Five for Friday: I can't believe the school year's over!

I love these kiddos!

(My homeroom class)

To start off this week, I gave my students the letters that I wrote them. It was so awesome to see them reading what I wrote. Their faces lit up and some even cried. They told me how honored they felt for me to write each and every one of them. I absolutely adored reading the letters they wrote back to me! I even had one student write me an e-mail after graduation day, because he felt like he needed to say more. How precious is that!

Here's a picture of the students reading the letters and writing me back.

This week my students and I created a memory "quilt". Each student drew a self-portrait and added his/her name to it. It's an amazing keep-sake for me. This year has been so special! I hung the quilt up on their graduation day! Parents really enjoyed it!

Aside from my sweet letters, my students also made me signs, wrote more letters, and drew pictures for me this week! They're so sweet!

Graduation was bitter sweet. It was really hard to goodbye to my students. I know I may never see or hear from some of them again. I definitely cried a lot during the ceremony. A.C. Steere has impacted my life in so many ways. I work with amazing people who are genuine. I have amazing parents who want to help as much as they can, and I have great students. I have fallen in love with my school and kiddos. Teachers learn so much from the kids they teach. I'm so happy that this career path chose me. God definitely knew what he was doing.

My students hanging out before the ceremony:

After the ceremony, we had a great reception. I hugged as many of my students that I could find! The cafeteria was definitely packed. I didn't get that many pictures on my phone, but here are a few.

I have been so overwhelmed by the gifts, letters, and cards that I have received this year. My students and parents are so thoughtful. I definitely did not expect summer/goodbye gifts. 

A fabulous student drew this amazing picture for me. (From left to right: Ms. Montgomery, student, me, and Mrs. Mills)

Flowers from students

A fabulous single-sheet laminator from a co-worker and student.

This beach bag is so cute! A few parents chipped in and got us all one of these! 

I am ready to relax for summer, but don't think I won't be planning, creating, and blogging! 

Five for Friday (On Saturday): Field Trip, Observation, & Talent Show

Good morning everyone!

I couldn't post last night, because I was at our school talent show! It was so much fun. We have such talented children at our school! So here is what's been going on this week:

On Monday, we went to the Fish Hatchery for our field trip. The students learned about boat safety, fishing, types of fish, and alligators! Alligators were, of course, their favorite part! I really enjoyed watching my students experience new things. Many of my students have never been fishing before. 

This week I created a new product for my TPT store! I've been using a free newsletter that I got from TPT, but I wanted to make my own using Melonheadz. Why, you ask? Well, because I love Melonheadz! haha If you'd like to purchase my monthly newsletters you can go to my TPT store {HERE} or click on the image below.

For my class website, I changed the title of the newsletter to Buckner's Bulletin. How cute is that? Here's a picture of my May newsletter (I'm still updating it):

I mentioned last week that I've been working on writing letters for each of my students. I'm so excited about it. I hope my students know how much they mean to me. Here are some samples of the letters I'm writing (I took their names off for their protection):

My observation was on Friday, and I think it went very well. My students were so well behaved... it was almost creepy. haha We did another partner writing. We've been reading the novel, The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker. The book is set in the 1800's about a boy who apprentices for a doctor during that time. Lucas, the main character, is left alone after his entire family dies from consumption (Tuberculosis). He gets word of a "cure" and is racing to save a friend. The students have been learning about the differences between our medical field during the 1800's and today. We've discussed vaccines, bloodletting, instruments used then, and the discovery of germs. 

The students just completed a Timeline project of what they think are the top five contributions to medicine. (Things that improved the medical field such as vaccines, machines, medicine, etc.) 

During my observation the students re-read 3 passages that we read about a week ago. The passages were "The Invention of Vaccines", "Bloodletting", and "Semmelweis' Germ Theory". I created these passages after researching the topics. All the passages were leveled. After re-reading the passages, the students asked each other HOTS questions. They then chose a writing prompt that goes with the passage. I created 3 different prompts per passage (narrative, informative, and opinion). With their partners they completed the writing using a writing checklist. We've used a lot of checklists this year. I love them, because the students know exactly what I'm looking for.

I didn't get to teach this lesson to my 3rd hour, so I'll try to take pics and show you more specifically what the lesson entailed. The kids really enjoyed it.

Last night was our school-wide Talent Show! Here are some pictures of my very talented 5th graders!

Two students created their own song.

He sang "Play it Again".

I honestly don't remember the name of this song/dance. lol

This was so adorable! 3 students created a skit to a "Shake it Up" parody. The two girls in the picture wrote the parody themselves about school/A.C. Steere. I was so impressed! I told them to give me a copy of the song typed up, so I can share it with future students. My awesome little writers!

She danced to "Hopelessly Devoted to You".

These silly boys did a little skit to "3 Blind Mice".

Check out the finale of the show!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!