It's About That Time...

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a fabulous summer and got some good rest in! We made our move from Dallas, TX to Phoenix, AZ this summer for my husband's job transfer. This summer has been quite a whirlwind! School actually started here yesterday but unfortunately I was unable to find a teaching job for this school year with school starting so quickly. Instead, I'm going to be subbing this year so I can get to know the schools and the area. We also found out some great news! We are expecting twins!  Needless to say there has been quite a bit of change in our lives these past couple of months!  Even though I won't have my own classroom this year, I will still be posting ideas and uploading projects because I love what I do!  Since I don't have my own classroom, I'll have more time to create things to share!  For those of you who started school this week, Happy First Week!

I've started creating some things for my former co-workers that I'll share in the next few days. For now, I thought I'd share this. Does anyone do Mystery Reader in their classroom?  I have had Mystery Readers every Friday in my classroom for the past few years and I know it's becoming quite popular in the elementary classroom!  Here's how it works...at the beginning of the year parents can sign up to be a Mystery Reader one Friday during the year. (I try to keep it to one Friday each so we have a variety of parents but sometimes you have the same parents 2 or 3 times.)  The week before a parent is signed up, I will email them and ask them for 3 clues. (I've also had parents write down three clues with their name on an index card when they sign up so you don't have to keep up with weekly emails.) On Friday, about 15 minutes before Mystery Reader time, I share the clues with my class one at a time. After each clue, I pause and ask if anyone knows who the Mystery Reader is. It's so interesting to see how many things parents have in common!  Once we guess, we find out once the Mystery Reader arrives. Sometimes no one guesses and it's a complete mystery!  The Mystery Reader has 15-20 minutes where he/she can read books they brought to share with the class. It's a great time for the kids to see their own parents involved in the classroom and the kids love hearing different readers each week. It's become one of our favorite activities of the year in my classroom. Below you'll see an example of a sign-up sheet you could use for Mystery Reader sign-up. We skip some Fridays throughout the year due to school-wide events, state testing, etc.

End of Year Awards Certificates

Being the last week of school, I thought I'd create some special awards for my kiddos. I like them to feel extra special that last day of school as they head off to summer. It's always sad for me to see my kids go the last day of school...I feel like they are a part of me after spending all year in our classroom together! I created some colorful awards for things like 'Voracious Reader', 'Handy Helper', 'Super Speller', 'Good Behavior', 'History Buff', 'Math Wizard', and more. There are fifteen awards total including a blank award certificate so you can write in your own creative awards for your kiddos. Feel free to stop by my TPT store and check it out. Only five more days left!  I hope you are having a wonderful end to your school year. :)

One more week to go..

The school year is quickly coming to an end and I am just as antsy as the kids! We all know the kids get a bit wild in May but the last two weeks of school is the worst. I still want to teach them great things and they are ready for summer to be here. I created a quick chart in my room to help keep them on task and the behavior issues to minimal. It's just palm tree with eight leaves. To keep with the monkey theme of it all...I cut out eight banana graphics. Their goal is to cover up each leaf with a banana. Once they do that, they get to draw a reward out of the bag. My kids made up rewards this time around. Some include: Popsicle Party, Extra Recess, Movie Treat, Write in Pen, Sit By a Friend, and Free Computer Time. It's worked really well this week and they earned a movie treat for this afternoon! We'll be using it next week too so I can keep them semi-controlled. :) Feel free to download it for free at my TPT store! Happy End of the Year everyone! Hope your last weeks go well. :)

Testing Freebie

I got a little creative last night and created a little goodie to send home with my kiddos before the big testing day. It's a little pocket you can glue together that says "You're such a SMARTIE! Owl bet you'll do great!" On the back, there is a little poem. I simply glued them together and stuck a few SMARTIES inside for a little treat to boost their confidence. I hope you can use it in your classroom with your kiddos too! It's free on my TPT store. :)

It's About That Time...

I'm sure many of you are approaching state tests soon...our is actually this week! We've been working really hard in Room 203 and I think we are ready to show what we've learned this year. :)  We test on Tuesday and Wednesday each year so we always have that awkward Monday where you don't want to bog students down with test strategies yet you don't want to waste the day either. Tomorrow we'll be reading books like Hooray for Diffendoofer Day and Testing Miss Malarkey which are some of my favorites. We'll also be building the Reading Brain Book that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

As for math, I decided it would be fun to review with a game so Jeopardy it is! I used a simple Jeopardy PowerPoint template to create a fun game to review the major skills we'll be tested on this year. I'm thinking of splitting up the class into two teams to play against each other. It'll be review mixed with some competitive fun! The Jeopardy game is available on my TPT store for free so hop on by to download if you'd like to use it in your classroom.
 

One of the most difficult things that we struggle with in my room in reading is multiple meaning words.  To keep in the game mood of the day, I decided to create a fun matching game that I'll have my kids play in 'Memory' style. It's simply four different words, each with four different meanings. Each meaning can be matched up with a sentence using the word.  It's a quick, fun, and easy way to review before a test.  It can also be downloaded at my TPT store.

Well, I'm off to relax the rest of the night. It'll be a busy week so have a great one. Good luck to all of those who are testing this week!

Test Taking Strategies for Reading...

I've been off the radar because it's been extremely crazy around here. Our house is up on the market and we are looking for a house in Phoenix now so my spare time has been close to zero! At school we have the state test, STAAR, coming up in just a week and our review is underway! I've been using a "brain book" for the past couple of years and I'm not sure who the idea came from. This year I updated it a bit with the new standards that are tested. We usually review a few things a day during the week prior to the test. By the time Monday rolls around, students have a cute little booklet they can take home with them. It's a fun way to review instead of "drill and kill". I hope you can find some use for it in your classrooms! It is free on my TPT store so feel free to stop by and check it out. Happy Sunday!

    

Happy Spring!

Hey everyone! We've spent the last 24 hours being pounded by rain, thunder, and lightning. But, hey..it's the first day of Spring! We just came back from Spring Break Monday and it's already been a whirlwind of a week. Now that break is over, we have 9 more weeks of school and a state test to prepare for. It'll be busy, busy, busy! I'm hoping to post a couple of times each week over the next few weeks...sorry I haven't been so great with posting lately! Life has been a bit crazy here at my house. We found out my husband's job is being transferred to Arizona. So, believe it or not, in three months this Texas girl is packing up and moving closer to the west coast. It's going to be quite a change! I can't even begin to think about the realtor, packing, a new job, new school, and everything else! So, for today, I just thought about my favorite season, Spring!

We are preparing for our state assessment at the end of April and no matter how many things I try to do to get my kids to learn their multiplication facts, it's just not working. So today, I started something new in my room with a spring twist. I introduced "Buzzing Through Multiplication". As you can see in the pictures below, students each have a bee with their number on it. We started at our 3s because I'm pretty sure we all know our 1s and 2s by now! Each day, we are taking a timed multiplication test based on what fact we are still working on. I'm hoping they will feel like "buzzing" through the flowers as quickly as they can for the "SECRET" prize they get at the end! (It's only secret because I have no idea what the prize will be just yet ...)

      

I am still creating the tests right now but they consist of 35 problems for each level. For example, the threes test is all problems that are multiplying by three (up to 12). I'm posting the flowers and bees on my TPT store for free so stop on by and download it if you feel like adding some spring to your classroom! (I'll post the tests once I'm finished with them.) I also included some bees without numbers in case you want to write student names or use them for something else.  You could even use this with lower grades for memorizing addition and subtraction facts or in a fourth grade classroom for division facts! Have fun multiplying and Happy Spring!