Still frozen

A birthday treat one of our students brought in! 
I LOVE birthdays :)

We are still stuck in below freezing weather.  It hasn't reached above 32 degrees since December 18th!  Eeeeek!  As I write I am curled up on my couch with a delicious coffee, a cold mixture of emergency, and am decked out in my most comfortable pajama pants!  It is ONE degree out there.  ONE!!  Holy cow, that's cold.  Now, I know it could be much worse.  And I know I shouldn't be complaining.  I do love me some puffy jackets, chunky scarves, and snuggling on the couch with a perfect {chilly} reason to not go anywhere.  But my spirits were lifted when I woke up and checked out our weekly forecast. 

 



Brrrrrr

 You see, like I mentioned in a previous post, one degree means our students are stuck indoors.  No outdoor recess.  No break for the teachers.  No sanity for anyone.  Whatsoever.    I really do love my class and am grateful that I am stuck indoors with these wonderful kids.  They make me smile each and every day.  But I still am hoping for a quick break from them.  I'm hoping that the freezing weather trend will reach its' end this upcoming week, as it looks like it may!  Woohoo 37 degrees!  Heat wave!

 

While we've been stuck indoors, I've been trying to make the most of our time in the classroom.  I feel truly blessed to be at my school.  I have a fabulous co-teacher this year.  Without her, I would be drowning.  Simple as that.  She started out as a student teacher and turned into a co-teacher/ in house substitute when needed.  PTL!  She kindly offered to lead this upcoming science unit.  It's all about the human body and body systems.  Soooo not my thing.  But {absolutely} her thing.  So on Thursday she had all the students get into small groups and trace their bodies onto butcher paper.  They LOVED it.  I always forget that 5th graders need to draw and color too.  We plan on having students fill their "bodies" in with the different systems as we're learning about them.  I am hoping I can learn a thing or two during the unit too ;) 

 

 Students trace and cut out their bodies to kick off our unit!

 

As we march our way towards March, we get closer and closer to the beautiful Colorado state testing, known as TCAP.  I made an effort to start doing small TCAP-y things at the beginning of the school year so that I wouldn't feel so concerned and nervous right now.  But, nonetheless, I'm still feeling that yucky, anxious, feeling that comes with this time of year.  I trust my students and know they are capable of doing amazing things on the test- it's just hard to think that one test on one day in March has such a large impact!! 

So, on Tuesday we took some time to play a little review game, Jeopardy style!  I pulled together some review problems for Reading, Math, and Science, as well as some Random Knowledge type questions, just to keep them on their toes!  The questions were each assigned points- 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500.  And students were divided into 3 teams.  They had so much fun pushing each other to think deeply and correctly answer the questions.  I'm hoping to make a game Review game for all 5th grade teachers, so be on the lookout for that at my Teachers Pay Teachers store! 

Happy Saturday!  Here's to a long weekend :)

XO, Kelly Anne

Multiplication Freebie!

Happy Saturday everyone! 

I hope you're enjoying your weekend and are actually using it to take a {much needed!} break from all the work you're doing.  It's as if our job never ever stops.  I swear... I'm in Barnes and Noble minding my own business, when BOOM, I see a book that would be perfect for Arianna.  Or I'm walking through Target and I see a cup that has Craig's name all over it.  Even when we try to stop- we can't! 

Well, I've been using this great multiplication game in my classroom for a while now and decided to make it into a little freebie for y'all, in hopes that it can help you out like it's been helping me out :)  It's so simple and easy for all students to play and helps learners build their multiplication fluency- such an important skill for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders!  Check it out here. 

 

It's little games like this that help my math workshop run so smoothly.  And students love playing this!  I hope you enjoy the game and the rest of your weekend!

 

Xo, Kelly Anne

Icicle!

