Linky Party Answers

Okay, so I know I am late, it has been a crazy week! My husband got promoted so we had a huge party with all his fellow marines, lots of fun! Anyway, my lie was #2. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl. I can remember making my little brother sit and pretend he had a desk and I was his teacher telling him what to do! Nothing has changed! It is true I met Luke Skywalker while in Kinder (it WAS the coolest thing EVER) and I did finally get to see Madonna in concert last November (second coolest thing EVER). :)

Let's Get Acquianted Linky Party!!

Two truths and a lie about me, try to figure it out.......

 

1. I once met the actor who played Luke Skywalker when I was in Kindergarten. His cousin was in my class. It was like the coolest thing EVER!

2.  As a child I never wanted to be a teacher, I always wanted to be a nurse.

3. I finally went to a Madonna concert last November since she was my fave since I was in 5th grade. ( I will turn 39 this month) :)

Leave me a comment on what you think is a lie, then click on the Linky Party and go back to post your own so we can learn about you!! :)

Pencil Craziness!!

Hello all!
Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I have been crazy busy at school and home! My husband was on TAD (Marine Corps) in Norway for over a week which meant that I had household and kids duty all to myself! On a better note, today was his Promotion Ceremony to Captain. Yaaaay! So proud of him!
Well, at school we are busy, busy! The kids (and me) are READY for Spring Break!

I wanted to share with you a great idea that I put into action last week. I was having SO MUCH pencil drama in my room it was insane. I could not go more than 5 minutes without someone complaining, "I lost my pencil!" or "my pencil broke!" I was giving away a box of pencils a day! Where did they go? Also, I had TONS of pencils always all over the floor. I let them sharpen in the morning and we keep a small bucket of sharpened pencils but that still was not working. Anyway, I decided to figure out a way to solve this ongoing problem. I saw on another blog (I am sorry but I forgot where to give them credit) about marking the pencils with names and having them turn in on Friday for a prize. Well, I took that idea and put it with one of my own. I wanted to keep them responsible for their own pencils and not have them all over the place. So I decided to put velcro on the bottom of plastic cups and attach to desks. I then put two sharpened pencils with their names on them in cup. I told them if they have them at end of week, they will get a ticket for each to spend on treasure box goodies. Well, OMG I could not believe what a difference! I think in the two weeks I have done this I have been asked for a pencil maybe 3 times!! And they still have the original at the end of the week! Hardly any on the floor and no more disruptions! So simple I wish I thought of this sooner! How do you handle pencils in your class?

Change of Schedule??

So I tried flip flopping my schedule today. I used to do math first thing and then writing, word work and Unit studies (SS or Science) and then Daily 5 in the afternoon. Well, I was feeling really rushed and did not have as much time as I wanted for Guided Reading groups. So today I tried doing Daily 5 first and I got in 3 rounds when I usually could only fit two. The kids were soo excited, they love Daily 5! Can't argue with that!  So things were going well....... until I tried Math in the afternoon and oh my! I had blank tired stares from most the entire class! Not sure if it was the lesson or they were just TIRED! I will keep trying this week and if it doesn't work will have to switch it up again. How is your day planned? Do you prefer Math in mornings or afternoons? Would love to hear your comments!

My turn as the student. PD today!!

Hello! Hey! What's up! Hola! (went to a Rich Vocabulary class)  :)
Had a Professional Development Day! Discovered a ton of great resources! Learned some new ways to enrich the vocabulary of students. Put a word (hello) in a circle and students must come up with other words that meant the same thing (hey, what's up, hola, etc). Fun!
 Learned about this great site to make word clouds. You can even type in the address to your blog and it will create one from that. There are so many cool things you can do, I I LOVE it and can't wait to use it for the classroom!! Here is the one it made from my blog. You can customize color, font, etc. Check it out then tell me what you think!

tagxedo.com

What I have been working on in the hotel room in Myrtle Beach! Too much relaxing makes me think of all the things I want to create for my classroom! What about you, do you do the that to? Check it out on TPT and leave some feed back for me!

Wow! We survived our 100th Day of School yesterday! This year seems to be flying by! I had a fantastic day planned for the kiddos and when they arrived at school the frenzy started! I found this great unit on TPT by SOS Lesson Plan Teachers, you can find here and used most it but also incorporated my own activities. I gave each group a different color headband (I was going to get bandanas but they were almos $2 each so I went with tribal looking ribbon).They started off making banners and naming their tribes.  It consisited of a 100 Marshmallow Hunt, a 100 Chart puzzle, an Acrostic "One Hundred" poem, a map scavenger hunt, and building something using 100 cubes. All I can say is they had a blast and I was exhausted! It was so worth it though and hopefully will be something they always remember!!