The Great Pumpkin Caper and a trophy too!

My new school is located in a small town and is considered the local elementary school.  At the beginning of October I was told that every classroom would receive a free pumpkin and that we would need to decorate it for a pumpkin contest.  One of the rules of the contest was that the pumpkin could not be cut in any way and had to have a title or name.  I was intrigued and the competitor in me decided to keep my ideas top secret in order to win the contest.
I searched the web for an idea on how to decorate a pumpkin to look like a tiger-our school's mascot.  I found one on pinterest.  Here is the link to the original page-http://thecraftyhostess.com/?p=1801 
I explained to my students that we were going to enter the contest and told them that our design should remain top secret so that no one copied us.  One parent and a grandparent were kind enough to donate a tiger tale to us.
My husband and I created a prototype of the tiger at home over the weekend before we would do the project in class.  Here are the pics.  This is how we got started-hubby was my assistant.  Before we glued the candy I made the nose and white part of the eyes with acrylic paint.  Then I used a thick black sharpie marker for the inside of the eyes and the whiskers.

Here are pictures of the pumpkin as it progressed to being done!

The picture directly above was the final product.  Until about an hour later and I realized he didn't have any ears.  So now he is done.

I took the prototype to school so that the kids could see what it was supposed to look like.  I had a parent volunteer come in one morning and she helped the students glue the candy corn onto the pumpkin with a hot glue gun.  Each child had a chance to put some of the candy corn on the pumpkin.  I put the face, ears, and tail on prior to bringing it to school.  Here is the one we made in class.

We won second place in the pumpkin contest!

The students really enjoyed creating the pumpkin and were thrilled when the guidance counselor came with the pumpkin and our trophy!

Great Math Resource

Great resource from North Carolina Department of Instruction.

I had forgot about this great resource until I went searching for a game I wanted to use for place value.  NCDPI has a great site with math resources.  Although the resource is not specifically based on Common Core there are some great games, etc. that will work for grades 3-5.  Check out the resources at:  http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?pageId=5051238

All of them are available as a PDF file so you can save them for future use.  Each week features specific objectives and has some sort of game or activity to reinforce the objective.  

Hope you find it helpful!

Third week of school is already over!

I can't believe that school has already been in session for three weeks.  It has just flown by.  So far the beginning of the year has been great.  I am in a new building so slightly intimated because the rules and procedures are different.
I am also in a new grade level and have 26 students (4th grade)!  We are pretty crowded but all is going well.  They are the sweetest group and very well behaved.  I love my new principal she is funny and very no nonsense with the students.  She does announcements each morning and the last thing she says is, "Remember boys and girls- If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"  I love it!  Last week we had a behavior expectations assembly with third, fourth and fifth grade students and she made her expectations for the year very clear.
My grade level is doing Daily 5 this year for the first time and we are loving it!  I teach 4 rounds of mini-lessons and meet with small groups 4 times.  Our Daily 5 is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long.  I know it will get shorter but we are still working out the procedures and timing of things.
Last week the students worked on a descriptive paragraph.  We created a bubble map with words that described our classroom.  I was expecting them to focus on the appearance of the classroom but they described the atmosphere of the room.  Thanks to my friend Meghan at Fifth Grade Swag I decided to create a Wordle of their description of our classroom.  I think it looks great and made me feel wonderful!

Classroom Reveal

Students arrive on Monday!  My classroom is finally complete.  I thought it would never get finished since I had to move schools. A new grade level adds to the nervousness and excitement.    This is my new name sign outside my classroom door.  My school mascot is a tiger so this is how each room is identified.  

This is the view of my teacher desk.  It is in the back of the classroom so that it isn't in the way of the flow of students going to their various locations during Daily 5.  It looks clean now just not when I snapped this picture!

My grade level is doing Daily 5 so I have a writing space and small group table for meeting with students.   Students will store their writing prompts in the crate shown in the picture.  Every three weeks they will choose the writing sample they want graded.  This will provide them with multiple opportunities to write and give them the ability to choose the one they feel is best.

