Five For Friday May 2, 2014

I have survived the week AFTER Spring Break.  One of my co-workers made an off-hand comment about the Tuesday after Spring Break being the most exhausting day of the year.  Thinking back to all of those first days of school exhaustion - I disagreed - and that night it hit me.  SHEER EXHAUSTION.  Seriously, every night this week I came home and collapsed - which explains my lack of blogging and my three half finished TpT products.  Oh well, the week is over - and it is time for Five For Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching! Here are a few things that tuckered me out this week.

I started my week with a pick me up treat from Starbuck's and a little shameless begging asking for some stir sticks for these poke cards.

The students convert measurements (this little guy is using our measurement conversion "cheat cards" which I blogged about here), and then look for the answer on the card.

They poke the Starbuck's stirrer through and see if they got the correct answer (if it is circled).

They collect as many cards as they can.  This one likes keeping her correct cards on her stirrer. 

These poke cards are also in my Cinco de Mayo packet.

Tuesday after school I had the last rehearsal with my drama club before their performance on Wednesday of their Spring play - The Lost Treasure.

I teach drama club to 5th and 6th graders at the school next door.  Here is a cast shot.

And a selfie fail!

Here is a picture of Cody before Wednesday's performance.  He is with the girl who was the main pirate  - he was her sidekick in the play.  She had to hit him several times in the play and I think she secretly loved it.  She MAY have gotten a little too into character! LOL!

Here is Tyler in his costume.  He had to fill in at the last minute for a sick student (what a trooper!).

We made sombreros to decorate for our upcoming Cinco de Mayo Fiesta on Monday!  We are so looking forward to it!  We have been using Cinco de Mayo centers, researching Mexico, and creating Mexican inspired art.

And the final products

And we wrapped up the week with a fun new version of Scoot I made up on the fly this afternoon.  Musical Chairs Scoot!  

We used these cards (area model multiplication).  I placed them around the room on the tables, but the catch was that I had more students than cards!

So... I played some music.  When the music stopped, they found a card as fast as they could.

If they didn't find a card, they checked their work or finished unfinished problems.

If they found a card, they solved the problem.

And I would love to say that I am off to rest, but... I am off to the Spring Carnival at Cody's school tonight!  Wish me luck!  Have a great weekend!

Things I Am Pinterested In This Week - April 26, 2014

It's no secret, Pinterest is an amazing resource for teaching ideas, menu planning inspiration, crafting ideas and more!  I am a little more than slightly hooked.  Here are a few of my pins from this week:



I love, love, love new clip art and frames for making materials for my classroom and Teachers Pay Teachers.  I love finding great freebies like this even more!

I love this simple method for having your students self assess their understanding.  They could be used for any subject and during multiple times throughout the day.  I'm going to have the students use them during whole group mini-lessons and also at their desks while working independently so I can spot who needs my help the most.

We live in a high winds area, so it seems like we are always having to clean dust and dirt that has made its way through our windows or patio doors.  I love this cleaning tip and am going to try it out this weekend!

(. . . sprinkle a bit of baking soda into the corners, pour a bit of vinegar into a cup and pour it into the tracks. )

And although I know it is the end of the year, my silly brain is already obsessing about planning for next year, so I am loving this idea for organizing back to school night.

I also adore these pencils - you can have them say whatever you want.

If you would like to see more things I am pinning, be sure to follow me on Pinterest!

What are you pinning this week?  Leave me a link to your boards and I will follow you!

5 For Friday April 25

I have been on Spring Break this week and it has been heavenly!  Even though we stayed in town, I needed the break and it has been very relaxing and refreshing! I am linking up with DoodleBugs Teaching for Five for Friday to share with you what I've been up to.

I got to celebrate my oldest son's 21st birthday this week!  Time goes by way too fast!

I got to watch Tyler play baseball to start off the weekend.

They didn't win, but he made some great plays!

I received this text from one of my other sons, Cody (the 11 year old).

(If you can't tell, there is a snake around his neck - YIKES!).

He really milked it.

(When all else fails - enlist the help of the younger cute brother).

And despite my misgivings due to the incident with the last snake (who escaped and was found outside by the neighbor's dog - not a happy ending). I gave in and he and dad came home with...

I'm not sure if she has a name yet.  I have not been brave enough to hold her yet, but I have pet her.  ACK! The life of being a mom to all boys!

