Pics as Promised!

Just a quick post with our City of Ember mural! Kids chose what job they'd like to have on "Assignment Day," and wrote a brief reason as to why. All the red jackets are messengers. I have a lot of active workers!

Lucy who???

    Yes... I am attempting another blog update. I am not nearly as frequent with these as I would like, but it's more of a later priority when so much is going on at school. 

     We are now into the second semester. I teeter between emotions....only half a year left with the kids I love so much, only a few months til summer, and only a few months until testing! 

    I sat down at the monthly grade level meeting this week to review data collected from fall and mid year. The scores were ok, but I still feel so frustrated. I hate seeing any kid fail, especially as deemed by standardized scores. My kids are so much more than a number. Yet that is what everything is truly reduced to... How we decide if they need help, how we decide what type of help we can give, 

how we decide if they need assistance with meals, how effective a teacher is... Numbers. Don't get me wrong, I am a data lover. I strive to see concrete proof of understanding, but sometimes the number is just too broad to be accurate.

     I recently was trying to get help for a struggling student and came to the conclusion that nothing I do will bring the child to grade level in the time I am allotted. I can help make gains, but in reality, it will only help this student "fail better." I have a state mandated curriculum I am bound by contact to teach, but it often conflicts with performing best teacher practices. A student may not understand  a concept from a previous year, but I can only go back and teach once this year's standards are taught, and to fill in the gaps for and or challenge one child is time consuming, for all 40, it pushes me to settle for doing my best and leaves many frustrated. Yes differentiation is necessary, but composing the plan and having the time, resources, and support to make it a reality is often woefully difficult.

     My fitbit measures I walk about 5,000 steps in my school day - between 8:00 and 3:00? I just can't find any time I can squeeze more quality into. Every minute seems to be pushed and I am constantly rescheduling in my mind because I spent five more minutes on a lesson than planned. And I have sometimes stressed my kids by transitioning from one thing to another while he or she is still trying to get materials ready. :( I don't want to do it, and if I see it happen, I try to help with the next transition or slow down. But it just seems to be the culture now. Push, push, push. 

    I have to be recertified this year, which involves collecting evidence of my efforts to better myself professionally. A part of the process is to survey my students, which I accomplished yesterday. I deeply value my students opinions on how they feel I perform. I want to be 100% in everything, but have tried to accept with grace that isn't going to happen because I am a human dealing with humans (who I wouldn't change for a thing)! Surprisingly to me, the area of greatest concern that students share is respecting each other within the classroom. I was pleased that 95% of my kids said I helped them all the time (5% said some of the time), and 91% said I was respectful to the all the time (8% said sometimes). But the majority said that students were disrespectful to each other some of the time. I try to really address this at every opportunity (which is regularly 3-5 times a day), but even after researching I am at a loss as to how to improve this. I sway between "kids are kids...learning socialization is part of this" and "I want the safe, loving, nurturing classroom that is a sanctuary!" All advice appreciated!

     Despite the aggrevations, we still are striving to master all expected of us and do it in an as engaging way as possible. We have fallen in love with the book, The City of Ember, and have tried to do several projects to bring it to life, including a mural. I will try to post a picture of it later. We are working on analyzing and dissecting questions to make sure we understand what is asked and how we can be confident in our answers. Questions posed to these students are so multilayered.... Asking about idioms, authors' point of view, Latin and Greek roots (then give a synonym), and using text evidence to answer the how and what if questions. I work the classes so hard, but there is a feeling of guilt if I don't... I want confident and prepared fifth graders when I am finished. We are also studying the Civil War, so parents will be enjoying the songs, Our Nation Divided and The Civil War Came Marching On, for another week or so! 

     My students remain the focus and source of greatest joy at school! Today we had an awards program and one student in particular who received an award had the best reaction! He ran to the front pumping his arms up and down, yelling, "Yes!" When he got to the front the celebrating continued by hugging others and giving high fives... For that moment, he was a rock star! So I snapped a mental picture to which I will return when I feel overwhelmed and frustrated. I can't forget my first love, my students. I am so thankful for the reminders God gives me to help wash away the things that probably won't matter in a few years, and gives me the desire to create experiences that leave an impact. 

      That's the state of Room 124! Thanks for reading and God Bless America! :)

          

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!