Busy, Busy, Busy

It is always so amazing to me how FAST the end of the year goes!  All of a sudden I find myself in the "thick" of it all - review activities, assessments, filing, sweaty kids (23 to be exact!)---and field day and report cards are on the horizon.  We teachers deserve the summer off since our final weeks are as jam-packed as they possibly can be!

I've been polishing up a few end-of-the-year activities and wrapped up a great SNAPSHOTS Drawing/Writing activity that can easily cover 3-4 days of Writing Workshop in your classroom.  It's a great way to reflect on your year together as a class, too!  The link is below---grab it, copy it, and go!  :)

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!  Thank you to everyone who fights for our country.  

28 Days…..Crazy.

Today, my class and I counted how many actual days of school left there are.  28.  Can you believe it!? I don't know how the end-of-the-year snuck up on us, but it did! For all of you teachers who are done in the coming days/weeks, just know that we didn't start until AFTER Labor Day!  (I am still jealous of you all….or y'all!)
Within these last 28 days, of course - are the activities that make the end of the year so memorable - field day, a walking trip to our local farm/ice cream stand, Kindergarten Celebration (we get to watch the rehearsal---I dare you not to cry when those kiddos sing!), 3rd grade play (again…we get to watch!), and of course, CAMP-LEARN-A-LOT - my annual weeklong celebration when I transform my classroom into a campground.
There are also the not-so-memorable (for the students, anyway) End of the Year Assessments.  Ugh.
What do you look forward to in your school?  When is your last day??

Happy (almost) Friday!

     Wow, this has been a BUSY week.  I jumped back into the classroom (we still miss our student teacher!) full force and we launched new units in reading (mysteries), math (data & graphing),  and writing (realistic fiction).  The kids were engaged and excited about our lessons and put forth excellent effort!
     Our PTA spoiled us as part of Teacher Appreciation Week!  We received goodies each morning - Mentos (I Mento tell you you are a great teacher!), a Starbucks Gift Card (Thanks a latte for all you do!), a local restaurant gift certificate, and beautiful bookmark.  We are a lucky group of teachers!
     Today we finished our writing a little bit early and headed out to our school courtyard.  The weather was absolutely perfect to spread out with a blank page and a clipboard and compose some "found poems."  Some students wrote simple acrostics and list poems while others worked hard to craft just the right details.  Our visit to this "outdoor classroom" included the discovery that our "school duck" had returned once again (and is sitting on eggs!), as well as a bird dropping a little present right on one of my student's poems.  Just.Great.
Here are some pictures from the week! :)  I will post some goodies this weekend, and who knows….maybe a giveaway/freebie will be in the works!

Teacher Appreciation Sale on TpT!

I love that I am part of the TpT community!  I have loved creating items for other teachers to use and enjoy, but I REALLY love all of the great ideas and activities I've purchased!   My wish list is all filled up and ready to go for the big sale tomorrow, and my own store will be 20% off, as well.  Click the link below to go right to my store and with the coupon code, your discount ends up being 28%…WOW!  A great time to stock up on some end of the year goodies….and some of my favorites from my shop just  happen to be linked below :)

I spent some time tonight creating a printable pack for our little "identifying genres" study this week.  I told my class that since my four year old son knows the difference between fiction and non-fiction, that as eight year olds, we need to "dig deeper" and be more SPECIFIC!  Today they brainstormed as many genres as they could think of and I think they were impressed with all of the "fancy" terms we were using.
Included in the pack are ready-to-go printables that require very little prep - basically books, and if you have them - leftover book orders.  I really want my class to be thoughtful in identifying genres, so there are activities where they have to "prove" that it is a specific genre with text evidence.

Enjoy Teacher Appreciation Week, everyone, and Happy Shopping!  

Back to School...

It's BACK TO SCHOOL this week---well, for me anyway!  My awesome student teacher wrapped up her time with us on Friday, so I am back to the role of classroom teacher.  This means a lot of things--back to talking to myself during planning time, fewer bathroom breaks, and the shift from (somewhat) laid back to jam-packed days planning, organizing, and correcting.  We only have about 7 weeks and change, so my mantra for the balance of the school year is "I think I can, I think I can…" 

Let's face it---May/June - or whenever your "End of the Year" is, is BUSY.  Review activities, assessments, placement, report cards---all of it is jammed into the final month.  It's the "storm before the calm," so it is sure to fly quickly.  

I try to stay on top of things with lots of sticky notes and activities to keep the kiddos engaged and learning--even as the weather warms up and we start to "lose" them.  My favorite activities to wrap up the school year are our MYSTERY UNIT in reading and our REALISTIC FICTION unit in writing.  Throw in some CAMP-LEARN-A-LOT and ICE CREAM, and those kiddos are fooled into thinking that we are done learning and just having fun!  In reality, they are practicing the skills that they've learned this year….mission accomplished!   

I have been updating files and creating new activities---click on the images below to be brought right to them or just visit my TpT store and browse a bit.  There's a BIG sale May 6-7, so fill up your carts now and check out then to save 28%!  

Do you Wordle!?

Today we created one of my favorite (and easiest) projects of the year - our Mother's Day Subway Art designs!  We do a bunch of craftivities for Mother's Day, but this one is so simple - and FREE!  Plus - 'subway art' is all the rage and these are just that!
The students typed words to describe their moms - I saw the usual "helpful" and "kind" {nothing wrong with those traits!}, but this year I saw words I hadn't seen before---humble & modest (Thank you, Charlotte's Web!), stylish, warm-hearted, and cute--among others.  These came out great and I know the moms will just love and cherish them.
I uploaded my planning page to TpT as a FREEBIE for 24 hours - get it quick and please leave feedback.   I also uploaded a new item that I can't wait to use with my class---"How to be a {fill in the blank} Grader."  This is meant to be a book that your students create for your incoming class.  I included two sizes of the book (full and half page) as well as some mentor texts you could use with it.  This fun product is HALF OFF through the weekend.  Enjoy!