Five for Friday 1/10/14

Happy Friday to all of my fabulous teaching friends! I am excited to be linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. 

The frigid temperatures are slowly moving on, and things are returning to the normal conditions around here: rain in time for the weekend! Not complaining though, it could be all ice and snow.
The cold weather stirred up some inquiry in my boys and allowed for some great weather observations and discussions about temperatures. They are becoming keenly aware of the typical conditions of their environment  and the impact it can have on their lives. 
My oldest have informed me, they  were not huge fans of being stuck inside and are really looking forward to warm weather. Guess, they really are Southern boys!
I adored watching my youngest dress up in his hat and gloves every time we went outside, even if just to retrieve the mail.

He really embraced the winter gear! Oh that boy is such a little ham and brings such joy to my life!

Short weeks = Long weeks! 

Mathematically that probably seems like I should have written that as an inequality, but as a teacher you know that equation is accurate! 

Perhaps it does not help that this short(er) week back entailed finalizing grades, proofing report cards, sending test reports home, mid-year evaluations, and a few meetings. 

That all equates to some serious juggling! Thank goodness for a weekend to recover!

This was me, last night, stuffing report card envelopes. 

Question of the day: Report cards go home today, right? If I do some extra credit today can you count it? 

This week we have been plowing our way through mid-year evaluations in math, writing, and reading. Data, data, data! 

We use Fountas and PInnell for for reading benchmarks and it was extra stressful at the beginning of the year when many were scoring below grade level. It meant we were really going to have to work hard and make daily reading a priority. 

I am pleased to report that my kiddos are making progress. So far they are all exhibiting growth in words per minute and achieving at least 2 levels of growth in comprehension. After each assessment I take a few minutes to praise them, tell them how much they have grown and let them know what aspects I think are helping them make their growth. The process of F&P takes a lot of time, but it is great to see their progress and to know that the plans are paying off! 

I know that weekly fluency assignments are really helping my lower/reluctant readers out. During the first semester I used this book. I bought the e-book from Teachers Pay Teachers (loved the credits!), but it is available in school stores and probably from Amazon as well. 

We completed the whole book in the first half of the year, and are now adapting other reading passages as our weekly fluency assignments. I plan to differentiate it more on their levels and sneak in some non-fiction text on Social Studies and Science topics too!  

Do you know how you teach something and the kids don't quite grasp it the way you envisioned? Well, this year, I have had lots of those moments. It can be incredibly disappointing and discouraging. I experienced this when teaching how to cite evidence and explaining their thinking in their writing.

Today, much to my surprise, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. They do listen to me and with persistence they will catch on. Oh, it was glorious! 

While reading and discussing a passage about Alexander Graham Bell several students started supporting their answers with phrases like, "The author said..." and "I know this because..." 

The best was when a student said, "I figured out the answer by looking in this other book and finding this fact.... and then put it with this information...." My heart was smiling over this small victory! We are going to make it! 

As if that wasn't enough to make my day, several students made the connection between the components of my math problem solving sheet and the required components of our mid-year exemplar evaluation. 

A few even asked if they could use that format on their exemplar problem. 

I usually dread giving/scoring the exemplars, but I am actually excited about it because the light-bulb clicked on for so many of them today. 

As I walked around, I saw charts and visuals being used to solve and prove their answers. Another serious moment of pride. It is moments like these that refill my teaching energy cell and keep me going through those tougher days where it feels like I am not breaking through on anything, and trust me those moments occur regularly.

I was pleasantly surprised to come home to a box filled with a birthday gift for me. My amazing big sister sent me a package in an effort to start the celebration. 

 My birthday isn't until next week, I share my day with Martin Luther King Jr., and this one is a biggie. Yep, you guessed it, I am turning 21! {Bahahahaha} 

This gift got me excited about the great things ahead for me and I am actually looking forward to reaching this benchmark. Maturity has its perks! 

 My sister sent me a sweet card, a beautiful scarf, and some pampering items. With all this cold weather, the kit will do wonders for my wintry feet. 

Seeing as I am getting older, I am staying true to my resolutions in an effort to remain young and vital, or at least be able to keep up with my kiddos and look halfway decent doing so. It feels great to take care of myself, but I am exhausted. 

Today I completed day 2 of T25 and wow, my legs are screaming at me that I am out of shape. I know the pain means I worked hard and in the long run I will benefit. 

