OFFICIAL BLOGGER

It's official!  I'm an official blogger!  What makes an official blogger, you ask?  Why, having a mug with your Blog name on it, of course!  Check this out:

Big thanks to my friend and co-worker J- such a creative and thoughtful gift!  I feel like an official blogger now!  I wanted to bring it home to use, but instead I am going to keep it at school to use with my Keurig Machine in my classroom!  Very nice!

Merry Christmas!

FIRST CLUB DAY

Our first club day was a huge hit!  The students and the teachers LOVED it!

We had one small issue overall, getting the Kinder and First Grade students to/from their clubs smoothly, which I had foreseen (having taught first graders for 12 years!) and attempted 6 or 7 different remedies and guidelines to prevent the chaos, or at least limit it.  Some of my recommendations were denied by higher up, ignored, or just not taken very seriously. Afterwards I was approached about needing to fix that area of the club process.  Needless to say, I wasn't very happy to hear that.  I expected some confusion with the younger ones, but had more of the ideas been followed, there would have been very little chaos at all.  I'm sure the next time will be much smoother though.  We live and learn.  But overall, this was really a small issue.

I had 2nd and 3rd grade students in my puzzle club. We talked briefly about different strategies (sorting edges, or by color, etc...) Then I let the students choose their puzzle and group.  Several chose a 24 piece puzzle, and the rest chose a 100 piece puzzle. Even with 4 people on the 100 piece puzzles, it was hard to get done in less than 45 minutes.  I have some 300 and 500 piece puzzles that will take several days to complete. I bought a roll-up puzzle mat, but I'm also going to use poster board under the puzzles so we can save them to finish during the next week's club.

As I walked around to each group, I was amazed at how many of the students did not have experience putting puzzles together. Two boys were struggling with a 24 piece penguin puzzle.  After I helped them with strategy and a few pieces, it was so neat to hear their excitement a little while later when they finished it!  They asked to do a harder one next time!

I really enjoyed my Puzzle Club, and I also enjoyed hearing my Homeroom students return from their clubs brimming with excitement about their clubs: Paper Crafts, Handyman, Healthful Living, Origami, Dance and Rhythm, Author Study, Board Games, and even my Puzzle Club!  They can't wait for next time!

I'd say the Clubs are indeed a huge hit!

ICE, NO CLUBS

Today was the big day!  The first club day was finally here!  I have put in countless hours over the past 5 weeks or so to organize 31 clubs for about 500 students in grades K-5 at my school.  Final rosters complete, student notification slips made, we have prepped for everything! We are ready to go!

Well, we were ready to go.  Until we were blasted with a winter storm!  Ice everywhere! School's cancelled! (Yay for that!). So now we'll start the clubs on the next Friday instead! At least we'll be ready!

3 inches of  ice outside = a really nice day to stay inside!

THANKFUL

As I spend my last remaining hours of Thanksgiving Break at home, I am reminded of many things about school that I am thankful for.  Things that I will need to hold on to during the busyness of what is about to come.

Aside from the obvious personal things that I am thankful for (family, friends, faith), I am very thankful for this school year.  Last year was a challenging year that would send most people screaming for the hills.  If I had another year like that, that's where I would be right now, screaming in the hills.  However, I was blessed this year to only teach ONE grade (and a 1/2 a grade, at that).  I am thankful for Donor's Choose and the generous donors who have given so many awesome things to my classroom (the iPad is a HUGE hit!). I am blessed to work with children that I know well (having some of them for the second and even third year in a row!)  I am blessed to work with some amazing people that I don't consider as just co-workers, but as dear friends.  And I am thankful that there are only 3 more school weeks until Christmas Break!

Yes, I am very thankful for my job, but also thankful to only have 3 more weeks of school until the next break.  The next 3 weeks are going to be INSANE!  I'm going to need the break!

First, we are starting Clubs this Friday (see previous post about the Clubs.)  I have a great fear that the first day will be chaotic, despite my best organizational skills.  After the first week or two, I'm sure it will all be fine.  The kids are really looking forward to it!  I'm doing a 2nd and 3rd grade Puzzle Club.  I am stocked up on all kinds of puzzles- from 100 pieces to 1,000 pieces!

I have two field trips over the next 3 weeks:  Log Cabin Village and The Nutcracker Ballet.  I love going to the Log Cabin Village, as one of my family cabins is there (but that's a story for another time).  It is neat to show children what life was like long ago.  The Nutcracker will also be fun.  My students may never get to see it live.  I just wish that field trips happened on Fridays, so you had the weekend to recover!

