moment of tears and affirmation....

Today was our first day back after Thanksgiving break (up here hunting starts on Monday, yep it's that important we get a day off...but who's complaining:) Returning from a relaxing break is always a hard thing for me to get back up to speed, especially morning routines! It always seems like I need just 10 more minutes..so as I am gathering my attendance cards and finding the lunch count menu a student comes up to me and hands me something, saying "I made this for you."  I quickly glance down at what's in my hand and see that it is a handmade card, taking a double look at the detail that this girl has put into this card ( I mean Hallmark worthy) On the front it said "Remember in grade school when you found out it was pizza day and you got all excited"....(inside) "well that's what it's like having a teacher like you everyday."  BLEW...ME...AWAY! I had to stop to gain my composure as tears came to my eyes.

To say that I have not had my doubts about my profession is an understatement, there's no rule book to teaching, no constant as to what will work and what won't from year to year, even day to day...I have often thoughts about am I even making a difference or am I totally wasting a whole year of these students lives.  Not to mention the less then favorable point of view most society members have of our profession, along with the ridiculous expectations of the state tests.

But one, just one simple act like this brings me back to why I do what I do and that what I do is good enough...I'm not sure if this girl knows how much that card truly means or how often I will view it for affirmation, but she made not only may day today, but many more to come.  These are the momenti di's I look for.

hero's journey..

During our third unit in Language Arts we work with the concept of "Hero's Now and Then" our writing is about fictional hero's and hero's in our life, and we read about real life hero's.  A new concept that is introduced in fifth grade is that of the hero's journey.  Where the main character goes out into the world, faces a challenge, resolves the challenge, and returns home changed.  Because it is new I start with a project using a picture book to detail a hero's journey.  To model I use the book "Where the Wild Things Are" this idea was given to me by our curriculum department, but do not know the resource they used.  I read the book to the students and then describe the five parts we will be working with, giving examples from the book.  Here is how I complete the Hero's Journey:

Main Character: Max

Goes Out Into the World: Max sails to the place where the wild things are

Faces Challenges:  1. The wild things roar their terrible roars, gnash their terrible teeth

                                       2.  Max starts missing home

Resolves Challenges: 1.  Max tells the wild things to "BE STILL" and becomes kings of all wild things

       2. Max sail back home

Returns Home Changed: Max realize that no matter how mad, angry, or upset he may get home is love and he is loved.

Students this year have done an amazing job with this project! A few examples below.

my day in history...

This is a social studies project that I created last year.  As with many concepts/ideas in content areas, curriculums seem to overlap from grade to grade...causing students to do many of the same projects throughout grade school.  Prime example the timeline.  My first two years teaching social studies I had students create a personal timeline of events that happened in their life, using pictures and graphics to display their events.  I thought they turned out great..so fun to see pictures of the students in events that impacted their life, until year 2 when I walked down the hallway and saw the same project next to the third grade doors.  Because timelines were in their curriculum as well and personal timelines seemed like a great project for them.  Knowing that I would be getting those students in two years I decided I needed to change up the project.  Timelines and chronology are a big part of the first unit in social studies so I didn't want to give up a project to extend the learning....and then this idea hit me. I had be in charge of producing the students news while I was the gifted support teacher and would give a day in history fact for each newscast, so I took this idea and correlated it to the chronological order study.  

Students research their birthday on the sites history.com and on-this-day.com.  I have them select four events which happened on their birthday that interest them to further research (to provide a detailed description of the event) and find a picture for that event.  As a model I created one myself and found it so interesting.  Students have to put the events in chronological order and they add their birthday as the fifth event, with a picture of them as a baby.  Still get the personal connection, still working with chronology, and now includes research skills and summarization skills.  Although, I do not always get the quality I expect, it lets me know that I need to do a little more on my part with a new rubric and some kind of graphic organizer to ensure my expectations are achieved.  This year I put their "Day's in History" in chronological order, which was neat to see who was the oldest to youngest in the class. (also helped with remembering birthdays!) 

