Reading Anchor Charts

This is my last installment of anchor charts! It seems that I did more Reading charts than any other.

That's a lot of pictures... Hopefully I will remember to take pictures as I go next year. I kept all these until the end of the year and took pictures of them laying on a table. Ugh. Not the best way to take pictures.   :)

Chapter Books for 4th grade - My read aloud plan

I am so happy to have decided which books we are going to read as a class this upcoming year!

Have you read any of these?

I just read The One and Only Ivan and oh my goodness! It is wonderful. It is an easy read that made me cry! If you haven't read it, you need to. It is a touching story. You can check out the author's website HERE. I think it will be a great way to build a community of readers and our confidence in reading chapter books.

R.J. Palacio has written a wonderful book. Wonder will touch your heart and make you look at things differently. I hope it will open up many discussions in my classroom.

Shredderman is just an entertaining book. I am a little unsure of the message it sends, but we will approach it in a light hearted way. I do like that it is the first book in a series. Hopefully a few of my students will want to read more. I think my boys will be interested in this one.

The Tiger Rising is a short book, but it deals with heavy stuff. The characters are 11-12 year olds that are dealing with the loss of parents. The boy has lost his mother to cancer and the girl has lost her dad to divorce. It is a quick read, but I want to talk about the deep themes and issues that are brought up with my students.

Among the Hidden is a suspenseful book that is also the first in a series. I love that the main character is a boy. So many of my boys only want to read Captain Underpants or nothing at all. I am hoping that this book might spark some interest.

The last book we will read as a class will be The City of Ember. We read this together at the end of the year this year and it coincided nicely with our electricity unit in science! My kids LOVED this book! They were asking to read it! It is what convinced me that we need to have read alouds all year long. 

I am not going to be assigning projects or a thousand questions with each chapter. I want this to be a fun reading experience. We are going to enjoy books together! I will ask higher order thinking questions that (hopefully) will spark discussions. The kids will have the chance to discuss the book through Edmodo. I will post engaging questions, quotes, and my own thoughts for them to weigh in on. This can be done when they finish their work or outside of school!

What books do you read with your class?

Writing Anchor Charts

I really have to make more writing anchor charts next year, but here are some of the ones I made last year.

I had these posted in the room for most of the year. The kids referenced the Expository Essay chart the most.

Math Anchor Charts

Do you use anchor charts in your classroom? I started using them this past year and really like it. I have more work to do, but here are a few of my math charts.

Happy Wednesday!

Leader vs. Boss - Inspired by Pinterest (again)

Hello!

I was on Pinterest a few days ago, because let's face it... what else am I going to be doing on a summer day?  :) I thought this pin would be a great addition to my classroom.

This is what I came up with:

You can download your FREE copy HERE!

I am going to cut them apart, add a ribbon behind so that it hangs in a vertical line, and place it in my classroom.

I will post pictures of my final product soon!

Infographics

I love infographics, don't you? I am a very visual person, so they are right up my alley.

I made this one for an online class I am taking.

You can make one for free at Piktochart.

FREE Place Value QR Code Activities

Good morning ladies and gentlemen!

I have more goodies to share with you today. I am slowly working my way through our 1st six weeks math curriculum making QR code activities. I want these to be review activities before we take our mini-assessments.

Click HERE to download your copy!

This includes standard form, expanded notation, and word forms of numbers. It has kids practice making the three largest numbers possible when given 4 digits. It also asks the value of a single digit in a large number.

Click HERE to download your copy!

This packet includes ordering numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest. Students will practice finding inequalities and word problems.

These are FREE resources because I believe in sharing among teachers! 

Please leave me a comment if you download the activities. I would like to know if you like them or not.

Thanks!

Desk Citations

I am working through my summer to do list...

I want to integrate our classroom economy into everything we do, including keeping our classroom neat and clean. It is my responsibility to teach my students how to keep a clean and organized work space. This might not be something that sticks with each kid, but they need to be able to do it when they have shared work space.