Another crazy thing going on is our annual Grade Level Teacher Lunch.  My principal's Christmas gift to us is to allow each grade level team a two-hour lunch together, off campus.  I love it!  It's a wonderful time together!  But in order to make that happen, it is a scheduling nightmare!  For 6 or 7 days, we will all have a different lunch and Specials schedule (PE, Music, Art).  Gotta keep up with the crazy scheduling!  

We also have our class Christmas Party, Polar Express Themed this year.  My very awesome partner teacher has already started working on the details. (I'll get started soon!)  It's going to be great fun!  

And hopefully there will even be a visit from Santa this year.  One year Santa was "accidentally" banned from our schools, which hit the media, so my district had to issue a Press Release about how they really do love Santa and he is very much welcome in our schools.

On a personal note, my daughter is turning 13 during all this!  I can't believe that I am old enough to have a teenager, and I can't believe that she is old enough to BE a teenager!  Having a 13-year-old birthday sleepover on Friday the 13th is going to be an adventure for sure!

I'm sure I am forgetting many other things happening this month, but you get the picture that it's going to be CRAZY BUSY!

So, yes, I am thankful for my job.  I really do love it.  But in 3 weeks, I will be very thankful for Christmas Break!

Happy Thanksgiving!  And Merry Christmas!

I'M A STAAR!

Every 6 weeks we give CBA's (Curriculum Based Assessments).  I test my 3rd graders in Math and Science, and my partner teacher handles the Reading (for which I am very grateful).

After every CBA, we have a special Data Meeting to go over the results, compare our results to the district average and the schools around us, and plan for remediation.   

I thought today's Data Meeting went well.  My school is above the District's average (and above all the closest schools except one).  Ok, we may only be ahead by 5% or so, but as long as we're above the district average, we're doing ok.  Of course we strive for higher, but I digress.

During today's Data Meeting, I had an epiphany!  At the end of the meeting, the visiting Math Specialist offered to come back and work with a group of students who are struggling in Math.  I must have looked flabbergasted!  I really should filter myself when I'm surprised by something, but I blurted out, "You would do that?"  She was equally surprised by my question and said, "Of course, why not?"  I wisely chose not to answer that aloud and thanked her.

You see, last year I was responsible for teaching 2 complete grades, first and second, all by myself,  while trying to keep up with all the district and state standards for both grades.  I had students ranging in mental age from 3 to 10 in one room.  I begged for help, all year, asked all kinds of people for help, worked myself to the bone, and was basically told (for the most part), sorry that's just the way it is here when you have to teach a combo class.  You're on your own.

And now this nice lady was offering to help my students in a year in which I'm only teaching one grade (and really only a 1/2 of a grade at that!).  I didn't get it!

That is, until  my friends reminded me that I'm not a primary combo teacher anymore!  This year I'm a STAAR!  Seriously!  This year I'm teaching a state testing grade for the first time.  There is help available if we need it.

Wow!  What a difference!  I like teaching 3rd grade!  :) 

Seriously though, no matter what I teach, I will always work hard to help my students succeed, but it is a nice feeling to have more support to do it! 

FRIDAY CLUBS

     My elementary school has decided to start Friday Clubs.  We will use the last hour of school on Fridays to split the entire school (except Pre-K) into clubs.  I "volunteered" to help with the organization of the clubs.  I had no idea how much work that was going to be!

     First, we decided to limit the clubs by grade level groups.  Having 500 or so kids needing to move to different classrooms for the last hour of every Friday would be challenging to say the least.  So we have limited to the clubs to K/1, 2/3, and 4/5.  For the first round, we asked the teachers to stay in their grade level group since they know most of the kids and can better help with the transitioning of their own students.  We are planning for two nine-week Club sessions this school year.  Round one will go from December to March (right before Spring Break), and Round two will go from after Spring Break to May.  We will offer different clubs for Round Two, although some teachers may decide to have the same club both times.

     Each teacher chose their club and had to write a brief advertisement to encourage students to join their club.  I created a bulletin board display in the main hallway with clip art about the clubs to generate interest before the information went home.  Letters went home with the students this week for them to place their Club choices in order.  Once the teachers have everyone's letter back, I will collect them.  We have a Club Committee that will help me put all 500 or so kids into their Clubs!  Hopefully the students will be able to have their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice Club.  We'll have to see how that goes though.

