Aunt Phyllis' Fight

I normally only post about teaching and assessments and classroom funnies........however tonight I want

to share the story of my Aunt Phyllis. My Aunt Phyllis is an amazing person. I wish I could be half the woman she is. 20 years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She beat it. After chemo, radiation and a mastectomy. She was cancer free for 13 years. Then it came back. Breast cancer. Again. More chemo, more radiation. She won. Two months ago she felt "not right". Cancer. Again. That damn monster. This time because she has had her life time of maximum amount of chemo and radiation the treatment they had to go with did not work. First seizures then after several weeks of treatments, the cancer markers said she had 50% more cancer than when she started the treatment. It fills her body. Her bones, blood and organs. She works at the hospital and has for 30 years. The CEO came and spoke to her after she was given a life expectancy of days and taken off of all treatments and the DNR signed, and asked her, "What can I do for you?" She said she wanted to be moved to the hospital (a trauma hospital) where she has worked and  wanted to be on the floor she work on. They moved her. Then she requested something I just could not believe. She didn't lie there. She didn't bring in the relatives to all stand over her and cry or whisper or talk in hushed tones. She asked for pastries. Yes, pastries. She's a diabetic and asked for pastries from all over the town. They ran out and brought them in and had a sweet treat party. Then the next day she went outside and enjoyed the fresh air. She asked for visitors and they filled the room and they laughed and giggled and had fun. She had an all night pajama party with her brother and sister. (My Aunt is 58 her sister is my mother and she is 63 and her brother is 46)  Then she asked for a motorcycle shirt and helmet and she proudly wears them today (her brother is in a motorcycle club). Today it was Christmas. Yes, Christmas in May complete with music, a tree, stockings, and Santa. Tomorrow a quartet will arrive to entertain all the family and friends who are camped out in her room. She is laughing! Having fun! Could I have done that? I am not so sure I could have moved on from a such a terrible diagnosis. But she is that kind of soul. She sees the good. She lives her life to the fullest. And today she has lived to see another day and she made the most of it. Please send your good thoughts and energy and prayers to my Aunt Phyllis and those she will leave behind. Pray that she never suffers and the way she lived her life will always be what we remember about Aunt Phyllis. 

Free Give Away!!

Go to my shop on Teachers Notebook and register to win a free assessment! Common Core assessment for Point of View. It's a great one! 5 winners!!! Go sign up now!

Math on the desk!

I let my students write on the desks! Yes, I do. They love it. It's big, lots of room to work out math problems and I can see everyone's thinking.  This particular day we were counting coins. This student was using a key (I wrote the touch math signs on his desk on the right side, dotting for counting by fives) and he was working with the key to get the answers. As you can see I gave them a large amount of coins to count. Borrowing and regrouping is great to do on the desks as well.

 The students in the back have their hands over their work to signal me that they are ready to show. It's a great little tip to let them write on the desk. I have never had a student not do his work when I do this. They love it and I can see quickly who needs help. I also have whiteboards (paddles as seen on this desk) but nothing beats writing right on the desk! At the end I spray Mr. Clean right on the desk and the student wipes off the writing. Comes right off and the room smells fantastic!

End of the Year Week

The last week of school I try to do something different than the norm with my students. I break all routines and just have fun. I let them design the room (they chose the seating chart design, draw it out on grid paper) We vote for the best design and rearrange the room. Last year I did a theme a day: Board game day, Fly a Kite Day, Dance party day, ice cream social, karaoke day.  It was great fun!

This year I am doing a day in the life of kids from around the world.  I chose 5 continents (five countries) and we will listen to the music of that country, watch a movie from that country, play games that kids from the area play and sample a food from that area. I am very excited about it! I googled the games, United Streamed the movie clips, Pinterested the foods, and Pandoraed the music! So easy and it's going to be so fun!

I also have my students create a countdown chain. This year I have 17 students (very small class for me) so starting tomorrow we start pulling off  links(17 days left!) Today I gave each student a strip of paper. They were to write what they wanted to do or what they were going to do this summer. Each day I pull one off and let that child tell us all about their summer. I then let two or three students tell what they remember most about that person this year. A funny happening or a kind gesture. Then I give everyone in the room a notecard to write/ draw nice things about that person and give it to them throughout the day. I find that in these last few weeks students start to get snippy with each other. This brings them back to thinking about all the nice and wonderful things we experienced together throughout the year.

Mother's Day Flowerpot!

Here it is! This is what I finally decided to have my students make for Mother's Day. It is a flowerpot from Michael's (Extremely cheap, actually mine came from under my house........long story but let's just say I have lots of these from the previous owners but that is another post) tissue paper from $ Tree and some glue and water!

I made a glue mixture of water and Elmers.........no measuring just made it runny and "painted" the pot in sections.  I then took the tissue paper (I actually used the paper that they use as packaging for the tissue paper that had lots of colors on it. My students however chose two colors that matched their mom's kitchens. Their homework for the weekend was to find out what color mom's kitchen was!) and cut it into little squares and other geometrical shapes which was a plus as we are on Geometry in Math. I glued the shapes on the pot smoothing them with my fingers so that there were no bubbles. I let it dry then sprayed it with a clear gloss coat that I bought at Lowes for roughly $4.00. I then used flower bulbs that I didn't use in my garden (so free bought them at Sams for $15.00 for 100 bulbs back in the fall) and bought dirt (about $5.00.)

