Five For Friday -- YAY!

I'm excited to be linking up for the first time ever with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.  It is so cool to be able to look back at everyone's week from the luxury of the WEEKEND!  Wahoo!!

 

So here are five things from my week that I would like to share:

 

 

(1)  Teacher Appreciation Week:  Unless you were living in a cave this week, you are probably aware that it was Teacher Appreciation Week.  :)  This week, our school's PTO gave us gift cards to Jimmy Johns and our principal bought us a very yummy pizza lunch on Thursday.  It was a great week!

 

 

(2)  Mythology:  We have been studying Mythology in our literacy block and the kids have been LOVING it!  When I began teaching this last year because of Common Core, I was majorly freaked out!  I knew NOTHING about mythology.  But like all good teachers, I hunted down some "experts" on TPT and learned from them.  I am excited to pick up this goodie this week at the big sale from Fork in 4th:

 

 

(3) Biography Projects:  We have finished up our Biography research projects.  On Thursday, my kids presented their findings to the class.  They had to have a visual aid for their presentation and some of my kids got REALLY creative!

 

I love that Anne is holding her diary and a pencil!  So clever!

 

Talk about a bad hair day, Al!  And those "skinny jeans" are a bit disturbing!  :)

 

To earn extra credit, they could dress up like the person they studied.  One of my boys dressed up like Thomas Edison -- he even had light bulbs on his bow tie!

 





 

(4)  A Birdie Visitor:  Last weekend, I bought a beautiful red geranium for my front porch. 

 

 

When I came home THREE separate days this week, a bird had begun building a nest inside of my new plant. (Can you see it there right above my logo?)   Each day, I would carefully remove the nest because there was NO WAY I was going to be able to water it.  Well, today when I went out there, there was a new nest AND two little eggs...

So I guess now the bird won.....It can stay.  :)

 

(5)  PERSONAL DAY!:  Today I took a personal day just for myself. :) I took my dog Toby to the Puppy Spa for his annual summer haircut.....He was NOT pleased...But he looks SOOO cute!

 

 



 

 

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some new goodies for my home office.  I am in the process of redecorating my sewing room into an office, since I seem to be blogging more than sewing, and I wanted the room to look pretty.  So here is what I found:

 

I think I will paint the walls a light turquoise.  It will look GREAT when it is done!

I hope you had a great week and will have an even BETTER weekend!  Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!



Keep 'Em Writing!

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for....

One of my favorite activities of the week is visiting sites of all of the great bloggers who link up with Ideas By Jivey's Workshop Wednesday!  It's almost as if it's just the thing I need to make it through the rest of my week!  :)

This week's topic....How to keep students motivated to write!

As you may know, writing is near and dear to my heart.  It's probably the one subject I get the most excited for every day.  Why?  Because this is one area where I see my students make HUGE growth every year.  They may enter in the fall saying they hate to write, but by the time June rolls around, they are loving it and begging for more writing time.  Yay!

I have found that the easiest way to keep kids motivated is simply to offer them CHOICES.  I'll admit that I have struggled with this through the years.  I wanted to provide the choice, but I was having trouble managing the vast array of writing that was being produced, not to mention making sure that Common Core skills were being mastered.

So my answer this year is to give some parameters to this choice....in the form of Writing Bingo Boards. 

I have created two of them so far -- one for Expository writing and one for Opinion/Persuasive writing.

Basically, the way that it works (and you could very easily adjust this for your own students' needs), I tell students that they need to pick a certain amount of Bingo Boxes to complete in a quarter's time. (They do not have to be five in a row like a bingo, but they could.)  I then set due dates -- about 10 days apart -- to make sure that students are pacing themselves and doing a good job.  When the due dates roll around, I conference with the kids (about 3-4 a day) and read over their Bingo Box with them.  They tell me what they feel they did well, what their writing goal was for this piece, and then we set a goal for their next Bingo Box.

As for grading my student's writing....well, that's another story.  I have always had a difficult time putting a letter grade on someone's creative work.  So, I devised a new plan and so far, it is working great and the kids are really into it because it gives them CONTROL of their writing grade.

Writing grades for the report card are figured with three criteria.  I call them the 3 P's:

      Participation = 35% of the grade (Is the student prepared and writing every day?  Is he/she
               staying on task?)
      Progress = 45% of the grade (Is the student setting goals for their writing and working toward
               those goals when they write?)
      Product = 20% of the grade (Did the student produce a nice, well-written piece of writing that is
                his/her best effort?)

As you can see, effort plays the largest part here and effort is sometimes what is lacking the most in a writing classroom.  I have also found that if a student is participating and is making progress, the "product" takes care of itself!  :)

 I am truly amazed at how motivated my kiddos are to write on a regular basis because of these Bingo Boards.  If you would like a copy of the two I have made, just leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send them on over.

Can't wait to check out all of the other Workshop Wednesday ideas!

Keeping Track of Homework

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I'm linking up with the fabulous Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly linky party, "Tried It Tuesday."  I have gotten SO MANY awesome ideas from other bloggers that I figured it was time that I started doing my share and posting some ideas, so here goes...

