Positive Thinking Thursday 5/29/14

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for Positive Thinking Thursday!

 

These are both very true for me and I have been thinking more and more about it lately because next Friday is my last day of my first year teaching. It has been a wild and crazy year full of ups and downs of being a first year teacher who moved 12 hours away from where home had always been. I have been getting teary eyed a lot lately thinking of my kids and how much these two quotes ring so true to me. These 20 kids will always be my first babies.

Biodolls

I finally remembered to take pictures of our biodolls!

For this project the kids had to pick anyone they could find a biography book on to read, take notes, write a research paper, and then make their doll. We did this 100% in class because we wanted the kids to actually do the work instead of parents.

The best part of this project was that the kids read the book in class so I had some quiet time. Once they finished reading they had to take notes. I saw the idea for a post-it note biography on tpt (I of course can't find it again), but I did not want to pay for it because I am a fist year teacher, so I made my own with some changes to fit what we needed/wanted for our fourth graders.

Then with a lot of help they wrote their research paper.

Finally it was time for the dolls! Students had to bring in an empty 2-liter soda bottle, a 3-inch styrofoam ball, and fabric/clothes to dress their doll up. In class they filled the bottle up with some water (to keep it from falling over), I hot glued their head on and they went to town! They worked really hard on this cute project.

Can you guess who they are? (answers at the bottom)

1- Moses, 2- Dolly Parton, 3- Harriet Tubman

A Peek at my Week 5/26-5/30

Linking up with Mrs. Laffin for a peek at my week!

This week is really kind of boring because of state testing. Wednesday and Thursday my school will be doing our end of grade testing, which means at least 3 hours of watching my kids take a test, walking around the room, and wishing they weren't forced to take the state tests.

We are really, really excited for Friday though. We are having a super hero fun day to celebrate the end of testing!

First we will start off with this fun freebie I found: 

We (4th grade team) are so excited to see what the kids come up with!!!! We also decided to let the kids write a comic strip too!Very happy to have found this activity, my room is right next to 5th grade and they have science testing that Friday morning so we have to be silent :(

We also are allowing the kids to bring in some comic books to read/look at.

In the afternoon we are going to watch the Incredibles! I love that movie! This should be the perfect way to end testings.

My 10 Things for Summer!

1. At the end of June I will be going to see my family in NY and I get to see two of my best friends get married!!!! I can not wait for their wedding, they were meant to be.

2. I have a pile of books at least as tall as me to read.

3. I am going to swim and get my tan on all summer long.

4. Clean and organize our spare bedroom.

5. Get my classroom books organized for the upcoming year.

6. SLEEP!!!!

7. Watch a lot of Netflix and daytime TV.

8. Do some crafty projects that have been pinned on Pintrest forever.

9. Continue on my weight loss, hopefully losing another 25 pounds before school starts.

10. Spend a lot of time with Michael, Chen, and Drake.

Positive Thinking Thursday 5/22

I am linking up with Mrs Laffin's Laughings for Positive Thinking Thursday!

Today I have a couple, related to my babies, aka my dogs Chen and Drake.

Source

This is 100% true, no matter how awful or great of a  day I have had seeing my babies when I come in the door is amazing!

Source

There are just some days when Chen and Drake are better than being with people.

Source

Finally,  a great lesson to learn!

A peek at my week! 5/19-5/23

Linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a peek at my week!

In ELA we are bust reviewing for EOGs. Using task cards from the big sale! My kids have been having fun with them. I need to find more sequencing practice though. They understand it, until you give them a mixed up paragraph and ask them to put it in order.

More review for EOGs! We will being doing a lot of focus on review fractions, but we also need to practice division.Some of my kids get it and then I have a handful that just don't, but we'l keep plugging away!

 and 

We are done with the standards so this time will be EOG practice mostly. Monday hopefully we finish our Biodolls and hopefully I take pictures so I can finally show you all. Tuesday we will be pairing up with a second grade class to do a problem solving activity called "Saving Fred." My friend found it so I do not have a link, but in groups they have to save Fred the (gummy) worm from falling into the ocean without hooking him (thus killing him) with paper clips. We can not wait to see them work together and what they come up with!

