Five For Friday June 6, 2014

My first week of summer vacation is over and it is Friday!  Time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Since I didn't post last week, I felt like I might need to fill you in! Memorial Day Weekend had a rocky start.  I was looking forward to my three day weekend, summer preview when...

Tyler had a baseball tournament this weekend, and Cody asked to play at the park with Luke.  I got a frantic call from his cell phone from another kid at the park saying that Cody had broken his arm.  I ran over there and sure enough his arm was twisting a way that an arm should not twist.  We rushed him to the hospital where they decided he would need surgery to reset it.  He was so brave and such a trooper, but 10 hours at the hospital was rough.  

He is now happily sporting a pink cast.

On the last day of school, I received the best gift ever!

Each of my students placed their hand print along with their name on the fabric, and then a parent helper sewed and quilted it.  I love it!

My third child graduated from high school last week and I can tell you, it hasn't gotten any easier - the tears flow just as hard for the third as the first.

This year he was a T.A. (teacher's assistant) in the special education classroom. He really loved working with the students in that class.  Not only did he want a picture with him and his best friend, but he also wanted a picture with one of his "students" from his class.  He said of all the kids in school he will miss the ones in that class the most!  If film making doesn't work for him, I think he might have a future in special ed!

While we waited for the ceremony to start, Luke played with my cell phone and took a million selfies.  These are just a few!

He also gave me a glimpse into the future later that night...

During our first week of vacation we were able to celebrate Cody's 12th birthday at Dave and Busters.  What a way to honor his last year before he becomes a teenager! Where does the time go????

It is that time of the month again.. time to win a $25 gift card from Teachers Pay Teachers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Water Fight - How to Get Students to Practice Math Facts the Last Few Weeks of School

If I had to pick one thing that almost all of my students need to practice more it would be math facts!  They do not want to take the time to memorize them, so I get sneaky and make it fun - a game really.  I try to have a Kaboom type center available for my students at all times to practice their facts.  I change up the theme throughout the year to keep it fresh and exciting.  My latest game centers around water balloons - because what kid doesn't LOVE water balloons this time of year?

I took some pictures of my students playing the game and I had to share a ton of them because the expressions on their faces are priceless!  You can tell they are having a great time... but did they realize how hard they were working?

They pick a card and answer the fact on it.  If they get it correct, they get to keep the card.  They try to have the most cards by the time the timer goes off  (or I say the game is over).

I try to put the cards into containers that match the theme for extra fun ... I used a pail and shovel for this one.  (We had quite the discussion about the words bucket and pail being synonyms).

Oh no!  The dreaded splash balloon means they lose all of their cards!

If you would like to try this fun game with your class you can find them at the links below:

Addition

Subtraction

Multiplication

Division

For more ideas for practicing math facts, check out this post!

100 Minutes Book Study - Chapter 4 Reading Response

 Today I am linking up with Jen from Teaching, Life, and Everything in Between our next hostess for our  book study on 100 Minutes - Making Every Minute Count in the Literacy Block by Lisa Donohue.

You can read my previous posts below:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

My thoughts on Chapter 4:

Lisa Donohuev suggests introducing reading response following guided reading.  The teacher initially teaches the skill during the guided reading portion, then the student practices it on their own.  The next day, those students are able to transfer their new learning by reading independently and completing the response to the text they have chosen on their own.  This follows the gradual release of responsibility method.

She points out how difficult it is to assess independent reading and states that the most effective way to monitor it is the use of reading responses.

My favorite part of the whole chapter has got to be the reading response task cards she has included.  There are 8 pages of these along with a list of other ideas you can use as well to make your own.

I already use reading responses in my classroom (and for homework) with my weekly read and respond reading logs and it was nice to have the affirmation of this effective process.



I will probably change the way that I introduce response prompts to the way that Donohue recommends.  I think it will create much better responses from the beginning. I also like the idea of having several response choices available for the students during their independent work time.

How will I incorporate these strategies into my current practice?  What read alouds will work best with each type of written response?  How do I encourage students to self select books that fit with certain strategies?

If you are reading along with this book, feel free to join in the discussion by linking up below.  I am looking forward to reading everyone else's thoughts and reflections!  

Next up- Chapter 5: Writing Around the Literacy Block

Be sure to visit Melissa over at Dilly Dabbles on May 27th to continue this learning journey with us. 

Tried It Tuesday End of Year Activities

 I am linking up this week with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.

My students absolutely go crazy for all of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid books!  When I saw this product on TpT I immediately put it on my wish list for an end of the year project.

I ended up purchasing both this item and

this one

because I liked several pages from both.  I picked the pages that I wanted from each one and copied them to give to my students.  Here are a few of their pages:

The Wimpy Class ones come with covers for both girls and boys.

I really loved reading all of their responses!

Yapping - lol!  Yes they were good at that!

                                                                            well read - LOVE!

Subscribe - lol!

This page was from the Diary of a 4th grader and had some of my favorite answers!

I know some of you have a few days or weeks left to go, and this might be a great project for the end of the year.  If you are already done, it would be a great idea for next year.  I was glad I tried it!

I am also linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Two for TUESDAY. Each of the bloggers linking up here have 2 of their products listed for 50% off today only. 

I have listed my two top sellers, my third grade math journal 

and my fourth grade math journal for 50% off today only.  

This would be a great time to get them if you have them wish listed already!  If you haven't seen them yet, here are a few pictures of them in action in my classroom:

I've posted about them before here.

Also don't forget to enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card here if you haven't already!

Made It Monday - How to Build Your Own Reading Ottomans For Your Classroom Student Project

I purchased some small reading Ottomans from Wal-Mart last year and they were broken during the first month that I had them.  One of my parents offered to take them home to try to repair them.  The repair never happened, but what did was so much better.  The couple came into our classroom to help us make our own.  The kids had a blast and learned so much from the experience.  Students from other classes peeked into our room and said, "You have woodshop in your class? Lucky!"  Here are a few of the pictures of the work in progress along with the final products.

Here is the link to the directions.

I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  Stop by and see what everyone else made!

June 1st means Summer Vacation has started (our last day was Friday May 30th) and it is time for Currently with Farley at Oh boy Fourth Grade!

Listening: Luke is obsessed with Song Pop right now.  I am amazed how many songs he knows without help!

Loving: Summer Vacation couldn't come fast enough and I am so glad that it is here! I definitely needed some time to recharge and get a few projects completed.

Thinking: I am switching grades for the 4th time in 4 years!!!!  Even though I taught third grade the year before this one, so much has changed as we are now completely switched over to Common Core and will be taking the Smarter Balanced tests this year. I have sooo much to do to be ready!

Wanting: My boys (who shall remain nameless) broke my ipad screen.  While we were at the movies today I saw an ad for a local company that fixes them.  This is definitely on my wanting list!

Needing: Even though I have a ton of projects on my to do list for my classroom and TpT, I need to make sure to carve out some R&R time this summer.  

Summer Bucket List: 1. The TpT conference in Vegas of course!  I can't wait!  I finally purchased my plane tickets today so now I have everything covered and just have to count down the days.  I have been looking over the conference materials that the speakers have uploaded to TpT and I can't wait to learn!

2. In keeping with the R&R theme we are planning on a family fun trip to the Bay Area.

I'd love to hear what you are Currently doing, so be sure to link up!