade decided to have the students use a slip (attached here, for you to download) and after finding two equations entering in the classroom drawing. We, as a class will draw two names from the stack...those two names are then entered into the grade level drawing...we will then choose one winner for the entire 5th grade. The winner will get their picture taken with a trophy and it will be displayed on the wall (I'll try to add a pic of that display soon).

This game is a MUST HAVE for your math centers!

The next game that my kids fight over to play is called Albert's Insomnia. This is a math fluency game that was invented by someone right here in Georgia! We are actually having him come out and present at our Math Night next week.

And I am not going to try and type the directions for this game, instead if you are interested watch the video below!