Week 7... Time is Flying....

A month since my last blog. I meant to make more frequent posts, but life seems to get ahead of me! Fall is one of the busiest times of the year for everyone, and teachers are no exception. My major undertakings this past month have involved SAT, parent conferences, PTSO, Reading, and our spring Jamestown trip. 

SAT stands for student assistance team. Anytime I see something that concerns me I make contact with parents to try and get input and insight into what might be cause the issue and how to resolve them. I have always held to the philosophy that the parent is the expert on the child. No matter what. This allows me to put parents at ease and in control of any interventions, as well as show them we are truly on the same team! I have had meetings galore this week - only one 40 minute planning - but I think the playoffs are and will continue to be of great benefit to my students. 

Much of the past few weeks have been spent trying to plan a dazzling Fall Festival. There was significant decline in attendance and revenue last year and we are trying to get parents to help. We've sent home letters for volunteering and had a fantastic response. I have a special affinity for the spook room, so I have lots of ideas I have been planning and building! As an incentive, students whose parents volunteer to donate time or resources have been added to a list for our first annual MegaParty, which will take place about a week after the festival. Really praying all this comes together. I know people say be positive, but without action, effort, and sacrifice words are hollow....

Reading is improving from my point of view. I abandoned the digital test to use the paper format. The kids requested it and seem to really do about 25% better with the paper, on which they can highlight and make notes. I truly think test scores would improve dramatically if we were to go back to paper format. We are working hard on genre, summarization, main idea, details, inferring, affixes, syntax, and text structure. An awful lot is expected of these 9-10 year olds, but the amaze me with their progress. Report cards go out Tuesday...one sixth of the year is over...

On top of all the regular school stuff, we are working to raise funds for Jamestown. We will be taking the kids April 9-10 and run a gauntlet of activities and tours. I love this trip and have been so blessed to go several years as a help, but teaching Virginia Studies this year adds such a rich dimension. I get to see it through Ainsley's eyes and as an added bonus, 12 of my kiddos are getting to study in depth two books that bring the adventures to life, Blood on the River and A Lion to Guard Us. I am so appreciative to Shanda Sinnett for helping enrich these minds! We are currently selling Little Caesars pizza kits and will have a Longerberger basket bingo in November. Our kids just got done selling cookie dough as a school fundraiser and I know Girl Scouts are selling nuts and candy while Boy Scouts are selling popcorn. Asking others to purchase items is something I absolutely loathe, but honestly we would be very limited in the experiences we are able to offer without these sales. I would love to have some fresh ideas, especially ones giving people their money's worth. 

There have been some tears and trials this year (both from kids and teachers)! But I can honestly step back and say I absolutely adore my kids. They are such a blessing and we have made great strides in our educational endeavors thus far. I went to a football game today and saw so many students - past and current - and am so very proud to hear the call out my name and wave or hug me. I truly want to be the very best I can for the sake of each and every life I touch. So I press on!

I am ending with some pictures from our literature circles on Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Please take a little time to read and view these! :) 

Welcome September!

     Trying to get my blog updated...it seems like there is just not enough time for all I need to do!!! Probably the story of everyone's life, but it has been a rat race...and the rats are winning!

     Each morning, I have prepared morning work and directions for the kids to complete upon arrival. In my little mind, this seems like it would make the morning start in a predictable and organized way. But those words just don't apply to an elementary classroom! This morning I had to count and receipt fundraiser money - which I am thankful we receive- but it takes time...additionally I had to record attendance, take up snack money and tally orders, write homework in for several of my students, answer questions from a dozen different sources, implement a new schedule with Americorps, send out students to complete a reading assessment, answer several calls, conference with my principal as she observed, and have a crash course in creating reports from the computer program we are using to build reading skills. All between 8:00 to 8:45ish.... I also had to gather homework for several student going out of town next week, catch up some students who had missed work and respond to notes from a few parents... I keep telling myself to be graceful and things will get better - smoother - more efficient each and every day... 

