Five for Friday: Post Spring Break

Phew! Made it through a full week post-break. Out break was so exciting that I was exhausted when we returned, so making it through the week trying to motivate, inspire, and prepare for testing was quite a task!
I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip....

If you read my post before break, I shared that his was a surprise trip to Disney. The boys lost patience with us about 15 minutes away from the park about our destination. They thought we were headed to Ohio. When my 4 year old pointed out Mickey on a billboard and said Disney, we confirmed that we were going there.
You would think the van would be full of screams of excitement. Nope, tears from the oldest two. We are probably the first parents to ever surprise the kids with a trip and have them cry. My 6 year old informed me that not telling the truth is lying. "Mom, you lied to us. I am mad at you for lying. Everyone told us Ohio was going to be fun, we want to go to Ohio."
I made it worse when I let them know that everyone telling them Ohio was fun was really talking about Disney, they were in on the secret. Ah, another lying lecture.
We laughed, yep, bad and mean parents.
My 4 year old was beyond excited and did not care about the "lies." He smiled and squealed in delight enough to make up for the tears from the older ones.
My kids are funny. They are super sensitive and do not always take changes easily. There are tears, door slamming, and sometimes anger appears when most would think they'd be happy. We are used to this and do not avoid changes or pushing them out of their comfort zone. And obviously push them to learn from experiences.
We explained our reasons for it being a surprise and my 9 year old let me know that if I had told him he would have been better prepared. Nope, he really would have driven me nuts with a billion questions.
The surprise meant they would have to go and enjoy without overanalyzing, overthinking, or worrying! It meant they would live in the moment and in the long run, it worked! Because my 6 and 9 year old did not hear about other people's experiences or warnings, they tried out rides that were scary and fun.
We all lived in the moment and tried new things! It was spectacular!

I have been teaching my favorite science unit, electricity! I love this science unit because it is all hands-on learning. This year, the kids have not persevered as much or been as enthusiastic, but I have pushed and they are learning a lot and definitely more than if they read about circuits from the book.

One day, they even worked through recess on electromagnets.

I loved watching the connections they made and their light bulbs light up!

We are knee-deep in test preparation. Ah, I am a nervous wreck. We have 7 school days until our first state test. Prepping, reviewing, and trying to motivate! Throwing in some games for review when we aren't building our stamina to sit and work independently for extended periods of time!

Fingers crossed!

Thank goodness for task cards and Scoot to get the kids moving, review lots of skills, and break up the monotony.

In math, we actually gave a quiz using task cards and Scoot, they worked really hard as they Scooted around the room. Who says you have to sit in one place to take a quiz?

Do you notice anything about this quiz? Yes, they answered every question incorrectly! Unfortunately the other quizzes did not look much better.
Why would they miss every question? Well, could it be because that is a ridiculous quiz? Yes, the answer is YES!
My classroom has had a student teacher this semester and it has been quite an educational experience for all parties involved!
This quiz resulted in a lesson of how to make a good assessment, as well as using the results to assess whether the manner in which instruction was presented was successful.
I have had to be very honest and it has been very difficult for me, tons of extra stress watching someone struggle to lead my class. This semester, I have been well outside my comfort zone in an effort to help guide the student teacher towards assessing their skills and future in education as well as  making sure that all of the instruction my kids needed was met while giving her a chance to try to teach.
I have learned again, not everyone is cut out for teaching.
Thank you for being the wonderful educators that you are, and always striving to grow and improve!

  Hope you have a fantastic Friday! Many wishes for a relaxing weekend!

Wordless Wednesday April 16, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Science Labs

What is your favorite unit to teach in science?

 

Hope your classroom has been full of bright ideas!

 





 

Time for a break!

Nothing like the feeling of knowing you have no school responsibilities for the next week! I made it. It is Spring Break, finally!
For the next week I have a few things on my agenda, HAVING FUN and  making memories with my family. Time to play and enjoy each other.
We are heading to the magical world of Disney!
I am giddy about this trip.
My husband has never been and I am looking forward to experiencing the magic with  him. He really has no idea how awesome it is; I know that he will love it.
We are surprising our 3 sons with this trip. They were disappointed we were not heading to the beach, usually we go to Hilton Head with their grandparents. They have no idea how fabulous this trip is going to be. They are all at the age that they can appreciate it.
I have not been since 1985, so I am really looking forward to reliving the excitement.
We have warned/promised the kids that we plan to play and embarrass them. It is time to let loose and celebrate this wonderful life we have. We are lucky to be able to do this and I plan to have tons of fun.
Our sons think we are going to Ohio. We cannot wait to see/hear their reactions when they realize we are going to Florida.
My oldest is a worrier/anxious and he would have flooded us with a million detail questions. He would have worked himself up in to a mess, so we decided to save the details for when we were actually there. It is bugging him that I would not tell him anything beyond the letter of where we are headed. When I told him "O" he guessed Ohio since his Dad once lived there. I knew O was a safe letter, if I said D he would have guessed it. (Several times he has expressed the desire to go to Disney instead, it will be wonderful when he realizes his wish came true.) So we went with Ohio and let others in on the surprise. Everyone keeps telling him how awesome "Ohio" is.
So if you don't hear from me for the next week, you will understand why. I hope you have a great weekend and your week goes smoothly!
Happy days!
Laura