Summer is over...for most of us!

Hi everyone!

Just an update from my life. Yes, it is time to go back to school, but I am taking child rearing leave during September and October this year. I had my second child, a son named Braxton Wilder, in July. He was 10 days late, so we didn't start off on the best foot. (Just kidding, but being 41 weeks pregnant was not cool in summer!) Anyway, I worked my butt off this summer, more than I ever have in my life, even after having Braxton, just so I could take a little extra time with him this fall. With a pandemic, I felt that it would be nice to let my school work out the kinks of scheduling and cleaning before I came back...plus I just needed more baby snuggles!

So, here I am, home with a toddler (Violet Harper is 2 and the best, most independent, smartest kid I've ever met) and a newborn. I'll also try to get back to blogging. But for now, some baby pictures to leave you with all the feels:

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday

First day back from February break.

Always tough to get back into the routine, but if you have strong routines in place, the kiddos should adjust quickly. 

Tuesday

My practicum student from a local college joins us on Tuesdays. Always a happy day when there are extra adults in the classroom to help the kiddos! And to help me! 

Wednesday

I'm starting our next unit in ELA soon...INSECTS!

Just trying to get it planned and ready!

I'm very excited to bring in my ANT FARM for the class!!!

Friday

Staff meeting? Okay.

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday

February Break

Tuesday

February Break

Wednesday

February Break

Thursday

February Break

Friday

February Break

YAYYYY!!!!

Over the break I will obviously do schoolwork. I'll go to school to do some dreaded copying and battle those darned copy machines. I'll also do some fun housework...like finally getting my dishwasher fixed after weeks of living in the old days of hand washing!

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday

I've been tutoring third and fourth graders in the mornings before school. It was great having extra money at first, but now it makes me a tiny bit sad to give up four mornings a week...at least I have lovely and sweet kiddos to work with!

Tuesday

I have a practicum student joining my second grade class on Tuesdays! I always volunteer for practicum students because I had such memorable and wonderful experiences when I was in college working in different classrooms! I feel like it's important to guide our young teachers and show them the ropes. Plus, it's always nice to have an extra hand in the classroom!

Wednesday

We're planting seeds in our second grade class! I hope my black thumb doesn't ruin this for the kids! We're using a very narrow and clear planter so the kiddos can observe the roots under the ground!

Thursday

Almost Friday!

Friday

Happy GALENTINE'S Day!!!

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday! 

Flashlight Friday continues to be a success!

The kiddos love the novelty of the flashlights, which I got on super sale at Big Lots for the entire class. We read for about 15 minutes every Friday with their flashlights. It's a great independent reading time and EVERYONE is engaged!

Is this the cutest or what?

In my local park along the Erie Canal, I found a free little library!

You can borrow books and leave books at your leisure.

SO CUTE!

I never got sweet notes like this when I taught fourth grade...

Second graders are the sweetest! :)

Oh, by the way, we had a snow day on Monday!!!

Pug Socks!

I'm terrible at keeping my socks together, but I'll make an exception for these socks!

A Peek at My Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday:

I am officially done with summer school!

We have a four week program, and the last day was Friday, so I have a day off today!

I will be staying home and cleaning! While my handyman takes some bushes out of my front yard. Definitely NOT a job I'm capable of doing on my own.

Tuesday:

First day of curriculum writing. 

We are focusing this week on ELA.

I'm excited for some professional development and some time to work on the ELA modules from EngageNY. They are a wee bit overwhelming and I definitely need time to figure them out, especially the second grade skills strand.

Wednesday:

More ELA curriculum writing!

Thursday:

And what will today hold?

MORE ELA CURRICULUM WRITING!

Friday:

A day off!

And my parents are coming to visit, so I'll do a little last minute cleaning today.

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday:

First day of summer school! I have 9 kids and 6 of them were in my class last year. I'm excited to see them again!!!

Tuesday:

Day one teaching a workshop on read alouds at our local Teacher Resource Center. I'm excited! Today is all about chapter books.

Wednesday:

I'm teaching another workshop at our Teacher Resource Center today. This one is all about close reading!

Thursday:

Guess what I'm doing today? Yup. Teaching a workshop at our Teacher Resource Center! This one is all about math, and I teamed up with a teacher from another district, which is SO awesome because we share ideas!

Friday:

Week one of summer school and workshops under my belt! And I'm getting new glass block windows installed in my basement, which is so exciting! Dorky that I'm excited about it. But I'm still excited!

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday:

TCI (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention) Training.

8-3.

Day one.

Tuesday:

TCI (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention) Training.

8-3.

Day two.

Wednesday:

TCI (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention) Training.

8-3.

Day three.

Thursday:

DAY ONE OF SUMMER VACATION!

Friday:

DAY TWO OF SUMMER VACATION!

...And probably going into school to work on my new classroom before summer school begins.

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday:

Class Slideshow Day!

I spent all weekend making my class slideshow! So, on Monday, we will have an awards ceremony and then watch the class slideshow and share some memories! I'm psyched.

Tuesday:

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

'Nuf said.

Wednesday:

Conference Day!