Kinder/1st Clubs

Dance

Fitness

Yoga

Clubs

Balloon Animals

Art

Games

Games

Wii/Kickball

Environmental Art

2nd/3rd Grade Clubs

Handyman/How to Fix Things

Paper Crafts

Paper Crafts

Origami

Board Games

Spanish Reading Club

Author Study

Puzzles

Dance and Rhythm

Library Lovers

Healthful Living

4th/5th Grade Clubs

Bead Crafts

Origami

Table Games

Table Games

Dance

Dance

Newspaper

Newspaper

Readers Theater

The Kindness Club (INOK)

     This has taken a great deal of organization to get set up.  We still have almost a month before we start, but we'll need most of that time to build the clubs, create rosters, and figure out the last minute issues that will come up.  As for me, I chose a really easy Club for this first round!  I will host the Puzzle Club!  I have plenty of jigsaw puzzles of varying sizes perfect for 2nd and 3rd graders.  For Round Two, I am thinking about hosting a Lego Club!  I'll need to create a Donor's Choose project for Legos if I decide to do that club though.  Legos are expensive!  But the students would really love it!  And adding clubs to our school is all about the kids! So Legos it is then!

KEURIG

For the last year, I have been selling some of the units that I have made for my classroom on TPT, http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-A-Second (or click the picture below)

While I haven't made a lot of money compared to others, the extra money has been a nice treat!  I wanted to do something special with the money.  I have a Mr. Coffee brand Keurig machine at home that I love, so I had been thinking about buying one for my classroom.  Being as frugal as I am, I had no intention of buying an actual Keurig brand machine.  However, this one turned out to be a great deal!  Normally $99.99, Kohl's had it on sale for $79.99, then a 30% off coupon, and a coupon for free shipping = $55! 

This model came in a lot of colors!  I had a hard time deciding but finally chose this one.  Why?  It matches my new phone cover.  I know, I know, not the best reason, but I like it!

I tried it out at home.  I had to make sure it worked before taking it to school tomorrow!  Mmmm!

Thanks TPT!  Now I need to make some more units for my classroom to add to my TPT store- who knows what fun thing I will buy for my classroom next!

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS

This week my students experienced the best of Science (hands-on experiments), and the worst of Science (district assessment).  Overall though, it was a fun week!

We started with Sink or Float.  I know (from personal experience), that 3rd graders have already experimented with Sink or Float in previous grades.  So, while we didn't spend a lot of time on it, I used this time around to work on creating a hypothesis as a group.  It was fun to walk around and listen to the groups discuss whether they thought something would sink or float, and why they thought that, before they even tried it.

 One group asked if they could put everything in at once, after their experiment was over.  Why not!

We also searched for Buried Treasure this week!  It was a fun take on the usual "Magnetic or Non-Magnetic" Experiment they did in previous grades.  I buried four magnetic and four non-magnetic items in sand, and the students had to use their magnets to discover them, group them, and record their data.  I enjoyed listening to their conversations as I walked around.  Very interesting!

Both experiments went really well! The only thing I would change for next year is to have some mats or trays.  Using paper towels under the experiments didn't work because they didn't stay in place.  Having trays to work on would eliminate most of the mess left behind.

FIELD TRIP

Today we went on our first Field Trip of the year.  We visited the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Omni Theater there as well.  My 3rd graders really enjoyed the exhibits, but the Omni movie "Forces of Nature" was far too scary for them.  It was intended for 3rd through 12th grades, but due to the graphic nature of the material (destruction caused by volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes), I believe this movie is best left for older students.  We had many students cry, close their eyes, and some even had to be removed from the theater because they were so scared!  Thankfully they were able to enjoy the museum exhibits afterwards and brighten their moods!

 The Main Entrance is being renovated to display a beam from the World Trade Center.

 Fun with a giant Lite Brite!

 More fun with a giant Lite Brite! 

They made this for me!

Building time!

The Bed of Nails was the highlight of the museum!

The Dino Dig was also a huge hit!

My daughter said I need to get better with blocking the student's faces.  Maybe she'll show me some other way to do it, but in the meantime, sorry for the archaic "paint" blocks.  :)

YOU STILL HAVE A BLOG?

One thing I really like about having Staff Meetings, is the chance to sit and chat with friends (on my team, and other teams) before the meeting starts.  But last Monday, while we were talking about our blogs, one teammate seemed surprised that I would still have a blog.  Maybe he thought that since I didn't have the "Crazy Combo Class" anymore, I must not have anything to write about.  Um, no.  I have plenty to write about.  This week I did write two blog posts, but I ended up not posting them because they were too philosophical in nature.  I would like my blog to be mainly about my classroom and school happenings.

