December happenings...

So, as previously mentioned, I am the Hospitality Chair for my school.  December is our craziest month...so I just wanted to share what we did this month.  :-)

It's going to be a long post, so thanks in advance for sticking it out.

Every other month we get together to celebrate the faculty/staff birthdays from those two months.  Our Pre-K/2nd grade teachers hosted the November/December Birthday Club.  They put together a Cookie Decorating Party for us.  It was delicious!  The only problem was getting out of the chairs...adults are not meant to sit in chairs for 4 year olds.  :-P

 Every year we have a staff Christmas party.  This year, our Teacher-of-the-Year was our gracious Hostess.  We always have food, and play Dirty Santa.  Which, if you've never played that before, you should.  The blonde lady above is our principal.  She really didn't have a choice in the gift she chose, as one of our Pre-K teachers made a gift with her in mind.  The ornament she's holding has a gift card to amazon inside of it.  Along with pictures of our principal making the goofiest faces.  It was hilarious!

Yes, our faculty does play Heads Up!  Which, if you don't know what it is...it's an app by Ellen deGeneres.  Download it, you'll love it!

We started something new this year called December Eats and Treats.  Essentially it's a dessert potluck.  Everyone (that wants to) brings a dessert and puts it on the stage.  During lunch all faculty and staff members are free to go on stage and get some desserts.  I was a little worried at first, but more desserts showed up after I took these pictures.  And yes, that cake on the left was homemade by the wife of one of our 2nd grade teachers.

Last, but not least, we had an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest.  This is the second year we've had it, and more teachers join every year.  The gentleman in the gray sweater with the face on it was our winner this year.

I just wanted to throw this picture in, because if I didn't have this lady (my music teacher) I wouldn't be able to do half the things we do for Hospitality.  She is amazing and is always willing to do whatever is needed.

Thanks for sticking out this long post.  I hope it gave you some ideas for things to do at your school.  If you do something different, I am ALWAYS up for hearing new ideas...please share!

Until next time!

Thanksgiving activity...what?

I know what you're thinking...

"Thanksgiving?  In December?"

But, I haven't found the motivation to write about the ONE Thanksgiving activity I got to do until now.  And really, I should be sleeping.  I have to get up in 7ish hours and drive 7.5 hours to northern Mississippi (pray for me y'all).

Anyway...

because I am now ESE, it's hard for me to do anything extra.  I have a set reading series that I MUST follow.  And I do love it, and it does work...so I'm really not complaining.  I also am trying to fit in all of the grade level math standards, and the standards from previous years that my kiddos don't understand.  So, anything extra is not gonna fly.

Luckily, I have a group of 4th graders that came to for writing (well, had...people weren't thrilled they were getting pulled).  So, for our LAST writing group, I decided to do a Thanksgiving craft.  I know I probably saw this somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember where.  And I also forgot to take "after" pictures.  You know, the ones of completed projects.

*sigh*

Anyway, directions:

1. We created giant turkey cut-outs.
   
2. Each student then cut out feathers out of certain colors (the colors happened to be what I had scraps of).
   
3. The feathers were then glued onto the turkey.
   
4. A turkey related word was written on each feather.
   
5. (due to time) each child was put in charge of one feather.  We talked about thesauri (the plural for thesaurus, in case you were wondering.  :-P ), and how to use the guide words.
   
6. Each student looked up their words and then wrote the synonyms on that feather.
   
7. Students then shared their synonyms so we could write down all of the synonyms.

Here are some pictures of my kiddos working on them:

I'm going to try really hard to get into the groove of writing...and I have planned out my next few posts.  I'm just not sure what to write about after that.  It's hard to find things to share when you feel like you're not doing anything exciting.

Until next time!

Currently December

It's that time again...yup, time to link up with Farley for her Currently Link up.

So here goes:

Listening: My wife and I are trying to clear off our DVR from over Thanksgiving break (we were out of town), which means catching up on Ellen Show episodes.  I love Ellen...like, I would be one of those people who would cry just from meeting Ellen.  She might be my idol.

Loving: I'm super sad it's over already, but I love that we had a 5 day weekend.  It was just what I needed to rest and recharge before the crazy that is December.

Thinking: I had to change my schedule...again.  I'm so tired of all of this mess.  I wish people would pick something else to complain about other than my schedule.  Sheesh.

Wanting: My wanting kind of ties in to my thinking.  I would just like uninterrupted access inside certain peoples' brains.  I want to know why they think the way they think, why they feel the way they feel. (Do you know what movie that quote is from?  Haha)  For real though, I do want to know that.

