International Blog Hopping Day

I've decided to join in on the International Blog Hopping Day fun with Teaching Blog Addict!  If you want to get in on the fun, head on over to their site and blog hop your little heart out.....I reccommened doing it in your pj's with a cup of coffee!

First up I'm linking with Learning With Mrs. Parker.  She has the most adorable classroom, and in all honesty I can't really participate in this party.  My building is being renovated and we are not allowed anywhere near it!  But, I simply cannot wait until we can get in there and start putting together our classrooms.  I have been crafting my little fingers to the bone this summer to make all kinds of adorable, color themed things for my new space.  I promise a full blog post complete with far too many pictures when I finally get it finished.....and let's hope that's well before August 21st.....the first day of school!!!!  In the mean time please check out my Teacher Tuesday posts to see all the fun things I've made for the coming school year!

Teacher Tuesday #1
Teacher Tuesday #2
Teacher Tuesday #3
Teacher Tuesday #4
Teacher Tuesday #5

Second I'm linking up with Analia at Ingles 360.  What does a typical Monday look like in my life....I go with a school Monday because the summer Mondays are so fabulous you wouldn't believe them anyway!


5:30 a.m. Alarm goes off and I slowly, very slowly crawl out of bed and then battle with my sleep deprived brain about working out.  On Monday's my conscious usually wins and I get a 30 minute workout in on the treadmill.
6:00 a.m. A GIANT cup of coffee, some time checking email, visiting blog land, and connecting on Facebook.
6:30 a.m. Wake the teenager who has to be to school be fore the rest of us, then shower.....ahh, now I'm awake!
6:50 a.m. This time really wake the teenager who "accidentally" fell back to sleep.
7:00 a.m. Wake the 6th grade.....she only take one try.
7:05 a.m. Hand the teenager some breakfast as he heads out the door to school
7:10 a.m. Breakfast with the 6th grader who has spent 10 minutes loving the Bassett Hound and has done nothing to prepare for school.
7:35 a.m. Off to school!  I'm fortunate to teach in the school school where my daughter attends.....this will be our last year together (it's killing me).
7:45-8:30: Review lesson plans, make copies, visit with colleagues about their weekend, and make sure we are all ready for the week!
8:35 a.m. Students arrive
The rest of this is based on last year's schedule.  We will have 3 sections of 4th grade this year so I'm not sure what our schedule will look like.
8:45 a.m.: First Language Art block
10:15 a.m.: Brain Break and Social Studies block
10:45 a.m.: Math Enrichment (plan time for me :)
11:15 a.m.: Intro spelling for the week and a game
11:50 a.m.-12:32 p.m.: Run home, let the dog out and scarf down a few leftovers
12:32-1:00 p.m.: Pick up my kiddos from the lunchroom, restroom, drinks, Read Aloud, students finish their morning work and a few go to the library
1:00 p.m. Second Language Arts block
2:30 p.m.: Brain Break and Second Social Studies block
3:00 p.m.: Fill out planners, review learning from the day, pack up, recess
3:40 p.m. dismiss
3:45 p.m.: Much needed caffeine and a review of the days lessons, some grading, change the schedule on the board, make necessary copies, phone calls, or appointments, clean up anything my little housekeepers missed, and if all goes well.....out the door at 5pm!
5:00-10:00 p.m.  If you have kids you know what the rest of this schedule looks like....utter chaos!!

My third link up is with Stephanie at Teaching in Room 6 Classroom Management.....I wish I was better at this one!  We use a monitary system in our 4th grade.  Each teacher (there are three of us this year) have different type of currency (mine are called Denney Dollars) and students earn them for various things.  For example if they bring their planner signed each morning they earn one, if they bring their Friday Folder signed on Monday mornings they hear 2, if they re following directions, offer to help a friend, hold a door for a teacher, etc. they earn more.  They can also recocgnize anothers good deeds and write me a note about them.  I then award the good deed and the person who noticed it.  Last year I started awarding them a Denney Dollar each time found one of the weeks vocabulary words in the Read to Self book and shared it with me......they LOVED this one!

At the end of each quarter we have an auction and they use their Denney Dollars to purchase things.  Each student can bring one item (or several items packaged as one) to the auction.  The cost of the items cannot exceed $5 (baked goods and sodas are a HUGE hit).  The students come to the front of the room to showcase their item and then I get to play the auctioneer.  I cannot even put into words how much they LOVE these auctions!!

There you have it, simple, but for the most part effective.....I can't wait to read what others are doing!!

 Fourth....Teaching with Courage at Finding JOY in 6th grade.  Wow, talk about inspirational....read some of these posts and you will be blow away!  Teachers really are courageous people!

My two courageous teaching moments (I promise to make them short!)

1. My third year of teaching has been my roughest year of teaching thus far.  I had a VERY challenging class.  Angry is the best word I can use the describe several of the boys in my room that year.....it was harder than I ever dreamed.  4th graders aren't as big as 6th graders, but some of them come close, and that can be dangerous.  On top of the anger there was foul language, tipping over of desks, throwing chairs, destroying property, hitting (me and others), spitting, and just all around HORRIBLE behavior.  I will admit.....I spent alot of time that year researching other careers.  I just didn't think I could do this for the long haul.  To make matters worse my teacher partner was diagnosed with cancer.  She missed almost the entire second semester so it was me with a sub and this extremely challenging group of 4th graders.  I felt like I was living on a deserted island, but there was no way I was going to complain or whine.....my partner was fighting for her life....what the heck did I have to complain about.  Fast forward to May.....I survived, I made it, I finished, and 3 years later I still love teaching and wouldn't do anything else.  I will tell you that my partner passed away in April of 2011.  We departmentalize so all of the 4th graders had her as their teacher......I've NEVER done anything harder than telling a classroom full of 9 and 10 year olds that their beloved teacher had passed away.....and then went on to teach, keeping my own personal grieving under wraps all day.  My daughter was in that class that year, and it was all I could do to pull myself together after telling her to then turn around and tell my students.......that was a very challenging two years that required LOTS of courage!!!

Wow, if you made it though all of that you're a real trooper!  I will save the other links for tomorrow....my hands are starting to fall asleep from all this typing!