Owl-themed Baby Shower

What do teachers do after school?  PARTY!!!!  I'm not sure how much planning went into this shower, but it was beautiful.  The owl-theme is one I've never seen before.

 

...random post :)

Journey North Tulip Garden Project

This week, we planted 50 Red Emperor tulip bulbs for a Journey North project.  The students will be scientists for the next few months.  They will watch the weather, check the temperature, make observations, and keep a journal. 

I am encouraging the students to plant some tulip bulbs at home, so we can compare the growth.  As a class, we will be comparing our tulip garden to other classes across the country.

We can't wait for the tulips to bloom in the spring.  We're hoping the squirrels will fill up on acorns, and leave our bulbs alone.

Teamwork

7 inches deep, 4 inches apart

Our Young Photographer Took a Break

Ooops! Too Much Digging

Pumpkin Book Project

Students always seem to go beyond expectations when families are involved.  My goal for this year was to have "Family Involvement" projects each month.  I started late last year, but this year is off to a good start.  Clutter Free Classroom provided the guide for making this project a success. Check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers.

The students received a condensed packet of instructions and activity sheets about two weeks ago.  They were encouraged to use the blueprint to plan.  Then they were able to request some of the supplies from me or the art teacher.  Since conferences were taking place, parents were able to ask questions about the project.  I was also able to show them some examples that my teammate and I had done with our families.

Cats and dogs were popular characters this year. There was a Cat in the Hat, Lion King, and the cat from Pumpkin Eye,  We saw two Clifford pumpkins, a Biscuit pumpkin, and a RRRalph pumpkin. 

Check out the Library Mouse, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Snowie Rolie.

Awesome!!!!!

Between both classes, there were not many "people pumpkins".  I'll add more pictures after our Fall Festival.

Too Cute!!!

Check out the Photo Peach too.

Anchor Charts

Let me begin by updating you.  Grad school is keeping me very busy.  I am also in the process of building a house, to be closer to my mama and daddy.  On top of all that, my family is pitching in to help my daddy take care of my mama, who had a major stroke this summer.  I get to do my homework and blog when it's my turn to sit with mama. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family.  I would do anything for them.

One routine that I started this year is "Number of the Day".  This idea came from Guided Math: A Framework for Mathematics Instruction by Laney Sammons.  After demonstrating the different ways to represent a number for several weeks, the students would still only use pictures and tally marks.  Together, we came up with several ways to represent numbers.  We left room to add more ways.

This month we are concentrating on visualization/mental images.  October is a great month for visualization.  We will listen to spooky sound effects and draw a picture of what we imagine the scene is like.  This is adapted from an activity that Debbie Miller suggests in her book, Reading With Meaning. We will also use our senses to write about fall.  This week, we listened to Pirates Go To School. It was a really cute book, and the students had fun making a movie in their minds.  As they drew, they listened to the story again.  After I took up the drawings, we talked about their drawings. Then I read the story, and showed them the pictures.  We compared their drawings to the actual illustrations.  I was amazed with how much detail some of the pictures had. 

Our school district began using anchor charts for comprehension strategies last year.  This year, we will also use anchor charts for math strategies.  I haven't been able to attend the trainings for the math strategies, due to grad school classes.  Hopefully all of the reading I did this summer (Guided Math... and Math Work Stations), will give me some insight about math anchor charts. I'll also check out Pinterest.

Data Notebooks

This year my students will keep a data notebook.  Hopefully by tracking their progress, they will set goals and try to obtain their goals. It's more like a portfolio, because samples of their work will be put in the notebook too.  I will keep state and county tests in a different location.

This tool will also be helpful during parent-teacher conferences.  I also plan to use them for student conferences. In the past students never saw their growth.  This year with a Garden Theme, I felt like it was important for students to see their growth, and reflect on how to improve.  At the end of the grading period, students will take the samples home.  At the end of the school year, they will take the data forms home.

As a class, we came up with some classroom rules and mission statement.  The most important rule is, "Listen".  Our mission statement is short and to the point. 

Our mission is to learn, have fun, and stay safe.

Cover of the Notebook

 

Our Classroom Mission Statement and Rules

Writing Data and Goal Setting

Reading Data and Goal Setting

Michelle Oakes at Fabulous in First provided the inspiration for our data notebooks.