Sparking Motivation: Science Vocabulary

Halloween, full moon and severe weather. 

MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF  TEACHING, EVER! 

That was my day yesterday. I not only took a nap when I got home, we all went to bed early. 

Before our severe weather lock down, we had a super fun Science Vocabulary Parade. At my school, the week of Halloween we motivate kids to get excited about Science by dressing up as a science word. I have only participated as a mom in the past. Now, that I work there, I got to see all the excitement and awesome costumes. Our parents are so creative and the whole school gets involved! It's gotten so big we have two parades, K-2 and 3-5. 

Here's some pictures. I wish I had more, there were so many amazing costumes. 

My team were the "Energy Witch Sisters". I was light energy. Unfortunately because of the severe weather situation we dealt with, we never got a team photo. 

Want to be inspired some more? Check out our school's Facebook Page. There are some really great pictures there too! 

Also, be sure to check out more motivational ideas from 

Joanne over at Head Over Heels For Teaching. 

And last of all,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Sparking Motivation- LOCKED IN WITH 5TH GRADERS

First of all, HELLO AGAIN! I have been so neglectful of this blog. I miss it. I miss it a lot. I have so much to share, but no time. (excuses, excuses, excuses, right?) But, it is reality. 

So,I am going to use this raining Saturday morning where I have NOTHING to do to get caught up on a lot of things. First, sharing with you. 

I love that Joanne, at Head Over Heels for Teaching still does her Saturday Motivation, especially because she herself shares the BEST ideas!!!! 

Plus, I get to share this super fun activity we had at our school. At the beginning of the year, my new teaching group shared how they get students to memorize their multiplication facts. They entice them with a lock-in. Do you know what a lock-in is? It's when you bring a ton of kids together, with a few adults and LOCK THEM IN the school ALL NIGHT. Can I just be honest with you here? I was NOT thrilled one bit by this. Thought it was cool for the kids, but I knew what it meant for ME! I am selfish people! I do NOT stay up late. I DO NOT hang out with 5th graders OUTSIDE of the hours of a school day! 

Needless to say, I took one for the team. (HA!) We set our plan in motion and students had six weeks to have all their facts memorized. We do fact fluency every day. We do games and we assess. It's a 10-15 minute part of our math block DAILY! I will also add that even currently, it is still part of my math block DAILY. 

I digress. After six weeks, we had the big test day. Students had to answer 25 questions in 60 seconds. We had some training this summer over fact fluency and this is where we came up with this number. 

If students passed with 90% or higher, they were invited to the lock-in. If they did not, they were not. Plain and simple. I had 11/19 kids pass. I wasn't thrilled with this number, but what I have seen is a lot of growth in my students. I had some that were close, some heart broken, and some who need more intervention. You know, a real classroom? 

After all the logistics of permission slips and what do bring and do, we were ready! Well, my younger teacher partners were ready. I was dreading staying awake all night! Everything was set in motion and that long awaited night came. Let's just let the pictures do the talking! 

The spent the first hour or so, just dancing. Seriously, these kids can dance! And if they can't, all they had  to do was shake their bodies and it looked like dancing. 

Students played in the cafeteria and the gym. They also were allowed to bring their electronics and games. We had a spa section for nails and stuff. The boys actually had some fun with that too. Until they learned that nail polish doesn't come off with soap and water. 

Students were set into teams and given various items. The goal was to get your entire team and the items across the gym without any part of the team touching the floor. It was the funniest thing. 

 See the boys on the mat? At one point they were facing the same way and scooting themselves backwards. I was on the floor laughing. 

And then, a mummy creating fashion show. 

Loads of fun! 

MIDNIGHT RECESS 

Had to include this picture. 

We had a group of faculty on the roof to "scare the kids" with water guns and stuff. The students figured it out and were ready. They were hysterical! 

Another thing our kids go to do was run through the school with our administrators. They all all the great hiding places and secret hallways our custodial staff has. I love that they did this for our kids. They will always remember that! 

At 1:30am. We tried settling them down with a movie. This is my view from the nurses cot. 

I don't know why kids want to go to the nurses office and lay on those things. They are not comfortable. But yes, it was better than the floor. 

Seriously, some kids were asleep by midnight. Most kids were asleep by 2:30, but we actually had TWO kids who NEVER went to sleep! I think I have only done that twice in my life and I wasn't 10 or 11!!! 

The next morning. 

I adore this picture because these are two of my own students. 

They couldn't be more opposite.

 This picture sums them up though. 

And then, all of us! 

My team (minus one who was sick) 

A parent volunteer (she's a kinder teacher with a 5th grade child) 

This year's principal AND last year's too. (They both have a 5th grader this year as well!) 

All in all, it was a success. It was about the kids, they enjoyed it. 

We, well, we were exhausted of course. 

Everyone has lives outside of school. 

I slept on the way to football that morning. I slept in between baseball games.

One teacher slept on the way to a college football game. 

Like most, we do what we do for our students because WE ARE TEACHERS! 

Side note: for my students who didn't make it, we are still working and striving for an ice cream sundae party! Gotta keep them motivated, right? 

Be sure to check out other ideas with Joanne. 

Sparking Motivation: Silver Spoons

I'm linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching to share how we motivate appropriate lunch room behavior. 

Our PBIS and Leadership teams came up with this school wide program for our students. 

The cafeteria can be a place of pandemonium in any school. It's just a lot of bodies in one large space. There have to be systems in place. 

We have a Silver Spoons competition going on in ours. 

