I reached 100 Followers!!! Now I need help!

Hello everyone!  This blog is going to be short and sweet because it is late and I have to get up early to take my mom and brother to the airport for an early flight!

I REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe it, I am in shock and overwhelmed that so many people are interested in what I have to say.  The friends I have made through my blog have become so special to me.  I love learning from others and using their great ideas in my classroom! 

Now, I need your help.  I want to throw a fantastic giveaway.  If you are interested, I would love your donations.  I promise to highlight you on my blog and shout your name from the rooftops so everyone knows about you!  If you are willing to donate, please fill out the form below.  I am hoping to go live next Thursday on my birthday!

Thank you all again for helping me reach 100 followers!

Rosie

Summer is here and a Giveaway!

I made it to the end of the year!!!!  I cannot believe this school year is over.  It has been a long hard year and at times I did not think I was going to make it, but I did!  I had a great last day with my students we did many fun activities during our half day.

We tried to get the cookie in our mouth without using our hands!

We blew bubbles because they "blew" me away this year!

We cleaned our desk with shaving cream!

We signed beach balls because "we had a ball this year!"

We played a fun fish game with plates and tissue paper fish!

I am sad to see my students go, but excited to see what next year brings!  This year was not perfect by any means and I look forward to changing a few things for next year!

Guess what...I am almost at 100 followers!  I cannot believe it and I am so thrilled to get to plan a fabulous 100 follower giveawa, but I need your help.  If you are willing to donate to my giveaway, please fill out the form below and I will be in contact with you next week!  This giveaway also coincides with my birthday, which makes it all the more fabulous!

There is another fabulous giveaway going on...head over and check out Joanne's 300 Follower Giveaway at Head Over Heals for Teaching.  She is an fantastic friend and I am excited to be apart of her giveaway!

That is all for tonight...I promise once my room is packed up I will be back to my blogging self!  Life has been crazy!

Rosie

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