Madness of a Post

OK, bare with me.  This is a rambly-kinda-post but I have so much to talk about and only one post a day???

First:

I WON!!

Misty over at Think, Wonder & Teach had a give away for this:

Yes!  It is THE pencil sharpener.  You know, the one created by Troy.  It's The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener.  The one that is so popular that it is on back order. The pencil sharpener that is going to officially make me one of the cool kids.
Like Farley:

and Holly:

I'm sure there are other cool kids with these, too.  But they were the one's that I can remember.  If you are a fan, comment below and I'll add you to the cool kids list :)

 

I am so excited!  Thank you, Misty, for hosting this giveaway.  She's one of the cool kids, too.  You should check her out.  This giveaway was for her 100th follower and now she's at 177!  Wow!!!  

Next: 

Here's what we did for St. Patrick's Day:

I think they turned out a-dor-a-ble....  Thanks to A Cupcake for the Teacher :)  Her templates are so precious!  And, my fourth graders loved making them.  I will do craftivities more often!

Thanks to The 3AM Teacher for the graphics for this writing paper.  Her graphic are so great...I'm sure you already know.

We also did this:

 

 

Yes, the good old Lucky Charm graphing.  The kids appreciated it.  Probably because I told them that after Valentine's Day, I was almost ready to NOT have any more holiday fun.  They did a great job this time.  Good Lucky for them :)

We are two weeks away from Spring Break and I can't wait.  I know some of you are heading back tomorrow after your break.  Good luck! 

I'm off to go shopping with my little girl.  OK, she's not little.  She's 14 and taller than me.  Blah!  She's still my little girl, right?

Have a great week!

The Forbidden

Double post.

Sorry about that.

But, I wanted to link up to this very worthy cause.

Link up with Crystal from Kreative in Kinder to help teachers devastated by the tornadoes on March 2nd.  There are many ways to help.  I couldn't even imagine losing everything in a tornado. 

What a Day!

So this is how my morning started.

No alarm.

Do I really need to say more?  Not really.
But
I
will....'cause it's that CrAzY!

So, my husband wakes me up at 7:00.  I normally LEAVE THE HOUSE at 7:00!

What?

Jump up in a tizzy.  I had not set my alarm.  I got a full 10 hours of sleep, though.

I run to my phone to call the school to get someone to cover my room for at least 10 minutes. Not sure of what I'll wear.  My go-to clothes are dirty.  Which means ironing.  What?????

Run back to my bathroom to start throwing on makeup.

Wait?  What day is it?

The 15th?

Oh yeah, I have a sub for the morning 'cause I've got an appoint-ment.  That was sarcasm.

So, I call the school back.  It goes something like this:

Me-Hi there, it's me again.  Guess what?  I have a sub today for the morning.

Other line-silence.....then LAUGHTER.

Me-Welcome to my world.  See you at 11:00.

Other line- OK.

So, I go and leisurely get ready.

Go to appoint-ment.  Then head home for about an hour of blogging/school work/laundry.

So here I am.

Now, if you've stuck around this long.  Let me show you what we got to do the other day:

 

Employees of the local Kimberly Clark plant came and taught my class a lesson on polymers.  It was great.  Had I been resourceful, I would have read the Dr. Seuss book before-hand.  Oh well.

I also wanted to tell all you upper elementary teachers about a great link up on Lorraine's blog: Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies.  It's a linky party to connect all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers.  Check it out.  I know I'll be "following" a lot of great blogs later tonight when I get home.  

OK, off to school now that it is close to 11:00.  

I think I will skip going into the office today.

What Caused this Effect? *FREEBIE*

Can you guess what skill we are working on this week?  I'm so witty.  Not really...maybe a little punch-drunk. 

Anyway.

Here's a freebie for you. 

It's a word document so that you can change the book example to work for you.  I've read several Laura Numeroff's books to teach cause and effect.  I've got quite the collection.  I love those books. And even 4thsies love them.  Yes, that is now a new word.  Go ask Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics.  She'll vouch for me.

Anyway, I love these books, don't you?

 

If you click on this book it will link you to Laura Numeroff's own website.  She's got a great little website full of cute ideas.  I'm going to use the idea of the story starter "If you give a snake a...".  It should be interesting.  Really.

So here's the freebie.  Hope you can use it!

Go to my TpT or my TN stores to download this for free!

So Lovely...Update...Something Went Hay-Wire

Sorry to Update, but something went all "Funky" when I posted...so I had to repost...

Last week, I received this award from several great blogs:

from Ms. O'Brien:

She just recently changed her blog name and I love the new name!!

from Emmy:








Y'all need to head on over there...she's got a spot on her blog dedicated to Ryan Gosling's Hey Girl Posters.  {LOVE}

 from Molly:








Don't you just love her blog title? I LOVE it :)

I also wanted to send a shout out to Beth Ann at Taming My Flock of Firsties.  She awarded me the Top 10 Award.


