What if....

I was twitter one afternoon when I came across a tweet that literally made me say WOW! The tweeter, an Assistant Principal, wrote "if tomorrow was your last day to teach, what would you teach?"--I started immediately looking at my lessons for the next day to see what "impact" I would leave my students with. This "tweet" has been on my mind for several weeks now. I have really tried to amp up my lessons, questions and make sure that whatever I am doing with my students is relevant and will leave a lasting impression.

With that said, Pinterest is one of my go to sites for phenomenal teaching ideas. Here are my latest picks that will ENGAGE and IMPACT our students no matter if is your first day of teaching or last.

Source: mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

How cools is this! Students are problem solving, graphing, and communicating all while spelling!

Source: corkboardconnections.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Talk about hands on. Students will love creating and manipulating this activity.

Source: eisforexplore.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Too Cool! Can't wait for guided math to bust out the Legos!

Source: ashleigh-educationjourney.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Makes an awesome bulletin board.

Source: debbiediller.wordpress.com via Kristin on Pinterest

So much fun! We used this in guided math just today!

Source: google.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Fun and interactive




Happy Pinning! On the bright side....9 more school days until spring break!

This was one of those weekends

Have you ever had a weekend where all you wanted to do was stay in your sweats? Well that was me ALL saturday! I could not convince myself to get up and motivated for anything. It was nice to have an impromptu "me" day.

Last week at our meeting my grade level chair suggested we each make a goal that we would like to accomplish. This week my goal is to remember the little thing and life and enjoy them more. What is your goal?

Here are some of the things I enjoyed this weekend!

I am back

Hello blog buds,

My oh my have I been busy. Between valentines parties, professional development, after school tutoring etc my little blog has been on the back burner.

Well, I am back :)

Lately we have been learning, reading an researching about the underground railroad. Let's just say my babies are hooked! We are currently reading Freedom Crossing, which is a six grade leveled text. My fourth grade friends are so into it that they beg me to keep on reading. I thought the vocab would be too much for them but BOY was I WRONG, they love it.

We are also loving our lit circles. My friends have successfully worked in groups for a month now and have had some awesome successes. They love working together and completing a job for their group.

I started some progress monitoring with my kiddos last week. We are using Scrabble Slam cards to make real and nonsense words...they love the "game". I love that it is a quick and easy intervention.

For math we are working on data an graphing. The kids loved going to other classes For our surveys. They took their tallied information and made bar graphs, what fun!

Here are some pics to show off our week! Enjoy your weekend

Tag...You...Are...It

Oh my word! It is has been a while since I last blogged. We have been super busy the last few weeks in 4th grade. Between report cards, science fair, beginning our Underground Railroad Unit, and well..trying to have a little life blogging has been pushed to the back burner.

Well, I am back blogger buddies and I have been tagged by Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher.

1. You most post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.

Let's see...random facts about me...

1. I use Class Dojo religiously in my class on my iPad. Its an amazing way to track behavior and the kids find it "cool"

2. I must have 2 cups of coffee every morning. I drink one before school and then one on my way/when I get to school. My coffee of choice is Starbucks Breakfast blend...amazing!

3. I am currently on a NO, let me repeat it NO soda kick. I am almost 3 weeks strong :)

4. I hate wearing shoes when driving. Weird, I know but its true. If I am wearing flats or something that can be removed, they will almost always come off.

5. When I was in high school, my guidance counselor tried to sway me from attending a 4 year university since, in her own words I was just a "strong C student". Well, that was definitely a motivating factor for me to prove her wrong. I have since graduated from an awesome university (with a 3.85 gpa) and am enrolled for my masters (to begin in May)

6. I write in a journal on a regular basis. My thoughts range from things I am thankful for, Bible Verses that mean something to me, or reflection of my day.

7. I met my husband at a funeral, true story :)

8. If I find a pair of shoes I just absolutely love, I will literally buy them in every color possible.

9. I started playing the clarinet when I was in the 4th grade. I pull it out of the closet from time to time.

10. I often wake up in the middle of the night to work on stuff for my classroom.

11. The Superbowl is on the T.V. right now and I could careless who wins!

12. Oh, just saw the Dorito's commercial and it made me lol

Now the questions from Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher

1. What is the most rewarding part of being a teacher? Listening to what they have learned every Friday during our weekly reflection time.
2. What is your go to school lunch? Um...granola, I rarely eat at school...I know, its horrible
3. If you could teach any grade, what would you choose and why? 4th, my kids rock!
4. Are you a morning or night showerer? Definitely morning! My hair would be GREASY and NASTY if I waited until night.
5. When did you know you were going to be a teacher? My 3rd year in college. I was a business major prior to switching.
6. What is your biggest life accomplishment? Getting into ECU's graduate program.
7. If you were not a teacher, what would you be? Singer :)
8. Where is your favorite place to shop at? Charming Charlies
9. What teaching blog do you stalk the most? Oh' Boy 4th Grade
10. What is your favorite technology that you have in your classroom? my iPAD= love
11. Who has influenced you the most as an educator? My grade level, they motivate me to work hard and do my best
12. What is your favorite subject or class to teach? math

Phew...that was a lot of questions! Enjoy I will be posting a freebie next!

