Five for Friday

 This week my Five for Friday is all about the family cruise we took this past week. Doodle Bug Teaching, Five for Friday.

1. Swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman. It was amazing! 

2.Desserts and sweets! Sometimes before lunch and dinner and ALWAYS after :)

3. No cooking! Enough said.

4. No clocks or windows in our room. Waking up with no windows or clock was the best part of my morning. What time is it?? I have no idea or reason to find out.

5. Family. This was a family cruise with all of my husband's family. We were able to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday and spend the week together experiencing something new. Priceless.

Five For Friday

This is my first Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

1. After several busy weeks and not being able to post on my blog I have been able to post 4, YES 4 new post!

2. We started the week with 5th grades American Revolution Trading Card Day. It was fun to watch the kids trade and bargain for different cards. Some student loved their cards so much they were VERY particular or would not trade at all. I loved watching them take so much pride in what they created.

3. My 5th graders are in the middle of studying the American Revolution. After looking at and discussing political cartoons from that time period the students created their own political cartoon. Check out my post on this activity. 

4. My 4th graders completed their cause and effect paragraphs for the story A Bad Case of Stripes. 

5. Today my daughter and I took our first train ride. It was the birthday of my friend's son, we took a train ride on a real Amtrak train. It was so much fun!

New Year's Resolution Linky Party

 

I am linking up with Jen at The Teachers' Cauldron for her New Year's Resolution party. Check out all the resolutions that everyone is posting. 

My personal resolution is to eat healthier. My husband and I have been watching documentaries about whole food eating. We have tried in the fall, as school as starting, to fully commit. I bet you can guess how that went. This year I want to begin taking small steps towards whole food eating. 

Buddy Day/Gingerbread Man Hunt

Today we had the best day with our buddies!! It was a half day and 5th grade stayed with me all do so we were able to spend the whole day with our little friends. We started the morning writing about how we would make the Grinch grin. 

The 5th graders helped their buddies write their sentences. 

We then watched the Dr Seuss's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

After our Grinch activity we ate lunch outside with our buddies. My students love to eat outside and their buddies were SO excited to sit with the big kids at lunch. It was a great day to be out, the wonderful thing about Florida is that the week before Christmas the temperature is in the 80's. :)

The real fun started after lunch. Our buddies had special cookies to share with us but the gingerbread man stole them while they were at specials. When my 5th graders showed up the kindergartners were so upset. They made lost posters to hang up in the room in hopes that the gingerbread man would return the cookies. 

We then followed the clues to find the cookies and gingerbread man. The kindergartners were so excited and my 5th graders were great sports. I could tell that they loved it but still wanted to be cool. Several of my students remembered the same hunt when they were in kindergarten and afterwards were telling me how it was different/wrong. 

I am happy to report that while we were out searching for the gingerbread man he returned all the cookies. Our principal and vice-principal caught him and made him give the cookies back.

Today was a fun day and nice break from the everyday lessons and schedule. I think that my kids enjoyed playing like a kindergartner for the day. :)

My Gift For....

I found the cutest idea on on Pinterest, no surprise there. :) Check out Unique Teaching Resources for lots of other cute ideas. The original idea that I found was a gift box where students give a gift (actions only) for their family, school, town and world. I created my own box pattern and had the students give a gift (action) to one person in their family. I love how this turned out and it was a simple gift to make and their parents will love it. 

The students explained their gift on one side of the box and decorated the other. They were very creative with their gifts and how they decorated. It still amazes me how excited 4th graders get over stickers :)

My students created a pyramid for me with some of the boxes.

*I used an onion soup mix box for the template and copied the template onto card stock.

Liebster Blog

I returned from Thanksgiving break to discover that I was given the Liebster Award! Kristin from Tech'n'Tex sent me the award, a BIG, BIG thank you to Kristin. This award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and to help spread the word about new blogs. I hope it also encourages them to keep blogging. 

The Rules:

- You must post 11 random things about yourself..

- Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

- Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

- Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

- No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

Random things about me...