Our school is having clubs during the day each Friday for grades 3-5.  I am going to have a Greek Mythology Club and decided to promote my club during Open House.  One of my students got so excited she was jumping up and down and hugging me when she found out there would be a Greek Mythology club.  

This is the front of the classroom with my behavior chart and information about how each student is going home.  At the bottom of the picture is my leveled library.  

Here are the rest of my classroom pictures ....I am so proud of how it turned out and so much less junk than previous years.  It is amazing how much stuff you have and don't even know it unless you take it all home and move it to a new building!  I hope everyone enjoys the first day of school!

Teacher Toolbox

I finally created my teacher toolbox that I had pinned to Pinterest so long ago.  I don't know what took me so long to get this together but I think moving to a new school has motivated me.

Thank you to Teaching with a Mountain View for the labels.  Head on over there if you want to use the same labels as I did.  http://www.teachingwithamountainview.com/2013/06/teacher-toolbox-organizerat-last.html

I have not decided if I am going to put it on my desk or behind my desk, I will probably decide once I get the furniture all in place.  I am super excited about using this and having less junk in my desk.

Back to school grade level planning...and another Teacher Pay Teacher product.

Today I met with my new grade level to begin planning for the upcoming school year.  Everyone came prepared and ready to work.  I was amazed at how well we all worked together.  By the end of the day-we were there from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM-I was exhausted.

We planned the first several weeks of reading, discussed math plans and common assessments, and talked about Social Studies and Science.  We discussed procedures as there are two of us that are new to the school.  This included lunch procedures, procedures for dismissal and media check out.

I really need to get my ideas all nailed down tomorrow and Thursday as Monday is the first day we can get back in our classrooms and I am panicked already.  Only 4 days to set up the rooms prior to the first official day back.  We are back on the 19th but very little time in the classroom with lots of training and meetings scheduled.  Luckily hubby and my daughter will be there on the 12th to help me.

I finished another Teacher Pay Teacher product and uploaded it to the site this evening.  I wanted to create a math review task card set that could be used at the beginning of the year.  You can click on the picture to go to my store.

Until my next post....

Rolling Cart...what to do?

I have wanted one of those rolling carts with colored drawers for sometime now but they always seem too expensive.  Over the weekend I went to Sam's Club over the weekend for their Everyone Gets In event.  (I think they are trying to compete with the BJ's warehouse club that recently came to town.)  While looking around for laminating pouches-which they only sell online now-I came across this great cart with drawers.

My hubby and daughter were with me at Sam's and I told hubby I really wanted one of those.  Of course his response was.."What are you going to do with it"?  I said,"I could use it for stations". " How many stations do you have"? he innocently asks.  I said, "Well I am not sure".  He looks at me very funny and my daughter-who is also a teacher says, "Mom the answer is 10"!

So now I have this rolling cart and am wondering what I want to use it for.  Any ideas?

Going to school next week to set up my room so I will let you know what I decide.

Social Studies Task Cards

I have finally uploaded the social studies task cards that I have been working on.  There are two versions one for North Carolina and a second version that can be used for any state.  I think they came out really nice and I plan to use these as a review prior to the unit test.

The generic version is appropriate for grades 3-5.  Here is the picture of the generic task cards.  Click on the picture to be taken to the TPT store.

The North Carolina version correlates with the Essential Standards for 4th grade.  Click on the picture below to be taken to the TPT store.  

Social Studies Freebie

Moving to a new grade level has meant spending lots of planning time this summer.  I have been focusing on Social Studies as that was the content that I was assigned to be an expert at.  I love Social Studies so I was happy to work on that.  I have been working on the first nine weeks and one of the standards indicates that students need to be familiar with the Bill of Rights and rights and responsibilities of a citizen.  I created a short cut and paste activity that can be used as a mini assessment.  Click here to get your copy or click on the picture below.

Hope you enjoy the freebie.

Lunch and new room

I met two of my friends from my former school last week for lunch and they surprised me with a gift box full of supplies for my new room.  I was shocked at the gift and thrilled with what was inside it.  I had been borrowing-more like coveting my neighbor's pencil sharpener all last year-and she bought me my own!  Woo-hoo.  Here our pics of my goodies.  

