Why I Hate/Love Twitter and Unit 6 Reading Focus Wall

I hate Twitter.  I know, I know... it's the best way to make contacts and find resources in the PLC and edtech world.  I get that.  But, in the last month or so, someone has hacked my Twitter account twice and sent inappropriate messages in my name.  So, be warned Twitter, you're on my list (okay, now I know they're scared!).  ;)  And my sincere apologies to those who received unfortunate messages *NOT* from me.

Anyway, on to bigger and better (?) things.  I have finished my Unit 6 Titles and Questions, as well as the Selection Vocab and Amazing Words.  If you're interested, you can find them here and here, and Unit 6 Focus Wall posters here.  As always, let me know about any errors, and I will do my best to correct and repost them.

(Side note:  If you're wondering why I did Unit 6 after Unit 1... Well I picked the next book off of the shelf, assuming it was Unit 2...)

School starts for teachers in just two days.  Today I have to meet with other grade level curriculum writers to plan our Friday presentation.  Isn't funny that you can talk to rooms full of kids day in and day out, but one tiny presentation to a group of adults makes you nervous?  Crazy.

And even better... I opened up my class list this morning and saw my new friends, and a few old friends as well!  I taught first grade as recently as two years ago, and saw some familiar names and faces on my class list.  How lucky am I to get them twice????  Seriously, these are some great kids!  Looking forward to Monday's Back to School Night more than ever (hope they are too!)!

New School Year, New Classroom!

School starts in just two weeks!  I can't believe how fast the summer has gone... and yet I have already been to school and have most of my classroom set up.  Of course it looks a lot different than those Super Kid classroom pics I've posted in the past!  Didn't think those would "fly" in 5th grade!  I loved it, but time to move on.  My classroom had to grow up!

So I started with Dots on Black from Creative Teaching Press.  It's very versatile for a 5th grade classroom with bright green cabinets!  Tones down all that green, but has lots of colors for me to pull out in other ways.  I have all of the borders, labels, desk plates, computer paper, everything!  I love their new chalkboard Inspire U posters.  Would LOVE to have those!  I haven't ordered them yet, but they are definitely on my wish list.  CTP has a lot of new stuff, I can see a lot of teachers wanting their new mustache line (I know students would get a kick out of that!). They are also having a HUGE giveaway, giving ten $200 classroom makeovers for Back-to-School.  And who doesn't love a makeover?

I must say, our room is looking pretty good!  I still need to tweak a few things, so I'll post pictures as soon as I make it over there again. Even though it was hard to give up the superhero theme (I did go to Comicon in June, after all!), I do love the new look.  Hope the kids love it as much as I do!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

It's been a long time.  A lot has gone on and there have been a lot of changes, both good and bad.  My mom passed away after a long illness, and my brother-in-law passed away after a very short illness.  So 2012-2013 was a very difficult school year for me, then 2013-2014 became another year of change as I switched from first grade to fifth.  No one could believe I made such a sudden/huge jump, but I said I needed a challenge...and boy, did I get one.

I've learned a lot in the past couple of school years, none of it has been easy, but then life never is.  And as we learn, we grow.  Right?

So backtrack a couple of years with me, won't you?  Indulge me as I reminisce about my first graders and just some of the fun we had...

Calendar Supplies

Math and Reading RtI Activities

Pointers

Gifts from past students <3

Super Kid Buddies and Tattle Turtle

Super Kid Backpack and Folder

First Day Treat:  Super Hero Lollipops

Math Focus Wall, Lunch Count, etc.

Super Words!  Word Wall

Science:  Mammals

Mrs. McGuffey's class knows...

We also knew...

 Birds

 Reptiles

and Insects!  Oh My!

We made frogs (amphibians) too, not shown here!



We wrote to Veterans to thank them for their service. 

And more to come later...
Man, I miss those little ones!

 



And I miss you, Mom.  I love you.

4 Days of Summer

What?  Four days?  Crazy!

On the way to my Six Traits "refresher" (which sadly turned out to be more about scoring than teaching), I heard something interesting on the radio...they were talking about being parents and the first day of school, and they started playing, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."  Not really the song I'm playing in my head!  If I had a theme song, what would it be?  I'll have to think on that...

Recently I was wondering what to do about restroom passes for my new theme.  Then I saw some little wooden figures at Hobby Lobby that look like your traditional boys' and girls' restroom figures.  Aha! 

I painted them, added some felt capes and some leftover rickrack and...

made restroom passes!  There were smaller wooden figures in the package as well, so I had another great idea.  I attached them to wooden sticks and made pointers. 

I'm getting closer to being ready, but I still have SO much to do!

By the way, anyone out there have their own theme song?  I'm still searching...

5 Days of Summer

Man, it's going fast!  I spent yesterday morning listening to Rick Wormeli, author of Fair Isn't Always Equal, give an informative and entertaining talk on grading.  I enjoyed it and agreed with much of what he said (Although it was really hard to sit that long after all summer off, a good reminder to have patience for the kids in a week or so!).

I've made a new welcome note to go with a First Day of First Grade gift bag.  In the past I have given a traditional one, and for the last few years have given the one found on Ms. Winston's site (she has so many great ideas!).  But...new theme, new bag, new note...

I got the gift bags from Wal-mart and the Super Kid Stickers from Office Max.  I found the pencils, erasers, and superhero silly bands at Target.  The Superman tattoos and bookmarks were free from the comic book store (Thank you, Krypton!  Free comic book day is the first Saturday in May!  Most comic book stores participate in this, so check one out in your area)!  Throw in some Spiderman fruit chews, and you've got yourself a SUPER welcome gift bag!

I decided not to get too scrunged up about a poem.  My kids tend not to read them, so I just made this:

With Thistlegirl's Superkidz graphics!

Click here to get my welcome note.

How do you welcome your students?