Thank a Teacher

I am sure that if you are reading this there is a special teacher that comes to your mind who made an impact on your life. For me, that teacher was my fifth grade language arts teacher, Ms. Crew. She is the reason I am a teacher today; it was through her compassion and patience with our class, that made me want to teach. She worked hard everyday and treated everyone with fairness. She instilled a love for reading and learning in me, and I am truly grateful to have had her as a teacher.  Ms. Crew, thank you for making such a lasting impression on my life and for being an example of a fabulous teacher. 

In appreciation for teachers everywhere, Teachers Pay Teachers is hosting a site-wide sale. My TpT store will be 20% off on May 7th and May 8th. I hope you will stop by and check out the new resources I have added. I have several end-of-the-year resources that will keep your students engaged until the very last day of school. 

I have also just added a new resource that I think will be a life-saver to many teachers. It is called Write with Me Journal. It contains 36 journals to be used throughout the entire school year. It is designed to be used as a take-home journal where the students interact with a parent/guardian/family member to help write many of the journals. It is aligned with the Common Core Standards for grades four, five, and six. There is a journal log where the parent initials the completion of the journal entry. I love that it promotes writing in the home and gives the students and parents the opportunity to spend quality time together. If you teach language arts or have writing as part of your curriculum, make sure you check it out. 

All 14 All Things Upper Elementary collaborators will be hosting 20% off sales on Tuesday and Wednesday. On top of the the 20% off, if you enter the coupon code "TAD13" at checkout, you will take an additional 10% off your purchase. Now is the time to stock up on those items you have had your eye on for a while. I know my cart is full of great things, and I cannot wait to purchase them at these wonderful sale prices! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Happy Teaching and Happy Shopping!

May Currently

I love the beginning of each month because of Farley's Currently Link Up. It is always fun to read everyone else's thoughts and ideas. If you are a blogger and have not yet linked with Farley, I encourage you to give it a try!

Listening: This morning I am listening to the hum of my computer. I feel asleep too early last night to get my post published, so I am doing it this morning. I am not sure about all of you, but I have been so tired lately. I think it is because my mind has all of these thoughts running through it and I have so much to accomplish before we get out of school for the summer.

Loving: I am loving that we only have 17 more school days left. Although I have a lot to get finished, it is nice to know I will have a little break. 

Thinking: I seriously need to get my classroom ready to move. I am changing classrooms and changing grades next year. I am so excited! (There will be a post about this soon, but I am very much looking forward to the change!)

Wanting: I know this is not healthy, but I really want a chocolate-covered doughnut right about now. And I think I might just see what I can do about that on my way to school. 

Needing: Okay, who out there other than me, does not like to go to the grocery store? Any hands? I have always done the grocery shopping for our family. Just here recently, my husband has been going to get small things for me because I just do not like it, and I cannot stick to a grocery list for anything! But, I need to go because our cupboards are looking a little scarce! It is on my to-do list for this afternoon...I think I can, I think I can.

Summer Bucket List: I have so many things that I want to do this summer. We will take a trip to the mountains and a trip to the beach (probably several trips because we live so close). I tried to think of things that I really want to accomplish, so here it goes:

1. Stick to a morning exercise routine: I have found that if I do not exercise in the morning when I wake up, it will not happen. I plan to get up each day this summer and do some form of exercise. My clothes are getting a bit snug (probably because of the chocolate-covered doughnuts) and exercise always makes me feel better. 

2. Log volunteer hours with my daughter: I have always been one who loves to volunteer. My daughter will be turning five in a couple of weeks, and she has started to ask questions about helping others. Just last night she came to me and said she wanted to help those that don't have clothes get some. It melted my heart. I think this summer we will spend some time at our local Help Agency volunteering together. We also have several other organizations in our community where we can volunteer. I think it will be something wonderful to do together.

Magical Product Swap

 

It is that time again for the Magical Product Swap. I had the pleasure of swapping with the wonderful Shannon Piles for this magical product swap. When I went to view her wonderful store products, it was such a difficult decision...she has so many fantastic items to choose from. I finally chose the Show Me the Money pack. This looked like the perfect item!

Because I do not teach math, I tested this wonderful product out on my young daughter. She loved it! She has not yet learned money in school, but she does know some from asking us questions about it. I used the first set of cards to test out on her. 

To begin with, I set out the recording sheet, the first set of cards that correlated with one another, a pencil, and some actual coins (I thought that with her age, it would be nice to touch, feel, and see the coin.). I showed her the first set of cards that were recorded on the sheet as an example. We walked through each card and talked about them. 

It was then time for her to do the second set of cards, still with my help. She did a great job; I attribute this to the fact that the cards are laid out wonderfully and the recording sheet was easy to follow. 

Below is a picture of her examining the actual coin to those on the card. I showed her how to look for certain characteristics of each coin. 