I can officially get into my new classroom beginning August 12th.  I am getting very anxious to get in and get my classroom setup.  There is tons of stuff from previous teachers and I need to get it all thrown away before I can set up my own stuff.  My husband and daughter are going to help me set up the furniture where I want it.  The floors were just waxed so I don't want want to mess them up.  Here is what the room looks like now...  I will post after pictures as soon as possible.  I am not in love with the odd green paint on the wall but will learn to live with it.

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Group supply containers

I found this idea on pinterest the original post is located at http://flamingofabulous.blogspot.com/.  I decided to try and be super organized this year due to the fact that I currently have 28 students in my classroom!  I have never had that many before and I am a little freaked about it.

I went to Wal-Mart and found the containers.  I added a label to the container and a matching one to the lid. Then I added all the supplies that the students will keep in there and took a picture of them.  I attached a copy of that picture to the side of the container so that it is clear what the container should look like at the end of the day or when the supplies are no longer being used.

Here is the finished project.   I think they turned out rather nice.

Teachers Pay Teachers

Just a quick post to let you know that I have placed another free item on my Teacher Pay Teachers store.  Check it out.  I am creating a sports theme this year for my classroom (more on this in a later post) and this is one of the items that I will be using.  Here is the link....http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Desk-Name-Tags-734914

Busy week

School has only been out for one week and I have been so busy.  Picked mother in law up at airport on Friday and drove her 200 miles away on Saturday so she could visit with her younger son.  I have been sorting boxes full of books from my classroom library.  

I attended professional development on Monday and Tuesday.  Topic was math concepts, since I am moving to a new grade level I felt it was very important to familiarize myself with some of the grade level math standards.  The workshops were mostly positive and I got tons of ideas for the coming year.  

Speaking of professional development-I finally sold my first product today on Teacher Pay Teachers.  I was in the middle of professional development when I heard the cha-ching sound on my cell phone.  I was thrilled when I realized that I had sold a copy of my digital product.  

The best part of the day came when I got home and opened my Erin Condren lesson planner.  Here is the box that it came in.

The box was so pretty looking I didn't want to take it out.  Once the box was open it was packaged in tissue paper-reminded me of the Coach store.  

I ripped off the tissue paper and Voila!  My very own personalized Erin Condren lesson planner.  

Is it not just beautiful?  I am so excited that I was able to get the roses on the front cover.  It reminds me of my hubby and now I can take him to work with me each day :)

I am almost afraid to write in the book and think I am going to think about how I want to use some of the pages before I begin writing in it.  I will let you know what I decide in a future post.  

Classroom library organization

Happy Saturday morning!  I have been thinking about how I will organize my classroom library when I move to my new school in the fall and came across a great idea from http://fourthgradeflipper.blogspot.com/ .  This is a web based program that allows you to enter your classroom library titles and then students "check" out books with the program.  This allows you to keep track of all your books and hopefully fewer of them will be lost.  http://classroom.booksource.com/  Once I sort out the boxes of books that I brought home this will be one of my summer projects.  (I need to start writing these projects down or I will never get them all finished.)

Last full day of school!

Today was the last full day of school for my students.  We had an awards ceremony in the morning and spent some time creating words from the letters in Summer Vacation. We also had a tropical storm come through today and had several inches of water in the hallways.  We dismissed students in a different way to avoid them crossing the bus parking lot in the pouring down rain.

Monday students will come for part of the day and be dismissed two hours early.  We will watch the annual kickball game-fifth grade students versus the faculty in the morning.  Students will have an early lunch and we will play some board games and perhaps some Greek Mythology Jeopardy!

The faculty and staff will have a potluck lunch once students are dismissed and then we will begin the process of closing out the school year.  Since I am moving schools the majority of my personal stuff has already been moved home.  Thank goodness we bought a house with a two car garage, I don't know where I would put all the stuff otherwise.  We have two workdays after students leave and this will be used with gathering up all of our things and storing them away.  All the furniture is removed from the classrooms so that the floors can be waxed over the summer time.  We are required to get several signatures before we can be officially released for the summer.