So I decided to make desk citations. I am going to conduct random checks every week.

Procedure:

1. I will instruct everyone to stand up and walk to one of the wall of the classroom. That way they are out of the way and they don't get a chance to quickly organize.
2. My custodians (student job) will grab the desk citations and a pencil, walk around their portion of the classroom, and inspect the desks.
3. They will leave a citation on any desk that has an infraction.
4. Kids will have until the end of the day to correct it.
5. The custodians will double check the desk and then give me the citation to make the withdrawals from student accounts.
6. If students do not correct the infraction the same day, I will double their citation.

Get your free download HERE.

I also wanted to make something for students to strive towards. It is good to have those positive rewards! 

So I made a Fabulously Organized Desk bonus card. If a custodian notices a particularly neat and tidy desk, they can leave one of these on the desk as a reward.

Get your free download HERE.

What do you think? Can you use these in your classroom?

Speeding Ticket

I saw a cute idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago and I immediately thought of a way to use it in my classroom! Check out the pin HERE.

I had several kiddos this past year who tended to rush through all their work. I mean ALL their work. It didn't seem to matter if it was a word search or a major test, they would work crazy fast and frustrate me to death! I am sure you can sympathize with me!

I tried all sorts of things to get them to slow down and I did have a little success, but not as much as I wanted. So when I saw the idea for a speeding ticket I knew that would be a great addition to my classroom economy!

I plan on checking one or more of the options (depending on the situation) and stapling a blank copy of the paper they need to redo. Or if it is a digital assignment, I will provide the link they need.

You can get your FREE copy HERE!

As always, if you want an editable version just email me!

Ideas for your "App"roval - Tellagami

Today I want to share Tellagami with you.

This was easy and fun to make!

Pros:

• you get to personalize your avatar (gender, skin tone, eyes, head, hair, clothes - top, bottom, and shoes)
• you choose the expression your avatar shows (neutral, happy, sad, surprised, angry, scared, and silly)
• you choose your background (take a photo, choose from photo roll, or use one of theirs - they have 11)
• a great how to guide every time you open the app (you can exit or choose to go straight to create your own)
• this saves to your photos as a video

Cons:

• you can't do anything about the avatar's movements
• no other cons that I can think of!

How can I use this in my classroom?

As the teacher:

• as a call to attention/morning directions on the Promethean board so I am free to deal with student concerns in the morning
• a different way to post project instructions on Edmodo
• maybe as a homework starter with ideas and directions

Reading:

• a new way to respond to their reading
• put themselves into the story
• a way to talk about the elements of a drama: scene, setting, characters, stage directions, and dialogue

I think my students will like this because they love to create avatars. (I know this because we began using a state-wide program last year called Think Through Math. One of the incentives to work hard is to use your points to make your avatar more unique. They loved doing it.) You create a new avatar every time you make a Gami, so that is a plus! As with most apps we will be able to share our Gami's via Twitter, email, Blogger, and Edmodo.

I am not sure how else to use this app... Any ideas?

Classroom Management Linky

This week's linky is all about classroom management! I love thinking about new ways to make my class run smoothly!

Here are my top 7 classroom management pins.

Ideas for your "App"roval - Fotobabble

Hey guys!

As I have said before, I will have 1:1 iPads in my classroom next year. There are three of us who wrote the proposal, gave a presentation, and received the grant at my building. My district is going to be giving us quite a few resources and we are going to network with other teachers in the district through Edmodo to share teaching ideas throughout the year. They have also released the app list for all the iPads. Here are all the apps that will be loaded on my classroom iPads.

Pretty awesome, right?

I am going to work my way through the list, reviewing the app, and sharing ideas on how I think I will use it in my classroom. I am hoping this will help me wrap my head around each app. This upcoming year will be very challenging, but I hope very rewarding!

******************

So let's start with Fotobabble. I made this one as a test run.

