E-mail Visits - Best Christmas Present Ever!

The one thing I LOVE about teaching is the fact that I get to see my past students when they visit and update me about their current lives and/or reminisce about the year we had together.  It's always amazing to hear about what it is they remember.  Since I moved schools AND states, I was saddened that I wouldn't see some of my past students.  However, I did give them my personal email to stay in touch.  I have received email updates from the kids here and there, but I just got a couple of emails this week that did just the trick.  Here are just a couple of highlights:

"I really miss you! I have been thinking about fifth grade recently because I miss it. That year was so much fun. I still remember all the funny times, our jobs and economy system!  I also remember on April fools day when all the students switched seats and you only spoke in Vietnamese all day! Another time was when you pretended some one took your Elmo and you left all these clues so we could figure out who it was."

"Thank you so much for making us do those essays every week. They made me a much better writer and I benefitted a lot off of them. "

"When ever I hear Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are" on the radio, it makes me think of you. And then I get sad. But, you're expecting a baby boy???? Congratulations! What are you going to name it? I hope you send us pictures!!! :) We miss you loads, and we can't wait to see you again. Thanks for being amazing just the way you are!!!"


I must say it has made ending the teaching week before the holidays extremely rewarding.  By the way, that last comment about the Bruno Mars song was because they kids rewrote that song to fit our class and sang it to me for teacher appreciation day.  This is why I do what I do, no matter how stressful or tiring.  It's also a good reminder for me to stay on track with my personal teaching philosophies and hold my ground when it comes to why I do certain things that kids may think are "hard."  There are always underlying life lessons (as well as academic) that can be taken from those moments.  I really do enjoy my job.  :) Happy holidays!!!

Long Term Planning

The ability to long term plan for things is a LIFE skill I feel is extremely important for students to learn. Students need to balance school, chores, play, and family... just like the adults in their lives do daily.  This is the main reason most of the homework I assign is due weekly or monthly. If paced well, it won't feel like a ton of work at all.  The pacing of the weekly assignments are not always so difficult.  It's usually the month long projects, like book reports, that really get kids procrastinating.  Look, I've done it too!  Been there, done that.  Students do learn from their consequences when they wait until the last minute, but then need guidance on how to plan long term assignments.  It's not a skill that comes easily or one that's easy to teach (since I am not reinforcing this with them at home).  As we teachers know, no matter how much you communicate with students' families, there are some who can't help certain home situations.

When any major assignment has been given, we take time out of our day to long term plan.  We basically work backwards looking at the end result, figuring out what to do each week, and then each day:

Baby Registries, Questions, & Discoveries, Oh My!!!

Registries
So my doctor recommended that if we were going to spend time reading books while pregnant that we should read what to do directly after pregnancy, when you're mostly on your own.  Here's the book she recommended.  I haven't finished it yet, but recently read the section about what to buy for baby.

Gender Reveal Craziness

So today was the big day.  I am 20 weeks along and went to my doctor's appointment for the gender reveal.

It's been a crazy week leading up to Thanksgiving so far.  We had some awesome friends fly in to go snow camping (yes, the hubby strapped a backpack - light one - to his pregnant wife's back to sleep in freezing cold temperatures) with the pups.  Yes, I was a willing participant.  Having snow camped with him before, I brought the right amount of layers this time!  The plan was to cook a whole turkey in the wilderness in a bottomless keg (literally bottomless since the boys cut the bottom of the keg shell out to act as an outdoor oven) and have a three course fondue meal in addition.  The dinner was FANTASTIC and we all couldn't believe the turkey turned out amazing!  The next morning, however, we had a fuel canister explode and my husband's right hand, thumb mainly, was lacerated pretty badly by the metal pot.  So... I drove him back to town to get to the hospital while our friends packed out the camping gear.

Turkey being prepped, cooked in the wilderness, and ready to be eaten.

Anyway, we've been in and out of the hospital for two days now with his hand surgery.  Our poor friends who came to visit us had to hang out on their own the next couple of days as I took care of groggy hubby coming out of anesthesia.   Our friends are great people though, who helped by getting groceries and cooking so we could still all hang out together in the evenings cooking, eating, and talking.   They also took our dogs out on a hike and a run.  Can they stay when I have the baby?