                   

(A few examples of the more creative projects) 

microwhat....

since the fifth grade is one round I now teach ALL subjects...when I had a partner I taught social studies for my three years and she took science, and so I have entered the task teaching science.  I am finding it quite fun, but still getting used to the curriculum day by day.  The unit I am teaching now is on microscope use and care.  One of the first lessons is learning all the parts of a microscope and their functions.  I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the parts were named after human anatomy (eyepiece, body tube, arms, legs...) so while the students were studying for the microscope parts quiz I had them create characters out of a faint microscope outline, labeling the parts.  And I have to say my kids were pretty creative (the ones below are of a giraffe, school of fish, dancing turkey, anteater, and a squirrel) I love when new ideas work out better then planned!

it has expanded...

and the 'got book' graffiti wall has expanded! super cool to see that my kids have embraced it, along with reading all of these books.  down side is the new one is half way filled and the first quarter has just ended?? not sure where to do next...good problems though :)

first activity to share...

So I finally get to share an original activity that I created for our Multiplication chapter in math.  Not sure if any of you out there use the "ThinkMath!" program, but to say it's not the way of 'traditional' math, is an understatement.  This is my third year teaching it and my student this year were in 1st grade when it was introduced so they have basically gone through all years thus far with the program, which makes it easier for both of us.  But one thing that we've found ThinkMath! lacks is a foundation of basic math skills...(For that our district tech coordinator found a great FREE site named Xtra math.  Check it out if you are looking for a way to practice basic math facts on an individual level, thats NOT timed tests.)  Anyway, as I was driving home from a weekend to visit my sister in Pittsburgh I drove past 4 rainbows..and a thought occurred to me to create a 'multiples rainbow' to practice multiples!  I have attached the template I used, but feel free to take the idea and make it your own.  I focused on multiples of 6-12, since those seem to be the ones students struggle with most.  And it replaced my beginning of the year activity on my 'Mathtastic Board'.  My new goal is to create a way to illustrate each math chapter.  Already have an idea for our Factor chapter :) I'll share once I work on it a little more.

*ok still trying to get the hang of this, need to try and upload the template not on here yet*  :(

the fresh outdoors

First official field trip with 30 fifth graders by myself was a SUCCESS! not to mention it was a two day field trip! Sure we only rode less then five miles away from the school, but none the less we made it and the kids were great.  Each year we go to a local nature center, that I myself once went on a field trip to in elementary school, that spans over two days.  They provide great lessons that go along with our first unit of science, ecosystems, where the students participate in activities in a forest, field, and swamp environment...as well as, their favorite activity- orienteering their way through a path with compasses.  The only downfall of the whole experience were the chilly days. On Friday the high was only 50 degrees...but we go in the mornings and when you're under the cover of huge trees it seems like a frozen tundra (I tend to hyperbolize a little)...definitely had a few red cold hands by the time we came in.  But don't fret the sun appeared both days just as we were heading back to school :) 

A toad found (actually almost step on) in the woods, the class named him Stefano...have to admit the name immediately transferred me back to my days of watch "Days" :)

                                                       The walk back from the Swamp

Pictures of the 'Woods' from the field, the North sure is beautifully colored this time of year

LOL moment...

Just had to share a moment that gave me a good old fashion laugh today. So during social hour...i mean writing (it's an epidemic with fifth graders not wanting to write) anyway one of my boys was talking to another boy and here was the conversation the ensued:

Me: J stop talking to C

J: I wasn't talking to C, I was talking to Z

Me: Well then stop talking to Z

J: I mean I wasn't talking to Z, I was to M (said with a smirk)

to which M, who was working quietly and is a very introverted student replied, with a quick snap:
"No you were not"