I tell you what though, it might only be a 25 minute workout, but it is 25 minutes of fast and intense muscle moving. I know I am just at the beginning of this regime and it is going to keep getting harder, but I am not going to give up. I know, most people do after a few days. But the teachers at my school are doing this together. We are encouraging each other to go, supporting each other through it, and helping each other stay positive through the aches and pains (and there are tons!). 

It feels great to be taking care of myself and it is even better that we are doing this together. 

I hope that you have felt some teacher love this week and are thawing out in your neck of the woods. Don't forget to check out the other links at Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday party. 

Made it through the first day back!

Whew, I made it through the first day back. Most of the kids came back ready to learn and were not surprised that we had work to do, which is always a nice treat.
Because we missed school yesterday, we actually hit the ground running and started off with a mid-year writing prompt. We have 2 months until our big writing test, so we will be getting serious about writing. It really was a great way for them to see how ready they are for the big day. 
When I mentioned that we would be sending home sign up sheets for Saturday school as an extra prep opportunity, I was really excited that several kids thought it would be fun and plan to sign up. Woot Woot, they want to do well. 
We stuck to the time constraints of the actual writing test, so it was a real eye opener for them, and now I know who I have to really spend some time pushing to write faster.

While the kids wrote, I did some planning, and was able to come up with solid plans for writing and reading for the next month and a half. My co-teacher and I were able to sit and talk through our literature units and plan for as many practice writing tests as possible before March 5th. 
We have a lot to do over the next 2 months, but it seemed doable and we really feel ready for the task at hand. It probably helps that we have worked together for 10 years, understand each other so well, and have a realistic attitude about what we can accomplish. 
Another great thing about being back to school is that my sons all got a chance to get out of the house and be away from each other. It meant they actually got along when they were around each other. Being cooped up in the house over the last few freezing days was not good for any of us! So it was glorious to each get to go our own ways and spend time with people our own age, that goes for me too (I miss my teaching buddies over the break).
I stuck to my resolution of taking better care of myself too, I drank some herbal tea, a few glasses of water, no soda, and stopped eating when I was full. I also got back on the workout regime. After school we started T25. 
Man, I am out of shape! I thought Jillian Michael's workout was hard, yikes, I was not ready for today. I will be more motivated to keep going since I am working out with teacher friends and we are committed to helping each other. There is a lot to be said about positive peer pressure! 
Ok, some promised pictures....

My BINGO reward board.

I cut the letters and numbers out with my Silhouette on sticker paper and zipped the chart through the laminator. Students who completed their winter reading challenge got to write their number in a square and I plan to pull a number by Friday. The kids were excited about the board and the options for some new incentives.
Another project I made with the Silhouette. 

I traced the face with the Silhouette software and used the cut outs to paint the face on the canvas. 

The kids loved it. Since we are such huge fans of the book, Wonder, I wanted to keep a little memento with the positive message. (You can't blend in if you were born to stand out. and Everyone deserves a Standing Ovation!) I plan to give kids more standing ovations in the second half of the year as they meet their goals. 

Before break I assigned the Winter Break Reading Challenge to my students. It is a great (free) activity from More than a Worksheet. 

One student misplaced her sheet so she wrote it out on a piece of paper, that made my day! Here are some the completed ones. (I will definitely use this again next year.)

The reading challenge they completed. Add 10 marshmallows. Each marshmallow represented 20 minutes of reading over the break. I loved how creative this student was. 

Since only a few completed the activity, I rewarded them with a sweet treat. I hardly ever give out candy, so it got them talking and really made the kids who completed the work feel special. 

After a long day of work and working out, I am ready to call it a night. It was a great start to our new year. Tomorrow we will keep running through our curriculum of fractions, inventors, reading, writing, and earth science. 
Hope you are staying warm, defrosting, and if you are back in the classroom that all went well for you. For those, who are still at home because of the frozen conditions, I hope things are thawing out so you can get back in the teaching groove!

