MMI: First one this summer...slacker...

Yep, my first Monday Made It of the summer...am I a slacker?  I don't think so.  I am rejuvenated!

I have finally pulled the kitchen in our new house together.  I must say...it started out ACK!  UGLY! lol  UGLY OLD wallpaper.   
                                                           BEFORE:  eek....

                                                       
                                                        SO MUCH HAPPIER

We still want to change out the lights and where that clock is hanging we are going to build a pantry.  However, I can totally live with this kitchen...It makes me happy.  Obviously, we are going for a country look/feel and I feel like I have accomplished that so far.

Have I made anything for my classroom???  NOPE!  Do I feel guilty?!  NOPE!  Next Made It is the bathroom.  Can't wait to see the final results on that!  Think chevron...that is the only clue I am giving ;)

Wow...I am a terrible blogger!

Eek...I guess I got caught up in life!?!  Last school year was a busy, whirlwind!  So, let me pull you up to speed.

I started the year as ELA and Social Studies for grades 5-8.  We had hired another lady to teach math and science.  Turned out math really wasn't her cup of tea...she was stressed...the kids were stressed...I was stressed.  I made the decision to offer to take over math.  I took it towards the end of the first quarter.  I am so happy I did, I fell in love with math all over, or maybe I just realized for the first time how much I love it!  I happily gave her ELA (didn't miss it for a second).  The kids were so much happier in my math class, I was so much happier teaching it.  Mid year the other teacher went on medical leave and we had another teacher take over, who is teaching ELA and social studies next year.  She is amazing...so much experience...great techniques.  I am obviously teaching math again and science.  Yep, total turn around from what I didn't want last year, but totally want this year.  I am so happy!

I am also participating in a grant program called TEAM Science.  WOW!  This year we are focused on physical science, something I needed a great brush up on.  It has been amazing so far.  Our 3/4 and K/1 teacher are also a part of the grant.  We have tons of fun together.  It helps that our 3/4 teacher is also my crazy bff...we could seriously get each other in trouble lol :)

Working on our science journals...they didn't have a clue! lol


Anyway, I am going to try and write a TEAM science entry to explain it in more detail.  We use the 5E lesson model for it and it has totally  changed my view and approach to teaching science.  I am getting ready to begin my 2nd week of a 3 week summer "course" that I will be a part of for two more summers for TEAM Science.  Like I said, this session has been all about physical science. 

By the end of the school year I was drained...I was also 8th grade sponsor which involves a lot of fundraising and graduation preparation, and a class trip.  We went to St Louis for 3 days.  It was a great time, exhausting, but awesome.  I was definitely ready for summer vacation.  This is the first year I have not been working on school stuff all summer.  I have taken time for myself.  I am just now letting my brain start to gear up for the next school year.  Our first day is August 14th.

 From top of ferris wheel at Six Flags...Class trip

 Me and the bff at Six Flags, class trip

 Our group at 6 flags...

Another thing that contributed to my draining, was our new house, that we moved into the last week of school!  The week of our class trip and graduation!!! lol  It is an older 2 story farmhouse that we are madly in love with and slowly remodeling.  4 bedrooms and 2 baths.  So nice compared to our old 3 bedroom 1 bath.  3/4 wrap around porch, huge, flat grassy yard and 40 acres...compared to our old 1/2 acre.  In love!  Will write more about that later too. 

TPT 10% off Sale!

I am sure most of you know that TPT is throwing a 10% off sale if you enter the promo code FB100K at check out.  I have decided to also put everything in my store on sale for 10% off :)  Happy shopping!

Civil War--Critical Thinking

My 5/6 class has reached the beginning of civil war discussion.  They are loving it!  I am loving it because they are SO SO SO engaged!

This week we have talked about tariffs and slavery dividing our country into 2 sections--sectionalism.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to try and get them to see both sides.  They were able to put themselves into the shoes of the people living in the south and understand their thoughts on slavery.  I made them each think about if they lived back then what side would they choose?  Why would they choose that side?  Funnily enough, we were split 50/50 right down the middle.  So, now our classroom is split into 2 sections.

We have also began literature circles.  I try to give them at least 15 minutes a day for this.  One group is reading Freedom Crossing and the other is reading a Boys of Wartime Book:  Will at the Battle of Gettysburg.  Both groups seem to really like the books they chose.  My students seem to really like historical fiction.  I love pulling literature into Social Studies!