This week we also have a field trip!! The whole 4th grade is going to a bowling alley for a end of the year party. The bowling alley gave us an AMAZING deal! For $9 per kid we get: 2 hours of bowling, a slice of pizza, soda, and a ride on the bumper cars! They also said if the kids wear their tennis shoes they don't have to borrow bowling alley shoes! That will save a lot of time and effort! I am very, very, very excited for this party and to see the kids have fun!

Positive Thinking Thursday! 5/15

Linking up with Mrs. Laffin for Positive thinking Thursday!

This is what helped me make the decision to pack up my life (husband and one dog at the time) last summer and move 12 hours away from everyone and everything I knew. When I got hired for my dream job so many emotions went through me. Most made me terrified. How could I leave everything? But I had to. There are not many jobs in NY and my home district kind of really sucks. There are not many charter schools where I am from. There is not much respect for teachers where I am from.

I am happy in NC in my charter school surrounded by parents that respect not only me but teachers as a whole. I am in a charter school that allows me to teach the way that is best for my students, not what someone who isn't in a classroom thinks is best. 

It was terrifying to move, but if I hadn't that feeling of regret would have been a million times worse.

Long Day

It was a long stressful day. Honestly if I could just spend my day in my room with my kids and not worry about anything else, then come home with the dogs, it would be wonderful.

Also if I could snap my fingers and have all my task cards I bought cut out, I would love it too.

A Peek at my Week 5/12-5/16

Linking up for a peek at my week with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings!

We are getting ready for are End of Grade tests. We are doing a lot of review using task cards and notes. We are super excited about working with a class of second graders this week though! On Thursdays the second graders went to the zoo, this week they have to write a report about an animal they saw. They are really struggling with sequencing and making their writing make sense. My kids are struggling with editing. A perfect match! Plus I get to spend some time with my favorite second grade teacher at my school!

More review for EOGs. Using task cards and games. Hopefully my kids can get long division under their belts and be confident in their work.

We have taught all of our science standards! During our normal science time we will be practicing for EOGs. My kids really struggle with not talking. So I made little packets using one of my favorite purchases from the big tpt sale (BTW everything I bought is my favorite purchase).

So they will get their packet of either comprehension or grammar depending on the day we're working on. They will have a half hour to do the pages in the packet. If they finish early, they sit there silently doing nothing (just like on EOG day). If they don't finish in the time allowed, they still turn it in (just like EOG day). I really hope they get how important it is that on EOG day they must be silent and stay in their seats.

We are finishing writing our biographies and making our biodolls. I can not wait to see the finished product. Some of the kids have started making theirs and they are super cute! I forgot though to take pictures Friday, but as soon as I can remember this week I will take some pictures. When the whole project is done I will write up a blog post about the whole process! 

Five for Friday 5/9

Linking up with Doodle Bug's Five for Friday!

This week we worked on Mother's Day gifts! We were finishing up our poetry unit so the students wrote an ode to their mom! Here are two of my girls wonderful writing!

We also did some Mother's Day math cards! I was lucky enough to edit and then get a free copy of this activity! You should all put it in your wishlist! First they have to do a bunch of math and then they get to create an accordion style card to showcase all the hard work their mom (caregiver too!) does for them. I can not wait to hear how moms reacted!

One side:

The other side:

With it being teacher appreciation week I got a lot of love from our parents and kids! Here are some wonderful tulips from one of the kids. You can also kind of see Chen trying to figure out what in the world I brought home.

The TPT sale was amazing!!! And as I thought of what else to add to my five, I realized I forgot my stuff to cut that is laminated at school and I can not get into the school all weekend, so the cutting will have to wait:(

Anyhow here are a few of the things I bought and will be using this upcoming week!

  

 

I know this says 2nd/3rd, but it is for sure suitable for 4th too!

This week my kids did their math benchmark, and I was disappointed with half of them because they did not do as well as I know they could. So next week we will be hitting those questions hard.

Finally, nothing school related. Buy, why isn't my complex's pool open!!!! I know the water might be cold, but isn't that the point of swimming? People think I am crazy for wanting to swim, but people in NC do not understand what cold is! I want to swim on these 90 degree days!