Superhero Success

Another transformation has been complete!  Today we had our students take part in a Successful Superhero Traning, as a way to work on our test prep skills for the Forward Exam.

Students focused on six areas: Perseverance, Determination, Focus, Positivity, Endurance, & Accuracy. Each area had a different task to be completed (Growth Mindset, reading directions, responding to reading passages, fixing mistakes, finding main idea, and multistep word problems)

It was a SUPER MARVEL-ous Day! (I'm exhausted!)

Grammar Surgery- Set The Stage to Engage!

Do you ever just have those lessons that make you smile? Our Grammar Surgery Day was a HUGE success. My coworker participated in this as well, and I am beyond thankful for all of her hard work getting it set up. This WILL happen again! :)

A Dream Come True!

Each year I have rearranged my classroom in hopes of finding that "perfect fit".  This year, Target helped us with a big piece of my goal... flexible seating! I created a project on Donor's Choose, and thanks to the generosity of Target, our project was funded! I wanted to give my students choice. Each learner is different, so providing a wide variety of seating options was extremely important to me. I slowly introduced one new area a week, and this week we were finally able to introduce our last area (at least for now).

Below you will see a wide variety of seating options: 2 Standing desks, coffee table, pub table, round table with stools, floor cushions, 2 T Stools, Pedal stations, reading chairs, and of course they are always allowed to lay on the floor during work time.

Please, don't ever hesitate with questions!

20 Questions

It's that time of the year, much like the beginning of the year, where our routines are either ending or completely mixed up. Here is a quick activity you can do with your students at any time. I use these 20 Questions at the beginning of the year to see what their first impressions are, but it can also be used at the end of the year to see what they have learned.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/20-Questions-2557713

Check out my TPT to see the rest! :) 

ENJOY!

FALL In Love With 5th Grade

Our 5th Grade team had decided we wanted to create an interactive board for parents to utilize while they wait during conferences.  We came up with the idea, "FALL In Love With 5th Grade!"  Students filled in a leaf (each class used a color) and stated when they fell in love with 5th Grade (something we have done that they really enjoyed).  After they finished writing the students took a selfie, and linked the selfie through a QR Code.  The QR code was printed and glued to the leaf.  Parents went around reading the leaves and scanning them to try and find the one their child wrote. It was great to see the students' excitement when their parent found theirs!

ENJOY!

Mustache Theme

My students LOVED our mustache theme this past school year.  Seeing their excitement over it has me thinking I will just stick with the theme for another year.  I just finished creating some posters that I can use around our classroom... there isn't a ton of mustache material just yet, I will slowly try to fix that. Haha.

Click on the picture if you are interested in purchasing your own set of posters.

ENJOY!

Book Bin Labels

I just finished creating these bright book bin labels for my classroom!  There are a wide variety of subjects, authors, and genres! Click the picture to head on over to TPT and take a look. ENJOY!

FREEBIE ALERT

I have made it one of my goals to use picture books as a resource with my 5th Graders.  After teaching K/1 for 6 years, I have two large book shelves over flowing with children's books. I have tried my best to incorporate them in my classroom, the 5th graders still LOVE them, but I know I can do even better.  I want my students to be able to take a book and use it as a model for their writing.  I have created some book bin labels to help categorize the books, based on the 6 Traits of Writing. Below is a sample of what some of them look like.  Click on the picture to grab these book bin labels. Be sure to follow my TPT profile for future updates!

That's a Wrap

I can not believe it has already been a month since I closed that door!  Words can not express what an incredible journey this year has been. It was my second year as a 5th Grade teacher, after moving from K/1 which I had taught for 6 years! This group of students had such kind hearts, which is incredibly reassuring for our future.  I am already anxious for our next group to come... and can't wait to start setting up. Loving my summer break, but I do miss the munchkins.

My goals for 2015-2016-
1) I need to blog more.  I had a great 1st Grade blog, but now created this one which isn't grade specific. This way if I switch grades it doesn't matter. With learning so much new material I had to push blogging to the side for a bit... but, I'M BACAAACK!
2) My classroom WILL have more collaboration areas. This last year my students were hardly at their desk, which I love!  So, I want to offer more options on where they can go.  I am looking into some pub tables to put by our windows! :)
3) Hooks, hooks, hooks. Have you read "Teach Like a Pirate"? This book offers a ton of ideas for hooks.  I have always felt as though I did a decent job of this, but I know I can do bettter... and I WILL!

That is all for now!  Happy 4th of July week/weekend. May it be safely filled with love and laughter!

Celebrations

Alright Bloggers... How does your school celebrate the end of the year? This year we had a "blind" volleyball tournament. They had covered the net so we could not see the other team. Each grade did a fantastic job of really getting into it for the kids. I may be bias but I think our outfits were the best! ;)  Such a fun group of ladies <3

Gift For Parents

Can't believe how adorable these turned out!  I was lucky enough to be awarded a grant for a Green Screen... and we are just having a BLAST with it. We came up with these photos for Christmas presents to parents (covered the face for privacy reasons). Now all the students have to do is decorate their frames to say "Naughty or Nice- 5th Grade 2014-2015"   ENJOY! :)

Laughing Therapy

Last year I attended a "New Teacher Training" on laughter and how important it is.  Did you know that children laugh about 120 times a day and adults only 17?!  That was extremely sad to me.  We discussed laughing therapy and came across this video.  I tried this one with the students and it instantly became a favorite.  Looking forward to using it again this year, who wouldn't laugh seeing their students attempt this?! Enjoy! :)

Gifts for Parents

Ever run into trouble deciding what to make parents as a Christmas gift?  I had my students make these ornaments last year. They were asked to look through magazines and choose adjectives that describe their family; they could also add nouns that would make sense to their family.  ENJOY! :)

(I found these ornaments at the $Tree, but of course they were made pretty cheap so they did break easily for some students... something to consider)