Read Alouds....in Middle School???

Do you teach middle school?  If so, do you still read books to your students?  Or, do you think it takes away valuable time, or that the students won't like it?  I still read to my kids, they LOVE it, and we all learn so much together.  Every day I take at least 10 minutes to read from a chapter book to my students.  They absolutely LOVE it.  They are all engaged, I ask questions as we go.  Not comprehension questions, but discussion questions. 

We are currently reading the book, Wonder.  Oh my goodness!  It is such a great book, I encourage you all to read it.  My students are so into it.  They always ask me to read more.  We have had some great, thought-provoking conversations while reading this book.  The boy in the book has facial abnormalities and goes to school for the first time, in 5th grade.  My students gasp and the meanness of the other kids in the book, awww at the kindness, and they are honest about what they think they would do if they were the other students in the book.  They don't all say, "oh I would go sit with him like Summer did."  They are honest, and it makes them question their character.

If you aren't reading to your middle schoolers, I HIGHLY recommend you start.  Wonder would be a great book.  It also offers more than one point of view as you read.  Our next book will be a Long Walk to Water.  Another inspirational, thought provoking book.

BUSY WEEK

I definitely enjoyed my 4 day weekend!  That extra day taking my son to the Dr was great because I got my grocery shopping done :)!

I also took advantage of the extra time off and made my new Math I can statements.  I haven't finished the 8th grade set yet, but I was pretty happy to get 5-7 out of the way.  I also need to make a set for my Algebra I class.  I absolutely LOVE that class.  I thought it would be my least favorite just because it was a big leap from the 5/6 math I am used to teaching.  It is all coming back to me like yesterday...I also love that hour of the day, it flies by and the kids that are in it WANT to be in it and WANT to learn.  It is the best class hands down and is the last hour of the day when kids are usually restless etc...I just can't say enough about how awesome they are!!  If you would like to check out my math sets or the bundled math/ELA sets check out my TPT store. :)

This week I started MATH MEETING with my 5th graders.  I need to get a picture of it.  They love it.  I thought it would take a few days to get in the routine, but they come right in, get their white boards and get to work.  I was so proud of them!  They had it down the second day!!! :)


I am also teaching some social studies classes.  In the past social studies has been my least favorite...it always seemed to be the class taht got pushed to the back burner because it wasn't tested.  This year it is AWESOME!  I am trying to come up with more activities etc.  The kids are really enjoying it.  I have made several I have, who has games for our vocabulary and for main ideas etc.  It has been great. 

All in all, I am loving this year.  It got off to a rocky start, but things seem to be working out nicely now.  I do miss some things of being self-contained.  It takes a little longer to bond with my new kids since I don't see them all day.  I really do love all my kids this year.  I have a great group with a lot of different personalities.  Luckily a lot of my new ones came from my teaching besties class who has a lot of the same personality as I do so they get my humor and sarcasm already.  Every day is a better day!  I hope your year is off to a great start as well!

Getting in the swing of things...

I am finally getting in the swing of things...I think!  Getting up in the morning is getting easier...making it through the day without feeling exhausted is getting easier...having my lesson plans finished is getting there...and going to sleep by 10 p.m. every night is definitely THERE!  haha

I am loving teaching math again.  My incoming 5th graders are pretty low and I have had some difficulty with them.  I also have a few in there that could care less and it is difficult to get them to pay attention/participate.  So on Thursday when I taught them their lesson on decimal place value again (the other teacher had already taught them this...) I was worried, but boy, the got it!  All of them at almost the same time were like OH! and I could see that fabulous light bulb go off :)...one of my very favorite things about teaching :)

My 8th graders are still struggling with subtracting pos and neg numbers so I am looking for something to help set that into their heads, but they are adding, multiplying and dividing them wonderfully!

