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!