Each table has a set of cups. (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them) They are one red, one yellow and one green solo cup. Each lunch class,  they start on green. If students get a little too loud, any teacher on duty can change the cup to yellow as a warning. If a class gets out of control or continues poor cafeteria behavior, the cup can be moved to red. 

We do allow cups to go back to green if students fix the poor behaviors. 

At the end of each grade level's lunch time, one of the teachers will complete a chart to keep track. 

After five days on green, the class earns a silver spoon to our Silver Spoon Leader board. 

This board is huge and right where all the students see and can track who's winning. 

At the end of each six weeks, the class in each grade level will win the Silver Spoon trophy to keep for the whole six weeks. 

Notice how each trophy is grade level specific. One of our teachers and her husband made these. Super creative, right? 

I love the K one! 

It's really going well. Everyday when my boys and I leave school, my 4th grader asks how our classes did. He has made it a competition between my class, his class and his brother's kindergarten class. He really wants that trophy for his class. So, I'd say the program is working. Anything that will get kids talking about lunchroom behavior after school, is a PLUS! 

Be sure to check out Joanne's blog and see other great ideas to motivate your students. 

#thingsIlove #thingsIlike #thingsIdislike

"How's it going?", "So, do you like it?", "Is it better than middle school?" 

These are just some of the question I have been asked over the past two weeks. 

For new readers, I moved from sixth grade math to fifth grade self contained. 

Depending on the person that asks me those question, my response is always different. 

Some are just asking to be polite, make small talk. I get it. I say "fine". 

Some really want to know. I tell them its good and like everyone, I am adjusting. 

Some ask me at the wrong time and I cry. Not from sadness, from exhaustion. 

Changing grade levels that you have never taught before is like starting your first year of teaching all over. It's incredibly overwhelming. 

I cried a lot when I started middle school. So far, I have only cried a few times. 

So, I decided to share my thoughts about my change in 3 ways, #thingsIlove, #thingsIlike and #thingsIdislike (because hate would be too strong of a word) and I want to make sure I add #thingsImissaboutmiddleschool. 

#things I love 

I love going to school with my two boys. 

I love being able to get to school in less than 5 minutes. (we live in the neighborhood across from our school, its awesome!)

I love being able to see them during the day. 

 I was able to see both my boys on the first day of school during their lunch times. 

Found this in the teachers lounge while making copies. 

 And got to see them trying to find the gingerbread man during my off period.
 Love how that worked out! 

I love my team. 

I work with some very young teachers. They are awesome. I am old enough to be most of their mothers, but I LOVE working with them. 

I love my staff. Everyone has been so nice and inviting. I am familiar with many faces because I have had a child there for four years. Plus, our community is very small. I have also worked with some of the teachers at summer school, middle school, training, and sporting events in town. Making friends was not an issue. 

I love my admin. My principal has been with our school for years, this is her first year as the principal though and she is awesome. I knew she would be, that's why I chose to move there. Our new assistant principal is great too. I left an amazing leader at middle school, so they had some pretty big shoes to fill. 

I love my schedule. In a nut shell, I teach in the morning. We have specials, recess and lunch in the  middle and I teach in the afternoon. #sweet

#things I like 

I like having the same kids all day. Being self contained means I teach everything to the same kids all day. I was a little nervous about this coming from 54 minute classes. It has been nice. My kids are good. We have a few wrinkles to work out, but we are doing it as a family unit. I see these kids more during the week than my own kids, so yes, they are family to me. 

I like the positive systems my school has in place. We are a PBIS school and a Leader in Me school as well. We truly focus on rewarding good behavior. 

I like the support available to me. Our district is building an amazing curriculum department and that has been good. In my school we have amazing instructional aides, and interventionist who work really hard. I have two special education teachers in my room this year and they are both amazing. Everyone is doing their part and that is really important. 

#things I dislike 

I haven't quite gotten a hold on planning for every subject. I have done only math for the past 7-8 years and now I am doing EVERYTHING. This is where a GREAT team is coming in handy. 

My students love science time. We have been doing quite a few experiments already. Preparing for those is a LOT of work and time consuming. 

Meetings. No one likes these. This week I had a meeting or training, EVERY DAY after school. (wait, not Friday) It's a necessity, I get it, but I don't like it. (who does though, right?) 

I also had a meeting 3 out of 5 days during my planning time. YUCK! 

Starting something and then finding out how I should be teaching it to match the school's expectations. I started grammar in my ELA block from stuff I found online. Then, we had a training for Rainbow Writing after school on Thursday. This is how it is suggested I do grammar/writing. Okay, I like it. It looks great. The students did it last year, they will. get it. Heck, they will even help me. I just wish there had been more time to learn it before school and start it right away. I am flexible though, so I will make it work. 

Duty. It's a necessity though. Thankfully I only have it for one week every three weeks. It's at 7:10am though. So, obviously waking up early is a dislike! 

#things I miss about middle school 

Seriously, some of you are probably thinking, NOTHING. Who misses teaching middle school? 

Me, a little. I like the relationships I built with the kiddos and having "grown up" conversations with them. 

Mostly, though I miss the relationships I built over the past four years with my staff, My middle school principal sent me an email the first week wishing me well and saying she missed me. It made me cry. In a good way though. I felt the same way. I miss my teaching buddies. Thankfully though, with social media, I still get to participate in their lives. And again, we are a small town, I will see them around. I even got to see my old students at the football game Friday night. That was awesome! 

The change has been good.

 I am happy. 

Change is just hard, for everyone, not just me. 

I am excited about the potential this school year brings. 

I am excited about learning new things and teaching them to my students. 

Thanks for letting me take some time and just #be real with you!