Five for Friday- a little late!

Well, I made it through the last full week of school.  Two full days and one half day stand between me and the end of the school year! I am linking up with Doodle Bug Teaching for their Five For Friday! 

1. Spending Time with my Nephews- My sister and brother-in-law were in town for our sister Sarah's wedding.  Last week-end I got to spend some much needed quality time with my nephews before they headed back to the Netherlands where they live!  Charlie got a hold of my phone and decided to take some pictures of us!

2. Tuesday Night in the City- Tuesday night, Jessica from Joy in the Journey and Becky from Compassionate Teacher went into New York City to celebrate the ending of school.  We ate at a wonderful Irish Pub and then did a little shopping at The Strand Book Store.  We got lots of great finds for $1 or $2.  It was a fun night!

3. Spanish Restaurant- Thursday, our sophomores put on a Spanish restaurant for the teachers.  We were greeted at the door and shown to our seats.  They gave us menus.  They had to talk all in Spanish, but were nice enough to translate for me! 

Lindsay and I enjoying our milk shakes!

My food!

4. Olympic Day- Yesterday was Olympic Day at my school.  We were forced to be inside in the morning because of rain, but were able to go outside in the afternoon.  The kids had lots of fun!  I was on the blue team and I don't want to brag, but....WE WON!!!!  It was a close race, but we took home the first place ribbon and have bragging rights for a year!

5. Birthday Cards- We celebrated summer birthdays on Thursday and my birthday happens to be the week after school.  Jessica had her class make birthday cards for me on Thursday and this one was my favorite.

My favorite part is the last line...Orange Lover...They all know my favorite color is orange and the majority of my cards were on orange construction paper!  I love these cards and plan on keeping them with other cards my students have made me in the past!

Well, that is my week in review a little late!  This next week brings packing, cleaning, graduations, fun activities and saying good bye.  This year has not been easy, but I am going to miss my students.  We had some fun times and I will miss them!  

Rosie

Tricks of the Trade- Classroom Library

Only three and a half more days of school!   I cannot wait and I know my students are eager to finish up and get to summer vacation!  It has been a long and hard year and I am excited for a break!  I am once again linking up with Jessica from Joy in the Journey and Becky from Compassionate Teacher for their Tricks of the Trade!  This weeks topic is my favorite: Classroom Libraries!  

I have spent a lot of time getting my classroom library the way I have wanted it.  I have spent hours labeling and separating books in to the appropriate baskets.  My library is one of my pride and joy things in my classroom.  Let's take a look...

My books are placed in baskets according to topics.  I try and have an equal amount of fiction and non-fiction and a wide range of topics.  Each book has a Loiacono sticker on the back and a colored dot with a letter on the front.  The colored dots are used to know which basket each book belongs in.  My blue stickers are fictions, green are science books, yellow are history and red stickers are for other categories: picture books, math books, poetry and grammar books.  Students find this system very easy to use.  

I have started using Classroom Organization Booksource and online book cataloguing system and I am loving it!  It is very simple to use and I love having a record of the books I own.  I have been using my iPhone to scan the books and the website to add books that don't have a bar code or cannot be found.  I have scanned two shelves and I am already over 400 books.  I still have five more shelves to go!!!  I am excited to try the student check out next year.  This year I have used card pockets in file folders with each students' name on a pocket.  Each of my books has a pocket with an index card with the title on it in the back of the book.  The student removes the card and places it in their pocket.  This system has worked ok, but I know some of my books have gone missing...I am hoping the electronic system might work a little better next year.

I hope you have enjoyed a look into one of my favorite classroom spaces, my library!  Tomorrow is Olympic Day so I need to get my rest for a fun filled day!

Rosie

Five for Friday

One more full week and then two and a half days!  I am hitting a wall and hoping I can make it the rest of the way!  I am excited to be home for the week-end, spending time with my nephews before they go back to the Netherlands next week.  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday!

1. My sister got married!!

Last Saturday, my younger sister Sarah got married to an awesome guy, Steven.  Her wedding took place in North Carolina at the Hemlock Inn, which Steven's Family owns.  It was a very beautiful wedding that was lots of fun!

My Brother and I

The Wedding Party

My Sisters and I...(I am in the Middle and yes, my sisters are twins)

2. Fun Field Trip to the Intrepid Museum

Yesterday, Jessica from Joy in the Journey took 33 fifth graders to the Intrepid Sea and Space Museum in New York City.  The students had a fantastic time and were so well behaved!  It was very interesting and perfect for my fifth grade boys.  There was lots of hands on activities for the students to do.  We took a guided tour and we got to sit under a Blackbird Plane, the fasted plane in the world!

