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.