Greek Mythology Trading Cards

We completed our state test last week so now we get to do the fun stuff!  We have been studying Greek Mythology for about six weeks now and the students have really enjoyed it.  I wanted to have them create trading cards as part of the culminating project and found a great post on Nicole Shelby's blog, Teaching with Blonde Ambition.  She had a rubric and examples of her students cards posted.

Students have read several different myths with the majority of our time spent on different versions of Demeter and Persephone.  They also read several short myths as well.  They then chose six characters and began making their cards.

They were required to create six cards with an illustration on the front and at least three facts on the back of their card.  They were so engaged!  And quiet!  Here are a few pictures of the results.  Click on the first picture and you will be taken to Teaching with Blonde Ambition blog where the original idea came from.

Daily 5 Book Study

I received my copy of the Daily 5 today in the mail.  I also ordered the Cafe Menu along with it.  I read the introduction to the Daily 5 and can't wait to read the rest of it.  I will post my thoughts here as I read each chapter.  Hope you enjoy my thoughts.

Field Trip!

We recently took our third graders to Camp Agape in Fuquay Varina.  Camp Agape is an environmental science camp that provides educational experiences for students as well as summer camp experiences.  My students are inner city kids and they were so excited  at the farm animals that we saw along the way.   Once we arrived at our destination we unloaded the buses and were met by the camp staff.

Our students were divided into five groups and we had two different sessions.  The first session was about plants and the parts of the plant.  We gathered by a small pond and the kids had a flower that they were able to dissect.  They also had a hands on experience where they were the different parts of the plant.

Our second session was about soil.  The kids did an activity where they were the three parts of soil, clay, silt and sand.  They were able to pretend they were water molecules and could see how the water travels through the different parts of the soil.

On the way back to the lodge for lunch we saw a baby deer.  One of my students thought they saw a bunny but upon further inspection we realized it was a fawn.  Here is the picture, you can just make out the deer's ears and the dappled skin.

This is a picture of the butterflies we saw.

I was so excited at how much they remembered from class.  They also were able to tell her what the meaning of the root word bio was.

My coworker and I expected them to be exhausted on the way home but they were even more talkative than on the way there.  They had a great time and I hope that they will be able to go again next year.

Long Weekend has come to an end

Well the long weekend has come to an end.  I was able to relax and get some work done.  All of my PEP's are updated and I will be able to print them off when I return to work tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be our last day before the EOG begins.  The kiddos and I will be reviewing with a power point presentation that our instructional coach prepared for us.  Students will use whiteboards to indicate their answers, thus keeping everyone engaged!

My classroom is becoming empty as I prepare for the move to a new school in the fall.  Not much left except for some math manipulatives and several bookcases that are mine.  I will be moving everything in my car so a few items at a time.

I ordered the Daily 5 over the weekend as my new grade level will be completing a book study over the summer with this book.  We will be implementing the Daily 5 in the fall-apparently we will be the guinea pig grade level.  I am very excited about the book study and the prospect of having the Daily 5 routines in my classroom.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Xtra Math

I just came across this online web based program that will allow students to gain extra math practice for the four basic operations.  The program is completely free and has a great feature that will indicate which student is next.  I plan to use this program in the fall with my 4th graders.  Xtra Math

Check it out!

So much teacher stuff!

Well I have spent most of the day sorting out boxes of all my teacher stuff.  Who knew that I had so many things!  Once I started opening up boxes it started to become clear that I own too much stuff.  I am sure that when I bought the stuff I clearly felt the need to have it.  Some of the items that I took out of boxes were a total surprise.  I don't even remember ever having them.

The good news is that I will be much more organized when I get to my new classroom in the fall.  Here is a picture of my office with boxes everywhere!

Welcome to my new blog!  I am moving to a new school and a new grade level in the fall.  I hope you will enjoy taking this journey with me.

I met some of my new grade level colleagues on Friday afternoon.  Everyone seems very welcoming and I am looking forward to a new year of learning and challenges.