     We also had a fire drill, a reading lesson focusing on rereading, characteristics of expository texts, multiple meaning word within context, and comparing and contrasting using a Venn diagram... That was before we had a quiz on Virginia's water features and preparing a study guide for a map test on Virginia and it's location, regions, and physical characteristics... And that was the first half of my day! I almost forgot the many requests to go to the restroom, nurse, or for a bandaid. My kiddos always need something, but I hope they always know I want to help, protect, and care for them.

     I don't write this to complain, but to hopefully bring perspective as to how much we (the students and teachers) are able to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time. If you don't have ADHD when you begin teaching, you will develop it quickly! 

     I love my kids and am thankful everyday for their ability to be flexible and hard workers. I am also thankful for the times we can laugh and joke or help each other through trials... This is the life of a fourth grade teacher, and though I am very tired, I cherish each student and wouldn't trade any of them for the world!

The Blog is Back Baby!

8:00 and I just got home.... Need to eat supper and study with Ainsley, so I'll keep it short! Technology has not been a very good friend of mine lately... Had to reset all the class iPads and have a crash course in pushing apps to the kids. I still haven't gotten it down. Trying to teach how to use digital books and reinstalling apps was very time consuming. I am also trying to learn the digital and media components of the "Wonders" reading program. Aptly named because I wonder a lot while trying to teach it. Had a meeting yesterday trying to get a grip on a web based reading program called I ready. I also stayed after today until about 5:00 helping a colleague learn some iPad basics. Honestly ready to unplug for awhile! My kids are still wonderful...very patient and graceful toward me when I take 30 minutes to accomplish something I planned to spend 10 minutes to do. Signing off... Tomorrow is another day!

First Full Week: In the Books!

     I didn't get home until late last night, so here is the latest from room 124! 

 

        Here is the beginning of a thinking map! Kids were stressing about spelling, but I assured them right now we get ideas recorded and we will proofread later!

     My kids' response to "How do you like literature circles?"

     He was so proud! He asked me to take a pic with his map...sorry it is so blurry!

     Illustration of Fudge scaring Mrs. Yarby with his brother's gorilla mask!

     Love the quality of these questions!

     Learning the language! Word wizards did an awesome job finding tricky words and making them something we could understand!

     It has been a great week. I think a lot of procedures were established and rapport was built! Going to try to get some planning done so I am not behind next week! I need to figure out how to assign digital content and task lists specific to each student's level of instruction and figure out how to show the kids the process of accessing digital books from two programs our school librarian has purchased! In the beginning phases of collaborating with a local artist to use inking to create the Virginia landscape as our Native American ancestors saw it before arrival of Europeans.... Lots of meetings next week... Installing a new program to insure what apps can be downloaded on class iPads, learning to use a individualized reading program, and helping a colleague learn to use the iPad she has with her speech clients.... Maybe I need a nap!!!

Teaching on my Toes!

     A great day! Still haven't taken the first stamp yet! The kids also worked on lunch manners and got the fifth and final card for extra recess! It's amazing to watch them self modulate. They are a very caring group and everyone seems to watch out for each other. Who could ask for more?

     We began a superpower writing prompt today and used the app "SimpleMind+" to map out the framework. Success all around! This is a great, free app that one of the computer gurus in the county shared. 

     We also finished up the group literature circles and I was very impressed with the finished products. I will post a picture tomorrow. We will continue doing the circles for every two chapters we read in our book. The next time, kids will get different jobs! 

     Social Studies is growing on me! We are using interactive notes (adapted a bit). Kids are marking the text, then we illustrated each paragraph. They really are able to recall well when we use acrostic type memory helps. I am really staying about 3 seconds in front of them and despite lots of prep work, I feel like I am learning as I teach! 

     So blessed to having such an enjoyable group of students. So grateful!

Welcome to our World!