1. I have ridden cross country twice on the back of a motorcycle. 

2. My first job was mowing yards in my neighborhood.

3. I collect Nutcrackers.

4. I don't eat pie or cobbler.

5.My favorite movie is 'Gone With the Wind'

6. I have not read the 'Twilight' or 'Harry Potter' series, but have seen the all movies.

7. I am oldest of four girls.

8. I love to bake, but don't usually eat what I make.

9. I can't go to the movies without getting popcorn.

10. I love John Mayer

11. I do not drink coffee.

Answers to Kristin's Questions:

1. How did you end up in your grade level and/or subject area? I taught 3rd grade for 4 years and wanted a change. My first choice was 5th grade reading and then my principle asked if I would teach 4th / 5th reading.
2. How many teammates do you have? 4 reading teachers, 2 in 4th and 2 in 5th
3. Do you plan alone or as part of a team?  5th grade plans social studies together and reading on our own, 4th grade plans everything together.
4. What is your favorite read aloud? Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
5. What games/activities do you do at your student holiday party? We are very low key, movie and pizza.
6. Why did you start blogging? I love reading others blogs and thought that this would be a fun way to share my ideas.
7. What “makes” your holidays? baking!!
8. What is your favorite pizza topping? lite sauce and cheese
9. What book are you currently reading? War Brides by Helen Bryan at home, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen at school.
10. What is your favorite holiday carol/song? All of them!!
11. If you weren’t a teacher/educator, what would you be doing? stay-at-home mom

Questions I'm Asking My Nominees:
    1. Why did you decide to become a teacher?

    2. If you had to move grade levels what would you want to teach?

    3. If you weren’t a teacher/educator, what would you be doing?

    4. Would you be the principal of your school? Why or why not?

    5. What is your favorite lesson/activity?

    6. What book/s are you currently reading?

    7. What is your favorite read aloud?

    8. What is your favorite part of blogging?

    9. Do you share your blog with your teammates?

  10. What is your favorite part of the holidays?

  11. What are you asking Santa for this year?

Blogs I'm Nominating:

1. Fabulous and Fun 4th Garders

2. Fifth Grade Dugout

3. Fifth is Fabulous! 

4. Learning's a Hoot

5. Life as a Teacher 

6. Miss R's Room

7. Miss White's 5th Grade Class 

8. Tales from a 4th (and 5th) Grade Teacher

9. Tales from Rm 17! 

10. Teaching Special Kids

11. Teaching with a Touch of Twang 

Better late than never - Vocabulary Hat Day

Well....Halloween was almost a month ago and I am just getting around to posting our Halloween activity. I actually forgot I had the pictures until I was at Seaworld and flipped through the pictures on my camera and saw the hat pictures, LOL! 

So, we do not do ANYTHING for Halloween at my school. The primary grades have book character day but the older grades do not. This year we decide to have Vocabulary Hat Day. The students picked a vocabulary words they have learned in math, science or reading and created a hat to illustrate the word. The hats were awesome!!!! I was only able to get a few pictures but check out how creative our kids were.

My vocabulary word is glisten and the teacher next to me used crave.

Dumbfounded

Reinforce

Glassy

Multiplication

Incredulous

My Last Monday Made It!

My summer is over, I go back to work next Monday :( I am sad to end this relaxing, fun summer with my daughter but looking forward to a new group of kids. Make sure to pop over to 4th Grade Frolic and see the wonderful ideas posted for Monday Made It!

#1 Recipe Book

I created a recipe binder years ago but it was dirty and  unorganized from years of use. I created a new one with the following sections: breakfast, bread and muffins; starters, dips, soups, salads and beverages; sides, pasta and sandwiches; beef and pork; poultry; vegetarian and other; cakes and cupcakes; cookies; other desserts. I use page protectors for the recipes to keep them clean and only put recipes I have tried and like in the book. Any recipes that I want to try go in the front pocket. I made tabs because other tabs were hidden by the page protector.

#2 Pennant Banner

I made a pennant banner for my niece's 1st birthday party. The theme is pink and white pot-a-dots. 

#3 Teacher Toolbox

It only took me all summer but I finally bought and made my teacher toolbox. Better late than never :)

#4 Best Thing I Learned.....

I saw this idea on Pinterest, for my 4th grade class on Friday they will write the best thing they learned that week and put it on the board. I am planning to give students a page protector for their classroom binder, they can place their old sticky note in it when they post a new one. At the end of the year students can look at all they things they learned. I used a full poster board and added fun Duck Tape to dress it up :)

It is a bit blurry :(

#5 Morning Work/Writing Pictures

From National Geographic

I like using pictures and books when teaching and practicing writing with my 4th graders. In a previous post I used pictures from National Geographic to teach Ba-Da-Bing and Ba-Da-Boom sentences. I love the National Geographic photo website, they have great pictures for writing. It is great to have pictures I pull up on my Mimio but I wanted pictures for the students to hold in their hands. My wonderful family has been saving magazines for me and I went through and pulled interesting pictures and create categories for them. I plan to use them as morning work. There will be a picture each group of desk and a prompt on the board. Ex. In 3 or more sentences tell me what the person is thinking?, Describe what you see in 5 or more sentences., If you were standing in this place what do you think it sounds like?, What do you think this taste/smells like?, etc

From National Geographic

For those of you still on summer break enjoy!