Pros:

• take photos or add from your photo roll
• very simple interface
• add themes behind your picture
• edit your pictures with over 15 options like brightness, crop, meme, text, effects, and stickers
• sharing with Facebook (not for school), Twitter, and email
• quick record button and easy to rerecord if needed

Cons:

• there isn't an iPad version
• you need to create an account, but it is quick and easy (just another username and password for kids to remember)

How can I use this in my classroom?

Reading: 

• snap a picture of the cover of a book and review it
• share images of reading notebooks with students voice annotating their thinking
• students take pictures of anchor charts, explain, and share via Twitter

Math: 

• snap a picture of a math problem, explain their plan for solving it, and post on Edmodo (after emailing it to themselves)
• find a picture of math in everyday life and share about it
• snap a picture of 3D objects in real life, describe the attributes, and share with the class & families via Twitter

Writing:

• use a picture that inspires them to record a great introduction to an expository or narrative essay
• students take pictures of anchor charts, explain, and share via Twitter
• after students are given a prompt, they find a picture that correlates, and they record their prewriting strategies

Social Studies

• record the history of an event using a historical image - great for review
• use an image to describe a region of Texas
• learning about the leaders of our state and their job titles

Science

• during an investigation, each student is responsible for making a Fotobabble for a step of the scientific process
• describing the use of scientific tools
• sharing different careers in science

Pictures are powerful tools for our students. They also love to record their voices. Combine those two things with a way to share their work socially, and you have a winner. We will be able to share our Fotobabbles through Twitter (I will have a class page set up), student blogs (Blogger), Edmodo, and email. This is a quick and easy way to share learning.

Classroom Management Linky Party

Leigh at The Applicious Teacher is hosting a linky party all about classroom management. Go link up! We all can benefit from new ideas!

This past year I started a classroom economy and I can not tell you how great it worked! The kids really responded to it and it guided our behavior all year. I made several tweaks throughout, so let me tell you what I learned.

1. Money motivates kids.
2. I spent too much money on items for auction days.
3. Auctions were exciting and a great way to instill money management.
4. I didn't do auctions often enough.
5. Managing the money was the hardest part.
6. Having the kids pay rent is crucial. I am thinking of adding something to that.

I modeled my classroom economy after Rafe Esquith's classroom economy that you can read about in his book There Are No Shortcuts. Vanguard, a leading investment management company, teamed up with Mr. Esquith to provide free resources to teachers grades K-12. Visit their website: 

MyClassroomEconomy.org They have money to print, guidelines for setting things up, employment applications, and much more!

How I will set up my classroom economy this year:

1. Print money to have on hand and set up my class on MyKidsBank.org
2. Prepare a list of job descriptions and copy employment applications
3. Introduce our classroom economy on the first day of school - students must fill out applications for the job they want
4. Copy and pass out a list of bonuses and fines
5. Decide if I want to give out checks every other week or if I want to do it electronically through My Kids Bank
6. Tell kids they will be paying rent every other week when they get paid.                                 Desk = $400 Chair = $300 iPad = $1,000
7. Begin the year by being generous with bonus money to encourage good behavior

These are my classroom jobs. I want to have 3 bankers, 3 clerks, 2 custodians, etc. Last year I started strong with jobs and then I found myself not putting as much emphasis on them. That was a mistake. The jobs really make a difference!

I have found that keeping track of things electronically works best for me. I tried multiple ways of keeping track of fines and bonus without having to handle money all day, but nothing really worked. My Kids Bank is a great FREE resource! The kids can make deposits and withdrawals, so they are still learning that part. I can keep it open on my iPad and assign bonus money or fines as needed throughout the day.

Click HERE for some resources. You will get an employment application, blank checks, and my list of bonus money opportunities and fines. This is the pdf file. Email me if you would like the editable version.

What do you think?

Birthday Board

I was inspired by Amy Marshall at The Resource(ful) Room.