I managed to work on some Teachers Pay Teachers products.

I bundled my Multiplication and Division Kicking It Math Fact Programs to save you a little money when you purchase both.

If you teach a younger grade, I also bundled the addition and subtraction version here.

This is a fun little product using clip art from the fabulous Krista Wallden (I seriously have an addiction - lol!).  It is a Scoot game focusing on using the area model to multiply one digit by 3 digit numbers.  Something my students can always use practice with!

This one was a Flash Freebie this morning.  I announced it to my followers on Facebook and Instagram (my user name is applefortheteach).  If you aren't already following me, be sure to do so as I have a few more Flash Freebies planned for this weekend and beyond :).  Just a little thank you for following!

If you missed the freebie - you can still grab it on sale this weekend here.

I was also happy when an Amazon box showed up this week with some new reading material for  me!  Am I the only one who gets super excited to see the boxes, but then rushes to throw them away so hubby doesn't see them?

The 100 minutes book is for a book study I am doing in May -

 if you haven't already entered to win this book for the book study head over here to enter!

Have a great weekend!

100 Minutes: Making Every Minute Count in the Literacy Block - Book Study and Giveaway!

Every year, I partake in at least one book study over my summer vacation.  When I saw this book study, I was intrigued because our school district is transitioning from the Daily 5 (which I love) to a balanced literacy program.  This seemed like it might fit the bill.  I also love the fact that Beth from Thinking of Teaching (who is hosting the book study) also uses and loves parts of Daily 5 and isn't quite ready to throw them all away - because I'm not at all!

Here is the blurb from Amazon about the book

"It is possible to create a literacy block where teachers meet with students for guided reading and writing conferences, and provide daily explicit instruction in both reading and writing. A comprehensive look at literacy and learning, 100 Minutes shows teachers how to fit balanced literacy into a daily 100-minute literacy block using a framework of whole-class instruction and writing sessions, combined with independent work. It also offers strategies for dealing with the important elements of literacy instruction, including sharing and conferencing; using exemplars; creating success criteria; providing effective feedback; building in rich tasks, higher-level thinking, open-ended questions, and collaborative learning opportunities; and thinking critically and analytically about all kinds of texts."

Of course I'm interested in learning more, aren't you?

Here are some options to purchase the book:

Pembroke Publishers (Canada)

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Stenhouse (USA)

But... if you are lucky, you might be able to WIN a copy of the book for FREE!  Thinking of Teaching is hosting a great giveaway to help get you started with our book study!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The book study starts officially on May 23rd  - my day to host is May 31st (my first day of summer vacation!!!).  Please come join us!

Behavior Clip Chart

I am enjoying my second official day of Spring Break, but I still wanted to share something that I have tried this year that has really helped behavior.  Since I am on Spring Break, I didn't want to go down to school just to take a picture of it, but luckily, I had a picture I had already taken that had it in there!  Happy Dance!

I can't find the exact one I have (I printed it out a few years ago) but here is a similar Freebie I found on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

This is the behavior clip chart that I have my students use.  I love the fact that students can move up instead of just down.  When I ask a student to clip down, I try to find at least two students who are modeling the appropriate behavior and I ask them to clip up.  I really want to encourage making good choices instead of just focusing on the bad.

Each student has a copy of this sheet in their planner.  Each afternoon before we pack up, the students use a crayon or marker to show where they ended up by the end of the day.  They take their planner home to their parents who must initial it.  I give each student a sticker in our sticker economy the next morning if they have their parent's initial.  I collect them at the end of the week and give an additional small prize to all students who have initials for the whole week.  I save these in their files and share them with parents during conferences.

You can download a free copy of this clip chart weekly behavior chart here from Classroom Compulsion.  It is editable, so I edited for font and to match my own clip chart.


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

Must Read Mentor Text - How To Build Your Own Country

I am linking up with Collaboration Cuties for Must Read Mentor Texts.  This week we are focusing on Social Studies.

We have been reading How To Build Your Own Country.

The students have been loving to read how countries are formed as we are "creating" our own countries.  Some "countries" in my class include: Manland, Frozenia, and Shapetopia.  I will share our projects when we finish them up after Spring Break.  For now here are a few of the pages.

The book is written in small chunks that can be used individually for class read alouds, in small groups, or independently.  It has been one of the most engaging non-fiction texts I have found!