Camp Write About It!

STAAR Writing is finally behind us for my 4th graders! PTL.

I know kids hate the STAAR test as much as the teachers do. What I hate most about STAAR testing is the need to review. 

In years past, kids would stare at the wall behind me, and all  they heard was, "whomp, whomp, whomp". 

Not anymore! My kids actually LOVE reviewing for STAAR writing now, and it's all because of Camp Write About It! I found out this year that some of my kids even wrote about Camp Write About It on the test last year when the prompt was asking them to write about their favorite part about 4th grade! 

We do Camp Write About It the school day before STAAR Writing test (this has been a Friday before, but usually falls on a Monday). Kids can bring their sleeping bag, flashlight and pillow that we allow them to use for part of the day. Most of the stations that we do pertain to the theme of camping. 

We split the whole grade level up into twelve groups. They spend the day rotating around 12 different stations. Each station, students practice a different skill. 

See the link to read about what all my Camp Write About It pack includes! 

The video below gives you a little peak at what all is included in the pack. 

You can download the video on my TPT page to see a visual of how the day goes, but check out the pictures below to get a little taste too!

When students walked into school this morning we had them put their "camping stuff" in the science lab. This is where we had the stations that students were allowed to "camp out" and use their supplies. These stations students brainstormed a topic, planned an expository piece, drafted the expository piece, and then revised and edited their piece. See some pictures below of some students in these stations. We even set up a "fire" by attaching crepe paper to a fan and surrounding the fan with "logs" made of construction paper. This year we even hung Christmas lights on the ceiling to look like a starry night. The more you go all out, the more fun it is for the kids!  

Pictured here is some work in the revising station. Students revised their peers' papers. I keep a collection of good papers and rewrite them (so their legible) and make copies for Camp Write About It. Students in this center revise in the skipped lines. 

This student is working on the graphic organizer station where students draw a picture of a camp site. They have to answer the question correctly to draw the correct details in the picture.

This is one of the more eye pleasing stations. Students work at "Lake Lead" to create camp themed leads for an expository piece. See some of the leads a student created in this center below. 

Certainly the most popular station among students is the trail mix station. Students get to create their own snack bag that they are able to bring back to school for testing the next day if they choose. Each item in their trail mix bag represents a different component they need to be sure to include in their paper. 

At this center, the student is reading a paper written by a peer. He was analyzing the paper and identifying good characteristics within and things the writer could do to improve it. I had blown these compositions up and printed them out to be poster sized for easier reading. The kids always think it's more fun to read something so big too!

If you try it out and decide you like it, check out my Reading Round Up STAAR review pack on TPT. It follows the same concept as Camp Write About It! Your kids will thank you! 

Blog Lovin'

Hi friends! 

I am attempting to get my blog up and going on the app and website "bloglovin'" for easier access. According to the website I have to post this to my page in order for it to work! I know I haven't posted, at all really. BUT, my new years resolution is to post at least once a week! We will see how I do at that! :) 

I had a great christmas break, but am really enjoying being back with my kiddos! I hope you all are having a great time back at school as well! 

I don't have much to report right now, but I promise I will post again soon!

Thanks for checkin' in!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!

I meant it when I said I am feeling "holly jolly" in my last post! I just CAN NOT help but smile and be so happy! All the beautiful lights, buying people gifts, Christmas music, and decorating my home for the first time for Christmas, I am just STOKED! Below are some pictures of some of the decorations here at home! 

 The picture above is a special tree! For one, my Memaw gave it to me a couple weeks ago, a long with some other Christmas goodies I am still working on getting up in the house! Everything on this tree is stuff from our wedding! We had a December wedding, so we used a lot of Christmas decor (and because it is my favorite season)!! The ornaments were part of our centerpieces at the reception, the purple fabric are parts of the table cloths we used at the reception as well. The glittery sticks I just picked up at Wal-Mart because they matched! I used to put all these decorations on a big tree, however, since we are in our new house, I am having to rearrange! My Mom, Mimi, and my husband's aunt give us ornaments every year for Christmas, so we have a variety of random ornaments! At my Mom's house, she has always put everyone's ornaments from each year on the tree. When we got our first house, she gave me mine for my own tree! So, of course, I had to get a new tree for those ornaments! Well, my husband wanted a redneck tree as well, so since Memaw gave us this little tree I figured it would be perfect, and a sweet reminder in our bedroom during Christmas! 

 The picture above are some shots from the upstairs living room, with the "redneck tree" that Zach wanted! The tree is complete with burlap, shot gun shells, and of course, deer horns for the tree topper! I was also pretty excited when I found a camo tree skirt to match! Sooo, I of course had to pick up the cute Santa and reindeer dressed in camo at Cabela's! That little Charlie Brown tree looks so cute up there too in the outdoorsy upstairs theme that I have going on. Even though it's "manly", I really actually love the way it all looks! 