She has some great ideas. Go check out her birthday board HERE.
You can tell by my date board (see post here) that I like things that just flip! That is how my birthday board is going to work. I am going to add it to the wall beside the date. At the beginning of the year, I am going to have each kid write the day they were born on a white board. I will take their picture holding the number. I am going to print them and attach them to their month on the birthday board. That way all I have to do is flip the month and we will see who will be celebrating that month and which days. Easy peasy!  
You can get your copy of my version HERE.

Homework Routine (Maybe)

Let me start by saying that I hate homework. H.A.T.E. I don't like making copies, taking it up every morning, grading it, and then rewarding or punishing depending on who turned it in. I think it is a hassle for busy work. I know that the homework debate is a hot one, and I don't really want to open that can of worms. If you like giving homework, more power to you. I think that homework should be reserved for 6th grade and up because those kids are old enough to manage their time. Ugh. Oh well. 

The reality is that I have to give homework, so I have been working on a routine. I wasn't happy with my homework routines last year...

My current plan is for each student to have a homework folder. Take a look at the components:

• 3 brad folder
• notebook paper secured in the brads
• a few page protectors for the homework guidelines pages

Procedure:

1. Students will be responsible for their homework folders from Monday to Thursday.
2. On Monday, they will take their spelling pretest on a piece of notebook paper inside their folder. We do a pretest and check it together. This will be their list for the week.
3. Homework for Monday: Read for 30 minutes and write a response.
4. Homework for Tuesday: Practice multiplication facts and do a spelling activity.
5. Homework for Wednesday: Read for 30 minutes and write a response. 
6. Homework for Thursday: Practice multiplication facts and do a spelling activity.
7. I will model how I want these done on notebook paper. I want them to write on the front and back of each paper, so we don't go through notebook paper like crazy.
8. Students will turn in their homework on Friday morning.
9. I will check it over the weekend and have it for them on Monday.
10. Everyone that does all their homework will get bonus money (see my classroom economy resources).
11. If I am satisfied with their efforts, they will have a lottery ticket waiting for them on Monday morning. 

The best part about this plan? No copies every week and the responsibility is on the students. I like it.

Click HERE to download Mon & Wed's homework.

Click HERE to get my spelling activities.

This is not my creation, but it is a great idea! Renee at Living, Laughing, and Loving is sharing this resource for free. Here is how she describes it:

Each student gets their own copy and starts working on memorizing the first fact family or table.  When they can say it to their parents in 30 seconds or less, the parents initial under that table.

At a designated time during the day, each student with a table initialed will bring it to me and recite it again in 30 seconds or less.  Then I initial, and he/she moves onto the next table… all the way up to the Twelve Family.

Click HERE to get a copy!

These are the lottery tickets I was talking about:

I added the "Maybe" in the title because it is an untried idea. I haven't used this with students yet, so I don't know how it will work. I will be rolling this out in September. Unless I get a better idea between now and then.  :)

What do you do for homework? Do you do a routine or just decide day by day what you will send home? I don't like sending home textbooks, but if you do, what is your procedure for that?

Thanks for sharing your ideas and thoughts!

Daily 5 - Doing it next year!!!!

This book has really got me excited about teaching reading next year. I have been doing quite a bit of reflecting about this past year teaching 4th grade. I was really happy with how I taught math, but not so happy with reading and writing. I had 78% passing in both on our state test, the STAAR test. I know I can teach better so that all my students can be successful.

So I decided I needed to do guided reading groups. I am familiar with guided reading because I taught two years of 2nd grade. I moved to 4th last year and most 4th grade classes do not use guided reading, so I didn't either. I was really just going with the flow and keeping my head above water. That did not equal the best teaching practice... :(

I did my best to integrate technology and make things interesting, but I found myself doing way too many reading passages. I know that students in my Title 1 school need lots of repetition, but I think they need authentic reading experiences more. Now that I have a year under my belt, I feel ready and able to make some changes.

