100s Day and Valentines Fun

They say as you get older, time seems to go faster. I hope that I am peeking at 23, because time is going too fast! This year still has plenty of challenges, but is going so much more smoothly than last year! I am so much more confident and creative. I am also almost done with my MEd! I finished my thesis and just have to finish the class I am in, then I am done! I am excited to finish an really be able to focus on teaching. 

 

Recently I have fallen in love with Instagram. It is so easy to post a quick picture and continue with my day! But I would like to try to get back into to the blogging swing. While waiting for me to (finally) blog, you can always see my latest pics by following me! 

We had such a blast on 100's day! We have about a hour and fifteen minutes between specials and the end of the day, which is the perfect time for fun. Our morning was pretty routine, but after specials we got to work! Each pair got 100 of something and had to make arrays, skip count by 2s, 4s, 5s, 10s, and measure the length of our items using feet and inches. 

Measuring cubes.

These cuties were very into making their line as straight as possible. 

Sorting pennies into groups of five. 

Counting dice! 

Making groups of four. 

After we finished measuring, I brought out the goldfish! Each group had to estimate how many goldfish they had, then count their fish and see if their estimate was close. 

We tried and failed to take a nice picture, so silly picture it is! School spirit dress out day and fun activities was the perfect way to celebrate! 

The next day we were back to uniform, but still having fun. We have been learning about arctic animals, so we had to try blubber out for ourselves! I had bags of crisco for everyone to put their hands in, but at the end of the experiment, the birthday boy asked if we could cover his hand in the "blubber", and I couldn't refuse! 

Our next big day was Valentines day. We were not allowed to have parties this year, so instead we had fun with conversation heart math and science. It went really well! The kids had a blast and were sad when the day ended. 

Graphing candy hearts. Notice her improvisation for a pencil with no eraser. 

So focused! 

We also tried stacking our hearts to see how how we could stack. It is an adorable freebie from Sweet Integrations. 

This sweetie is stacking, and you can also see the cups in the middle. We did an experiment with candy hearts in vinegar, water, sprite, and mouthwash. We made notes about the first minute, twenty minutes, and forty minutes. They were amazed! My recording sheet can be found here. 

The joy of learning! 

Again here you can see stacking and the cups. Lots of learning and lots of fun! 

Two of my favorite little cuties. I love both of their reactions to her stack! 

We continue our inability to simply smile for a picture. I guess it is the age! 

I was absolutely astounded by the outpouring of love from my students and former students! Their generosity was so humbling. I teach in an impoverished area, so I know it took a lot for some of these families to buy gifts. So touching! 

Today is yet another snow day. We only went to school one day this week. It has been nice to have a surprise February break! As a Texas girl, this cold and ice has been quite a shock! Thank goodness I have been able to spend most of this cold weather inside with coffee and a book. Now I am ready to get back into the classroom to see these precious faces! 

Enjoying the Moments

Well, I have utterly failed in posting more often. The first year of teaching really does hit you like a ton of bricks! I have a kind of long commute and will often spend the time planning blog posts that obviously never happen. They were great posts though, take my word for it! :) 

As part of my graduate program, we have to do daily reflections on the day. Each day, we have to list a high and a low. I enjoy doing these reflections, mostly because it forces me to look back at my day. I am an emotional person and sometimes (ok, more times than I would care to admit) my day flies up and down like a roller coaster. But I know at the end of the day I have to pick one high and one low, and having an ultimate high and an ultimate low each day written next to each other helps me remember that overall, my first year of teaching is going well. Is is perfect? Of course not! Nowhere near. However, it is going well. I have gotten my footing and have fallen in love with my class. Now to enjoy the last few weeks with these cuties before the end of the year! 

In other exciting news, I have finally joined the world of smart phone users! The first thing I downloaded is instagram, and I love now I always have a camera ready. 

View from this week:

This winter my entire school went to a Project Zero conference. Amazing! I love the thinking strategies and can't wait to incorporate more into my classroom.  As per a presenter's suggestion, I am sticking with one strategy at a time until it comes easily. Right now we are doing See, Think, Wonders. In my class we look at the picture for a minute, talk with our desk partner for a minute in complete sentences (I see ____.), then write on our sticky notes in sentences and share with the class. Repeat the process for think and wonder.  My kiddos LOVE it. They beg to do one every week and if we haven't gotten to it yet by Friday they insist we do one before the end of the day. It is so fun to see their brains working and soaking up the information from their partners and class sharing. But the best part is that there is no wrong answer! Even my lowest kids find success with STW. I strongly recommend reading the book or going to a conference!  

A poster from Scholastic book club this year. I have it right in front of the tissues station in my room. Now it has been there since before Christmas, but one very observant child asked me this week when we got the new poster and if we would ever read in the trees. I just had to laugh. We spend so much time decorating our classrooms and they just don't always notice. 

My classroom is sock monkey themed, and I have sock monkeys for a lot of different holidays. Students showing excellence get to read to one of my two original sock monkey during stamina reading time. It is always exciting to get to hold one of the regular sock monkeys, but if you are acting particularly amazing, I pull down the holiday one. Who know a monkey with bunny ears could hold so much power? 

We made these cute Earth Day Promises from KTP on TPT this week. Super fun and easy afternoon project! We labeled the continents and oceans on the globe, wrote on our hearts, and colored our hearts out, no pun intended. I let the kids write what they wanted to on their four hearts, as long as one started with "I promise" and another with "It is important to protect the Earth because". 

Some of my favorite responses:

"I promise to keep the Earth clean as long as I live on it."

"It is important to protect the Earth because God made it." 

So precious! 

Have a lovely rest of your weekend and remember to enjoy these last few weeks amid the craziness!