I am having a fantastic journey into Third Grade!  However, there is a small cloud on the horizon, so I have been hesitant to share my joy and the fun things going on because at any moment, it could all change.  Last year one of the reasons we had "Crazy Combo Classes" at my school was because 17 students were considered too few to justify a classroom.  Texas state law is a 22:1 student to teacher ratio, but many schools these days are requesting waivers to exceed that, such as 24:1 or even 29:1!  Currently, I have 15 students in my morning class, and only 13 in my afternoon class.  The two 4th grade classes have an average of 13.  Based on the past, they could easily make a 3rd/4th grade Combo Class and send one teacher to another campus that needs a teacher to reduce overcrowding.  HOWEVER!  It is possible that District will only look at our totals in 3rd and 4th grade. If they look at our totals, we are just fine!  We have 26 and 29 students in our 3rd grade Dual Language Classes (which is a big concern of it's own, being so far over the 22:1 limit).  I really have no idea what they will do, but the decision is due any day now.   None of us want to teach a Crazy Combo Class again (especially since two state testing grades = 5 state tests to be responsible for), and we certainly don't want to lose a teacher.  So, I remain hopeful that I can stay with my small classes of 3rd grade,and I also hope that we can hire a new 3rd grade Dual Language Teacher to reduce their class sizes.  We'll see....

In the meantime, some great things are happening in Third Grade!  We have Moby Max up and running (Mobymax.com is an incredible individualized computer program for Math and much more), two great donations from Donor's Choose (new headphones and Math Hot Dots!), our first field trip this coming week to the Science Museum, and training for our very successful United Way Reading Camp!  Whew!  Fun things are happening in Third Grade!  

Whoohoo!  Brand New Headphones for our computers, courtesy of some very generous donors on DonorsChoose.org!  (Fun Fact: Dollar Store headphones last only a day or two on a busy classroom computer!)

9/11

My daughter was 9 months old on 9/11.  I was deeply grateful that she was too young to understand what was going on, and prayed that she never would.  I made the decision not to talk with her about it until she was much older, to allow her to hold on to a piece of innocence that would be lost forever once she learned about everything that happened that day.  That decision was taken out of my hands when her cousin showed her some "cool videos on You Tube of some buildings falling down".  I tried explaining to them both that it wasn't "cool" at all- there were people in those buildings.  At the time, they were still too young to understand it.  Once my son was born, I made the same decision, but last Friday he came home from school asking me if I knew that on 9/11 some buildings fell down.  I didn't bother explaining any of it to him, other than saying that it was sad and we'd talk about it later.  I know he would have nightmares if he were told the whole story at the age of 6.

My school is honoring "Patriot Day" on 9/11 by wearing red, white, or blue shirts.  At first it surprised me to see "Patriot Day" on the calendar, like a holiday.  It actually isn't a "holiday" as we think of one, but a national day of mourning, technically called "Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance".  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Day).  I do not teach my young students about 9/11.  Having only taught 1st and 2nd graders in the past,  I have always felt that they are too young, and so their parents should be the ones to decide how much detail to tell a 6 or 7 year old.  (I have the same policy about "Where do babies come from?")  I'm sure the issue will come up in class, and I will acknowledge that it happened, and then defer the questions to their parents as I usually do.  There are always some in the class who know about it to varying degrees of detail, and some who know nothing about it.  Their parents can decide how to handle the level of detail their child can/should handle.  As for myself, I will be sure to review all of my school emergency procedures.  I pray that my students never have to know firsthand any kind of tragedy, but I want them to be as safe as possible if we do.

It is interesting to note that what we are now facing is an entire school of children who were not alive on 9/11.  To them, this day is just another day in history, something to learn about in Social Studies.  But to the rest of us, it isn't history at all, it's still present.

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”

-President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

2ND WEEK

A teacher friend who returned to First Grade after a long absence, recently commented on how exhausted she was.  That got me thinking that this is the first year in 13 years that I am not thoroughly, completely exhausted at the end of each day.  This is the first year in 13 teaching years that I am not teaching First Graders!

What a difference between first and third grade!  It is incredible!  The students are much more independent!  They can read, and read well!  We don't have little scraps of paper all over the room from the various cut/paste/craft/learning projects.  In fact, my room looks neat and clean every day when I leave, with little to no effort!  Team teaching has also been a wonderful experience!  I am teaching 1/2 a day, then repeat with the same lessons, so my planning time was cut in half!  Teaching this year has been so much more enjoyable, and much less exhausting than previous years! (don't get me wrong, I LOVED teaching first grade, but I didn't realize how hard it was until I moved up and discovered a whole new world!)

That being said, the shoe is going to drop on my near-perfect year pretty soon.  This year I have pretty small class sizes (another reason I am having an awesome year!).  But because my partner teacher and I have small class sizes, and the 4th grade teachers also have small class sizes, we are hearing the "B" word mentioned around the school.  ("Bridge" class aka Combo Class).  I taught a first and second combo class last year, and it was beyond a doubt the most challenging and exhausting year of my career. I am not looking forward to being involved in another combo class.  However, we still have two more weeks before The Powers That Be will make that decision, so I am hoping that our school gets more 3rd and 4th grade students ASAP!