An icicle- that's what am I am as I write this post!  It has not gotten above 32 degrees for the past two weeks.  Mainly it's hovered around the 10 degree mark.  And you know what that means at my school?  Inside recess.  Oh.Man.  My class is already (only 2 days into school after our break) driving me B.O.N.K.E.R.S.  Bonkers, I'm tellin' ya! 

Today we finally had to get out of our classroom that seemed to be closing in on us (okay... maybe I'm getting a littttttle too dramatic, but seriously) and went on an Indoor Scavenger Hunt.  Okay, maybe I made it up in 30 seconds, and maybe I didn't take many any pictures.  But it was pretty fun!  I wrote down things for them to look for, like 2 red items, and what color shirt is our principal wearing?  And then sloooooooooooowly walked through the halls of our school with clipboards and pencils in hand, on the lookout for items.

Soo, maybe it wasn't super educational, and maybe it wasn't a ton of movement, but it was definitely better than sitting in our classroom any longer!  And they seemed to enjoy getting out.

I also encorporated a few of my math games from my Snowflakes {Keep Falling on My Head} Math Centers into our day!  That helped everyone have a little bit of fun.  Again, I wish I had taken pictures...  New Years Resolution= Take more pictures!!!  If you would like to check out my Snowflakes Math Centers... go here! 

Does anyone out there have some great ideas for entertaining these guys on insanely cold days?! I can use all the help I can get!

Happy Tuesday!
~Kelly Anne 

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it is already 2013.  WOW!  I have to admit I have been a slacker and it has been WAAAY too long since I last wrote.  Like, I don't even know how I've been spending my time.  However, here is 2013 and I am looking forward to this new year!! 

Isn't crazy how much students grow and change over our short break?!  I swear they grow inches when they're away.  It's as if they save all their growth spurts from August to December and squeeze them into one break!!  I loved seeing my 5th graders this morning.  They all had on their new clothes and were actually excited about school for a whole five minutes!  We had a lot of fun catching up today but were extremely bored by the almighty and nececessary overview of expectations.  While I know going over the expectations is important- note, I heard from many students today, "you expect us to write how much??" or "how long do we have to read?"- but does it always have to be so darn boring.  Does anyone out there have a great way to beat the boredom and make expectations more fun and exciting?  If so, PLEASE help me!! 

I am super excited to announce a new product I've made recently.  In anticipation of February (the first time I've ever been early for anything!) I have a new unit of Math Centers!  You can check out the Centers here.  I'You can check out a preview, below!

 

Welcome back to school! How did your first day/week go?

HOLY MOLY

Moly?  Is that how it's spelled?  I don't know y'all.  Isn't it weird how after you write a specific word over and over it starts to look all weird and funny and so not right?  Well that just happened to me with a new math game I'm creating!  It will be hitting Teachers Pay Teacher tomorrow :)  It's called First to 1,000 and "first" just doesn't look right anymore.  But anyways, keep an eye out for my new product!

I can't believe it's Sunday already!  Where did this weekend go?  On Thursday evening my 5th graders and 3 others teachers hit the road on an overnight field trip (pictures to come later this week).  Yes, you heard correctly.  What?  You think I'm I.N.S.A.N.E?  Well, yes, you are absolutely, 100% accurate.  What in the world was I thinking?!  While it was a great trip and super fun, I was exhausted all weekend.  And I mean EXHAUSTED.  We piled in our cars (I drove the school's minivan- woop woop!) and left Thursday evening.  We drove an hour away to the small town of Olathe, CO.  (Known for their delicious sweet corn!)  One of the teachers that went with us has family there who graciously allowed us to stay in their finished room above their garage.  Yes- all 26 of us shared one room huuuuge room.  Yikes!

We spent a (restless) night at their house and took off for the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park early the next morning.  The tour and rangers at the Black Canyon were wonderful!  Most students were engaged the entire time and they even provided some reflection time at the end where students sat near the edge of the canyon- YIKES- and wrote or drew what they saw.  All in all, the trip was a success- with the few exceptions of missing keys and a car that refused to start.  But that's a story for another time. 