Anyway, so this next ultrasound is the third day in a row we will be at the hospital.  At least hubby is not the one in the patient seat this time!  I am pretty excited and had a dream three days ago that this specific appointment revealed baby was a girl.  Also, while in the emergency room, my husband's doc said my hubby was bound to have a girl since he does all these crazy adventures (climbing, skiing, running, hiking, back country touring, etc.).  Another also... we felt baby kick for the first time in the ER room.  What special memories we had there!  It wasn't much of a kick, just 3 quick jabs to my hand.  I had to push on my stomach about half an inch in and hold before I could feel it.  The feelings have been on and off, but not regular yet.

So anyway, I've avoided the point of this post.  Is it a boy or a girl???

Drum roll please...

We're having a boy!

I guess now we can actually be more serious about picking out names.  It's starting to all feel a bit more real, especially since our little one is also kicking.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I'm thankful baby is healthy, friends who are amazingly helpful and understanding, family who love and support us, a job that I love, and a hubby who's accident could have been much worse, but wasn't.  Smile more everyone.

Multiply Decimals with a Thousandths Grid... I'm Dizzy!!!

Be warned!  Coloring in this model made me dizzy!  And I don't think it had anything to do with being pregnant.

We have a week before Thanksgiving Break, so I decided to not start something so new for math, but expand.  We just finished multiplying with whole numbers, whole numbers by decimals, and decimals by decimals - modeling everything!  You can read about those concepts and get some downloads here. So I thought expanding to using the thousandths grid would be a nice way to end a unit, mixed in with some Thanksgiving themed math of course!

Anyway, here are the notes we took together:

Folded Cover of Math Notes... I would have typed it, but thought about it last minute at the copy machine.   So this is what they get.  It works.

Inside of the notes:
I blew up the thousandths grid so that it was easier to see.  The green was hard to see in the examples, even under my document camera.  I'd use a darker color next time.  Helpful tips: having SHARP colored pencils made it easier to color the thousandths.

I also gave some problems like the ones on the right that they could practice with.  Making sure students write the numbers in the correct place was crucial.

Here are the pdf copies of the notes and problems I gave students: Model with Thousandths Grid

For this concept, I did not start with contextual problems  We had been doing SOOOO much of that with decimals by decimals using the hundredths grid and they GOT it!!  Woo hoo!  For this concept, I really wanted them to be able to figure out place value first.  For example, students may accidentally write .7 when it is in fact .07 that they counted.  The thousandths place also got tricky.

I plan to give them contextual problems on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper like the picture below tomorrow.  It is double sided, so 12 problems were more than enough since we will be in centers this week.  They start this in one center and then continue with me at the next center (so I could see/help) before doing other fun Thanksgiving review stuff.

The word problems I used can be found here: Thousandths Grid Word Problems

By the way, do you ever look on Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers and feel like you're never doing anything cute?  I'm making all my word problems, finding models, creating lessons/notes, lessons, quizzes, and enlarging, reducing, and/or cutting and pasting things to be copied the way I want them that I barely have enough time for cute.  Phew!  Talk about late nights.  Oh Common Core!  But hey, they are getting it!  And I am here to share it FREE.  :)

I Miss My Grading Routine... Darn Pregnancy!

So as I'm sitting here grading the past week's math, reading, and geography tests, I decided that pregnancy has put a damper on making grading more "fun," if that's possible.  Yes, grading is tedious and I do as much as I can once it's turned in.  However, there are always those weeks where the pile gets larger and then I really don't want to look at it... until I have to.

I LOVED taking that giant pile of work and going to a non-busy restaurant by myself (I don't want to be in the way AND I need to get out of my house) with an order of mac and cheese (sometimes I order a salmon caesar salad or side pizza instead) and a glass of wine, or two. Don't judge.  I sit for a few hours to knock all this out and 2 glasses of wine does not sway my grading in any way.  It just makes it feel less like a chore.

A pre-pregnancy grading picture.  Doesn't it look like you should join me?

Oh, and the manila folder with the post its are for me to jot down how kids are doing on each concept in math.  It helps me be more specific when I write report card comments.  I wouldn't necessarily need it for my own class, but that year, 5th and 6th graders leveled their kids, so I had kids from 4 different classes in math.  Those post its saved me and kept me sane. 

Daily CAFE Conference

I attended the Daily 5 and CAFE conference in Vegas this past week.  It was very informative since I had many reservations about aspects of it since starting my implementation of Daily 5 and CAFE this year.  You can read about that post here.  The sisters had some revisions & updates to the original Daily 5 book.  They are currently finishing up the second edition.

Well, here are some things I plan on trying out since the conference.

