We're spreading the kindness at my house to my classroom!

So today I told my class about all the fun Random Acts of Kindness that my daughter and I have been doing.  You should've seen their faces light up.  You could just see their minds working on their own ideas.  When I asked if any of them would like to do something similar at school, every hand in the room shot into the air!!  They were so excited at this thought, it just melted my heart.  Last year I used these wonderful little ideas from Lil Light O' Mine

and Kinder Tastic.

I printed them out, cut them into strips, and we choose a new one each day.  We also decided it might be fun to do some nice things (secretly) for our Book Buddies.  We are also planning to give cookies and a huge thank you note to our day and night custodians.  When I asked my kiddos if they'd ever wrote a thank you not for the custodian or given either of them a card they all said, "No."  Then they all started talking about how much work they both do and how grateful we are for them. They were all a buzz this afternoon thinking about their ideas for being kind.  I can't wait to see how much they inspire me over the next few weeks!!

It's conference time....

I've got my fingers crossed that the next two days go by quickly and smoothly!  I had one early conference this afternoon and it went great!  I hope that is a sign for how the rest of them will go.

Tomorrow is going to be a very LONG day.  My plan time is from 8:45-9:45 and that is the only break I will get until 8:00 p.m. My first conference starts at 4:00 p.m. and I have 8 of them straight through......so nervous that I will be yawning like crazy by the end.....I always think that makes me seem so uncaring. 

Thursday I have a full morning, a pretty open afternoon, and another full night!  Looking forward to having a chance to visit with all my little student's parents.....and REALLY looking forward to spending the day with my sweet girlie on Friday.  Conference week always means less family time and that can be tough.

Good luck to all my teacher friends!  I hope your conferences go wonderfully and that you hear nothing but kind, appreciative words!

The Underground Railroad

As part of our study of the Southeast region we learn all about the Underground Railroad.  Our social studies teacher just wrapped up this unit and last week we got the privilege of having a local organization bring us their classroom on wheels so we could learn a little more about the history of slavery in Kansas.

The kids get to attempt picking cotton and are timed,

they are asked if they would like to squeeze in to a box much like one a slave stayed in for 24 hours on his trip to freedom via the Underground Railroad,

they do a little research and question answering on iPads,

and they get to read all kinds of information about how some Kansans helped to abolish slavery.

Check back in the spring when we will enjoy a novel study on the book Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad.

I have not taught a 4th grade class yet that didn't absolutely love this novel study.  We have all kinds of great activities that go along with it that I'll be sharing.  We wrap it all up with a day long field trip to various sites that played an important role in the Underground Railroad!

iPad Question????

Do any of you have an iPad in your classroom?  How do you make the best use of one iPad in a classroom of 23?  What reading apps do you love?

Today we have an entire day of Professional Development and a portion of it will be dedicated to iPads.  I'm just dying to know how others are using theirs.  I only teach Language Arts and I teach it to 3 sections of 4th graders.  I'm just not sure how to best use one iPad in a LA classroom with 23 kiddos?  I would absolutely LOVE to hear what others are doing!!

Please chime in and help this clueless girl out.  I am pretty skilled at using it for myself, and my daughter is a pro at playing games on it, but I want to know how to best use it with my students.  I would also love to hear what LA apps you all are using and loving.....let the helpful comments begin!!!

Currently

Boy oh' boy am I lucky to Farley hosts a montly Currently or I would have gone a full with with out a blog post. 

My favorite Halloween book goes way back to when I was a little girl.

 I loved this book then and still do.  I read it to both of my children every year when they were younger!  My birthday is on Halloween so it's always been a special time of year for me.

Recognizing 9/11

Tomorrow we will be recognizing Patriots Day and discussing the events of September 11th.  Since the only students in our school that were alive during this tragic event are 6th graders, and they were just mere infants at the time, it can be difficult to decide how much or how little to teach.  I've decided to use an activity that I did last year and a book I discovered this month at our public library.

We will begin with a brainstorming activity to see what the students already know.  They will write things they know about the events of September 11th on a sticky note, share it, and place it on the white board.

I had planned to read America Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day The Towers Fell

This book is fairly long so I was going to skip around and hit the highlights of the four major plane crashes, but after reading Herding Kats in Kindergarten I decided to go with this awesome BrainPop video that hits the highlights without the unnecessary details.

As I'm reading we will pause at various spots (marked by my lovely sticky notes:) and fill out the sections that apply on these fab worksheets I found at What the Teacher Wants!

 To wrap up we will review what we learned and go over the homework for that night.  When the students return on Wednesday we will use our homework and our worksheet from the previous day to create these fact flags.

