Six Successes Since Sunday and a Shhh...(don't tell) 1/24/16

So...the week is over and let me tell you this week has been full of many new and interesting revelations. I have come to a lot of decisions and I have began to changed a lot of systems in my classroom. Anyways...here are my Six Successes Since (Last) Sunday. I am posting a little late this week.
  
1. Fractions - They are finally starting to get it!

I have been trying to help my students understand fractions greater than 1 whole for over a week and they have not grasped it no matter what I did. We worked with circle manipulative, we drew them out, we worked with partners, I pulled small groups and not NOTHING! So, I decided to just move on to fractions on a number line, but when working with fractions on a number line we got out the fraction tile manipulative and I got the hair brain idea to try again. 

It got me thinking whether or not my students really understood that a fraction was part of a whole. So we started the discussion off my taking an airhead and asking students what I would call it. They said it was one whole. Then I cut it in half (still in the wrapper) and asked students how much one part was now. They said a half. So then we began the discussion of how fractions were parts of a whole. They were less than 1 whole.

Then we started building out whole fractions and looking at the different size pieces to decide how 

many would fit in a whole. They discovered that 4 fourths make a whole , 8 eighths make a whole, and so on. Then we started looking at fractions greater than 1 like 5 fourths and students were clearly able to see why it was called greater than 1. Now for the hard part. I had students build out the 

fractions and then write the fraction to match.

For some reason no matter what I do they confuse the denominator. My goal and I think I was partly successful with this, is to show my students that when you are doing fractions greater than one you 

are just counting the pieces. For example 5/4 is just 5 one fourth pieces.

I am hopeful that my students now have an understanding of what a fraction is and what a fraction greater than 1 is. Now I think it will be easier for students to figure out how to represent the fractions with numbers. 

2. Report Cards Finished

I finally finished up my report cards, just in time for the deadline. Whenever it is report card time I always get a little scared because I start to wonder do my grades align with what I see in my students and am I being to harsh or too easy. (My district does not do average grades. We look at them holistically.) Hopefully next week when I do report card reviews (we meet with administration to discuss grades and why we selected the grades we did), I will be able to report that everything when off smoothly.

3. Finally Finished Flowers

It took about 15 minutes just to make 1.

I have been working on this cake for about a month and a half now. And I can finally say that I have have finished with the flowers. They have definitely been time consuming. I originally was going to make the cake 3 tiers, so I was going to do about 50-60 flowers in white, red, and pink. Luckily, I changed my mind and decided to do a two tired cake, so I only make about 30-35 roses. After so long working on this cake I was beginning to loose hope that I would ever finish. Hopefully I will be able to post my finished cake as a success in the next two weeks. and I will do an individual post with extensive pictures.

4. New System for Anecdotal Notes

I also decided on a new anecdotal notes system. I am going to have a notebook for each subject and have my students numbers tabbed along the side. Then each day I have target focus students, so at the end of the day I report on those students in my notebooks and I look at any work they have completed and add information that I see and determine if they need to meet with me to conference one on one about their work. Here are some pictures.

5. New Independent Reading Plan a Success

I will blog more about this later, but here is an overview. I have always wanted to make my independent reading time more productive, so I have come up with a new system.

My students will spend time working on the activity from shared reading, which is now differentiated, then according to their reading levels they will go off and begin working on their independent reading activity. This is a graphic organizer, which is also differentiated  about the skill we are covering. During this time they have the choice of using their own text or the text provided for them. Sometimes they will not have the opportunity to choose.

I will collect this weekly to get an idea of what my students need more practice with. As time progresses each group may have a different organizer depending on the skills they still need more time with.

I tried this for a week now and it seems to be working very well. I am hopeful. A more detailed look coming soon.

6. Successfully made a Decision

I think I have successfully made the decision to departmentalize next year. If you are unfamiliar with this this means that I will only teach select subjects and I will have two classes. I think I will be teaching reading and writing. The only thing I still have to decide is if I want to move to fourth grade or stay in third.

Shhhh....don't tell!

I think my computer is on it's last leg!!! Had to borrow my sisters computer just to post this. The keyboard is giving me trouble and the mouse keeps disappearing. I am going to take it in to get looked at on Monday, so I hope things work out.

Favorite Subject?

Today the topic for Teacher Week 2015-1016 is Favorite Subject.

My favorite subject is Reading. This has not always been the case, however. I used to hate teaching reading because it was the hardest subject to teach, and I still think that way. But now I realize that while it is the hardest it is also the most rewarding.

I love to watch my students struggle through and to see when the light bulb finally goes off in their heads. I also enjoy it when students implement some of the strategies I have taught them when they are reading independently. It makes me feel as if my job is worth it.

Sanity Savers

It's me again, linking up for Teacher Week 2015-2016 with Blog Hoppin'. Today's topic is Sanity Savers.

I only have one sanity saver and it may seem like a no brainer, but I would be no where without it. You need a calendar, and not the ones the school provides you with. You need an appointment book like this. (I advice you to get one that extends to 10pm.)