Over the years, I have really started cutting down on the amount of homework I assign.  Many of my students do not have anyone at home to help them (or supervise them).  We work really hard during the day so the kiddos need time to rest up and be ready for our next day of learning.  I assign 20 minutes of reading a night along with something small from math. 

However, there are times when I do send things home to be finished.  My dilemma has always been how to keep track of students who have turned in their homework on time, and those who haven't.  This year's class seems to have a few friends who just can't seem to get it together, so late work is a constant issue for some. 

I have come up with a system that seems to work pretty well.  Each student has an assigned number that is theirs throughout the whole year.  When I assign homework, I put the assignment and a list of student numbers on the front board.  When the kids come in and turn in their homework every morning, they erase their number.  The students who have not completed their homework (as shown by not erasing their number) must finish it at recess and get some money deducted from their monthly paycheck of Collegiate Cash.  Here is what our board looks like for tomorrow morning:

As you can see, it's pretty simple -- but it works!  (And it isn't a piece of paper that can get lost on my desk!  :)

What kinds of management tricks have you tried to keep track of homework?  I'd love to hear from you!  Why not head over to Fourth Grade Flipper and link up with your great ideas!  Holly is even having a great giveaway to celebrate having 500 followers.  There are 50 prizes available and there will be four winners.  WOW!!!

Have a great rest of your week!

I Appreciate You!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Like many of you out there, I have always wanted to be a teacher.  I remember many weekends when I was younger, playing school with my sister in her bedroom.  I, of course, would always be the teacher and she would be the student.  I would get the extra "dittos" from my teachers to use, give her spelling tests, and let her choose stickers from my sticker book to put on her worksheets.  We had a blast! (OK, maybe it was only me that had a blast but she was a good sport!)

 As I look back at these times, I realize that one of the reasons that I have wanted to be a teacher all of my life is because I had some pretty amazing teachers myself as I grew up.  Teachers who connected with me, believed in me, pushed me when I needed it (and pulled me when I didn't cooperate), and taught me that I could be anything I wanted to be.  I wish that I could go back and thank each and every one of them right now!  :)

Good teachers are an extremely committed group.  We get up early, work late, and even dream about how we can help our students.  Although "Teacher" is our official title, we are also counselors, nurses, psychologists, referees, coaches, parents, social workers, cheerleaders and nutritionists for our students whenever they need it -- and we do all of this AND teach!  I consider it to be an honor to be a teacher and although some days are really rough, I always look forward to the fresh start the next day will bring.

Source:  www.venspired.com

So in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I'm linking up with Mr. Hughes and An Educator's Life for his 2nd Annual Teacher Appreciation Challenge. 



 

We all have teachers in our past who have made a lasting mark on us.  Mr. Hughes has asked us linking up with this linky party to honor a teacher that they currently work with.  Share the love, fill a bucket, make someone's day.....

 

I would like to honor one of my current team members, Jamie.  Jamie and I have been teaching 4th grade together for two years.  She is AMAZING and she pushes me to be an even better teacher every day.  Jamie is incredibly creative and she is a joy to collaborate with.  (It's scary how much we are on the same page some days....) Like so many of us, Jamie gives of her time and talents very generously to the students who enter her classroom every day, and I KNOW they are better off for having spent time with her.  Thank you, Jamie!  :)

 

So I hope more of you will help spread the love and link up with An Educator's Life this week to honor someone you work with.  You'll be glad that you did!  

 

Have a great week!

Showing Mom Some Love

Happy weekend everyone! 

Next Sunday is Mother's Day!  The day we honor the lady who gave us life.  : )  Each year, I seem to struggle with what to have my students make for Mother's Day gifts.  This year I majorly procrastinated....and it has paid off! 

While I was blog stalking the other night, I came across the perfect idea for a simple, yet heartfelt, Mother's Day gift from Bethany at Fab and Fun in 4th!  Here's the plan...

I had my kids think of 10 adjectives to describe their mom.  We even got out the thesauruses because we wanted to banish boring words like "fun" or "nice".  The kids had a great time trying to "out do" each others word list. 

Then we went to www.wordle.net and typed in our words.  We followed our list by typing 'mom' three times so it would appear the largest.  After pressing 'go', a word cloud about mom was created.  The students adjusted the fonts and colors to their linking and then printed them in color.

We then glued our Wordles onto scrapbook paper.  Here are a few samples:

Then the students chose a piece of pretty stationery and wrote their mom a letter telling her how much they loved her.

 

I have to say, my students wrote some pretty touching (and often hilarious) things.  One of my boys wrote all of these amazing things about his mom..."You are the best mom in the world.  I remember when I was little, you would read to me every night and tell me that you loved me....." and then his final line read:  "Can we have tacos for dinner and get a dog?"  I almost burst out laughing because it was so heartfelt, yet funny!  (I wonder if it will work.....It probably would for me!  :)

After gluing the letters to the back of the scrapbook paper, I glued down a photo I had taken of each student outside on Tuesday when the weather was sunny and amazing.  I will laminate the sheets and I hope that they will become a treasured keepsake for all of the moms.