Last night I took 5 of my 8th grade girls to dinner at Chili's and then to see the Mortal Instruments movie.  I made the deal with them last year if they read it I would take them.  Unfortunately none of my 7th graders took the deal :-/ and I made it to try and motivate that class to read!  Anyway, we had a fabulous time!  It was fun and funny teaching them how to pay at Chili's.  One of them had a hard time grasping the part about putting your money on the tray and the waiter would bring your change back. :)  We all thought the movie was FABULOUS!  This made us happy because we had heard two bad reviews on it, one from our librarian and one from another student.  WE LOVED IT and hope they make the next one!  It made us want to go read the books again :)

My plan for the weekend is to relax, spend time with family, celebrate mother-in-law's birthday, take the boys fishing, and I want to get new math I CAN statements made.  My wall is looking pretty bare since my switch to math!

I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend!  Mine ended up being 4 days because I had to take my 13 year old to the specialist for his knee Friday.

Switching gears...MMI on Tuesday...Exhausted...

SO many different titles I could chose from for this post...as I mentioned before I am switching gears from communication arts to math...I volunteered...I have to say, even though I did TONS of work on com arts things, I am really happy.  I didn't realize how much I would miss math.  I am still teaching 5/6 math, but adding 7/8 math...new material to teach, a challenge I am happy to take....math is sooooo fun for me to teach...somehow I forgot! :)  (yes, it was just in May I was still teaching math ;) )

I have been working on some functional things for my room.  I am making a really cool set of math posters that I am IN LOVE with, and they match my color scheme ;)  I also made math meeting headings for my 5/6 group and for my friends' 3/4 group in both our color schemes.

 

I haven't uploaded to TPT yet, but I will update when I do...I guess I didn't take any pics of the ones I made for my buddy....

Still here...hanging on...first of school

Made it through my first week of school with kids....YAY! :)  It was a great, busy week!

We have decided to add another teacher to our middle school, the other teacher and myself have been going without a planning period...through this process I offered to take over math...so I will not be teaching com arts anymore, I will be teaching math...I am actually pretty excited, I really miss teaching math!!

Anyway, more to come...

Back to School Sale Today and Tomorrow!

Head over to TPT and check out my back to school sale...everything in my store is 20% off + enter BTS13 to get even more off!!

Classroom Reveal!!!!

Oh my!!  I am beat!!!  I forgot what it was like getting up early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have just been busy busy...I really didn't think I would be this busy still!!  I went and got a pedicure today after school, I deserved it :)  My feet feel much better and are ready to start the school year.  Tomorrow night is our open house/ice cream social.  Love it!

I finally cleaned the mess up in my room enough to take pictures.  I am pretty sure I am finished, I have added and added things the past two days...

Okay, are you ready!?!?  I AM!

Here is one of my shelves...student mailboxes on top w/o names yet...lamp shade that I recovered using hot glue and burned the you know what out of two of my fingers...still needs a little help....

 

This is the shelf behind my desk...infamous teacher toolbox, pics of my kids....dum dum tree...my name that I made....

 

Class library....lime green lamp I got at Walmart...

 

Student computer for taking book tests and second recovered lamp shade...

 

Awesome "designer" clothes pins I got at Dollar General last night...there were four colors, I gave my teacher BFF the other colors because they matched her room colors...These are for anchor charts...

 

Another view behind my desk

 

View of classroom from behind my desk....

 

Subway art above board....glitter clothes pins below board...

 

View of room from door....

 

Sink area...I added a couple posters beside the towel dispenser after I took this pic....

 

Objective area

 

Glitter clothespins for student work...

 

more glitter clothes pins on my desk for "Star student work"

 

I made this on my desk for the No Name papers...

 

This is in front of my desk...

 

Covered a couple of cork boards with fabric and hung by my desk...also more clothes pins for anchor charts...

I hope you enjoyed the "tour"!  I am so proud of my room this year, so far the kids that have seen it are IN LOVE!

2 days!?!?! NOOOOOO

2 days until I report to work, that is counting today!!!  AHHHHH!!!  I am quickly writing this post while I am eating my breakfast.  I have been trying to clean the house and get a lot of laundry finished before we leave for Branson this evening.  We are winding our summer down with a trip to Branson and going to Silver Dollar City tomorrow...here's hoping that it doesn't rain on us tomorrow!!  Seriously, this past two weeks has been terrible weather, RAIN RAIN RAIN!  The exact opposite of this time last year.  So, instead of being in a drought, we are dealing with flooding.  My hubby runs a rural mail route and has had a TON of detour miles logged this week...

I will be linking up to MMI on Monday, but it might be late.  I also plan to write my classroom reveal post Monday night!!  SOOOOO excited about that one :)  I just have a few extra little touches to add to my room Monday...