The students will write 4 facts they learned during our lesson about the events on September 11th.  I desperately wish I had the book September 12: We knew everything would be all right.  It would be the perfect book for this activity, but I can't find a copy and it's too late to buy one.....next year!

What are you doing to recognize Patriot's Day?

Can you believe it....I'm the big winner!

I can't believe I was the big winner from Allie's 150 Followers Giveaway at The Gypsy Teacher!  I found out Friday night after a very long and exhausting week and that little nugget of information just made my day!  Here are some of the goodies I got....

It's amazing that part of the prize package was a $10 gift card to Amazon.  I have had my eye on this book for the past couple of months, and now I'll be getting it!!

I also won all of the things in Allie's TPT store!  Here are a few of my favs....

She was also kind enough to give me something from her Etsy store.  I picked up a custom journal for my little girl who loves to write and draw.... She picked yellow, teal and gray for the colors and she picked the quote "In art as in love, instinct is enough".  I can't wait to see what it looks like when it arrives!!!

I also got a $10 gift certificate from the TPT store of Sara at Miss V's Busy Bees.  I purchases these little gems!

I also won two Scoot games from Jackie at 3rd Grade's a Charm!

And finally, I won these two products from Shannon at Teaching Joys!

So far this weekend is off to an amazing start!  Now if the Cats could bring on a victory this afternoon I will be in pure heaven!!!

Some thank you's bring tears to your eyes!

I was lucky enough to get one of those today.  I received an email from a former student's mom telling me that her child said I was a "genius" for teaching him a little trick for learning the metric system.  It's not a trick I made up....got it from a book, but the important thing....it stuck.  That little guy remembered what I taught him way back in fourth grade (he's an 8th grader now)!

I have received 3 emails like that in my few years of teaching and each one brings tears to my eyes and reminds me exactly why I'm doing what I do!  If one little nugget of information sticks with just one kid and can help them after they leave my classroom I've done my job! 

Teaching can be an exhausting and sometimes thankless job, but today I was reminded that while I may not hear all the thank you's all the time.... I'm making a difference!  I adore every one of my students...past and present, and while the students in my very first class are juniors this year, I still think about them often.  No matter how old they grow or how far away they go they will always have a little piece of my heart!

It's Thursday????

How on earth is it Thursday?  I haven't have a single second to breathe let alone blog.  I'm missing my leisurely summer mornings with plenty of time to create and blog.  This week has had very little leisure and zero creating or blogging.

Monday night I gave a parent orientation and went to a parent orientation, Tuesday night I came home from school at 5pm, but then continued working until 9pm, last night I did enjoy a little relaxation at bunco, but unfortunately it was another night away from home.  Tonight I've got another hour of school work to do before I start to make a plan on this disaster of a house.

Is anyone else as overwhelmed at this time of the school year as I am?  I know it's just the beginning of the school year and it will all come together and slow down, but tonight I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed.

I'm so very thankful for this 3 day weekend.  I'll get two days to relax, and a whole day alone in my classroom to get caught up and ready for next week.   I promise to have a decent post with some actual lesson plans and a review of what we did during the first full week of school, but for tonight....I think I'll just give my brain a rest and tuck myself in for an early bedtime!!

The first full day of school!

Today is the first full day of school!  After spending a half day with my new little 4th graders yesterday I think we are going to have a great (maybe chatty :) year! 

Jacob got his school supplies last night and packed his backpack....he's driving to school today for the first time....YIKES!!!  I will have to have a text when he arrives in the school parking lot and when he gets home.  He's also picking up Katie from school today so that I can stay and work until 5pm and hopefully not have to bring any work home....BONUS!  Katie packed her first sack lunch of the school year last night and picked out her clothes, and I faithfully (although completely exhausted) completed last nights task on our weekly cleaning list.  I'm doing this to avoid the every-Saturday-cleaning ritual.  Happy first full day of school to all my friends and happy 2012-2013 school year!!!

Now if I could just stop waking up at 4:45 a.m. I might have enough energy to make it all the way to 10 p.m. :)

You know it's Back to School when....

I'm linking up with Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle with an adorable "You know it's Back to School when....." linky party! 

Okay, that second one really only applies to those people who live in a college town....if you do, you know exactly what I'm talking about!!!

Oh my goodness is my room looking cute.  It's finally coming along and I can't wait to show you all tomorrow!!  Tonight is Open House and tomorrow is the first day of school.....I'm extremely nervous and super duper excited!!!  Since I had such a short amount of time to get my room ready there will be little things I need to finish and tweak for about the next month or so, but I think I'm finally ready to welcome my new little peeps!