We are doing a K-2 overview of the ELA modules in the morning, and a workshop on the Daily Five in the afternoon. I'm the only teacher in my school to use the Daily Five, but it's totally going to change next year since I'm moving from fourth to second!

Thursday:

Second Conference Day!

For me, this day will be filled with PACKING!!!

Moving classrooms is tough work! I'm SOOOOOO excited to change up my decor and organize! Well, you know, in theory. By the end of Thursday I'm going to be sweaty and gross and wishing I weren't moving, I'm sure!

Friday:

Although Friday should be my first day of summer, I signed up for a workshop on the Social Studies framework. So, I will be in school from 8-3. When does summer start again?

A Peek at my Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

Monday:

Track and Field Day!

The fourth graders learn about the events in track and field as their final unit in gym class. They have qualified in certain events and compete in their events on Monday!

Tuesday:

We're having an ice cream party today! 

I have our balloons hanging from the ceiling and the kiddos pop one every day to reveal how many days of school are left and what our special count down treat will be! Today is ice cream! 

We'll eat outside and chat about memories of fourth grade. But probably my spunky boys will remember the farts and the kid who puked on the floor in the classroom that one time.

Wednesday:

I have a CSE meeting. It drives me crazy to be out of the classroom in June...mostly because my students are naughty and mischievous as summer gets closer! I feel terrible for the sub because I'm sure it isn't easy!

Thursday:

We have an awards ceremony today for the whole school. Should be interesting! I hope it isn't too hot...the fourth graders sit on the top of the bleachers and the end of June can get pretty sweaty and stinky!

Friday:

Performing Arts day!

Basically, the kiddos enjoy a day of the arts. It's always aligned to our art teacher's theme for the year, which was the railroad this year.

And each day this week I vow to clean a little bit of my piles of junk in my classroom! I'm changing rooms over the summer and I cannot move all of this junk with me! Time to cleanse!

A Peek at My (FOUR DAY) Week

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for "A Peek at my Week."

This week is going to FLY BY! 

Monday and Tuesday will be fairly normal. I plan on experimenting in my classroom with a sweet formative assessment tool that a colleague of mine discovered, Plicker.

PLICKERS!

So, here's how this free site works. Sign up FOR FREE using an email address. Create a class and add your students. Print the cards. (Each kids receives their own card, and the cards look kooky...but by turning the cards, they create A, B, C, or D answers) The teacher downloads the plicker app to a phone or iPad. When asking questions, the teacher scans the room as kids hold up their individual cards. Immediately, the responses are graphed on the iPad! You can display the data and discuss or use it to drive instruction!

Kiddos hold up their individual cards. Directionality determines their answer choice.

Cards!

Immediate results!

This seems like an awesome way to motivate students and act as a GREAT formative assessment tools for teachers! I'm trying it this week! Yay!

So, on Wednesday, my entire fourth grade is preparing the students for their NYS Science assessment. We have a performance piece of the test, so each teacher is teaching an experiment and the students are rotating from room to room. This will be an entire day of science! When I told my kiddos about it they were bummed that we wouldn't have math, but they were really okay about skipping writing. Hmmm....

Thursday is our big Memorial Day parade! Thank goodness all of the rain occurred last week! The entire school will march together on Thursday! Afterwards, the fourth graders hop on the bus and travel to local cemeteries to place American flags on the tombstones of veterans. I will have to come up with a relaxing activity for the afternoon, though! What to do the afternoon before a four day weekend?

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY! 

And my sister is coming to visit!! 

And I'm getting my new pretty kitchen appliances!!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to ALL!

Five For Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday!
                             

I finally finished grading the NYS Math test! Being stuck in a stuffy room grading for two days was NO FUN! Especially when those two days were GORGEOUS! But I'm finally out! And the rest of the week was lovely. We had a field trip to a museum to learn about local history. And decided to have a class picnic outside because of the warm weather! Although my students are getting antsier with every day that brings us closer to summer...they're still pretty lovable! Maybe I missed them with all of these days I was out of the classroom grading and interviewing new fourth grade teachers....

...maybe it's like they say...

Distance makes the heart grow fonder!

I brought out my handy dandy Choice Board this week. We're independent workers, and since school is winding down I added a lot of games and much more word work to our Daily Five time. 

I decided to give my students another week of poetry writing. Blackout Poetry, Perspective Poetry, and Lucy-inspired poetry. (Lucy is my dog. My adorable dog. Who goes on adventures in the imaginations of my fourth grade students!) 

Featured below are MY examples.

Now, my students love sharing their perspective poetry and guessing what their peers have written about. But I love the black out poetry the most because I copied pages from recent read alouds (You might recognize the page from Wonder shown above!) and we're reminiscing about books of fourth grade past! it's fun!

My class continued to review Science vocabulary words during the word work component of Daily Five. I am hanging the posters outside of our classroom and we admire them all the time! We are SO ready for this NYS Science test!

So, I bit the bullet and finally got a new phone this week! It's an iphone and it's pretty sweet. Immediately, I hopped online and ordered this case:

I. Am. So. Excited.