 The shots above here are all the decorations in the living room downstairs! This is our tree I was talking about above that has our collective ornaments from over the years! I got the tool for dirt cheap at Sam's and the new tree as a matter of fact! This tree is awesome because it came with a nice carrying case for when I have to put it up, and I don't have to attach all the lights together! They automatically connect through the trunk of the tree! It's awesome! Most of the other decorations I have either found in Canton or Hobby Lobby. A tradition I have started a couple years ago is taking a picture each holiday and framing it in a holiday frame to use as decor the next year! The one in the picture above is our first Christmas in our house last year, where we actually had a white christmas, in TEXAS!! That never happens!

 The picture above here are the little bits of decor I have on my tables. The kitchen table has a napkin holder and cute elf shoe salt and pepper shakers! The one on the bottom half (don't mind the mess) is a little sign I picked up at Hobby Lobby! 

 This may be one of my favorite things! I love both these doors! I love the little wreath I made for the front door, I LOVE the saying on the wooden plaque that is on the garage door and I just love the little rugs!! 

 The picture above here shows all the decorations I have on my countertops in the kitchen. You'll notice the empty picture frame above, it's an "ugly sweater" for the ugly sweater Christmas party we are going to have this year with our small group! 

Finally, the picture above is my cute little cup I picked up at Market Street for only 5 dollars, my cute little "ho ho ho ho" coasters I picked up at Target last year after Christmas, and a little Santa candy dish with Christmas colored m&m's! 

As you can tell I am really excited about Christmas! I should have taken a picture of my little tree in my classroom! Maybe some other time this week. I am posting a lot sooner than I normally do haha. I have started my elf on the shelf in my classroom, we named him Wilbert, how cute! I may have skewed the voting a little while they were voting with their eyes closed! I just loved that name so much I had to have it!!  I'll have to do another post with some ideas I am doing with my elf, because I know that it is sometimes hard to come up with ideas in your classroom where you are more limited! 

Thanks for checkin' in! I hope you're feeling as "holly jolly" as I am! :) 

I'm Feeling Holly Jolly!

Wow! I haven't been on here in forever! This school year has really been going by fast! I have a wonderful class this year, their personalities are awesome! My class last year had a lot of personality, so I was nervous this year would be a little boring, but they have really come out of their shells and are a lot of fun to be with! 

I have been pretty busy with school, life at home and trying to create a few things for my TPT store! A lot of the things I have been working on are holiday word problem packs! For one reason, I LOVE the holidays, and for another, word problem skills are so vital when they go to 3rd grade and have to start taking the big bad test! I try to prepare them for it as much as I can in second! You can get to my store by clicking here! 

I have completed a HUGE pack that has word problems for all the major holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter).

I have also created an Elf on the Shelf pack, which I have been selling a lot of lately. This is  a lot of fun! I did it last year for the first time and am totally doing it every single year now! 

If you noticed my blog post and wondered why I am feeling so "holly jolly", it's because of all of these holidays, I have really been in a GREAT mood, like ALL the time! It's really actually pretty funny how much of a great mood I get in when I walk outside and it is cold, or I see a Christmas commercial, or I turn on some Christmas music, it just really does make me feel jolly!

Anyhoo, I guess that is about all I have been up to lately! Hopefully, I will begin to do better about keeping my blog a little bit more updated! 

Thanks for checkin' in!

First Day of School!

Today  was the day, the first day of school!! Below is the cheesy picture I make all my kids take on the first day of school. I then attach it to an email to their parents with a little note about how much I love their kid during the first week! I also make them do one on the last day of school, I then pic stitch it together, its crazy to see how much they change in one school year! 

Although my title says that this is the first day of school, the fact is, tomorrow, we start our 4th week of school! Ah! I can't believe how fast time is going and how busy I have been! I also forget how tiring teaching is! It has been a great first couple weeks of school! My kids are really starting to come out of the shells and I am just LOVING them! I have some REALLY sweet kids, and they are funny and smart! I have a great group this year, I know it is going to be a wonderful year! 

I know I am REALLY behind with things, because I was going to try to finish my "Back to School Pack" before school started to put on on TPT, I still haven't finished it! Maybe I will have it up by the beginning of next year! I am trying to work on holiday packs now, maybe starting so early will allow me to be successful in posting them before the holiday actually gets here! 

Thanks for checkin' in!! 

Classroom Ready: Check!

Tomorrow is the first day of this school year! I am super excited, my class seems really sweet, and so do my parents! I have been spending a lot of time in my classroom getting it ready, and I THINK I am finally ready for tomorrow! Below are some snapshots of my classroom right before "Meet the Teacher Night" this past Thursday.

Here is a shot of my favorite place in the room, our classroom library! I have books leveled by DRA level. I use it to help guide students pick "good fit books". I test them and make them choose at least 2 books in their independent level, 1 at their instructional level, and 2 can be whatever they want.

 Here are all the baskets where students placed their school supplies throughout "Meet the Teacher Night".

 Here is a shot of my room from the back door, you can see my guided reading table way in the back, in front of my teacher desk. 

 Here is my little wishlist I put out at "Meet the Teacher Night", I put post it's out so parents can pick them up if they are willing to purchase it for our classroom. I put things like hand sani, clorex wipes, sharpies, zip lock baggies, and air fresheners. 