Tried it Tuesday in the Tundra

I am home today because it is freezing cold outside. Being in the South, cold temperatures are serious business. As a former New Yorker, it is still hard to comprehend a snow day without snow. But seeing as our temperatures dropped to the single digits, then when you factor in wind chill it really was potentially dangerous to send the kids out early this morning, especially kids who aren't used to temperatures below the low 40s. In our county school is rarely cancelled, so you figure the tundra conditions must be pretty serious for school to have been closed. 
Nonetheless, I am really thankful I have today to recuperate. We will make this day up in February, and although I will miss that day off, it seems that this was the best thing for me today.
Where have I been and why do I need to recuperate? 
Well, turns out I overworked myself in December and my body decided to send me a huge wake up call. Message received - I am not going to put things off and I will take better care of myself. 
It seems that I caught some nasty bacterial thing and it wreaked some havoc on my system. I ended up with a skin infection (nasty!) and a sinus infection. I was so tired over break that I spent a lot of time laying around. I watched a ton of TV and did not have the energy to do the things I set as goals during my break. I had big ideas for teaching packets and lessons. Wanted to write some entries for the blog. Planned out some clean out the house projects. And then the biggest sign I was under the weather, I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas and I did not make anything with it. 

Hubs got an awesome deal on this beauty on Amazon. Can you believe it sat unused for 2 weeks?

My energy level was zapped and what little energy I could summon up, I used visiting family sporadically during the break. 
Not the most exciting break, but I did get a break and that was obviously what I needed. 
I did spend a little time at the urgent care and the pharmacy, and have since learned that my body is not in love with antibiotics. Even though, I am recovering from the sinus issue and the infection has cleared, I am now battling with awful side effects to the medicine. Perhaps even a mild allergic reaction? Oh the fun of aging! Like I said, lesson learned, pay better attention to the signals your body is sending. Yep, consider that one of my resolutions for 2014!
Today my energy is still pretty low, so I am moving mighty slow. I am taking advantage of today's day off to catch up with you and link up with the Fourth Grade Flipper for the Tried It Tuesday. 

Despite having produced very little with the Silhouette over my break, I am super excited about it. I tinkered a little with it on Sunday and some more today and know that it is going to take some time to get up to speed. The options are endless and it is going to be fun creating things for school and home. 
I was also thrilled to learn they offer an educator discount in their online store; I will be taking advantage of that. 

This was the second attempt - the thinner font ripped when I tried to peel it from the mat. The letters are not adhering great, but I had to create something! 

Our Hobby Lobby does not carry Silhouette products and had a limited collection of materials. I need to order some vinyl since the brand I bought at Hobby Lobby tore really easily and does not adhere well. Thank goodness for mail order and Amazon! 
I created a BINGO behavior board for my classroom, but did not get a picture of it yesterday before I left the building. I am excited about the board - I am going to offer coupons as prizes as incentives for those making good choices and to entice those who might not be as motivated. 

I also made a motivation picture based on the cover of the book, Wonder. My class loved the book and I loved the themes. (I also forgot to take a picture of that.)
Today, I played around with a bunting I purchased from the Silhouette design studio. My 4 year helped me peel the papers after they were cut, he thought it was super cool. 

Bunting I made using scarp book paper. I did not have to do the cutting! 

One of the really neat features of the Silhouette is you can cut and make perforations. This bunting was easy to create because the top of the pieces were perforated, all I had to do was fold over the top on the string. 

Easy with the perforated top!

You can also cut fabric, for those with little girls they have designs for American Girl Doll clothes for 99 cents! I cut a piece of fabric that I plan to sew on a t-shirt to make myself a new spirit wear shirt for school. I need to work a little more with the fabric though, I don't think I attached it to the mat correctly, so the cut is not perfect. I have learned quickly that although the machine is amazing, it is not something to do in haste. If my patience is low or I won't be able to work undisturbed, it is best for me to wait. This will be one of those things that I will gradually learn, but the end products will be worth it!  

If you have a Silhouette, what are your favorite projects? If you have tips, unsolicited advice is more than welcome! 

Check out the other Tried It Tuesday posts on Fourth Grade Flipper. While you are there, check out the awesome giveaway going on. There are some awesome writing packets as prizes, so excited to see Bethany's packet.

Also check out the 1000 Followers for Head Over Heels for Teaching and Fourth Grade Flipper raffle is nearing its end. Thanks to Holly for hosting today's party! 

Hope you are keeping warm in your neck of the woods and if you missed school today, hope you had a wonderfully relaxing day. I am anxious about getting back in the groove and am hoping my kiddos are ready to finish out this year like champions!