Me: (after I recovered from laughing) Ohhhh snap, M just put you in your place

Probably a 'had to be there moment' but it made me laugh out and put a smile on my face...moment of joy today

poet.me

This was the open house project that I had "hanging" in the hall...in quotes because every morning there were a few more casualties on the floor when I got to school that just couldn't hang on any longer.  I actually first did this project 10 years ago for my field placement which was given to me by one my of college professor as an assignment.  I have done it several times in various placements since and decided to once again use as my open house project.  In the past I have bought those foam stickers for the class to decorate their poems with and had the kids mount it on colored construction paper. This year a thought occurred to have them create a background to mount their poetry on.  I envisioned the students using paint brushes to create a picture, but once one student asked if they could use their hands and I replied "sure why not, it's your art piece" it was a momenti di lesson learned for me.  Not only were the papers full of paint, but also the desks, chairs, hands and arms of my class.  They thoroughly enjoyed it and took ownership of their pieces of art, which was my intent, the mess not so much.  I learned that if you give a 5th grader paint, they're going to want to use their hands :) Next time I will cover the desks with some kind of paper, so that the mess can be contained.  I titled the the project 'poet.me', for a play on word due to it being a biography poem.  I also found a really great graphic organizer from the website 'create teach share' to use this year.  Below are some of the more creative pieces to I wanted to share, although they all came out great.

 The kids were only given the primary colors and white, from there these are some of the art pieces that came out of the limitedness.

and breath

ahhhhh....yes as the third week of school has started I think I took a breath.  We had our open house last Thursday, so it was a busy first week and second week of school...looking back not sure how I got all my introduction lessons, visit from the new principal, safety patrol induction, and open house project (which have failed to stick to the wall due to the lack of air conditioning in our school, high 80's, and almost 90% humidity last week) all complete! I have to say that I am enjoying my class of 30, they are a great group who actually seem to want to be in school...vast difference from some prior years.  
I have almost made it on schedule two days now, my groups and schedules are set for my independent reading/guided reading/center time, and our support staff is all ready to start as well.  Just have to get Scantron testing out of the way beginning of next week and I think my year will officially be in full swing, which means more frequent posting.  I have a few photos to share of what some of the things I have done/do in my classroom.

This is my 'mathtastic' work board. It will hang creative work we will do in math, as well as, 'A' tests.  Right now it is hanging "Math About Me" an idea and template taken from 'Create Teach Share' blog.  Next to this board I have a 'wordarific' work board which will hang writing pieces or other creative projects that are Language Arts based.

This is my Language Arts bell ringer.  Each student gets a star which I place a magnet strip and their name on the back.  The cards used I bought at our local 'Teaching Touches' store.  They are short paragraphs that deal with different tested anchors Main Idea, Inferencing, Drawing Conclusions, Fact/Opinion...best part is that they are leveled.  I bought mostly 3.5-5.0 to support and encourage all learners in class, the next level is 5.0-6.5 and I thought those might frustrate some students.  The procedure is that students in the morning read the paragraph and place their star in the column of what they think is the correct answer.  Then each day one student gets picked from the board (I pick first and then student from the previous day picks the new star) that student has to talk about why they chose their answer with evidence from the card.  If 90% of the class gets the answer correct we add pebbles to our star jar. I switch the focus of the cards every month, trying to correlate to our curriculum study as best possible.

This is a derived from a pinterest idea :) One of our essential questions for our first unit of study in the Language Arts curriculum is "Why do We Read" after seeing may different forms of this poster I decided to have my students give me ideas of why they read.  Then they chose one of those choses of why they read and illustrated a 3" by 3" card, and this was the end result.  One idea and project that I will continue to do each year, which will change due to that classes interest.

and view of my room clean :) before open house.  Finally, came up with an idea for my 'Got Books' board which the students seemed to get excited for, we are going to graffiti it with the book titles we/they read all year.  I right now am reading "The Pillars of the Earth" which is taking FOREVER to read, but plan on adding my book club books to help model reading at home.

and so it is....