 Here is a shot of my "learning carpet", this is where I do my read alouds, whole group instruction, etc. The frames behind my rocking chair is where I list our TEKS we are doing that week. 

 Here is a shot of my whiteboard/smartboard area. I have my group area in the front of it. 

 This is a picture of the one side of my room, my student computers, and smart board computer are on this side. I use the big bulletin board to display student work. The bookshelf by my smartboard computer houses all my math manipulatives. The jobs are on the cabinet, students clips are attached to the different job titles. 

 I've tried to double up the space in my room (since it's small to begin with) by placing my word wall on the back of one of my metal bookshelves. I also have a "boggle" game on the back, students play this during word work for Daily 5, as well as when they have free time after independent work. 

 This is a quick shot of my little "command center" by my phone. I a little pen and some paper to take notes if I need to when on the phone, as well as hand sani to grab on the way out the door for lunch. The clear jar is what houses our marbles, once it is filled, we earn a prize as a class. Students earn marbles by working hard and following the rules as a class. 

 Here is view of the one side of my room, my writing/word work bulletin board and my math bulletin board are on this wall. The bookshelf on it's side is housing all my things for math centers and daily 5 centers. Students know to go there to get supplies to work during their center times. 

 Here is a picture of my reading area, you can see my books all sorted, and their book boxes. These boxes is where their place their "good fit books" and read throughout the week. They get the opportunity to choose new books once a week from our classroom library. 

 Here is a corner view of my room. I have a couch this year, last year I had a reading hut, which was AWESOME, especially since I was "Holden's Happenin' Hut", but the fire marshal made me take it down :(. So I had to do something to make my reading area fun! 

This year, I am trying to have a tray for every subject for my students to turn their work into. Last year I had one turn in tray. I had to either keep up with collecting papers and making stacks on my desk throughout the day, or sort through them all at the end of the day. Hopefully this will help! I've also added some of my favorite quotes on this back wall!

This picture shows my little calendar area, and our daily schedule, as well as our rotations for Daily 5 and our math centers. I do a big hooray on the smart board for calendar time, so this is just for a quick reference for my kiddos. 

 This year, I am trying something new with my kiddo's journals. Last year they had THE hardest time staying in order or finding where they left off in their journals. So referring back to any old information was impossible because they were flopping all over the place. I'm putting bookmarks in their journals. I just cut ribbon to size and then duck taped it into the back cover. I'm hoping this will help, fingers crossed!

This year, I am going to try to implement more technology in my classroom, I think I mentioned in my last post that I am going to be doing a classroom twitter page. This way students can easily keep up with what their student is up to throughout the day. I am going to make it a goal to post at least twice a week, hopefully once a day (going to try my best!, but definitely once or twice a week!). 

There is also this really cool website, classdojo. This is a classroom management site, it is also an app. Some teachers I know say they keep it up on their smartboard computer all day, and then use their app to add or take away points. When you award points, it makes a ding sound, and when you take away points it makes  bum bum bum sound. Students can tell that you took points from someone by the sound, but they don't know who so they all straighten up and behave, is what I'm told. I'm going to try it out this year, I'm hoping it will be effective! Other teachers in my building have used it with a lot of success so I'm really excited about it! It also sends emails to parents once a week letting them know why points were awarded or taken away from their child, pretty cool!!

Well, that's it for now! I'll try to post tomorrow about our first day in second grade tomorrow!! Thanks for checkin' in! 

Back to School, Back to School, to Prove to Dad I'm Not a Fool!

Wow! Summer is already almost over! Today we started our first week back for inservice before school starts. I wanted to start this blog mostly for my memories, but also to share with other teachers out there in cyberspace! 

This summer was a good well resting summer, and the first chunk of time I haven't actually worked since I was 16, so that was nice! I spent my summer sleeping, working on "upcycling" furniture with my mom and redoing her kitchen. I am very happy to be back in the classroom though! Being at al our inservice this week has really got me pumped! I am excited to be using more technology in my classroom, and all the benefits that come with it for my students! 

Thanks to my mom's help, I have a leg up, and I am pretty much free tomorrow to help my team get ready for "Meet the Teacher" night because my room is pretty much done! 

This year, I plan to be a better writing and spelling teacher, as well as implement new technology in my classroom! I am excited this year to try using twitter as a means of communication with my parents! I plan to use it to post pictures and tweets about what we are learning in class! I also heard about this AWESOME app called Confer this summer at one of my workshops! It completely simplifies note taking, and helps you differentiate your students! 

Take a few minutes to check out the YouTube video: 

                                                        Confer App Video

This app is worth the money you pay! It's expensive for an app, but we spends oodles of money getting ready for the beginning of the school year, put that stack of 1 dollar books back at half price, and get this app instead! :) I haven't actually used it yet, but I am convinced that it will revolutionize my classroom! haha! I'll let you know once school starts how I feel! Well that's it for my first post! I'll come back later to document more memories!

Thanks for checkin' in!