I Am CRAZY!!

All day, I kept thinking, "Thank goodness it's Friday!"  I was so happy when the last children got on the bus.  Then, after talking to my favorite teachers for an hour or so, I went back to my room.  I ended up cleaning, packing, and rearranging.  Why?  I'm crazy!!  I have the urge to COMPLETELY rearrange my room, but I'm not going to until next year.  I did move a table out of my room and do a little rearranging.  I packed up my math manipulatives and put them away, and I straightened up my closet to make room for other things once I have to pack up my room.  I didn't leave until around 6:45.  Crazy, I'm telling you!  Anywho, I've posted a current picture of my room.  Everything is off the walls.  It looks so sad!!  I did find out that I can keep my lights off next week during the testing.  My kids were thrilled, because they started getting headaches after I turned the lights on earlier this week.  No bueno!

Alright, that's all for now.  Everyone have a great weekend!

Donors Choose Project: Math Skills for the 21st Century Learner

Kid President

As the year is winding down, and we are getting ready for state testing, I've taken everything off the walls.  It looked awful and sad and boring, so yesterday, I added a little inspiration to my walls in the form of.... Kid President!!  Check out my newest poster:

I love this kid!  We watched his "Pep Talk" twice today when we needed a little pep talk.  He has such a great attitude!  Anywho, I found the picture on a blog and used the poster printer to blow it up.  It turned out great.  You can't tell from the picture, but it's perfectly clear.  What's cool (or creepy depending on how you see it) about it is that wherever you are in the room, he's looking at you! :)  LOVE!!

That's all for today!  Have a great rest of the week!

Donors Choose

The purpose of this post is to purely get the word out about my Donors Choose: Math Skills for the 21st Century Learner.  Besides my laptop, the one I use to teach, I don't have a working computer in my classroom for students to use.  I have requested two Chromebook laptops so that my students can use educational websites that target their specific needs in math and reading.  I'm really excited about these and hope they're funded!  Last night, I had a wonderful surprise...  Since my request will be used to further math skills, Duke Energy is going to fund half the cost!!  How exciting!!

Just a note: by no means do I expect you teachers to donate to my classroom.  I realize you all have your own classrooms to fund; however, if you happen to know someone who has a little extra money they want to throw around, please feel free to direct them to my Donors Choose.  PS - if they use the checkout code INSPIRE by May 20th, DC will double the donation. :)

Teacher Love Week

Teacher Appreciation (Love) Week couldn't have come at a better time.  We (the teachers) have been beyond stressed the last two weeks.  We have taught everything we need to teach and have been reviewing the content we taught at the beginning of the year.  {We have EOGs starting May 21st.}  For whatever reason, our students seem to be on summer break already!  So, needless to say, a little teacher love has definitely been appreciated.

Our principal experienced a death in the family this week and as tough has that has been, she has still thought about her teachers.  Wednesday, she brought EVERYONE a biscuit for breakfast.  Thursday, we ALL received a 5-minute professional massage and a coupon for a free Chick-fil-a biscuit, and today, our lunch was catered by Subway.  She knows the way to our hearts is through food and stress relief. :)  Even without the freebies this week, I am thankful to work with the ladies and gentlemen at my school.  They're all wonderful!

That being said, I am ready for testing to be over!  I am ready for summer break to arrive!  There are only 19 days and 4 more Mondays!  Also, say a little prayer for me.  I have to start using my ceiling lights next week to get the students used to them before testing.  Boo!  They are NOT happy that we have to start using them (and neither am I)!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Scary Day, but I {LOVE} My Job

Today was extremely stressful.  There was an armed robbery at a bank across the street from my school this morning.  The school went into lockdown (very quickly) with the teachers not knowing what was going on.  We all knew what to do without thinking, and we all did everything in our power to keep our kids safe.  In my room, we were all huddled into a tiny corner with the lights off and sat there completely silent for over 1.5 hours.  That was pretty rough on my 10/11 year olds who can't stay in their seat for 15 minutes!  Thankfully, we were switched to a modified lockdown (doors remain locked and everyone indoors) right before our lunch.  1st grade ended up missing their lunch, so we all worked together to squeeze 5th grade, 3rd grade, and 1st grade into the cafeteria at the same time.  It was a scary day for a bit and I feel like we didn't get any learning done, but I must say, I am so PROUD to work with such great people!! :)

Reading Comprehension Poster

Question stems... they're great right?  Especially when they're up all the time for students to see!!  Today, I made a reading comprehension question stems poster.  Yes, it's a little late in the year, but better late than never, right?  I plan to use our school's poster printer to blow it up.  I've added it to my TpT.

Speaking of reading... during our whole group lesson today, I showed a clip from FoRrest Gump.  The students were identifying the theme when one student said, "I think it means, don't stop believing."  Me, being who I am, said "Yeah!!!" and immediately started singing the Journey song.  The funny part is that my students started singing with me!  Good times...

Friday is coming fast...  We're taking our 5th graders to Carowinds Education Day.  It's always a fun field trip, but it's incredibly stressful!!  The kids have been looking forward to this trip for a couple years, though.  Pray that we don't lose or injury any students!! :)

I Can... Statements

I decided to work at school today instead of play Candy Crush all day.  {No joke - I would have sat on the couch all day.}  I wanted to make something that I haven't had the time or energy to do: I Can... headers.  I would have made them at home, but I didn't have my scrapbook paper (or printer ink for that matter).  I already had I Can Statements posted, but they were ugly and I wanted them to be pretty.  :)  You can click here to see my Pinspiration.  Mine don't look quite that good, but I'm content with it for now.  What do you think?

I Can statements (before)  Ugly, right??

Finally, I just wanted to share my newsletter for this week.  I'm not sure about y'all, but I am having the hardest time getting students to:

1. Turn in anything, much less on time.
2. Put their name on anything.
3. Use reading strategies.

I feel like I'm turing blue from repeating myself.  To get their attention (and their parents') I put a picture on their newsletter this week.  You've all seen the "Keep Calm" posters I'm sure.  I found one that read, "KEEP CALM AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK".  Maybe it will help... (probably not, ha!).