So I decided to look around the internet and see what other 4th grade teachers are doing for guided reading. I read some great blogs and saw some great pins, but then I remembered the difficult part of guided reading. What should I have the other kids doing? That is the big question, right?

I had heard about the Daily 5, but I hadn't read it yet. Last summer I read the Cafe book and really liked it. I didn't implement any of it though.  :(

Ok. So. This is a work in progress. I am going to be figuring out how to make this work for me all summer, and I won't be able to solidify anything until I know our school schedule. I am not going to let that keep me from planning, though! (You know me... Plan! Plan! Plan!)

I do know that I will be tweaking the Daily 5 to the Daily 4. I will choose for them for several weeks, but I do want them to ultimately choose their Daily 4 just like the sisters advocate in their book.

You can see some of my ideas for our Daily 4. We will be using our iPads! Students have access to Play-a-way devices from the library, so I am going to check those out for our listen to reading. My 4th graders really need to work on fluency, so I don't want to leave that component out. I have a large personal library that they will choose books from weekly. When I was teaching 2nd grade, I had a schedule for kids to choose books and it worked wonderfully. I am going to get that going again. (I will post about that later.) We also check out books from our school library once a week, so they will have those 4-5 books as well. On top of those resources, they will be able to download digital books and audio books from our district's digital library. They are going to have access to all kinds of reading resources!!!

Choosing a good fit book strategy from The Daily 5

I am going to do my best to keep things simple. I struggled this past year with setting up guided reading because I wanted to control where and what the kids were doing the entire time. That hurdle kept me from doing it. I want to teach my kids independence! That is such a big component of the Daily 5. Did I mention that I read the book in a matter of hours? I was engrossed! Such simple concepts that have an enormous impact. Love it.

Our 4th grade team has a Title 1 teacher, the fabulous Linda, who comes around and helps us every day. I am going to set things up so we can both be working with small groups or individual kids during my Daily 4. I know that the group we are getting next year has quite a few struggling readers, so I want to jump on that right away and give them all the personalized help and encouragement they need.

I have so many ideas!!! I will be posting all summer and laying out all my ideas and plans. Sorry if this is kind of jumpy. Things are coming together in my mind, but there are still gaps in my plan. I am also working on a list of books that we will be reading as a class. I am pretty sure we are going to start with The One and Only Ivan. It is an easy, short chapter book with a great message. I think it will be a great way to ease them into reading chapter books. Really reading chapter books, not just flipping through and reading a few pages.

This post makes me happy, because it means that my reading instruction is changing for the better!

Do you use the Daily 5? How? What would you recommend?

Date Board for Your Classroom

Hey guys,

I wanted to share with you a different way to display the date in your classroom. In the upper grades, we don't do a daily calendar, so I wanted a way to display our date where I wouldn't have to write it daily.

This is from my 4th grade room.

This is from my 2nd grade room. I kept track of the number of days we had been in school on the far right.

I was inspired by this pin in 2011.

It is a great way for the kids to see the date. You can grab yours HERE if you want it.
Do you use anything like this? Let me know what you think.

Parent Communication - Behavior Update

Hello all!

I L.O.V.E. Pinterest! Don't you? It is the perfect place to gather great ideas. Here is one I found a few days ago.



It got me thinking... Our report cards and progress reports do not give much information in the way of behavior. So I made some changes and came up with this.

Front

Back

I will copy this front to back to save paper.

I wanted to bring the student into this process. I think it is important to sit down with each student and discuss what I think of their behavior, be it good or bad. This way the parent gets to see that I have talked with their child and can see what their child has to say for themselves. I am hoping that this fosters some good conversations all around.

Download yours here if you are interested.

As always, email me if you want the original version to edit for your purposes! Let me know your thoughts on this.

Pinterest Linky - Classroom Decor Pins

Isn't that the cutest linky button? Click on it to jump over to Just Reed and read all the blogs to see their favorite pins for classroom decoration! Here are mine!