Sitting under the Blackbird

3. Monday night was our Spring Concert

The students did a wonderful job!  That night they found out which team they would be on for our school Olympic Day.  I am on the blue team...the winning team!  They students were very excited to learn their team!

A few teachers sporting our team shirts!  Lauren and I know we are on the winning team!

Students performing at the Spring Concert!

4. Father's Day Gift

My students painted frames for their Father's Day gifts.  They always love when I bring paint out for a project.  This is a great project and cheap.  Each frame was a dollar, but I got them with a 20% off coupon at Michael's, so each frame was only 80 cents!

5. Heart Rate Lab

We are studying the Circulatory system in science.  On Wednesday, we did a great heart rate lab.  The students learned how to take their pulse on their neck or wrist.  They found their resting heartbeat and then exercised for two minutes.  We took our pulse every thirty seconds for five minutes to find out how long it took for our pulse to come back to a resting rate. The students then created a graph showing their heart rate.

Well, that is my Five for Friday!  I hope you have a fantastic week-end!

Rosie

Tricks of the Trade: Homework!

Happy Thursday!  I am back from an exciting field trip to the USS Intrepid Museum today.  We had a wonderful time and their some great facts about this massive ship!  Our whole day was wonderful and I am very proud of how my students behaved all day!  We got back to school right at dismissal and I didn't get to hear their highlights.  I cannot wait to hear them tomorrow!  Today, I am linking up with Jessica from Joy in the Journey and Becky from Compassionate Teacher for their weekly Tricks of the Trade.  This weeks topic: HOMEWORK!

My thoughts: I feel homework is necessary for a student to succeed.  I do not feel homework should happen all of the time for hours on end.  Homework should be a time of reinforcing a concept that we have gone over in class.  Homework should not be a battle of the parents and the student, but a time where the student can show their parent they are mastering concepts learned in class.

(I apologize in advance for the lack of picture.  We were on a field trip and I did not remember to take pictures until after I left school!)

Collection: I have a designated homework bin in my classroom for my homework.  My students know that every morning they must come in a put their homework in the bin.  I also have a bin in Jessica's room for her students to put homework for me in.  She has a bin in my room.  This was to help with students forgetting to bring it to her class and having to go back and get it.  I usually have a student who brings the bin over when they come for math in the morning.

Returning Papers: I had a wonderful set of mailboxes in my old school, but do not have any mailboxes now.  I looked into buying a set at the beginning of the year, but could not afford them.  So, I looked on pinterest for the next bast thing.  I found these crate mailboxes.  They work perfectly for passing back papers.  Each students has their own folder that they go to at the end of the day to get their papers from.  I have a papers person each week who files the papers into the correct folders.  I do prefer the mailboxes because students can see they have papers, but this is a great second option.

Well those are some of my tricks of the trade for homework.  I hope you all have a wonderful night!  I am going to contemplate grading papers or eating ice cream and watching a movie!

Rosie

Pinterest...A Teacher's Best Friend!

Hello Friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful day!  The weather is beautiful and I enjoyed dinner sitting outside today!  Now I am inside blogging and grading papers.  I have to confess...I fell asleep grading papers last night.  I took a two hour nap and then when to bed early!  I think I would have slept through the night, but my contacts were bothering me.  I cannot fall asleep tonight because my stack of paper grew today when we did a lab in class and I collected all of their lab papers!  

Tonight I am linkying up with the fabulous Jivey for her Wednesday Workshop!

Here are some of my Pinterest ideas that I have used in my classroom!

Encouraging Posters- I love these fun posters.  This site has some great encouraging posters that can be downloaded and hung in your classroom!

Anchor Charts-  I have found a bunch of anchor charts, which I recreated to use in my classroom.  They have been wonderful and my students use them all the time!

 

Fun Science: I have also found some great science activities to do with my class.  I usually search for a topic and then pin activities to use!  Here are some of my favorites!

Measuring the distance of the planets outside

Cloud Activities

 

These are just a few of my pins on Pinterest.  You can follow me by clicking HERE.  I cannot wait to see what others have pinned!

Well, I am off to grade papers and get my rest.  Tomorrow, we go to the Intrepid Sea and Air Museum in New York City!  It should be a blast!