I let her complete the third card all by herself. I was one proud mommy! She did a great job, and then continued on with the other cards. 

This was a wonderful resource to use with my daughter. If you are a math teacher who teaches counting coins, this is one product you need to invest in for your students. It will keep them engaged in their learning while having fun. 

Please check out Shannon's TpT Store. I am certain you will find products to add to your resource collection. Also, check out her amazing blog If My Calculations Are Correct for ideas to use in your classroom. 

Testing, Testing...Day 5 (A Little Late)

Please accept my apologies! If you were following my testing incentive posts, I am a week late with Day 5. I am not sure if it was because I was SOOOOOO excited to be finished with our standardized tests or what, but I am late. 

Testing Day #5...the race to the finish. (Or at least that is how I viewed my sweet students as I observed them taking their tests. You would have thought it was a race!) The last day of testing was over social studies content. While I feel certain my students were prepared for it, I am a little concerned at how soon they ALL finished. I know it was the last test they took, and I know they were tired of doing nothing except reading and answering questions. I understand their frustrations, as I was once a student myself. They flew through it and were ready for....drum roll, please...to go outside and run out all of their nervous energy! They all brought in their basketballs and footballs that morning, and when I greeted my homeroom students, they all wanted to make sure I was going to let them go outside after the "all clear" testing announcement was made. 

So, you guessed it! I hurried them out the door as fast as I could when the testing clearance was announced, and they ran and played for an hour until it was time to go to lunch. Luckily after lunch, they were tired and sleepy and compromised with a video. 

For their incentive on the last day, I filled a bucket of different candy and posted the "Wishing You Luck on the Test" printable. If you are looking for testing incentives to use in your classroom, check out my Motivational Ideas for Testing and Assessments Pack; your students will love them! 

This week we are back to grindstone, reviewing old content, previewing next year's content, and next week we will begin our last novel together. Stay tuned to more posts about "what happens after testing." 

Testing, Testing...Day 4

 

 

"Reach for the Stars" was our theme for today. I thought it was appropriate since they were taking the Science portion of their standardized tests. The looks on their faces were not confusion, but they were looks of sincere determination. My students have been working so hard lately, and I am truly proud of each and every one of them! I think they really needed the candy to keep them going today. Some of them looked a little bit sleepy.

 

We can officially say we have completed four out of five testing days. Only one more day to go! Yahooo...I think I might just be a little more excited than the students. Now, don't get me wrong. There are many other things that they would rather be doing than taking these high-stakes tests, but as the test administrator for my students, I am exhausted! (There will be a follow-up post about this!)

 

If you have missed my other posts about the testing incentives I use, you can find my Testing Incentives and Motivational Ideas pack. This is my go-to resource for all testing incentives. I simply choose the incentive I would like to use, print, and attach the candy. It is wonderful, and it has made my life so much easier this testing session.

 

Here is the little present I had sitting out on all of my students' desks as they walked into the classroom this morning. (And I didn't have too many empty candy wrappers to pick up today, so I was very pleased!)

 



Testing, Testing...Day 3

 

Today marked the third testing day for my sweet darlings. They are officially more than half-way finished with testing! Hooray! Today's test was the mathematics portion of the test. They worked their fingers to the bone coming up with their answers. I always love to see my students work hard and feel good about their work.

 

Because it was the third day and half-way point in the testing, I decided I wanted them to know that I was cheering for them 100%. I put Cheerios in ziplock bags for the students to eat during their break to fuel their brains. They enjoyed their snack and were very appreciative.

 

If you need ideas for testing incentives, check out my Testing Incentives and Motivational Ideas for Assessments pack for a resource to use throughout the year, year after year. 

Testing, Testing...Day 2

Day 2...Language Arts!

My students came in pumped and ready to go this morning. They knew they had prepared for their test, and they felt good about it. This is the first year our county has used the Common Core Standards, so where the students were feeling good about things, I was sweating bullets! Our test is also kept under lock and key, and we are never allowed to preview, see, or look at the test questions. This is a HUGE NO-NO in our county/state. Still sweating bullets! 

After the students began their test, I walked up and down the rows to make sure everyone was bubbling in their answers on the correct form. Although I did not (and repeat cannot) stop to read any test item, I did notice that it looked very long. When they were finished taking both sections of the test, they immediately said they felt good about it and that most of it seemed easy. I was relieved! 

For their little incentive today, I decided to give them bubble gum. They were given some before the test, during their break between section 1 and section 2, and some after they finished. This was a treat for them because they are never allowed to chew gum in my class...I despise cleaning it off of the carpet! 

This is how today's incentives were displayed. 

If you missed my Testing, Testing...Day 1 post, you missed where I get my incentives from. For my go-to resource for testing ideas and incentives, click HERE. There are 11 ideas to use, ready to print! They came in three different formats for each idea. 

Motivational Ideas for Tests and Assessments