Needing: It's past 10:00 here...which means I need to go to bed.  :-/

Giving: So...some advice that I think we, as teachers, need to hear every once in a while.  Elementary teachers teach math, reading, writing, science, social studies, penmanship, citizenship, manners, technology, and lots of other things.  That's a lot for anyone to keep track of.  We also have to remember, though, that we do not have to know everything about everything.  Pick one thing, and get really good at that one thing.  Then add another.  While you're waiting, ask for help.

I know the 3rd grade math standards like nobody's business.  I can tell you what our limits are and what we can and cannot be tested on.  And now, I have to learn 4th and 5th grade standards as well.  I know who in my school to ask for help.  I am slowly learning 4th grade standards, and once I have those, I will get 5th grade's as well.  But I am not going to burn myself out by trying to become the master at everything.  Not only do my students deserve better, but I deserve better.

Sometimes I think teachers have a constant need to be the best at everything.  We all need to remember that it's okay to not be the best at something.  It's okay to ask for help.  Isn't that what we tell our kids all the time?

Thanks for sticking out this long post.  Hope you all have a wonderful December!

I did it!

Ok, I know it has been awhile, and I should be writing a post about everything that I've done in my classroom lately.  And I will, at some point this week.

Tonight, though, I'm just writing a quick post to celebrate.

What am I celebrating you ask?

I just sold my FIRST TPT product!  Ahh!  I know that's not a big deal for some people, but I only have two products on TPT.  And the one has only been on TPT for like 2 weeks.  So I am VERY excited that I've had a product that got sold.

I earned less than $1...but hey, every little bit helps!

I promise, it'll be a real post next time.  But I was just super excited about this!

Here's a link to my store: The Disneyfied Teacher

November Currently

Time to link up with Farley over at

for November's Currently post.

So here goes...

Listening: I'm loving the new crop of shows this season.  They're all pretty good.  If you haven't seen Mysteries of Laura, you should think about it.  It's a cop dramedy with Debra Messing and Josh Lucas.

Loving: It's actually cold in the panhandle.  Well, for this weekend anyway.  :-P

Thinking: I need/want to rearrange some of my groups.  I'm up to 20 staffed ESE students, so the other ESE teacher is going to start helping me pull groups (she only has 7 staffed students right now).  I need to rearrange my groups and email some teachers.  I just have to think through some of the changes so they make sense and are effective.

Wanting: My wanting is always the same...money!

Needing: I should be working on work-related things.  Instead I'm on here, posting (which is much needed).  But then again, if I'm on here, then I should be catching up on the 3 (or 4) weeks of posts that I need to read.  We'll see what happens.

Reading: I get my 4th graders for an hour for reading.  So I start every day with a read aloud.  Right now we're in the middle of Love That Dog.  It is a book of poems that are all written by the same "author", Jack.  If you haven't read it yet, please do.  I really want to get the sequel - Hate That Cat.

Can't wait to learn more about you!

Sunday Scoop (number 2?)

I'm trying really hard to get on here and read posts and write posts and it's just not working for me.  I'm actually still trying to get caught up on reading posts from September.  :-/

 I'm so embarrassed.

Anyway, linking up again for Sunday Scoop with Teaching Trio.

So here goes...

 

They all kind of speak for themselves, but for real, if anyone has suggestions on how to teach analytical writing to fourth graders who can't read sight words PLEASE let me know!

Working on Time

I can't seem to get it together.  I had grand plans of blogging more this year.  I've made it a point to take pictures of the fun things we're doing.  I'm trying really hard to use my planning time at school effectively.  It's just not happening.  I would love to know how those bloggers who also have kids find time for all of this.  So, if one of my followers would like to share the secret to regular blog posts...well I'd be forever grateful.  :-)

Anyway, for the past 2ish weeks my 3rd graders have been working on time.  I just wanted to share some of the fun things we've been doing with time.

First, is the ever-popular paper plate clocks.  Did you ever do this as a student?  I did, and loved it.  So anytime I teach time, we always make a clock.  It helps solidify the hour hand and the minute hand.  Plus it's just fun.

 

Also, since I'm juggling the standards of 3 different grade levels, I am all about finding products on TPT and using them.  Thank you to that wonderful invention!  Anyway, Nesli over at Second Grade with the Teacher Wears Prada (or at TPT here) created this wonderful cut-and-paste clock activity.  My kiddos LOVED it!  We forget how much fun it is to just bust out the scissors and glue.  So I've made a promise to myself to try for more educational, and rigorous, cut-and-paste activities.

And our last activity was a Time Scavenger Hunt (thanks Christen Stowers!).  I didn't hide the clocks, so much as tape them in random spots around the room.  It got my kiddos up and moving though.  It was just what we needed and a wonderful way for me to get a quick assessment of what we actually know.

Thanks for sticking out this long post!  I have already started planning my next ones in my head, so hopefully the come to fruition soon!