How do you help your students celebrate Mother's Day?  Any other quick ideas or thoughts to share?  I'd love to hear from you!

One last thought....Have you noticed my new "Fourth Grade Blogger" button?  Thanks to Mandy at Caffeine and Lesson Plans for setting up a page with grade level blogs and these cute buttons.  This will make it soooo much easier to find other blogs by grade level.  Head on over to get your own!

A Journey with Edward

I don't know about you, but TGIW!  This has been the longest week!

As it is Wednesday,it's time to link up with Ideas by Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday.  I have to say that I absolutely LOVE this linky party!  I get so many amazing ideas from reading all of the posts.  Thank you to all who read and all who share!  :)

 

 

This week's topic is our favorite book to read with a small group.  Without a doubt, I would pick my all-time favorite book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.

 



How to describe the plot?  This is the story of a china rabbit who thinks very highly of himself at the beginning of the story.  He says he loves no one and needs no one, not even the young girl who calls him her own, Abilene.   Edward lives a good life, wearing the finest outfits and being treated as a member of Abilene's family.   However, through a series of events that sends him on a downward spiral, out of the arms of Abilene, and through the lives of several different people, Edward comes to realize  that love is what helps us through the tough spots in life.  One of my favorite lines of the story is:

"If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless." (p. 199)

Ahhh....I cry every time I read this story (and sometimes the kids cry too.:)

This book has beautiful illustrations that can be used to make predictions before reading a chapter:

 

Also, this is a great book to use to analyze how a character changes throughout a story.  Edward goes through a DRASTIC change, which is very easy for the kids to analyze and discuss.  I always try to read this book in the fall to discuss characterization and often find myself referring back to it throughout the year.  There is even a Readers Theater script of one of the chapters available at http://www.edwardtulane.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Yny-zUwaGF0=.  How awesome is that???

So take a Journey with Edward and head over to Jivey's blog to read more great book recommendations.  You'll be glad you did!

Happy Reading!

The Stories of My Life (So Far)

Please indulge me for a moment while I say what a GLORIOUS weekend was! I am hoping that Mother Nature has finally figured it out and has sent that wicked winter packing!   Rumor has it that it will get near 80 degrees on Tuesday.  (I'm not going to dwell on the forecasted high temp for Thursday....(49)....and live in the moment.)

So...what is the first thing that I did with this beautiful weather?  (Other than avoid being inside...)  I went out and bought FLOWERS!!!  As we walked around the garden center at Lowe's, my husband was trying to ignore the fact that I would be paying good money for something that may freeze later this week.  But, like I said, I am living in the moment.  I didn't buy too many, just enough to add some color to my patio.  Aren't they pretty???

 

OK...back to reality.

I have been working hard to combine reading and writing experiences for my students this year.  After finishing our study of the Titanic and writing ourTitanic newspapers, we are moving on to biographies.

First, I am having students research a famous person who is no longer alive.  Why someone who is no longer alive?  Because I don't think I can handle any more biography projects about Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, or one of the boys from One Direction.  :) 

I found this great Biography Project from Mrs. Renz that has absolutely everything my students need to complete this research project.  After researching their person using three different sources, they will prepare an Important Poem and speech about their person.  (The project from Mrs. Renz has a lot more that you can do with this unit, but I am pressed for time so I just pulled these two activities to use.)  This project will also help us meet our Common Core requirements for Speaking and Listening, which is an added bonus!

To incorporate writing, I am having my students write their own autobiographies.  I am calling this project "The Stories of My Life (so far...)". 

 

We have been working very hard all year to practice "Show, Don't Tell" writing strategies.  Some students are REALLY good at this!  Others are struggling with what this means.

 

  I found this great video by one of my writing idols, Barry Lane, that teaches about slowing down our writing and "Exploding a Moment."  (Just saying that phrase out loud definitely gets my kids attention and makes writing seem more interesting for them!)

After watching this video in class, we did a shared writing together where we slowed down an incident that happened in the hallway right before writing class.  Using our SMART board, we wrote about how one student was making a noise in line and I was trying to figure out who was doing it.  The kids had a lot of fun writing together and it was great practice "exploding a moment."

So what do exploding moments have to do with writing our autobiographies??? 

Well, I have decided that I wanted to take autobiography writing to the next level.  I don't want this project to be "The STORY of my life,"  I want it to be "The STORIES of my life."  In other words, we are going to avoid the whole "I was born on ___ in ___.  My mom is ___ and my dad is ___ .  I like to ___.  I don't like to ___.  When I grow up, I want to be a ___.  THE END."

I have given the kids four "chapters" they will write about:

The Early Years

Growing Up

My Interests

Looking Forward to My Future

 

Each of these chapters will contain at least one "story" in which they explode a moment.  So far, we have been working on our drafts of each chapter.  Some students are really having a GREAT time with this (see below), and others will need more coaching this week.  :)  I will keep you posted on how this goes.

 

 

If you would like a copy of my planning packet, you can click here.  If you would like a copy of the final project that will be bound into a book, you can get it here.  Please let me know how it goes or if you have any suggestions!

 

In the mean time, I hope you have a great week with many fun "stories." ;)