Rosie

Tried It Tuesday- Scholastic Book Orders

Happy Tuesday!  There are 11 more days left of school and I am getting very anxious for the summer to be here.  I am trying to enjoy every minute with my students, but I am ready for a break!  Today, I am linking up with The Fourth Grade Flipper for her famous Tried it Tuesday.



Today I am going to talk about Scholastic Book Order.  I am not sure how many of you use it at school, but it is a great way to earn free books for your classroom library.  

What is Scholastic Book Order? Scholastic Book Order is a way for parents to order discounted books for their students and you receive bonus points and coupons to use on free books or items for your classroom.  Scholastic has a variety of different grade level catalogues that you can pass out to your students each month.  You can set up online ordering so parents can order online using their credit card and you will earn extra rewards or parents can send in a check and order form and you can place the order.  The process is very simple and the phone support is wonderful.  The books are then shipped to the school and you distribute them to the students who ordered. Books start at $1 and go up.  They have all of the favorite series at a discounted price.  Through Scholastic Book Order, I have had students who are usually not excited about reading, excited because they are getting new books and end up not putting them down when they come.  
I have been doing Scholastic Book Order for the past four years and I have gotten some amazing books for free and amazing items for my classroom.  One of my favorite items I got with bonus points was a listening center.  I got four sets of headphones and a headphone jack for just 2700 bonus points.     

The students love when they see a red Scholastic box come into the room because they know there are many goodies in it!  Scholastic is always offering free bonus points or sending you coupons for free books.  This year, if you placed a $20 order you would get $10-$20 in free books depending on the month.  I would try and buy the cheaper books in order to get more books.  They also offer special $1 books just for teachers at Christmas time and I have gotten these for my students as Christmas Presents.  If you have never checked them out, please do.  You will be growing your library in no time with Scholastic Book Order!

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic evening!  Tomorrow is P for Popcorn day in fifth grade!

Rosie 

June Goals and Currently

Happy Friday!  I am sorry I have been away from the blogging world for a couple of days.  I have been in North Carolina for my sister's wedding tomorrow.  I am loving the time with my family, especially my nephews!  I am linking up with Jess from I {heart} recess for her June goals and the famous Farley for her June Currently.

First, my goals...

Here is a recap of my May goals... I didn't do to bad with spending money on school items, I bought some books at yard sales and a library book sale, but over all I did well.  I failed at my exercise goal.  I am hoping once school is over, I will be able to start a great routine.  My blogging goal was to reach 50 followers...well, I did that in the first week!  Right now, I am at 85 followers!

Here are my June goals!

Personal: I want to use my time at home better.  I want to be accomplishing projects when I am home, but also relaxing.

Family: My sister and her family are in the United States for a few weeks because my other sister is getting married.  I am still in school, but want to try and spend as much time as possible with them.

Health:  I tend to eat when I am stressed.  I know the end of the year is stressful and I want to be better about not eating chocolate and bad stuff when I get stressed!

School: There are 13 more days left of school and I just want to finish strong.  It has been a long year and I am ready for it to end.  I want to make sure I enjoy my students!  I also want to make sure I pack up my room in an organized fashion and not just through items into a box.  

Blog/TpT: I would like to reach 100 followers so I can have a fantastic 100 follower giveaway!  I would also like to finish a few new products.  I have a couple started and it is just a matter of putting the finishing touches on them!

Read: I bought the book Someday, Someday, Maybe when I started my trip to North Carolina.  It is by the actress Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls and Parenthood.  I would love to turn off the TV and read it!

Now for the June Currently...

Listening: I am currently in the car driving back from North Carolina and it is raining.  I am so thankful we had a beautiful day for my sister's wedding yesterday and not this rainy weather!

Loving: I love teaching, but it has been a long school year and I am excited for a nice break!

Thinking: There are only 13 days left of school and I am have a lot I want to do with my students both curriculum and for fun...I hope time slows down a little or we can use the time we have together wisely.

Wanting: I know that God has a plan for my life, but I would love to have a glimpse at what that plan is!  He promises that we will take care of me and sometimes it is hard to hold onto because I like to see the whole picture!

Needing: Sleep.  I have not been sleeping well leading up to my sister's wedding and didn't sleep great over the week-end.  I just need some solid nights of sleep, maybe when summer hits!

3 Vacay essentials: I love to travel with friends and family.  Fun people make a vacation 10 times better.  Spending money is a must because a good vacation involves some type of shopping.  Lastly, food! I love to make sure I eat good food on vacation because vacation calories don't count!

Well, that was fun!  I cannot wait to read some other June Goals and Currentlys!  Have a great Sunday!

Rosie