Now for the rules for this award:

1. Link back to the blog that gave you this cute award- check.

2. Pass this award to 15 other lovely bloggers-Yikes...might need to cheat...tired. Only got to 13.

3. Follow the person who sent it to you!-check

Here are the blogs that I want to nominate for the One Lovely Blog Award:

I tried to go with people who I didn't just recently award them with the other award...to spread the love, right?  Although all blogs out there deserve this award, really.

But here goes:

My first award goes to Kerri because she helped me with my clip art question.  Thanks, Kerri!





The rest go to the following
in no particular order...

Have a great week, everyone...Spring break for me in 3 weeks.  {Not that I'm counting down or anything.}

Reading Rotations

I've been as pleased as punch with my Math Rotations.  I've been implementing this "way of teaching" now for about a month and feel like I've worked out the kinks.  Mostly.

If you want to know about why I tackled math first, read THIS post.

Basically, I thought that if I could master math rotations first {'cause, let's face it, teaching math is easier}, then I'd begin to wrap my brain around Reading Rotations.

So, now for reading:

I use a variation of the Daily 5.  I want all of my students reading independently each day, working on the skill for the week, and working on grammar.  So, I decided that I needed to come up with an acronym for reading just like my acronym for math rotations.

This is what I came up with that is working for me:


Read with the Teacher

Enrichment (Station)


At your Seat

Daily Oral Language/ Read-to-Self

Here's how I break it up for each rotation.  First of all, I teach a mini-lesson before rotations begin on the skill for the week.  This past week, for example, was on idioms.  Then rotations begin.  I have my students grouped by their MAP data. 
Each group comes to me during "Read with the Teacher".  This is when I teach my guided reading lesson.

During "Enrichment" students work at a station that they need to complete for their weekly notebook check.  {Each week, they must visit Word Work, Poetry, Read to Partner and Read to Self}.  They must have a reflection in their notebook from that station. 

During "At Your Seat" students are completing an assignment related to the skill of the week.  For example, this week, they were creating posters of idioms. 

During "Daily Oral Language/ Read-to-Self" students are completing the Daily Language Review page shown on the Smart Board.  Since this does not take the total 15 minutes, they then work on their reading reflection letter to me.  This is a letter that the students write each week reflecting on what they have read.  In this letter, they must include at least three thinking stems that show a connection to their reading.  {They are NOT simply giving me a summary of the story.}

I wish I had taken a picture on Friday before I left of how it is hung in the classroom.  I will do that on Monday and show you, visually, how it works.  {That works better for me, so I'm sure it will work better for many others, too.}

This is what one of the pages looks like from my TpT and TN store...head on over there if you want more info, too:

I'll show you better on Monday how to put it into action.  I just wanted to get this up to share because I've had a few questions about it. 

Which leads me to why it has taken me so long to post this...Clip Art.  Ah, the drama of "what to do"!  I think I want to purchase a license from Scrappin' Doodles, but I'm not sure which one I need to purchase!  I'd like my little people to be cuter on this board {not that these guys aren't adorable, right?}. Ideally, I'd like to purchase the license from Thistle Girl Designs, but my husband would probably kill me.  So, back to Scrappin' Doodles...do I need to purchase the license for TpT and TN if I plan on posting an item on both?  Which license should I get???  I'm so confused.  I've tried looking around at all of the blogs that have the little license button but I can't figure out which license it is...is it the web one, a store one?  Help, please!!

Clear the Cabinet Clutter

And I'm not even teaching alliteration this week.  I amaze myself.

Remember when I didn't get to go on that field trip due to tornado warnings?  Considering the recent weather in the mid-west, I'm so glad we made the right decision for many reasons.

Among the safety reasons, I was also able to clean a few cabinets.  Yay!

I linked up with Clutter-Free Classroom a while back, but I kinda haven't done much in a while.  But when I had the unexpected pleasure of an afternoon with no plans {sarcasm...I know, you're so surprised}...I plugged in the United Streaming and got to a cleanin'.

Don't judge.  I'm usually an effective teacher.  Swear.

Here are my before pictures:

And, 30 60 minutes of video later:

Oh, and one more little thing.  Did you notice the new favicon?  I used my button for it.  Is it too small?  Should I create one {like maybe a 4B in a circle???}?  And, if you haven't created a favicon check out Kristen or Cara's posts about creating them.  Let me know what you think!

March Currently

Wow, it's another month already?
I can't believe it...where has the time gone.  Yet, when's Spring Break, people?  Commmmon  (That's come on with sarcasm.)

Love these.

If you have never hooked up with Farley's Currently, you need to...it's a great way to connect with other like-minded folks.  And when I say "like-minded" I mean just as nutty as me.  Oh, maybe not...most of these people are sweet, creative and fantastic bloggers who have taught me a ton.