I mark everything in this thing. Some of the important things you should mark to make sure that you keep on top of everything and to relieve some stress include:

1. Family Time - Don't get so bogged down in the day to day of teaching and all the responsibilities and neglect your family. Schedule that time first as well as time for just you. Everything else will fit around this.
2. Planning - I dedicate two afternoons and I will admit, evenings, to planning. This allows me to have more free time for other things family or school related. Block this out before you block in any other managerial tasks for school. That stuff can be filled in along the way. (Don't take your break time for this. That should be family time.)
3. Meetings - If you have a 504 meeting or just a meeting with administration this is the time to put that in. 
4. Grading/Filing/Other Paperwork - If there is no time for this, there is always the next week.

Also try to make sure that you don't stay at school past 5 or 6 everyday, school should not become the only thing you do.

For those of you who love sticky notes and colored pens this is the place for them. I tend to add a sticky note on each day to add my to do list, which I try to accomplish anytime I have a free moment. You can use the pens to color code your book.

Hope this is helpful to some of you. If you use an appointment book, how do you use it?

Teacher Week 2015-2016 - Classroom Tour

It's Day 3 of Teacher Week 2015-2016 and I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' again. This time to share some pictures of my classroom this year. Here are some pictures of my space.

For more information and pictures look at my earlier post here.

Make Ahead Meals

Today the topic of Teacher Week 2015-2016 on Blog Hoppin' is Make Ahead Meals.

I tend to only dedicate a couple nights a week to cooking. I think it is so much easier to make a big batch of what ever meat I choose and a variety of sides, so that I can mix it up.

Here are a few meals that I love.

Pot Roast - This is a slow cooker meal that you can set up before you go to work and eat when you come home. I usually make rice or mashed potatoes with this. You can even use it to make sandwiches.

Ingredients

• Ranch Powder Dressing - 1 1/2 packets
• Beef - whatever cut is your favorite - one with not a lot of fat
• 1 cup water
• Italian Dressing Powder - 1 1/2 packets
• Brown Gravy Mix - 1 packet

Directions

1. Put the meat (after you have seasoned it how you would normally do) into the slow cooker. 
2. Put the seasoning packets on top of the meat not around it.
3. Pour the water on top.
4. Do not stir it. You want the seasoning to sit on top an soak into the meat.
5. Cook on low until you get home from work or for about 8 hours.
6. Break apart meat and mix.

Caramelized Chipotle Chicken - This is for some of you who like the sweet and spicy side of life. (I advise you to take the seeds out of the chicken and to add 1 tbsp extra of brown sugar.)
When I make this I also make a pot of rice, vegetables and macaroni and cheese. That way I can change things up depending on my mood and I don't feel as if I am eating the same thing again and again.

That's how I avoid having to stand in a hot kitchen everyday after being at work for several days.

Teacher Week 2015-2016 - 5 Fun Facts

Hey guys, it has been a hectic first week of school and it is beginning again. Hope everyone's first weeks or month (depending on how lucky you are) went well. Since I am new to blogging I have decided to link up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2015-2016, so I can use this opportunity to tell you a little about myself.

Today's topic is 5 fun facts.

Mmmm....let's see.

1.    I have an awesome twin sister and if you can believe it she has also chosen the teaching profession (after much debating and graduating with a different degree). She went from a business administration degree to going through Hillsborough Community College to get her Education Certificate. She has just started her first year teaching and is teaching at my school. Let me tell you this can be super confusing.

2.   I love dogs, but at this point I don't have one. I would love to get one, but I live with my sister and she is opposed to it at the moment. She seems to think that if I get one, I will get busy with school and expect her to take care of it. Where she got that idea? I have no idea. This is my dream dog. Isn't he adorable.

3.   Have no children but family is super important to me. Right now I don't live at home or in the same city with my parents and older sisters, but we try to get together as much as possible. Going home after a month away and just relaxing for the weekend or on one of the schools many breaks is one of the most relaxing things to me.

4.    I love reading books especially romance books. Yes, I said it! I love reading in general, but put a romance book in front of me and don't talk to me for a while and I'll be happy. Super sad that I have too busy to read any books for the last little while. Right now the last book, I read has been from Jordan Silver. 

5.    In the last few months, I have been dabbling in cake decorating. At this point I only decorate dummy cakes, but I hope to get good enough to begin decorating cakes for my friends and family during special events. Here are a few pictures of my work at this point.

So, this is just a little about me. I can't wait to read and get to know some of the other teacher bloggers on the world wide web.

Remind your Parents

I recently heard about this awesome site and I thought it would be perfect to share with you. It's called Remind. It allows you to text your parents in a mass text message to remind them to do things like turn in their field trip money.

It is absolutely free of charge to teachers and no additional charge to parents for text messages.
This is something that parents don't have to have internet to sign up for. When you sign up as a teacher it allows you to set up a class code and all you have to do is let parent know what the code is and have them text it to the designated number.

Another cool thing about remind is you send your text messages through the website so this keeps your phone number secret and parents can't respond to your messages. This is useful when you just want to send a bulk message to parents and you don't need them to answer you back.

I am definitely using this this year.

If you have used remind before please comment and let me know how you have used it.