Assessments to Guide Strategy Groups
At our school, we currently have been trying to find a way to progress monitor comprehension.  We measured fluency pretty well, but didn't have something school-wide for upper grades when it came to assessing and monitoring comprehension.  My biggest problem with fluency assessments are that by the time they get to 5th grade, my biggest concern is comprehension.  Some kids just don't read well, but man, do they think outside of the box!  Also, the fluency assessment didn't even monitor their pace or expression.  It was simply read as fast as you could in the time frame given.  Who reads like that?

Anyway, the upper elementary assessment recommended by the sisters (which looks pretty good) is the Informal Reading Inventory by Roe & Burns.  It has the fluency, accuracy, vocabulary, and (most importantly) a comprehension piece.  Our reading specialist just ordered it and I'm excited to have something that will assess students' different reading areas and abilities.

Oh Math Planning... How I Love and Hate You

Ok, I am a total math girl, especially 5th grade math.  The rigor and content is just so exciting!  It's right about where even adults have a difficult time with the math.  I'm sure most of you teachers (and non-teachers) have heard of the Common Core Standards.  The Common Core math is our district's focus since it is a shift when it comes to the depth of knowledge kids are expected to comprehend certain concepts.  Modeling and explaining WHY things work takes time, energy, and effort (students and teachers).  I love planning it, and I hate it for the time it sucks out of me.

Yes, there's stuff out there, especially on Teachers Pay Teachers, but not all of it is Common Core aligned, even if it is labeled as so.  FRAUD!  You have to really look at it.  I've seen things called "Common Core" and it's just a worksheet with problems and maybe one number line.  No, not Common Core.  And if it is pretty Common Corey, it's usually more expensive because it's good.  I don't know about you guys, but I can't spend an arm and a leg on one unit, much less a bunch of units!  Plus, after the time it takes me to sift through everything, I realize that I could have created something myself.  No, it wouldn't be with the cute graphics or pictures, but it would be what my kids needed specifically this year.

I am in no way saying I'm a Common Core expert, but I am doing the best I can with not as many resources available.  I teach them the algorithm when appropriate and model the others when necessary.  With 5th graders (compared to primary), they're really getting the short end of the stick since so much of what 5th CC builds on is what they really "know" from the previous years, such as the 3rd and 4th grade fraction units.  However, since CC didn't really roll out for our district until last year and teachers are still experimenting, I have to know that pre-teaching 3rd of 4th grade concepts is necessary to continue with what I need to do sometimes.

What I like about creating my own stuff is that:
1) I can use their names in contextual problems
2) I include things they're interested in
3) It's electronic so I can change and reuse as needed for future years

So anyway, enough rambling.  I wanted to share a few concepts we've been working on.


ADDING & SUBTRACTING WHOLE NUMBERS & DECIMALS
With adding & subtracting, I did this with whole numbers and decimals together, emphasizing lining up by PLACE.  By 5th, they should be able to do this with the algorithm, so I didn't spend too much time on the other models.  It's not the main focus for 5th grade... although you wouldn't believe the amount of kids who can't add or subtract with regrouping by the time they're in 5th.  It's shocking!

I added tree diagrams in, but really didn't push it, since the algorithm is much more efficient & they should be doing that by 5th anyway.

What a Week! Cheers to November!

So this past week was conference week.  MAN, AM I TIRED!!!  We got today off, so you better believe I slept in.  But when you have to teach all week (full days) and then conference until 8pm multiple days in a row, it can drain you.  (I would also throw in my current state of pregnancy doesn't help, but I've really been feeling fine.)  It's different when I think of things to work on and end up working until 8pm because I choose to; but there's something about back to back meetings and 12 hour days that can just get to you.  On my first day, I only had a 20 minute lunch break in between two conferences and had to chow down fast.

So anyway, my student led conferences went really well.  I posted how I ran them here.  92% of my appointments showed, which is great!  I would say my most successful conference was also my most difficult parent.  Have you ever had one of those parents that is more difficult to work with than the kid?  Who am I kidding.  Do I have to ask?  Yeah, the one that doesn't support you from the get go, believes everything the lying kid says (who, by the way, is smart enough to know this and manipulates the adults in his life to pit them against each other), and claims to want the kid to be accountable, but they give in every time.  That's the conference I asked my principal to sit in on with me not because I couldn't handle her myself, but because I wanted the conference time to be focused and have his support.  Anyway, the kid's lies were all out there, miscommunication/more lies he told them at home surfaced, and samples of his lack of effort were unveiled. among other things.  Parent even apologized to me for pitting herself against me and believing every word her kid said before asking me, etc.  I also turned around the anger she felt towards her kid by showing her what he is capable of and giving her suggestions on how we/kid could move forward.  We discussed two goals the kid can focus on this quarter, and what we (home & school) can each specifically do to ensure we help him this next quarter.  I also sent a follow-up email detailing this information so it's clear.  Phew!!! How long will this support last throughout the year?  Who knows, but I'll take it as it comes.  :)

