Budding Blog Linky

I'm linking up with Jess at I {heart} Recess for her Budding Blogger Linky. It's for blogs with less than 200 followers.

1. I've been blog stalking for a while now, and getting amazing classroom ideas from all of you! I started blogging this summer because I wanted a place to share what's going on in my classroom, and hopefully collaborate with my fellow bloggers.

2. My favorite subjects to teach are Science and Reading. Science because it's so easy to get the kids to really engage. I love seeing them get excited about what we're doing! I love teaching Reading purely for personal reasons. I love to read, so I want my kids to love it too.

3. I am a sixth year teacher, and my teaching style has been constantly evolving. I feel like in the last two years I am finally starting to settle into my own style. I try to come up with ways to engage all of my students (Reading Teach Like a Pirate is helping in that area!), and this year, I am focusing a lot on community building. I'm going to try flipping my math class, so I'm sure that will require some big changes to my teaching style!

4. Three interesting facts about me...I sang in my college choir every semester until student teaching. I used to love scrapbooking, but I never have time anymore. Now I use those skills for TPT products. I learned to water ski the summer before I turned 3. I was so small, my parents had to put tennis shoes inside the ski boots so they would fit!

5. Gladly! My TPT store can be found here :)

Five for Friday & Freebie Friday in one!

I'm linking up twice in one post today, with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday, and with Teaching Blog Addict for Freebie Friday!

 

I'm starting with a teacher funny because we all need a laugh sometimes! We've been working on physical and chemical changes in Science, and as an activity to demonstrate chemical change, we made root beer floats. The kids had all seen the root beer in the room, so they knew something was up. When I finally told them what we were making, one of my little guys threw his hands up in the air, and shouted, church-lady style, "hallelujah!" It was the funniest thing I've had a kid do in a while! I wish I had video to share with you!

Speaking of our matter unit, I have been using Nicole Shelby's States of Matter Unit from TPT, and I cannot say enough about how great it has been.My kids absolutely loved all of the experiments that we have done. I added a few of my favorite past activities, but this unit really does cover it all! I wish I had pictures, but the camera I used died on me, and it's a Sony, so I can't just plug the card into the computer :(

After seeing Farley's interactive door on Monday made it, I couldn't wait to make one of my own. Thanks to Amazon 2 day shipping, I got mine all put together yesterday! I think it is so cute, and the kids love getting to write on it. I started with something just for fun and asked about their favorite TV show.

(How cute is it that they love Full House!)

We started our Interactive Reading Noteboks last week, and everyone is loving it - teachers and students! We're using lots of resources from Erin at I'm Lovin' Lit and Nicole Shelby, and they are all so great! I spent last weekend organizing all of the awesome TPT products I've printed out by skill and standard. Fortunately, these wonderful ladies did most of the work for me, so I just had to combine the products. I feel so organized now!

And finally, telling time usually isn't a big deal by fifth grade, but this year, I have several inclusion students. Since some of them have telling time on an analog clock as one of their goals, I made some clock labels to match my classroom theme. I'm sharing them with you as a not-so-flash freebie. They'll be free all weekend! Click the picture below to be taken to my TPT store to download them!

Hope everyone else's week has been as great as mine! We have family in town tonight and are off to the zoo with them tomorrow!

A Peek at My Week

I'm linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for the first time for her "A Peek at My Week" linky!

We've been back at school for a whole month now, and this week, I am wrapping up my first real "week" of Daily 5/Reading Groups. (I do a 6 day rotation instead of just using the Monday-Friday week.) All of our practice clearly paid off, because my kiddos did a fantastic job of rotating through all of their activities without interrupting my groups! Check out a few of my kiddos doing Read to Someone...I love that they still segregate themselves into boy or girl pairs! That won't last long!

   

I had trouble finding activities appropriate for 5th graders for Word Work, so I made my own. There are only 7 activities right now, but I will be adding moe throughout the year as we add more activities to our Vocabulary Journals. I am in LOVE with the way they turned out using the cute backgrounds, buntings, and frames from Erin at I'm Lovin Lit!

You can grab a copy in my TPT store for only $2 OR you can Pin it to Win it! Just paste the URL of your pin into a comment, and I will use random.org to choose a winner on Wednesday morning! Be sure you aren't a "no-reply blogger" so I will be able to email the file to you!

Outside of school, my LifeGroup from my church is starting a Bible study on James on Tuesday that I am really looking forward to. Then, on Friday, my in-laws are coming for a long weekend visit. If the forecast stays like it is, the plan is to take little man on his first trip to the zoo on Saturday!


I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

Tried It Tuesday: The "Turn It In Binder" + a FREEBIE

I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper again to share what I am trying this year for collecting student work...

For the last several years, I've used the "different drawer for each subject" method of collecting student work. While it did a great job of keeping my classroom organized, there were some definite drawbacks. Mostly, it's REALLY easy to skip out on grading until the drawer is too full to hold anything else! I know the phrase, "just stack it on top of the papers from a few days ago" has come out of my mouth more often than I'd like to admit!

I'm trying something different this year, and I LOVE it so far! I'm having my students turn all their work in to different pockets in a "Turn It In" binder. (Disclaimer - I got the idea either from Pinterest or from someone's blog, but now I can't seem to find it to give credit. If I stole this idea from you, let me know so I can give you credit! And thank you, thank you, thank you for making my life easier!)

     

All you need is a binder, a package of plastic divider pockets, and a bunch of copes of your class list. I put the pockets into the binder, and made a cute cover page with instructions for those who forget. When it's time to turn in an assignment, I tape a class list on an empty divider and write the assignment on it. Students place their work in the pocket and highlight their name on the list.

Reasons I love it:
1. It's easy to look and see who hasn't turned something in yet.
2. I mark absent students (or students who are at speech, etc.) right on the list so it's easy to see why I may not have work for everyone.
3. When there's just a pocket to turn in the paper, students HAVE to put it in neatly, and most of them put it right side up!
4. When I'm ready to take papers home to grade, I just grab the binder and throw it in my bag.
5. There are only 8 page protectors, so I can't let papers pile up too much!

FREEBIE:
If you like the binder cover I made, you can grab it FREE in my TPT Store! Just click on the picture!

CURRENTLY September

 

For more fabulous CURRENTLY fun, visit Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!