Five for Friday May 1, 2015

Time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!  The last week of April was filled with a ton of crazy and a ton of proud moments!

We started the weekend with a trip to the Emergency Room when my 20 year old son, Powell had a seizure.  He was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was almost 2 years old, but it has been a long time since he had a seizure.  We believe it was brought on by him playing a video game on his computer.  He was sitting at his desk playing the computer when all of the sudden my mother heard a loud crash and scream from his room.  She ran in and found his chair tipped over, and he had crashed into his closet.  His nose and tongue were bleeding and he was quite bruised up.  He was unresponsive at first, but then just didn't remember what had happened.  He doesn't remember falling into the closet or the seizure.  We took him to the Emergency Room to be checked out and discovered that he had broken a vertebrae in his back during his fall.  All is well now, and we will be following up with his neurologist a little sooner this year than expected.

Because he couldn't remember falling, he was somewhat surprised by his injuries.  As we waited in the waiting room he kept asking me, "Did I hurt my neck, because it hurts?"  "Did I hurt my nose, because it hurts?" I ended up taking pictures of his injuries for him to see. We were there over 12 hours!  At least it kept us somewhat occupied.

I greatly appreciate all of your well wishes about Powell from my last blog post!  In addition to his epilepsy diagnosis, he also has autism, fragile X syndrome, and cerebral palsy.  Having my own special needs child has influenced me as a teacher in dealing with special needs students in my own classroom - I always think, "Would this be how I would want a teacher to work with Powell?"  He has also made my children more sensitive to others and we couldn't imagine our family without him!  I am so grateful that his injuries weren't more severe!

After all the craziness, I needed a little retail therapy at my favorite used book store.

They have an amazing children/youth section and I stocked up with many new books for our classroom library!

On to my proud moments!  I have a group of students that have been driving down struggle street when it comes to reading.  They came into my class able to read a few sight words and not much more.  They were sure that they weren't readers and they certainly weren't smart.  I was determined to let them know otherwise!!!

They have made so much progress this year, and have just discovered Fly Guy books.  I think this series is great for struggling older readers, because they are appealing to even my higher readers.  They are "chapter books" with 3 chapters in each book, so the students don't feel like they are reading baby books.

I have been capitalizing on this interest with special Fly Guy sight word cards and activities.  They are loving them and their growth is soaring!  I am so proud of them!!!

I am so proud of my students' writing this year!  We have been using Lucy Calkins' program, and their writing has improved so much!  This week we are working on our opinion unit.

In math, we are working on equivalent fractions.  They were so excited to share their equivalent fractions!

Teacher's Kids can be such show-offs!  LOL! (Yes, he's mine!).

Hope you had a great week!  Link up and share!

Stop, Swap and Roll Product Swap

I am so excited to be taking part in another product swap with Melissa at Jungle Learners!  Before I get started, I must apologize for getting this post up late.  My 20 year old son has epilepsy and suffered a grand mal seizure yesterday afternoon.  As a result of the seizure, he broke a vertebrae in his back.  We were at the ER from 4:30 PM yesterday until 6:30 AM this morning. So.. my Rafflecoptor for the prize won't work until tonight, but this product I am trying is so worth it!  Please stop by again to enter!

I swapped items with Stephanie from The Learning Chambers.

She has so many amazing things in her store, it was really hard to choose just one!  I finally decided to try out her Reading Response Flap Journal.
I used them with my reading groups and they were a big hit! My students LOVE flap books, and this was no exception.

I don't know about your class, but I have kiddos who are working on a wide variety of reading levels.  One thing that I absolutely love about this packet is that Stephanie has included two different versions, so you can differentiate to accommodate different levels!  This product is also versatile for if you have to change grade levels!

This is the version I used with my grade level and above students.

For my below grade level students, I used the version below.

The best part about the differentiation is that the covers are exactly the same, so my students don't know that other students have different versions!

I initially introduced the students to the booklets during our reading club time.  Then, I gave students new books to use with their independent reading.  I plan on using them throughout the year.  Being able to use a product all year round and with any book is a big bonus for me when I purchase items from TpT. 

Great news for you!  As part of the swap, Stephanie has this item on sale!  You also have the opportunity to win this product as well by entering the Rafflecoptor below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Don't forget to visit her blog to see the item from my store she picked and enter to win it!