So, here's mine:

That last one had me puzzled...I should have probably put sarcastic...but that's not me all the time.  Spunky...yes, that's me.   Oh, and strong-willed...my Mom would agree for sure.

Link up, y'all.

How to Create a Foldable

I had a few requests to show how I made the foldable for the geometric solids and nets.  I thought the best way to do this was to do a pictorial play-by-play, if you will.

I always learn best with pictures.  Isn't this why Pinterest is such a phenomenon?  By the way, I give you total permission to pin anything from my blog.  If you haven't seen the hoopla about pinning {I'm sure most of you have}, you need to read Laura Candler's post here.






I've added it to my sidebar so that you will always know I'm OK with you pinning to your little heart's content from my blog :)

OK- on with it.

Step One: Take 1 sheet of card stock (this is the material I prefer...it's sturdy) and cut it hamburger-style into three equal parts.

Step 2: Lay the three parts on top of each other so that you are making {what I tell the students} a staircase.  Oh, and yes, my 4th graders are trained to do this.  Oh, that sounds bad.  They aren't puppies.  Most days.

Step 3: Fold the stairs on top of themselves so that you double the amount of stairs.  {See, I told you that I'd need to show you pictures...'cause that makes absolutely no sense.}

Step 4: Flatten all six "stairs" and then staple at the top.

Wha-la!

I hope this helps.  If you are not already a follower of Mor over at A Teacher's Treasure, you need to be...she's got a great number of other foldables and pictures to help under her tab "FoldiFun Factory" {how stinkin' cute is that title?}.  Also, look into purchasing Dinah Zike's book, Notebook Foldables.

Have a great week, everyone.  Oh, and sorry for the 2 posts in one day blunder.  Blah.

Yikes...I Forgot to Thank...

I feel like one of those sorry actors/actresses who after getting off stage after receiving an Oscar remembers that they forgot to thank their mother.

That's me today.

Remember this honor...



I was able to find 10 more people to bestow the honor on, but neglected to thank the person who awarded me the honor in the first place.


Egg.
On.
My.
Face.

Sorry, Jenn from A Pirate's Life for Us!  I'm truly thankful.  Your blog is awesome and everyone should visit you today!

See, I'm making your button extra large so that everyone will see how cute your blog is....and then head on over. I hope this makes up for my blunder. Have a great day, folks.

An Award and Passing it on....

I've been in the bed most of the day feeling rather crummy...is it the weather? It's been dreary here all day.  Either that or I just needed a day of complete rest.

During all of my posting about my giveaway, I was awarded this:







I was thrilled to receive this one because the link back was to Teaching Blog Addict {who I LOVE...see this post}.

Anyway, my instructions are to give this to 10 bloggers who have not received the award yet.  I'll try.

First off, Amber:





She's always so quick to share and comment on my blog.  I just adore her.  You need to visit her blog and her TpT {and now TN} stores!!  She rocks.

Next, her real-life buddy, Elisabeth:





Elisabeth helped me out at the beginning of my blogging experience to let me know I had won a big prize. {I had not added my email.}  Wasn't she and isn't she sweet?  Her recent post about the Titanic is a must read!

Next, Cara:




 Let me tell you how totally awesome Cara is...I recently left her a comment on one of her posts about how I'd love for her to post about how to link your Facebook Page to your blog for the automatic FB updates.  Guess what?  She did THE VERY NEXT DAY.  I'm telling you.  She rocks!  This is WHY I love blogging.  Really.

Next, Mandy at Cooperative Learning 365:






Her most recent post on using a song for similes made me run straight to my phone to download the song from iTunes.  She's got terrific ideas {obviously} for cooperative learning.

Next, Jennifer:

Love her! She's so sweet.  She helped me realize I had a link wrong on my giveaway page.  Who takes the time to do that?  Someone as sweet as Jennifer!

Next, my very first follower, Melissa:

How can I forget the person who was the first to follow me and start this wonderful ride?  OK, just realized she has the award already, but she deserves it again.

Next up, Kim:

She's so honest in her writing and I love that about her.  Her post about Goat and More is hilarious.  Check it out.

Next, Lindsay:




<

She just blogged about using Dr. Seuss to use figurative language in her 5th grade class.  Justifies my using it, too.  You should check out her blog.

Next, Jen:

Even with so many followers, she still has the time to send an encouraging word.  I love her Cootie Catchers.  She's made learning fun {which I love}.  Also, her math journal Sunday edition is great!  I've used so many of her lesson ideas already.

And finally, Haley:






With a name like that, why wouldn't you follow her?

OK, I just suffered from a mini-meltdown.   When I got to the end of writing this post, my computer shut down on me.........

It was like this:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Luckily, thanks to Blogger, the save button at the top of the page had saved me.  Thank the Lord!

OK, I'm going back to bed.

Have a terrific Sunday.