1. Let's start out with a little humor. I am going to display this every so often for laughs.

2. I have a subway art corner! Do you?

3. I use ribbon as an outline and clothespins to hold my anchor charts. This is my favorite idea from last summer. I am expanding it to two for each subject area this upcoming year.

4. Next year I am going to do this. I will put extra papers from the day here for absent students and for me. That way I can gather them at the end of the week to organize and store for next year.

5. I am doing this birthday board this year.

6. I copied this inside my tall cabinet to hold my extra border. Genius.

7. My anchor charts have really changed this year. Many on Pinterest have inspired me.

8. I didn't put a word wall on the ceiling, but I did put a lot of measurement reminders up there.

9. When these were all the rage last summer, I made some! In 2nd grade I used them at the guided reading table, but in 4th I use them near my Promethean board. When I am teaching from my Elmo, I let students gather on the floor by the board. I have 6-7 crate seats for them to sit on and the rest of the students sit on the floor.

10. If I was more creative (awesome) and had more money, then I would have a classroom that looks like this.

Follow me on Pinterest!

Inspired by Pinterest

Hey ladies (and gentlemen if there are any reading this),

I wanted to share something I made for myself the other day. Well, for my classroom. Same thing, right?

I saw this on Pinterest and loved it.


So I decided to make it into signs for my classroom.

Download your copy here

I am planning on printing these on card stock, mounting them on bright paper, and displaying them in my room. I really want to use these as teaching pieces. I want to do a better job of teaching empathy and responsibility, so I think these are going to become my mantras.

What do you think?

Building Relationships with Colleagues - Linky Party

Misty over at Think, Wonder, & Teach is holding a linky party geared toward answering questions from student teachers.

I think this is a great way to help our soon to be colleagues! I remember having a million questions while I was student teaching...

Here is the question for today: How should I build relationships with my colleagues?

1. Email your cooperating teacher before your placement begins if at all possible. Usually you can look on the school website and if you know the teacher's name you might be able to email them from the staff page. Give it a try. Teachers love to communicate via email because it is quick, but we can set it aside until we are ready to read it. It takes a little of the pressure off us during the stressful times of day.

2. Hopefully your cooperating teacher will take you around the building and introduce you to the school staff, but you do walk into the office on your first day... I would advise you to get to school that day pretty early. That way you can introduce yourself to the secretaries before they are too busy to do anything but give you a visitors pass and tell you which way to get to the classroom. The school secretaries know everything! If you get there early, introduce yourself, and act professionally nice, they will report that to the principal. The principal might not be there that early, but they will ask the secretaries if they have seen the new student teacher!

3. In my experience, the principal came down to the classroom and introduced himself/herself to me on the first day. (I had 2 student teaching placements.) One was more intimidating... Just remember to be nice and say yes ma'am and no sir.  :)

4. Your cooperating teacher will introduce you to the grade level team. Get to know these ladies and gentlemen. They will be a treasure trove of knowledge for you to tap into during your time at their school. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Ask if you can observe their classrooms, as well. You need to see as many teachers at work as you possibly can.

5. The dreaded lounge...
I would encourage you to sit and eat wherever your cooperating teacher sits and eats. This is just professional courtesy. Yes, people might blow off steam in there and yes, sometimes it can take a negative turn, but you need to learn how to deal with that. When you have your own teaching position, are you just going to hole up in your classroom and be the hermit teacher? You can control how you react to those negative situations.

Try this: When you are asked to weigh in on something that makes you uncomfortable just say, "I don't know what I think about that, but I was wondering..." Get their minds on something else! Ask them a question about the building, classroom decor, student behavior, strategies for hallway behavior, or a school-wide policy. Try to connect it with what they were talking about, but try to make it a positive.

6. You want to leave a positive impression on these teachers. You never know when you might work with them again. Or when you might work with their niece, sister, in-law, or friend. I have really noticed that people in the education field know each other, so be careful. Be yourself, but strive to be the best version of yourself!

I hope these answers help you! Good luck!