This is it the last day of summer for me.  Schools starts tomorrow and the race will begin.  As I put in a previous post I will be the only 5th grade teacher in my school this year, and found out on Thursday that I have reached the cap of 30 students...yes 30! Although, a little apprehensive about the task ahead of me, I am surprisingly calm and ready.  It looks like it is turning out to be a beautiful day here, hoping to take advantage of the sun and warmth.  Good Luck to all who will also be starting school tomorrow. To a great year!

one of my tricks

So something I like to do to label containers is to use puffy paint.  It's very inexpensive, but totally fun, and totally easy to do.  For transparent containers just print out the size and font you want to use, my favorite has always been 'curlz'.  Tape it on the inside of the container (font facing out), and then trace with your puffy paint.  I usually hold the tip of the bottle a little above the side of the container for a good puffiness, tracing right on the side will make it flat.  For non-transparent surfaces I just try my best to not mess up :) There are a few examples below of some of the things I have labeled with puffy paint. Putting in on staplers, tape dispensers, ext.  makes it harder for those precious objects to "accidentally disappear."  Let it dry at least over night, and try not to get tempted to touch it or else you'll have a flat spot.

The outline for my Think Tank container.  Purchased a bunch of hand held games like rubix cubes and ball mazes at the dollar store, as well as, solitaire card games like trivia and visual logic problems.  It's meant for my early finishers to have something to do and hopefully keep them occupied and quite while at their seats.  I had a 'Beyond Board' where I put worksheets up from different learning intelligences, but found that worksheet appeal wears off very shortly.  I'll let you know how it works out.

17 days until school starts

the mess within

Yes, it seems to be the time to show what our rooms look like before all the long hours and the after with all the improvements, new ideas, and of course all those 'had to do' projects we've pinned from pinterest!.....But alas I can only show the before as this was my room today, and pretty much still looks the same, save for the new piles I created after these pictures were taken.  See I have decided to go through all of my cabinets/cupboards, along with moving spaces around my classroom.  With three years under my belt I felt like this was a great time to go through the materials that were left to me, along with those that I have accumulated over the years.  Saving what I know I use, tossing or putting in storage those things that have just been collecting layers of dust. And although I left today with still a large amount of work ahead, I thought I'd share a few before pictures.  I keep telling myself the tortoise wins the race! 

21 days until school starts.

a little impatient.........

So I apologize for those who have stopped by my blog and found it too be pretty barren.  

You see I had this urge to blog, but it was the beginning of summer, so not much to write about.  

I make myself stay away from school until the middle of July (at least!) 

And today was the day, the first time I've stopped in.  My room isn't ready to start 

moving back into yet, so I sent some beginning of the year materials to print shop 

and started to map what I wanted to do for the first week of school.  We start on a 

five day week, YAY! but I think I will be okay with activities for the students.  

My big excitement for the day was I got another whiteboard hung in my room! 

I had a board that was pretty useless, not even sure what it was made out of? but it 

was not magnetic, nor writable, not staple-able.  After doing a little complaining 

to my janitor and stating I would ask our principal this year if budget allowed, to 

order one, he said he had an extra in storage!!! I have to say that I have some 

awesome custodians, who will help out when ever needed.  So that was it for 

the day, and other then a doctors appointment and starting next months book 

club book, "She Comes Undone" by Walley Lamb it's been a very chill day. 

Thought I'd leave with a picture of our beautiful sunsets........................

   Yes, this is in PA.

let's begin

hello.  I decided to create this blog after my current obsession of pinterest started.  Not being very tech savvy I was amazed by how many great ideas I was finding from blogs I never knew were in existence.   I am a teacher, and will be starting my ninth year as an educator, with a class of 30 fifth graders without a collaborating teacher...which to say in the least scares me just a bit.  I have held a few different positions in my district from title I to gifted, before settling in fifth grade.  If you are a teacher you may be feeling the same lack of creativity, stress, and doubt from this high stake testing era we are in.  I know why I became a teacher, but I let the pressure get to me, BIG time.  After browsing a few site, I started to become inspired again.  Through that inspiration I decided to start a blog...this one in fact :) I'm not sure how many will visit, but I want to keep the inspiration alive in myself and become the teacher I am truly meant to be.  And for some reason I feel like a blog will help keep me inspired, creative, and disciplined.  The title is reflective of my Italian roots and translates to "moments of."  Because let's face it as teachers everyday is a moment of something good, bad and even sometimes ugly.  And that is what I want to capture with this blog, all of those moment and everything in-between.