Five for Friday: Field Day, Crawfish, and Sweet Students

Today was our Field Day! We had such a blast! My homeroom class won 8 out of the 10 events!!! :)

This is a picture of the fourth grade teachers and me. We call ourselves "The Four Corners," because our classrooms make a square at the end of the hall. In the picture, we're making a square! lol

(Left to Right: Kelly, me, Cheri, and Rachel)

Some of my homeroom kiddos

Some of Mrs. Montgomery's girls and me! I love these little ladies! 

Montgomery's boys and me

Mrs. Mill's homeroom with all the teachers!

One of Mrs. Mill's lovely ladies and me

Before going out to Field Day

We had our annual crawfish boil this week to honor two of our women that are retiring! One year ago on Wednesday, I became a Gator and attended my first crawfish boil at Steere! As you can see, I am not a fan of crawfish! lol For those that don't know, I'm a pescetarian. Which means I am a vegetarian that still eats seafood. However, crawfish like this is not my thing. I will eat it in gumbo though. lol

A very sweet student made this scarf for me! It's yellow and green for our school colors. My kiddos spoil me! I'm really going to miss them when they graduate! 

I am absolutley in love with my new "I can" statements! I ordered them from Jason's Online Store at TPT. He has Common Core objectives for ALL grades with pictures to explain each standard. How awesome is that! You can check them out HERE.

I really enjoyed Mother's Day with my mom!

~~~

Next week will be the hardest blog post I'll have to write. It will be the last week with my 5th graders. I will miss them terribly. Next week we are doing a lot of memorable activities, parties, and I will watch them graduate! I will have new students next year, but I will always remember my first class at A.C. Steere! They are very special to me. I know I will cry when I see them cross the stage!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Five for Friday: New products, Tutoring, and 2 FREEBIES!

 Happy Saturday everyone! Here's what's been going on this week!

This week I decided to make new Whole Brain Teaching Rules Posters for my classroom! I made two different sets and both are for sale on my TPT site! My students absolutely love them! I forgot to take a picture of the rules hanging in my room. For my personal rules, I chose a Melonhead that looks like me with freckles (similar to the one on my signature). The ones I am selling are more generic. Click on the images below to take you to the store! 

Chevron version of the WBT Rules.

Chalkboard version of the WBT Rules. (This one has two different teacher options).

This week was the last week of tutoring. I've been tutoring two very sweet students! They wanted to take a selfie after the last day! I absolutely love my job and my students! I am going to miss every single one of them.

Last week I decided to make a new tutoring sheet to give to parents who are interested in tutoring next year. I haven't had any problems with payment or anything like that, but I wanted to make a sheet that was cute and kind of like a contract. I need to tweak it, so I can sell it as a freebie on my site soon! Don't y'all think it's cute and practical?

This week we started our graduation practice. I took this picture on Thursday. The end of school is so close, and I know my 5th graders are super excited. However, I'm actually not looking forward to summer the way I have in the past. I love my school, students, and job! It is really bitter sweet. I hate having to say goodbye to my 5th graders. I know they may never come back to visit, which breaks my heart a little. I've worked hard to build relationships with each and every one of them. Even the most difficult students have grown on me, and I can truly say I love them. I don't really know what I'm going to do with myself this summer. I suppose I'll be making products to sell and working on lesson plans for next year. People always said last summer, "Why don't you take a break? You're going to burn out. Don't you ever stop thinking about work?" The answers are "I don't want to take a break, because I enjoy teaching, making teacher products, and planning lessons." Why stop something you love to do? Anyways, I know it will be awesome to see my kids graduate knowing they've improved so much. I just hope I don't tear up at graduation! lol I love them!

This week I also made a couple Freebies for National Teacher Appreciation Week! This freebie is a mini-poster of Team Jobs that I use. 

The jobs included are:

1) Task Master- Keeps the team on task and keeps track of time.

2) Materials Monitor- Makes sure all materials are returned.

3) Paper Collector- Collects the team's papers to be turned in.

4) Quiet Captain- Keeps the team quiet when the teacher needs to talk by asking in a whisper to be quiet or showing with a hand signal.

Click the image below to download this freebie!

And last, but not least, this is the other freebie that I made! I created a mini-poster of class rewards!

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend! 

Happy National Teacher Appreciation Week!

Good evening everyone!

I hope you are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by finding joy in your students and getting some much needed rest! We are so close to the end of the school year! My kiddos are so excited that graduation and summer are only 13 days away! This week my students are taking End of Year PARCC assessment. They are so tired of testing. I wish PARCC didn't drag out through May. Although the kids are tired and have FifthGrade-Itis, we are really looking forward to our upcoming field trips, Field Day, and our graduation ceremony, reception, and party!

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I created a new product for my TPT store! I love Whole Brain Teaching, especially utilizing the classroom rules. Many of my coworkers use Whole Brain, so my students were already familiar with the rules and expectations when they entered my room. I created Whole Brain Teaching Class Posters using Melonheadz! They are only $1.50! Check them out {HERE} or click on the preview below!

I hope you all have a wonderful night!

Five for Friday: Whip Nae Nae, Freebie, and Projects

 So much has happened this week! The closer it gets to summer, the busier we are! Check out what's been going on this week!

This week my students turned in their 5 Contributions to Medicine Timeline and summary. They presented their projects, and I was so impressed with how well they did! They really have improved when it comes to project. They are so ready for middle school!

If you're interested in this novel study or project, check out my TPT store!

I love my students so much. This week two boys gave me fabulous drawings of Katniss from The Hunger Games. (I dressed up as her for Halloween).

I also got a Starbuck's gift card just because! I don't deserve these sweet kiddos!

This week my students worked on Test-Prep packets with partners. I used my new FREEBIE, Partner Pair-Up Cards, to help students find a partner. Towards the end of the year, my students get fussy and don't want to work with each other. So, to solve the problem of students getting their feelings hurt or someone being left out, I made these cards! 

Also this week while going over test prep, we used the Kagan structure Numbered Heads Together.

Here's how it works:

1. Divide the students into groups of four and give each one a number one to four.

2. Pose a question or problem to the class.

3. Independently, the student thinks about the question and writes an answer on his/her board.

4. Students then "put their heads together" and share their answers. The group comes to a consensus.

5. The teacher calls out a number. When that number is called on, the student stands and answers for his/her team.

I love brain breaks! This week we danced to Watch Me (the whip nae nae) per many of my students' requests! lol Check out how awesome they are!