A little before glimpse of my room....

I've been putting in some VERY long days at school trying desperately to get my room put together before Monday night.  It's coming along, but I still have a ton of work today.  Tonight I was able to leave at 7pm and only have one box left to unpack.  Tomorrow will be the fun task of decorating!

Isn't it a mess!  I can't wait to post pics on Tuesday when it's all done and ready for my new little crew of 4th graders!!

I'm offically back to work!

I can already say that the change in morning routine is not a choice I would've made.  Why can't the work day start at 10 a.m.?  That would give me plenty of time to catch up on the blogs I follow, pin a bunch of stuff I don't need on Pinterest, walk the dog, take a nice long shower, and enjoy coffee and breakfast on the deck.  Being somewhere by 8 a.m. is gonna be rough!

On a positive note, we get to see our newly renovated building today.....come back tomorrow morning for some before pictures of my classroom! Off to make one more cup of coffee....a full day of meetings and the fact that my brain started making a to-do list at 4 a.m. is gonna make for a LONG day!!

Welcoming back my students

So I won't officially be welcoming my students to the first day of school until next Tuesday, but I have been working on some little goodies for them.  I like to have something on their desks when they arrive that first morning that says, "Welcome, I'm so glad you're here!".  This year I chose the Welcome Bags that Tasha from Serenade to Second Grade featured in a post last year.  She has a free printable....check it out!

I purchased the bags at the Dollar Tree as well as the eraser tips, pencils, and most of the candy!

This is what their desk will look like when they arrive Tuesday morning.  The letter was an inspiration from Caroline at Tupelo Honey.  I created my own version using colors that match my classroom.  I also wanted an individual letter for each student (I plan to hand write their names on them as soon as I find out who's in my class :)  I think the handwritten name and individual letter makes it so much more personal.

I'm planning to upload a copy this morning to my Scribd account.  Check back a little later and pick up a copy for students!

Today I'm purchasing some inexpensive black fabric to cover all of my bulletin boards, going to the recyclers one last time on a weekday morning (seems silly to mention, but that place is PACKED on Saturday mornings during the school year....I will miss the quiet weekday mornings), and to stock up on some groceries before the craziness starts.  Lastly, we are off to the high school to help my son find his locker and his classes.  He is moving to the brand new huge building this year and I think it's going to take some getting used to.  I sure hope he has an AMAZING high school experience!!!

A new look and a new motto!

Somebody at our house got a new look!!  She thinks it make her look more grown up, and unfortunately, I agree :( 

Would someone please put a brick on this girl's head and slow down this whole growing up thing!?!?!

I was able to accomplish a ton of the things on my back to school list yesterday!  I created 5 new Word Work activities, put together the classroom rules posters and made a little cuteness for my desk.  I'm hoping to have all the Word Work stuff ready to blog about tomorrow, if not I'll save it for Made it Monday!

Don't you just love the frames.....half price at Hobby Lobby!!  That little green one  was only $2.50!  I just love the silly photo booth pics of my kids.  It is perfect because it is exactly how they act all the time....goofy!

I got the idea for the motto from Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business.  I absolutely love her take on teaching!!  I think it is just perfect for me and something I do too often, worry, hurry, and freak out.  This year I want to slow down and enjoy the ride!  Feel free to print a copy for yourself!

I got this idea from 1st Grade with Miss Snowden.  My teammate and I are adding a new member to our awesome teaching duo(which I guess makes it a trio now) and I wanted to make him a little something to welcome him.  As I was buying the stuff for it I thought....."might as well make one for Andrea as well."  I made two identical kits....one for each of my teaching partners.  I think they turned out adorable.  And, since dear sweet Andrea follows my blog this is no longer a surprise.....sorry Andrea :)

 Okay, it looks like I put black electrical tape in there, but it's adorable purple washi tape.  Uugh, I need a photography class!

Finally, I saw this awesome idea last week and for the life of me I cannot find the source!  If this was your idea shoot me an email and I will give you credit.  I swear I looked and looked for the genous master mind behind it, but couldn't locate them. 

Isn't walking by and setting this on someone's desk much better than calling them out in front of the entire class and wasting precious teaching time.  I plan to use this as my warning, then they loss of a Denney Dollar, then a consequence and a note to parents.  I'm not always consistent with my consequences and hope to do a better job this year!

Today I plan to tackle an early finishers board, some comprehension mats, and get to the end of a book I've been ready.....wish me luck!