We also finished our first read aloud for the year, The Witches, by Roald Dahl.  I love this book!  I make the Grand High Witch voice when she speaks, which makes the students laugh, and I always stop at the worst times (which is when something is about to happen).  It was a perfect ending time for the book because we were able to watch the movie before Halloween to compare and contrast the book and movie.  Anyway, this year, I decided to do something different with my read aloud time.  Listening AND comprehending is a skill and I don't necessarily like them drawing or working on other things, tuning in only when they want to.  So I created these listening response questions that students answer after each read aloud (or whenever I have time for them to respond).  Here are some student samples below:

Daily 5/CAFE

Okay, so ever since I did the book studies last year at my school, I have discovered Daily 5/CAFE has been a pretty big craze, meaning I've found a ton of posts and blogs all about Daily 5/CAFE.  This is my first attempt at it this year and I wanted to post some things that are working well and reservations I have.  Obviously, trying anything new takes time and I plan to use it next year too before deciding how I want to run my reading/writing stations.

Book Boxes:
Can we talk about how EXPENSIVE magazine holders are?  Even cheap ones multiplied by 30 does not equal cheap.  Anyway, I found a pretty inexpensive way to make book boxes and did it this past summer.  Here's the site I found with the information & directions: Book Boxes from Priority Mail Boxes.  I ordered the boxes from USPS and they shipped it to me for free.  The cost of labor was spending some summer time doing all this, but after buying paint (about 3-4 cans for 15 boxes), the cost was about $0.82/box.

Telling the Kiddos You're Expecting

Well, my pants are starting to get a bit snug and I'm 15 weeks pregnant now.  I figured it was a good time to tell the students and families, especially since people (school staff) were starting to find out.  We're a pretty small school and I wanted my students to hear it from me.  If I had told my staff first, the parents would have known and then my students would be the last to hear.  So I decided last night to tell them and put something quick together this morning.  We talked about inference on Monday and I thought I would tie that into telling them 1) so as not to waste precious teaching time and 2) because they would not see it coming.

I Don't Tell Kids, "Say No to Drugs"

Ok, ok, the title sounds bad.  But I also don't promote drugs & alcohol either.  What I'm trying to say is that I remember being in elementary school.  Year after year during Red Ribbon Week, we went through some sort of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) or anti-drugs programs.  As an elementary child, I thought, "Oh, of course I would never do anything like that."  Many of my friends did too.  I don't think these are bad programs, but I feel the reality of our world today needs a slightly different approach.

As kids get older, they think they know what they're doing, act like adults when they're not, make mistakes, learn from them, and hopefully think "Ugh, my mom was right."  I was one of them.  I didn't act on what I was told to do, I did what I wanted to do, then learned from it.  All we can hope for as adults and teachers is that our kids make good choices and remember our voices/messages as they encounter situations of pressure as they get older.  Don't get me wrong, I was NOT the kid who went off to college and used a bunch of drugs or went off the deep end.  The only thing my D.A.R.E. education would be ashamed of would be the fact that I really like to enjoy a glass of wine (or two).  Not that I'm doing that now while pregnant anyway.

So for Red Ribbon Week, I do it differently.  I don't say, "Say no to drugs."  I feel students need to learn that their choices lead to consequences, which can be good or bad. (This is a message I try to reinforce in every decision they make throughout the year.)  Their LIFE choices can determine the roads that open or close in their future.  Some consequences are small and we can bounce back from them pretty easily.  Some consequences, especially as we get older and the risks are bigger, are life altering/threatening/uncontrollable.  My approach with the kids starts with this chart below.  They copy/take notes as I talk about each section.

I got this from a Marcia Tate classroom management workshop way back when.  She was great and talked about how to manage a classroom based on brain behavior, etc.  I immediately thought of Red Ribbon Week when I did this and have been using it ever since.  It's a great way to teach kids about how drugs affect our brain and what happens when we have a chemical imbalance.