Check out our other swaps as well!

Using Subitizing Cards to Foster Multiplicative Thinking

Subitizing is an instant way of counting.  I had heard of several first grade teachers using it with ten frames to teach the concept of ways to make ten.

 I had never thought of using it to teach multiplication until I found these multiplication subitizing cards.

I have been using these cards as warm ups for small group and whole group lessons as well as for time fillers when we have a few extra minutes.  The kids love them and it has also helped with learning their math facts!  

Watch the video below to see them in action!

You can print the cards out here.

Have you used subitizing cards in your classroom? If you decide to use them, I would love to see pictures!  Please email me at kellys3ps@sbcglobal.net or tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter!

And... before you go, make sure to visit my Giveaways page to enter our weekly giveaway to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card!

A Day in the Life...

I am linking up with Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits to share a peek of my daily schedule with you.  I always love seeing how other teachers manage to get everything all in a packed day, so make sure you link up and share your day as well!

Just in Case You Were Wondering About My Personal Morning Routine  (Because I am nosey about these types of things, and maybe you are too!)

4:30 AM - Wake up Call.  If I am being good, I workout on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes, but if I'm not, I often convince myself that this is a great time to work on a blog post, TpT product, or just cruising Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.  I am working on trying to be healthier, but it is a struggle!

I wake my older two boys at 5:30 and I "officially" start my blog/TpT work hour.  I get ready for my day at 6:30 and wake Luke (my youngest) up as soon as I am ready.  Getting him up and out of bed is always a struggle, and it was even worse when I had to hunt down uniforms that did not get put away or put in his laundry basket.  We finally came up with a system that helps our mornings out a TON!

Each day of the school week has its own drawer (the top two are for extra socks and underwear).  Every Sunday we put a complete set of clothes for each day of the week in each drawer.  So much easier!

7:30 - 8:25 I head to school and prep things for my day.

8:25 I pick the students up at the playground and we walk together to class. They often love telling me stories as we walk.

8:35 - 8: 50 - Morning Meeting.  We start each day with a morning meeting that by this time of the year is mostly student run.  It has taken a lot of constant reminders about talking one at a time and taking turns, but it is so worth it!  Not only does it help them feel more like a family, but it also works those public speaking skills that are required in the Common Core.  Even my most shy students share during Morning Meeting!  You can read more about our Morning Meeting process here.  (Ignore my messy classroom - we are in need of some Spring Cleaning!).

9:00 - 9:15 Daily Math Review We start each math block with a spiral review of skills we have been working on all year.

Often students use this time to finish their breakfast.  Each day they solve 5 problems independently.  We go over each problem together as a class.  On Friday they take a quiz with problems that are similar to the skills we have been working on all week.  If they struggle with a concept, it stays on the review.  You can read more about Daily Math Review here.

9:15 - 9:25  Kicking It Math.  This is by far the students' favorite part of the day.  It is a math fact mastery program that I have developed where the students earn "belts" as they pass certain levels, just like in karate!  You can read about the whole system here.

They like it so much that they often choose it as a practice choice during Math Workshop!

9:25 - 10:15 - Math Workshop.  In our classroom math workshop consists of whole group mini-lessons, math journals, problem solving, games, and small group lessons.  We also complete Accelerated Math Lessons.



10: 15 RECESS

10:15 - 11:00 Math Workshop Continued

11:00 - 11:40 Specials.  We have specials Mon- Thurs. Our specials are Library, Counselor, PE, and Stem.  Two of these days are preps for me and two of these days are collaborations with the other third grade teachers.

11: 40 - 12:25 Lunch

12:25 - 1: 05 Study Island.  We have been using Study Island as our test prep for the SBAC which we are taking in May for the first time.

1:05- 2:15 Reader's/ Writer's Workshop.  We use Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for Writer's Workshop and will start using the Reader's Workshop units next Fall.  For now, my reading is a mix of Daily 5 and Reader's Workshop.  My students read and write independently while I confer with students or work with small groups.

We do a lot of writing about our reading!

2:15 - RECESS - I have duty at this time.

2:15 - 3:00 Cont. Reader's Writer's Workshop

3:00 - 3:15 Pack and Stack, Afternoon Meeting and Dismissal!

I hope you enjoyed learning about our day!  I would love to hear about yours as I am already thinking about next year!  Link up with Reagan and share!