They are so gorgeous! They look like works of art! I know the moms will love these! Very easy and inexpensive.  You can make it even more inexpensive if you don't have the supplies that I did, use packaged seeds. One pack would do your whole class! We also made cards and poems but the flowerpots were definitely the best part!!  I can't wait for the kids to take them home to mom this Friday! Many of them said they were going to hid them until Sunday morning :)

White Boards and Crate Seats

I teach in a very old school. When I got there last year I still had chalkboards. I hadn't had chalkboards in years! I was spoiled with whiteboards and once you have them nothing else will do! So I had to make whiteboards! I went to Home Depot and bought whiteboard. It was about $12.00 a sheet. I measured my boards went to HD and told them what I needed it for what. They knew exactly what I was doing (apparently there are a lot of us doing this) and he was able to cut two for me perfectly.  I slide it over the chalkboard, drilled it in on all the corners and two in the middle top and bottom and presto chango I have white boards!!! I put colored duct tape around them to hide the screws plus it's just prettier. I use Mr. Clean to clean it with once a week and one of those cloth type hand puppet rags as an eraser.  LOVE IT! (I didn't really have any pictures of just the board so the picture included is me on PJ day so look past me at the whiteboard)

I also made those crates with the cloth tops.  I again went to HD (they will cut for teachers for free! At least mine does) and had them cut the wood tops. They found scrap wood for me and the whole project (six seats) cost less then 20.00. That included the crates I bought from Walmart on sale during the school sales.  The wood was only about $3.00 and the fabric came from Goodwill for $1.22. The kids love them and they are such great storage for my reading groups.  I like to keep them heavy because the kids are less likely to tip them over or to carry them around the room.  My hubby measured for the tops for me and he said that if I left a lip or overlap that they would be more sturdy rather them having the wood fit perfectly on the inside lip of the crate. So mine have inside strips of wood glued to the underside that settle down on the crate and keep the top seat in place rather than fitting inside the crate. They are very sturdy and show no signs of wear and tear. LOVE THEM! (The Picture is on Halloween but the "Indian" is sitting on one of the crate seats)

100 Giveaway from Oriental Trading on Teachers Notebook!

Teacher appreciation week starts on the 4th! Teachers Notebook is giving away 100.00 shopping sprees at Oriental Trading Company. Follow the link and sign up to win!!!

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/CommonCoreToolbox

Compound Words

http://www.amazon.com/Once-there-bull-frog-Paperstar-Book/dp/0698116070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367546621&sr=8-1&keywords=compound+book+Rick+Walton



This is a great book by Rick Walton. Mr. Walton was a teacher and has several wonderful books that teaches concepts.  I use this book every year to teach compound words.  I read it twice. The second time the students supply the second half of the compound words.  I read it with long pauses so they can add in unison the compound word.  After I read the story I have my students create a compound animal. They draw and write the animal and it's characteristics.  EX: a horseturtle.  He eats horseflies and slowly gallops.  He has a horse head, legs and tale but has a shell as a body.

It's a great book to teach compound words! Be sure to check out all the other books Rick Walton has written!

Anchor Charts

Anchors are fantastic! I use them in my room. Most teachers premake them and post on the wall. I do them with my students.  I talk about the concept, teach the concept then we talk about what we see, the image in our heads when we think of the concept. EX: compound words, I think of a butterfly because the word butterfly is a compound word.  Then I pass out paper to the students and I take a large sheet of paper and tape it to my board. Together the students and I draw the concept. Theirs goes in their anchor chart binder and mine is posted on the wall. I talk as I draw, "I am going to draw a big bird biting on bitter bird seeds as my alliteration."

Reward Bucket

So this is my reward bucket (I was Mrs. West but now I am Mrs. Fields). My class is rewarded each time we receive a compliment from another teacher, staff member or students from other classes.

Each semester the students work toward filling the bucket by getting a compliment. One compliment "outside" of the room from others equals a cup of sand. (Our school has a lighthouse/Sandy the Turtle theme) At the beginning of the semester the class votes for what they are working toward: A movie, cookie decorating, cupcake party, ice cream sundaes, dance party. It usually takes the whole semester to fill the bucket. Each time we leave the room for specials or lunch I remind them we are looking for sand compliments. This ensures my babies are well behaved wherever we go and gives them a team goal to work toward.

TPT Assessments

I love assessments! Yes, I do! I know not normal, however I do like them. I love to write them and give them. I am good at it. I really enjoy taking the standards and analyzing them and creating assessments that address the standards. I write my own stories for the assessments. It's actually fun! I use stories from my own life, me as a little girl, my adult life and my children are all included in my assessments. Makes it a lot of fun to use my family and their names and likeness. My assessments are in my TPT store and they are very reasonable.  I have assessments for $1.25 which is so cheap! I also bundle them all literature standards for $10. as well as the informational ones for the same price. I am almost finished with a second set of standards for the literature standards and will be bundling them very soon. Go see my store. I have some great assessments as well as some free stuff and lessons. 


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Common-Core-Toolbox

It's about Kathy again!!

I know, I know you have heard enough about Kathy Green day but she really is an amazing and deserving teacher. Please vote for her!! Here is the video from the Kathy and Michael show. Vote, Vote, Vote!! You can vote Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

http://tinyurl.com/ccw8d8a