I hope everyone is looking forward to a great first week of October!!  Enjoy, teaching friends!

XO,
Kelly Anne

"I Can't" Funeral

Happy Fall everyone!!  It's finally "officially" here and I am happily breaking out the heavier scarves, leggings, and boots.  Mmmmhmmm.  :)  We're heading into the 6th week of school here and WOW has it been a great first six weeks!  I told myself that these first six weeks of school are supposed to be spent getting to know my learners, community, and really focusing on expectations.  I am finally ready to start our book clubs and really dive into some great differentiated groups.  What's your rule of thumb for getting to know your learners at the beginning of the year?

Well I promised to share some more of the fun activities we did at the beginning of this school year.  And here is one of my FAVORITES!!

We had a funeral the second week of school... an "I Can't" funeral.  I was so proud of my little big fifth graders. They came up with things that they felt they weren't very good at or continually struggle with and then wrote them down on a notecard.  Some of them wrote statements like "I can't spell", "I can't do multiplication", "I can't whistle", "I can't sing very well".  And here is the BEST part of it all- Now whenever someone comes up to me and says "I can't _____." or "I don't know how to ______."  I get to say "We buried our "I can't statements," so I know you can do this!"  And IT WORKS!  What?  Why haven't I been doing this for years?  I don't know if it's because they physically buried their statements or whether they just remember getting to be out of our classroom for our funeral, but somehow this stuck with them more than any inspirational speech I could have ever given!  PTL! 

 My fabulous student teacher made this great tombstone! 

 That's right- we put them to work digging the "grave"

I don't have a great picture of it, but nearly everyone wore black and was in mourning for most of the day!  It was amazing!!

I am currently working on a Back to School Unit for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders that will contain all the details of holding your own I Can't Funeral!  Be on the look out for that in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, located here!  

**Update!  I've finished my unit and you can learn more about holding your own I Can't Funeral in my Beginning of the Year Activities for Secondary!**

Pumpkin, Please!

I L-O-V-E Fall because of all the pumpkin flavored goodies.  Latte, tea, bread, desserts!  PUMPKIN, PUMPKIN, PUMPKIN, I just cannot get enough, y'all!  I love to treat myself this time of year with something yummy.  And man, do we deserve a treat.  Is it just me or has this year felt uber busy?  I just feel like I'm going 900 mph all.  day.  long.  It's a good busy, but I am exhausted and OUT when my head hits my pillow each night. 

However, I have to say, I have the best class that I have ever had (I'm only 3 years in, but STILL).  They are kind, caring, high level thinkers that I am very lucky to have the pleasure of working with this year.  I am diving into a new curriculum with this new grade level.  I looped up to 5th grade with my awesome 4th graders from last year.  It is taking some time, but since I had only taught 4th grade for two years, this fumbling, unsure of myself, hecticness doesn't feel too far out of the norm! 

How did your school year start off?  What fun activities did your class get themselves into?  A few years ago I did a "Teach the Teacher" day at the end of the year,an idea my awesome teacher friend, Jen found.  Students come in and teach the class something that they are an expert at.  However, I walked away realizing I knew SO much more about my learners on a personal level after this activity and it would be much better if we did it at the beginning of the school year.  So we did some Teach the Teacher at the beginning of the year, and boy did we learn!  We learner how to make (and eat!) salsa, how to draft a fantasy football team, how to ride a calf at a rodeo, and how to train a dog.  Everyone had a lot of fun and were able to open up to one another.  Not only did we learn, but we became more of a community- WOW!  I will definitely be doing this in years to come.  Check out some of the fun things kids did, below.

Our Rodeo lesson :)

How to train a dog... with the dog and all!



And my personal favorite, How to Make Salsa- YUM!

More about our first six weeks of school, coming soon! Until then, grab yourself a pumpkin latte and enjoy the cooler weather as it glides on into our year. 

XO, Kelly Anne