Student Info Card Freebie

Good morning!

I know there are a million versions of the student info card floating around Pinterest and TPT, but I thought I would share my new one.

It is FREE, of course! You can download the pdf from here. If you want the PowerPoint version to edit, email me!

I really wanted to streamline mine for this year. 

The circle in the top right is for the number I assign each student for the year. You can see that I am not including quite a bit of information, but I have a reason for that.

We send home detailed student information cards from our school nurse at the beginning of the year. That information is stored in the nurse's office and in our school computers. I just want the quick information that I will need if I don't want to login to Chancery. I feel like this is a good snapshot of each student.

I am going to print these onto large index cards and send them home. I want to do purple for girls and green for boys. When they are returned to me, I am going to punch a hole in the left hand corner and put them on a ring. Easy!

I am really going to focus on getting an email address from EVERY parent this year. I communicate so much more when I can email. I just don't like talking on the phone. I would much rather email with a parent that have a phone conversation. How do you feel about that?

How do you gather this information at the beginning of the year?

New vs. Old Newsletter - What do you think?

I am wanting some input, please. I have kept the same newsletter fro three years and I am wanting to change it up. My first year at my current school we were required to send home a newsletter weekly. Now that is not the case. I am glad about that because it was really a waste of paper.

I like sending home newsletters, so I am going to do it every month this upcoming year. Please take a look at my newsletters and let me know what you think of my new version.

Here is the "old" newsletter.

This is what I am thinking for my "new" newsletter.

I plan on having the calendar show what is happening that month like CBAs, holidays, tutoring, special events, and anything else I can think to add.

If you want either of these templates, email me and I will share! I just used PowerPoint, so you will be able to easily manipulate it to your tastes.

Thanks for letting me know what you think.

Bar Graph QR Code Activities

Hello all!

I am linking up. Go check out all the great ideas!

I have 2 resources to share today. I am going to be working on QR code activities all summer. You can download these and use them in your classroom! My resources are always free.  :)

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Click to Download

Click to Download

Here is what you will be getting:

Flubaroo = Self-Grading Google Docs

I was so happy to have found this wonderful script for Google Docs. I am planning on using a lot of Google Docs next year, so this will make my life easier! I was having trouble grading my quizzes, just because it was different. This is the answer to my prayers!

Watch this: (I made it for you...)

Do you think you might use this?

Ending the School Year

Well, our school year is over. It has been a good one. I am very excited about next year, but before I begin posting about that, I want to wrap up my year.

I spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year decorating my room. Here is what I ended up with:

We worked so hard this year and my kids did pretty good on our state tests. I am very proud of our 94% passing for the Math STAAR test! I need to do a better job with reading and writing, but I will share those plans later.

We had our class party during the last week of school and my mom made these great goodie cans for my students.

I really enjoyed how my school district planned the last week of school. We had two early release days (Wed. and Thurs.). Those days really made such a huge difference when it came to packing and organizing my room for the summer. I didn't feel rushed this year. :) It also helped that I didn't have to move rooms.

Here is how I left my classroom:

Our floors get stripped and waxed over the summer, so we have to pack things up and get them easily moveable for the summer. That means emptying bookshelves and getting things off the floor.

I had time to make a few changes before I left. On the back wall I extended the Science anchor chart section. I will be moving the bookshelf to another wall next year, so I will extend the blue paper and make room for two Social Studies anchor charts beside the Science ones. On the right wall I have also extended those anchor chart sections. There will be room for two reading, two writing, and two math charts to be up all the time. I need to buy some more ribbon to outline them. Decorating the classroom is the best part of starting the new year!  :)

I am going to enjoy my summer. I have a lot to share! I am hoping to make quite a few activities...

We shall see.

June Currently

Don't you love these?

I think this is a great way to begin summer, even though I am not there yet. We have two full days, 2 half days, and a work day until freedom.

Here's to the last Sunday before summer vacation!

Go link up with Farley!