Candy Land Math

I absolutely love teaching math. I think it is my FAVORITE subject to teach. What is your favorite blogging buds? My grade level has divided up subjects for easy planning and luckily I get to plan MATH :)

I love to incorporate math games anytime I can into my lessons. This is a wonderful way to keep the kiddos engaged and active in their learning. I typically use data from daily quick checks and SuccessMaker to determine what the skill for each game will be. This weekend I finished up my Candy Land games with the skills being multiplication, subtraction and vocabulary. I have my guided math group going on during game time. My rotations are typically 15 minutes long. I give a quick quiz on Friday to check for mastery (plus to give me the data I need for next weeks groups). Check them out and on my TpT site let me know what you think! I will post pics later in the week of my precious babies playing and learning!

Have a wonderful week!

P.S. Stay tuned later in the week for vocabulary task cards and also a Unit on the Underground Railroad #mygradelevelrocks

A Day in My Shoes

Happy MLK Day! I have enjoyed a relaxing morning so far...filled with lots of coffee, sleep and the Today show. Man, this makes me long for summer. Not so fast, lots of fun teaching still ahead before June. Anyways, today I have linked up with Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher to give you a glimpse of my teaching life. Enjoy!

5:00 a.m.-Alarm goes off, since I have TWO puppies this means I have to get up. Every morning when the alarm goes off they are on top of me waiting for me to stir...then they pounce! From this point, I get up, stumble downstairs (until I have had cup number 1 of coffee...I am well, unpleasant). Take the pups outside, attempt to not fall down or get tangled in their leashes, come inside feed the dogs, insert coffee into the maker and wait for the yummy goodness to fill my cup. After that I typically watch the news, have my morning devotions and enjoy a few minutes on the couch.

6:00 a.m.--shower, find something to wear, change my mind, find another outfit, change my mind again until I settle for my good ole' standby yoga looking black pants (teachers will KNOW what theses are, lol). Dry my hair, decide on up or down for the day, makeup, brush my teeth, purfume. From there its around 6:30, kiss the pups and Mr. Hubs goodbye and I am out the door around 6:40 with my second cup of coffee in hand. Once, in the car I turn up my praise and worship jam. I have a mini concert every morning on my 5 minute drive to school. You should see the looks I get!

6:45 a.m.--pull into the parking lot, get my trusty bag out of the car and head to my room. My room has 2 doors so I head through door number 2 and turn the lights on then put my bag down and head out door number 1 towards the office to sign in. After signing in and checking my box I then go back to my room and get ready for the day. This consists of making my morning message, making copies, etc. By this time my teacher pals have started to arrive so I have lots of people to talk to.

7:30 a.m.--the kiddos start to arrive. Lately, I have been using this morning time to complete Read 3D MOY assessments. In between assessments, I am reminding kids to sign in, read the board and upack...the usual.

8:10 a.m.--Leave for encore...quickly, because we are typically running behind :) After dropping them off, I can breath, have a sip of coffee and catch up with my grade level. I use this time to grade papers, set up for reading, make charts etc.

9:00-11:00--Reading

Yes, I have 2 hours of reading and I love this! We begin our reading lesson with a read aloud and mini lesson. Lately, our lessons have been focusing on literature circles. For examples, how to have a good discussion, various jobs etc. Students are given an opportunity to practice the skills we have been learning in a quick check. Then they break into lit circles for 30-40 minutes. As they are reading, I am observing, conferencing and checking in with groups. Each student has a job for their group and are expected to be working on that job during this time. At the end of our group time we discuss what went well, what we can change and how well each person worked cooperatively.

11:00--Recess, lately inside due to FREEEEEEZING temps :)

11:30--Math

We try to begin our day with a word problem. Students are expected to follow all pencil strategies and show their work. From there we begin by setting up our learning objectives for the day. We typically get through the teacher input then have to leave for lunch at 12:15. On a side note--if you do NOT have a class set of whiteboards in your room, get them. My kiddos love them and use them everyday!

We pick back up with math at 1 p.m. typically students practice their daily skill with a partner in a game like activity. I give a daily quick check to check for master of the skill taught. From there I have 4 math groups. (1. Guided Math with Mrs. J, 2. EOG Prep, 3. Math Games, 4. Computer Time).

2:00 p.m.--Science

We have been learning the scientific method and working on projects for our science fair lately. My students are required to complete a science notebook. This is a great way to note only teach them note taking skills but also why it is important to follow steps in an experiment.

2:25 p.m.--Pack up, write down homework, out the door. Off to duty I must go.

Oh my woooooordd! I am exhausted after typing this. On to cup of coffee number two! I am reading The Next Step to Guided Reading over the break...what are you doing?

Our Week

We had a fantastic week. My kids were on their A game, all week! Thursday we had the mad scientist from our town come. The entire school loved it! I have included pics :)

How does your class end their week? My class always ends with a family meeting. During our meeting we make a circle am of our week . Then students fill their classmates buckets. It is precious! We had a parent in our room yesterday, they looked shocked at our reflection time. I left yesterday without taking pics of our reflection wall. Oh well, happy 3 day weekend!