Conference Season

So it is conference season now.  It's a busy time of year with report cards, comments, and preparing for meetings with my students' families.  I have been trying out Student-Led Conferences for the past couple of years now.  Overall, it has turned out well and I'm pretty sure there are some things that I need to tweak, but I thought I'd note some things I've been doing.

Here's a quick glimpse into how I plan to have students guide their parents this year:

Agenda Guide: 

D- for the day; A+ for the effort

Ok, so I was gung ho on starting this blog, being able to talk about my awesome career, and I knew that those "need-to-vent" moments would come up, but not so soon.  It was definitely the case of the MONDAYS!

This is NOT passing, F or no F.  Below par, not even average, practically failing with that minus, and something to be ashamed of.  Not to this kid...

Oh goodness... I've started a blog!!!??

So...I never thought I would be the type of person to start a blog.  I mean, I look at them for so many amazing ideas and love to see how passionate others are about their job as I am.  All the projects and posts from others always seem so Pinteresty that I thought, "My stuff isn't always cute.  What do I have to offer?"  Well, I came to the conclusion that I didn't start this blog for others.  I started it for me!  (Let's be honest, if it helps others in the least bit, I would be thrilled! I am all for sharing ideas and not recreating the wheel!)  I've always been the type of person that didn't need things to be cute anyway.  Don't get me wrong, if it's cute, bonus points!  But I probably won't be that person that creates something with cool graphics just to be cute.  I spend most of my time on content and leave the cute graphics to other teacher pros who are willing to share/sell their materials!

So my hubby and I just found out we're pregnant!  It's our first!  I wanted a way to start documenting my life so that I can look back and remember all those moments and what's gone on that was fun, happy, cool, sad, not so cool, frustrating, full of laughter, etc.  I am hoping this can be a blog with a combination of  teaching and personal life moments and how I struggle to juggle the two.  I know this is possible because I know plenty of amazing teachers who are also moms!  As in the title, "Teaching Has Spilled Into My Everyday Life," most of my time is spent thinking about school that I feel uncertain how I will balance that with my upcoming mommyhood duties.  If I want to work late, I can give my hubby a call and say, "For dinner, let's fend for ourselves!"  The dogs have a backyard, so they're okay too.  I don't think I can leave a newborn baby out in the yard with the dogs or without proper nutrition.  Yikes!  This next coming year will be an adventure for sure.

These are some reasons I know teaching has consumed my life...

1. For Christmas one year, all I wanted was a document camera and was thrilled my husband got me one!  This was to ensure no matter what classroom or school I was in, I would have my most treasured and valuable tech tool.  
2. My first day of summer break 2013 was spent revamping my classroom newsletters.  I got yelled at by my husband.
3. I have spent my summers applying to teacher workshops around the country so I can LEARN more about what I teach to bring it back to my kids.
4. My dogs were forced wanted to pose for my classroom anchor charts.
5. I don't like to go places for a long weekend (unless planned way in advance) because I want to plan and grade (Well, I don't want to grade, I just need to).
6. Once I was unexpectedly hospitalized for a cavernous angioma (brain bleed) and went back to work in 4 days even though my vision was skewed because I wanted to teach!  (Don't worry, I'm totally okay now... lucky!)  Hey, I got to use the excuse "Sorry, guys, brain bleed," every time I forgot something.  Eventually, the kids said I couldn't use that excuse anymore!  Those rascals.
7. I hate when people plan weddings the first few weekends that school starts.  Don't they know I'm busy??? (J/K, I really do love weddings!)
8. I had a dream that my class left the room a complete mess and I broke out into song (during my Glee phase) with Beyonce's part in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" singing "This is a disaster!"
9. I started this blog tonight even though my new math unit I'm starting TOMORROW isn't even fully planned yet, the house is a mess for my in-laws coming to town, my hubby's on me about making a nutritious dinner (all of a sudden, he's more in tune with how healthy I'm eating...hehe),  and... Wait, this has nothing to do with how teaching consumes my life.  It's just showing how bad I am at multi-tasking right now.  Never mind.
10. I We planned to have this baby in the spring because I am that anal about having a long term sub in my classroom at the START of a school year.  Middle of the year, ok, but not ideal.  Spring?  Take your maternity leave once you've pretty much done your job and then have the summer with your newborn!

Okay... talk about the ramblings of a first post!  Cheers to this online adventure! (Have a glass of wine with your cheers for me since I can't right now!)

Spring baby on the way!!!