An awesome day!!! My kids are such a blessing! We tried literature circles today! Everyone had a job and then like job people got together to work on accomplishing tasks. We had  question creator, illustrator, word wizard, and connection maker in each group. We are using it with the book, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I will post pics of work tomorrow, but I was just so excited to see them so excited and hear the conversations going on around our room! Tonight was busy... Had praise team practice and then came home to four dead ducks. :( Mark and I researched and think it sounds like botulism. I have two more sick that we are trying to rehabilitate... A reminder to me that students and teachers are whole people even though we only work together in an educational capacity. You never know what is going on outside the walls of your classroom, but I pray some of the lessons learned in my classroom can be extended and applied to make every part of a child's life better!

Hmmmmm...

     Today's adventure was a test of patience, and not with the kids!

     Technology aaaaaaccckkk!!!!

     I taught the students the sol on Virginia and the surrounding states. I had created, scheduled, and made accessible an Interactive Achievement quiz to assess it. In a perfect world, the kids would log on the app and take the quiz. Period. But in both groups the passwords were not working for half the students. A quiz that should've taken 15 minutes ended up taking 45! I have tried to have plan B,C, and D in place and went through those today. It is frustrating, but it tried to stay calm and troubleshoot (probably drove Amy Hash and Jude Raffeiner crazy). We made it, but it was less than optimal.

     My blog dream - a great pic of students using technology will just have to be a goal for tomorrow. I hate planning and having to abandon or adjust what I had planned, but it is a necessity - in my classroom at least! And tomorrow is another day!

Have I mentioned my kids are awesome??? 

     So first, here is the background info.... I am teaching fourth this year. I told my students after 10 years in third, I finally passed! I had a 59% pass rate in 2013-14 in math. Yes....ouch.... Although I believe there are multiple reasons several of my kids struggled...and I cannot stress enough how proud I am of this score...I watched the kids take an incredibly high level, tough, and looooooong (4 hours) test. But numbers being what they are, my administrator proposed a move. So now I teach language arts and social studies for fourth graders.... A change for my twentieth year in the classroom.

    When starting a new curriculum (New SOLs) it is a pretty massive undertaking. The year is spent trying to not only teach, but stay enough ahead of the instruction that you are actually instructing! There are a million things you need to make, organize, and master. So my kids have been wonderfully patient as I undertake this! 

     Confession....I do not enjoy Social Studies..... I am trying to love it, but so far we are just covering pretty dry geographical info. I was directed by a colleague to use interactive notes and foldables. Maybe these will be a catalyst to my teaching passion! I feel like a newborn colt trying to stand...wobbly! I always use these types of experiences to empathize with my kids...so many of them feel this way much of the time...

     In reading, we are actually ahead of my original plans, and these students are really keeping me hopping! We started a new reading series, Wonders, this year. It is always a challenge to learn a new program as a teacher...last week one lesson was an epic bore...I apologized to the kids...they agreed it was "lame-o." I do however like some of the basic procedures...especially collaborative conversation. The students have actual rules for sharing, listening, and adding ideas. I was amazed to see how well they followed directions. 

     My classroom is blessed to have 1:1 iPads for students! Today we got them out and used the dictionary.com app to find definitions and synonyms. We also used a gradient colored SMARTBOARD to chart shades of meaning. Advanced material...but the kids were successful! We tried out some apps McGraw-Hill created for use with their program. Kids loved it! I also used the iPads for individual white boards using Screen Chomp. These are valuable tools and my kids do so well with them.

     With so much going on, behavior hasn't even been on the radar...everyone is too busy to test limits! I am sure the honeymoon will end, but I appreciate the cooperation right now!

     Ok...enough blabbering.... Please feel free to post comments, suggestions, or advice!!! I deeply appreciate all the insight and suggestions I am given! :)

Captains log...Day 3!

Sweet! Huge thanks to Melina Easter! I tried blogging last year, in fact it was one of my professional goals. I ended up with no readers...which was ok...so I quit. Trying my hand at it again! I love the idea of sharing, networking, and synergy to become the best educator I can...defined by student success and growth...with the tiniest emphasis on scores and the main one on facilitating the development of independent, productive learners!