Made it Monday! #7

It is Monday and I had another busy week.  Pre-planning is only 2 weeks away. It will be nice to go back and use what I have created and learned from other bloggers but it would be so nice to have a few more weeks. I finally decided to pull out my teacher bag and box that I brought home the beginning of June and see what needs to be done. Before I share my teacher made it I want to show off my home made it.

#1 New Mirror

I am super excited to show off my amazing find from Hobby Lobby. I found the mirror below on the Clearance aisle for $18.00!!! Yes, $18.00!! As you can see the frame is broken but my mind started turning as soon as I saw it.

This is me standing in the store deciding if I am going to buy the mirror.

I bought Hydrangeas to cover the break and TADA!!  Isn't it pretty??

Very excited about this. I then used old canvases I had and covered them with fabric I bought at Wal-Mart. So easy and pretty. My wonderful husband hung the mirror for me and we now have a beautifully decorated wall. :)

#2 Fall Wreath 

My second project was a fall wreath for the front door. It was easy and I love how it turned out.

Supplies

I cut the burlap into strips and then wrapped them around the wreath. 

 I may add a pumpkin or bow at some point but for now I am happy with it.

Completed Wreath

#3 PKM treats

PKM is what I am calling the oh so good treat I made this week. PKM = pretzel, kiss, M&Ms. I found the idea on Pinterest, not sure what I did before Pinterest. LOL! 

When I made mine I made 6 different types, overachiever I know. Plain Kiss and peanut butter M&M,  plain Kiss and peanut M&M, caramel Kiss and peanut M&M, plain Kiss and plain M&M, caramel Kiss and plain M&M, Hugs and plain M&M. I can't do anything simple, but now I know figure out the best combination ;) 

My little girl helping me bake. Proud moment for me!

Recipe

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Line a pan with Parchment paper and lay out pretzels with Kisses on top. I used mini pretzels, I have seen people use circle and the square ones. Put the pan in the oven for 3-5 minutes, do not over heat! It only took 3 minutes in my oven. You want the Kisses to be shiny and soft but not so hot that they are melting and loosing their shape. When you take the pan out gently press the M&Ms onto the top. Put them in the refrigerator or freezer to set. **The Hugs do not need as much time! I over heated mine and they melted everywhere. The caramel Kisses do not melt well at all. I will not use them next time.

Now for my teacher made it.

#4 Facebook Status

I was searching for beginning of the year ideas and came across a Facebook status page for the first week of school. The one I found was for middle school math so I created one for my 4th grade students. I am excited to use this at the beginning and end of the year so they can compare their statuses. 

#5 "What Do You Stand For?" Lessons

This started in May when I saw an article about a girl who was abandoned by her parents and worked as a janitor at her school as she finished high school and was accepted at Harvard. Wow! That takes serious determination and focus. I want my students to understand that their actions can mean the difference between being homeless and going to Harvard. After reading her story my mind started turning. CNN Story: From Scrubbing Floors to Ivy League

I decided to work this year on developing a classroom environment that is more caring and considerate of others and aware of how their actions affect their life and others.  When I went to the Holocaust Museum the beginning of the summer I found the book called "Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change" and a poster that says "What Do You Stand For?". I love that it has positive characteristics listed. I plan to make this the theme for my classes this year. It can be a question that I can ask my students in almost any situation. 

My plan is to start the first week of school with a story each day from the book and news stories about kids making a difference. The book has stories about kids helping the environment, helping others, standing up for themselves, overcoming challenges, and using their talents. The stories are short and can be a great way to discuss kids in today's world standing up for something. I am planning to continue this all year with one story a week. This will be for individual and group reading assignments as well as a homework assignment some weeks.

HELP!!!

I need your help with next weeks Made it Monday! I have a ton of stress apples and fish from my husbands office. The fish come in the little can you see in the picture. I love how others are using light bulbs but I would rather use what I have. Does anyone have suggestions for how to label these for when students need a mental break? I have racked my brain and can't come up with a cute saying. The saying "an apple a day..." comes to mind but I can't tie it into taking a mental break. If anyone has a suggestion for sayings or any other way to use these items please let me know. Thank you! :)