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy my free evenings and weekends.  Last weekend I marveled at not having 8-10 hours of teaching work to do to prep for my combo class.  I only had about 2 hours of work to do- it was awesome!  I am taking on some additional responsibilities at my church for a few months, so this is a great time for me to enjoy teaching regular 3rd grade while it lasts!

Oh, if you see any 3rd or 4th graders around Fort Worth looking for a school, send them our way!  LOL!

SEPTEMBER: THIRTY-ONE

About a month ago, I wrote about my cool new teacher bag: NEW YEAR, NEW BAG
I had so many compliments on it, that I decided to sign up as a consultant with Thirty-One!  They have so many great bags for organization, and they make great gifts!

September 2013 Special

For every $35 you spend in September, get an

Organizing Utility Tote for $15 or

a Super Organizing Tote for $25!

Organizing Utility Tote

Super Organizing Tote (with zipper)

If you are interested in checking out Thirty-One, visit my store at:

https://www.mythirtyone.com/392407/

You can view the catalog on-line at:

Fall 2013 Thirty-One Catalog

If you would like to host an on-line catalog party, let me know!  There are great deals for the hostess!  And from September 1-30, when you host a $600 party, you'll earn Double Hostess Credit!

If you would like to become a consultant, you can get the starter kit with everything you need for only $99 (plus tax/shipping) and you keep the bags!  Let me know if you would like more information on becoming a consultant!

For more information on Thirty-one, contact Rhonda at rmc373 @ yahoo.com

FIRST WEEK

I survived the first week of school!  Actually, to be honest, it was a breeze compared to last year (more on that in a minute.)  I wasn't sure how I would like teaching 3rd grade, but it is great so far!  The students are much more independent than first and second graders- wow!  It does help that I know so many of my students.  Some of them had me for first grade, some had me for second, and even some had me for both first and second grades!

So here is what I am teaching this year:
3rd grade Math (same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Science (same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Health (once a week, same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Social Studies (to one class)

Now, compare that with what I was responsible for teaching last year:
1st grade Reading
1st grade Composition and Language
1st grade Handwriting
1st grade Math
1st grade Spelling
1st grade Science
1st grade Social Studies
1st grade Health
2nd grade Reading
2nd grade Composition and Language
2nd grade Handwriting
2nd grade Math
2nd grade Spelling
2nd grade Science
2nd grade Social Studies
2nd grade Health

What a difference!!  I especially noticed the difference on our first weekend.  Last year I had to take home 8-10 hours of work on the weekends just to keep up with the district and state demands of teaching 2 grades at once.  This weekend, I only had 2 hours of work to do!  I hope the rest of the year continues to be this smooth!

I will have new challenges with third grade, of course, but considering how challenging last year was, I am truly thankful for this year.

READY FOR SCHOOL

My room is finally ready (ok, maybe 95% ready, as I thought of some more things to do this evening...but it'll be just fine on Monday!)

 Look Whooo!

 I saw about 2/3 of my students at our Meet the Teacher.  Only one brought school supplies.  HOWEVER, a very awesome company called Textron donated an incredible amount of supplies to our school.  Check out my new favorite blog, Sunshine and Giggles, for pictures and details! http://sunshineandgigglesinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/2013/08/textron-is-awesome.html

 The alphabet at the top is a MATH alphabet!  Very cool!

 I used magnets to hold my Math posters up, that way I can change them out quickly and easily!

 My cute owl word wall!

 I love my sink curtain!  These cabinets will be a great place to display student work.

 My new behavior management chart and Math Center Rotations.

 Up close with the owls.

A snack for the first day!  We're ready!  Bring on the third graders!

DYEING CLOTHESPINS

I use clothespins around the classroom for many things, especially my behavior management chart.  Since I will have two different groups of students, I wanted to color code their clothespins.  The idea came to me from pinterest!  Here is how I did mine:

Gather bowls, clothespins, and Rit dye

 I chose Aquamarine (my birthstone color) and yellow.  My chair footies are light blue and yellow, so this will match nicely with my classroom colors.

 I mixed about 1/4 cup of the Rit dye with hot water, and added the clothespins.

  I let them soak for 20-30 minutes.

This is what they look like wet.

Here is what the clothespins look like after drying for awhile (though not fully dry yet).  The color looks better after drying! Although if I do this again, I would let the blue soak for a little bit longer.  However, I think they both turned out great!  I'm looking forward to using them this year!