Five for Friday…..On Saturday Morning {It’s been that kind of week!}

 

It’s been a week.  I. Am. Wiped.  I finally caught the yuckiness going around school and found myself asleep on the couch at 8:00 last night. 

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

1.

We had a rainy day not too long ago.  Which for where we live is unusual.  The kids go crazy.  It’s like they have never seen water fall from the sky.  Our playground looked like this before school, so they called rainy day schedule and let all the kiddos in the building before school.  One of my little angels greeted me at the classroom door with, “Yes!  Now we have an extra 12 minutes of reading time!”  My teammate was standing by her door rolling her eyes.  I think they all hate me!  There are several perks of having the gifted cluster, this was one of them.  However, it’s not all reading happiness and sunshine {in this case rain clouds}!  It is a lot of work too!

2.

Common Core ELA is in full swing and we have been doing lots of reading with a pencil in our hand.  I am IN. LOVE. with a few products from Amanda at One Extra Degree.  We have been using her Close Reading pack and Interactive Reading Notebook and I am loving them!

3.

This year I have a kiddo in class whose dad is the varsity football coach at our high school.   Last week, coach came in and surprised my whole class with Mustang Football t-shirts.  It was perfect timing because our first school assembly was the next day and the football players and cheerleaders visited us!

4.

I am loving Math Workstation time.  Each afternoon we have a 90 minute block of math.  We do our math lesson and practice and then we move into station time.  I love this time because they are reviewing skills from the previous week and I can pull groups and reteach or enrich!  This has been some of the most valuable time of the day.  Next week, I start having parent helpers come in during this time and I think it will get even better!

5.

King and Queen of math time.  Well, it started out that way.  I found these foam crowns at Dollar Tree and brought them in for math time.  My kiddos were having a hard time settling down after lunch and were having an even harder time when I asked them to explain their thinking.  It started with me giving the crowns out for brilliant thoughts, when students made connections, thought deeply about a concept, etc….  Well, I had to make a return trip to Dollar Tree and purchase more crowns.  We now use them all day long, not just at math.  They are loving it!  When a classmate makes a great connection or explains their thinking well, they will all start saying, “I think that deserves a crown!”  I place it on a student’s head and they all cheer," All Hail King/Queen ____,”  It is so funny!  They also love wearing them outside the classroom to lunch, recess and even specials so they can share their brilliance with everyone!  They are cracking me up!

I feel all caught up now after my absence from the blogging world!  It’s been an interesting start to the year.  LOTS of changes happening all at once at school have me feeling like a new teacher again!  Not to mention the craziness at home.  My girls auditioned for The Nutcracker….THE Nutcracker….with Ballet Arizona. They both were cast!!!! 

So exciting, but it has added a new element of craziness to our lives.  Now, in addition to dancing at their studio just about everyday of the week, the have Saturday rehearsals downtown with Ballet Arizona!  It’s going to add so much excitement to our holiday season!  Can’t wait!

Talk to you all soon! Have a great Saturday!