Positive Thinking Thursday

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for 

Positive Thinking Thursday! 

Maya Angelou died last week.

Here are some positive quotes 

from this inspirational woman 

for Positive Thinking Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm linking up with Christine from "Sugar and Spice," for a Wordless Wednesday linky party! It is time for Wordless Wednesday!

What is Lucy thinking?

Perhaps, Lucy is thinking about how excited she is for summer vacation!

Oh, wait. That's me! SO CLOSE!

Currently

I'll be linking up with Farley, over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade, for Currently. I was a lazy bum today and just used the background from my Currently May. Yikes. Sorry!

A Peek At My Week

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

Monday:

LAST STATE ASSESSMENT!

We're taking the written exam for Science...and then the state testing is FINALLY over! Woohoo!!!!

Tuesday:

We have 19 days left of school. Tuesday is a pretty normal day this week. Honestly, I think it's our last normal day of the school year! At this point in June, we have assemblies, field trips, graduation practices, moving up ceremonies, etc.

We'll spend a bit of time today polishing up our writing portfolios. I use pizza boxes to compile the student writing near the end of the year. Each child has a pizza box. I take a picture of the child with a chef's hat and a checkered tablecloth background to place on the pizza box. Each child will make a take out menu type table of contents for their writing portfolio, listing all of the writing pieces they are including.

Wednesday:

Fourth graders graduate from elementary school and move on to the middle school in my district, so we have a visit to the middle school this week. It gives the kids a chance to tour their new school, ask questions, meet the teachers, and get a little more comfortable.

Thursday:

I have a tradition near the conclusion of the school year. I try to do a countdown, and each day we do some fun activity. It keeps things fresh as the year winds down! I write these activities on slips of paper, put them inside balloons, hang the balloons from the classroom ceiling, and pop one each day!

Some activities we put inside the balloons:

Minute to Win It Games

Kickball Tourney

Reading Marathon

Ice Cream Party

Picnic Lunch Outside

Paper Airplane Contest

Popsicle Treat

Bubblegum Blowing Contest

Movie and Popcorn Day

I have each child earn raffle tickets throughout the day for walking quietly in the hallway and making good choices. The raffle tickets go into a jar and I use those tickets to choose kids who get to pop balloons each day. It really is a lot of fun!

So, we started the balloon popping extravaganza this week! The kiddos are super duper excited!

Friday:

Well, the state assessments are over, but our school is doing a wee bit of field testing. The kiddos are going to be quite disappointed when they find out that their Friday morning will be consumed with field testing. 

Our class also has Fun Friday recess today. As long as kids did all assignments, homework, and behaved respectfully, they earn Fun Friday. Now that the weather is warm, Fun Friday is way easier for me to plan! The children are thrilled to go play on the playground and bring a kickball outside!

Five For Friday (I mean, Saturday.)

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday! And even though it was a four day week, with Memorial Day, it was still a doozy!

We took our NYS Science Performance test this week, and on Monday my little fourth graders will finish up their state testing with the Science written exam. PHEW! FINALLY! We are in the home stretch!

I have a tradition near the conclusion of the school year. I try to do a countdown, and each day we do some fun activity. It keeps things fresh as the year winds down! I write these activities on slips of paper, put them inside balloons, hang the balloons from the classroom ceiling, and pop one each day!

Some activities we put inside the balloons:

Minute to Win It Games

Kickball Tourney

Reading Marathon

Ice Cream Party

Picnic Lunch Outside

Paper Airplane Contest

Popsicle Treat

Bubblegum Blowing Contest

Movie and Popcorn Day

I have each child earn raffle tickets throughout the day for walking quietly in the hallway and making good choices. The raffle tickets go into a jar and I use those tickets to choose kids who get to pop balloons each day. It really is a lot of fun!

Any other ideas for end of the year excitement?

My annual review with my principal is next week. I've been working to get my evidence binder and paperwork completed. It sure is a lot of hard work! I heard from a teacher friend in another district that some districts are using LiveBinder to digitally compile evidence for annual reviews. I'm putting "LiveBinder research" on my summer to do list because that would be way easier than hole punching and binder stuffing!

In real life news, my washing machine leaked its face off all over my basement last week. I ordered a new washer and dryer. They came today and they are oh so pretty! Unfortunately, in my infinite wisdom, I forgot to order the stacking kit. So, my friends at Best Buy will be back next week to stack. And when I say "my friends," I really mean it because the same two guys have delivered all of my new appliances in the past month, and we're now buds.

In other news, I've recently developed an addiction to the television series, Scandal. I've been binge watching for days and I love it! Scandal and report cards and RtI reports will be my weekend!

Positive Thinking Thursday

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for Positive Thinking Thursday! 

Last week, my fourth graders and I were working through an EngageNY math lesson from module 6 about decimals. About halfway through I made a comment about our group moving really quickly through the lesson. One of my boys was like, "Yea. Because it's easy."

It got me thinking. Was this really an easy lesson? Or had we just worked so hard all year that it was paying off? We were picking up challenging concepts quickly because we understood the math behind it all. Of course, my thinking is usually out loud, so I said all of this to my group of kiddos. They were like, "Miss C, we HAVE worked hard all year and we've learned A LOT of math, so now we just get it. It IS easy!"

It was a really nice math lesson.

Oh, by the way, I'm throwing a little end of the year TpT sale. Check it out.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm linking up with Christine from "Sugar and Spice," for a Wordless Wednesday linky party! It is time for Wordless Wednesday!

Has anyone else had success with GoNoodle? Or know of any other brain break sites?