MMI: 8/5/2013

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!  I have one week left until I report back to work!?!  This is not possible!  Sigh...I am assuming that next Monday will be my last MMI. 

This week I was hard at work putting my CCSS and Resources binders together.  I have sold a few in my TPT Store which of course makes me happy. :)  To me, my best products are the ones that I make for myself and then actually sell.

I really didn't make anything else this week...I have been lazy, and soaking up the time to be lazy before I can't be anymore.  My youngest had his 6 month check up at the dentist today.  On the way home from that we stopped at my Grandma and Grandpa's.  We turned it into a day, they order pizza, we rode the gator, picked some apples, and just did a lot of visiting.  It was nice and we should do it more often....

  I do plan to go work in my classroom tomorrow and get "it everything in place" so all I have to worry about on the work days are lesson plans. :)  That would make me HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

I did make something for home this week...I almost forgot!

Homemade bread...it was SOOOO good!

Sorry if this was a bit boring.  I plan to have a classroom reveal by next Monday.  I am also working on adding Math resource binders to my TPT store too.  I might even do lower grades...depends how ambitious I become!

Go check out the ever fabulous, Tara, at MMI

Follower Giveaway Winnder announced!!

And the winner is...
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Look for an email within 24 hours, Tonya!  Congratulations and enjoy spending that $15!!  I think I will be spending way more than that on TPT this week...hoping to get a school PO for it...we shall see though.

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I think the boys and I will go work in my classroom later today, it is a rainy dreary day her today.  I am thankful for all the rain we are getting lately, but I would really like to be enjoying the last weeks of summer!!!!!

MMI: 7/29/13

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DON'T forget my follower giveaway...it ends today...I made it a $15 TPT gift certificate!

As I previously stated, I have had the end of summer blues.  SO imagine my surprise when I had a super productive weekend!

Saturday I made binders for 5-8 Common Core ELA standards.  I love them!!!  Each strand has its own section with all the standards printed together.  Then there is a sheet with each standard printed on it with boxes to write lesson plans for teaching that standard and resources used for each standard.  I will then slip the resources in behind each of those pages.  I showed it to my curriculum director and she LOVED it.  We are in the process of writing new curriculum and she thinks this will be extremely useful!  I have made each one available in my TPT store if you want to check them out.
         


I also made a set of Subway Art with quotes I have been pinning on pinterest.  These are a FREEBIE in my store.  I laminated them and put them above my white board in my classroom tonight.

I am going to make 3 more for the empty space :)

I also did the "In our classroom we do..." project that has been floating around pinterest.  Mine is simple and matches my color scheme.

I hope you found something useful and I will be doing some more "crafty" things next week.  I am just in the countdown days where I have to get things together! :)  2 weeks from today is my report day!!  AHHHH!!!  So many lesson plans to get prepared, I haven't really thought much about social studies yet....

Go on over to Fourth Grade Frolics and check out all the other Monday Made Its!  I have a doctor appointment this morning, but plan on checking them out this afternoon. :)

End of Summer Blues....

I think I have the end of summer blues...haven't felt like doing much of anything this past week...I don't think the rain helped.  I am thankful for the rain and mild temps, but I really want it to be HOT and sunny so I can spend my last days on the river!!!

Last night I decided to get out of my funk and I did make a resource for my room.  We will be writing all new curriculum this year for common core. SOOOOO....I made a resource for my 5th grade standards.  I will be doing the same for 6, 7, and 8 as well.  In this packet I have all the ELA standards.  They are separated by categories.  There is a cover page for each category that has all the standards under that category listed.  Then each standard has its own page where you can list lesson plans and resources used to teach that standard.  I plan to slip hard copies of each resource behind those sheets.

I am excited to use these and hope I keep up with it! :)  I found free checklists that I am going to put in my binders too.  I believe I found them all on TPT as well.  They have spaces to write the dates that you teach each standard. 

So, if you are interested you can check out my new product.  I didn't mean for this to be a shameless plug for it, but I am excited to use it and hope it can be helpful to a lot of my followers.  Stay tuned for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade...maybe I can finish them before Monday Made It?!



Don't for get to enter my follower giveaway for a TPT $15 gift certificate!!! :)