Schedule Spotlight Series- Morning Work

I am linking up with Kelli from Castles and Crayons for her Schedule Spotlight Series. I'm super excited about this becuase I love hearing how others organize and structure their classrooms! This week's topic is morning work.



Morning work is something we do but it moves quickly in my classroom! Students can start to enter the room at 8:20 when the first bell rings. Most of my kiddos come at this time becuase they are coming from breakfast. This helps us get a jump on our morning. When they come in, they put their items in their cubbies, turn in their folders for me to go through, make their lunch count, sharpen their pencils and make their Daily 5 choices for the day. I give them until the tardy bell rings at 8:30 to get this done. My pencil sharpener also 'closes' when the last bell rings. Even if they are in line or in the middle of sharpening, they need to stop and head back to their seats. We have televised announcements Tuesday-Friday which begin right at 8:30, so this eliminates the sound of the pencil sharpener and announcements trying to out-do each other.  During this time I take attendance, lunch counts and make sure all Daily 5 choices are ready for that afternoon. 

This past year was the first year our school went to block scheduling. In order to fit in my math block before we head to specials, we need to be completely done with morning work by 8:40. So....what do my kiddos actually do in the 10 minutes we have allotted for morning work (at the same time they are watching announcements)? Our Secret Number of the Week!

I bought this pack and it works perfectly in the time frame we have for morning work. What also works well is that the student recording sheet is broken into 'boxes'. Each day the kids have to complete a different box and they always complete the same box each day of the week. After the first week or so of school, I don't need to give directions in the morning! It works like this:

Monday- I post clues about our secret number and the kids have to figure out the secret number.

Tuesday- They have to show the secret number in as many ways as they can.

Wednesday- They have to come up with 3 addition and 3 subtraction problems that use the secret number. 

Thursday- They have to come up with as many ways as they can to show the secret number using dollars and/or cents.

Friday- They have to create their own story problem using the secret number. 

Honestly, this pack is fabulous! All the materials are included and it gives the students 'free reign' of their leaning. My struggling kiddos can come up with simple math problems while my higher kiddos try to think of the most outrageous ones. (By the end of the year they are trying to use multiple steps as ways to show the secret number.....they even learn how and when to use parentheses!)

When it is time to check over our work, I can do a quick walk through to make sure each child has completed the box for the day and then we go over example answers together. This goes quickly...usually 3-4 minutes.  And that's it! We make the most of the time we have and the consistency of the everyday routine helps to get things moving in the morning.

Be sure to head over and link up to share how you do morning work in your classroom!

Did you enter this giveaway yet?!

As I was catching up on blogs today, I noticed that Christina Bainbridge from Bunting, Books and Bainbridge was having a HUGE giveaway!



There are some fabulous prizes to win, be sure to head over and enter her giveaways! 

Measurement Olympics

For the past few years I have always done a 'Measurement Olympics' with my kiddos. I used to do it as a wrap up to our measurement unit but this year I waited and did as an end-of-the-year activity. They had a lot of fun with it as they usually do and of course, I don't have pictures becuase I just now thought of it.....only about 2 weeks too late!

However, after searching online I have seen so many different versions of it done and there are so many different activites for your kiddos to do. I have taken the ones that I use with my kids and complied it into a small pack. By all means, these are not the only 'events' you can have your kids participate in.

Since we have been MIA for quite some time, I thought it was time for a small giveaway. Click on the link below to download your *free* copy and stash it away for next school year!

Happy Thursday!

June Currently

Hear that?! That is the sound of SUMMER BREAK! I thought that to kick things off, I would link up with Farley for her June eddition of Currently.

Listening: I absolutely love hearing lawn mowers and such. It is one of the biggest reminders that summer is here (or at least right around the corner!)

Loving: That we are OFFICIALLY on summer break. I had a fabulous group of kiddos this year and although I am sad to send them off, I am more than ready for some R & R this summer!

Thinking: I am already thinking of the gazillion things I want to tackle this summer. My plan? Create a small to do list each day. I will be focused without being overwhelmed. Day 1- check!

Wanting: I have yet to visit an ice cream stand.....but I can hear a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flurry calling my name...

Needing: Someone to help with my weeds. That is truly the only thing I have a 'green thumb' for. Seriously.

3 Vacation Essentials:

Sunscreen- There is nothing worse than having to spend the rest of the rest of your vacation outstide with a sunburn. Or even worse, stuck inside. Call me crazy, but I always head to the beach with SPF 50 and SPF 30- I can't stand when my skin feels like leather!

Books- Plural, as in, I usually stop at the library and pick up 3-5. Wouldn't want to be stuck without some reading material!

Peace of Mind- Thanks to the hubs, I have learned to head to vacation with a clear head (or at least clear mine while I am on vacation) If it were up to me I would still spend the week thinking of things I needed to get done when I got back home. He has taught me to forget about those things while we are away.....Isn't that the point of a vacation anyways?!

Hope that you are having a great start to your summer break as well! And if you're one of those trying to push through those last few days.....I'm thinking of ya!

Looking Ahead

So this is the time of year we are all anxious for next year right!? This year we are a little more stressed due to incorporating all new curriculums next year…but it’s also very exciting to be working with new materials!

Organizing is how I stay sane.  haha I just wasn’t happy with my word work cart from this year.  It always got messy, and students had to dig through bins to get the word work they were searching for.  Therefore, I arranged my word work bins on my back counter in pull out drawers. Now, it’s so much easier for my kiddos to see what they want to work on.  Also, I don’t have to reorganize my cart every day!

 Ok so I have to tell you a funny story…being a teacher is always full of surprises! My kiddos were so excited to use the new drawers for their word work the next day that they came in.  However, when they went to their first round all I heard was a bunch of loud squeaks! We all looked at the word work bins and started laughing. Apparently if you don’t pull out the drawers just right they exhibit a horrible shrill pitched sound. Call me crazy but I always keep a WD 40 pen in my supplies drawer and home, so now I have purchased one for school too. It has really come in handy to fix those squeaky drawers!

Did you notice the great polka dot labels!? That’s my theme next year and I downloaded this freebie from Mercedes Hutchens. I have also used them as my daily five reading group labels and math labels check them out. I just love finding awesome freebies on TPT!

I would love to hear what your themes are for next year. Please post what you are planning to do!

 

 

 

 

Yikes! How is it the end of April already?! I'm not complaining by any means how quickly the end of our school year seems to be going, but I mean my last post was written at the beginning of this month! But don't take it personally- I just can't seem to keep my head above water at school or at home either.

C'est la vie!

 Anyways, last week our 3rd-5th grade students had their OAA tests. This year our school tried something new and each grade level K-2 "adopted" a classroom in grades 3-5. The thought was to provide some encouragement to those kiddos taking the test while promoting the need to 'Do Your Best' at the same time. I know my second graders had fun doing this and they liked the idea that they would be the getting these same acts of kindness next year.

First, we used the Operation-Ego- Booster pack to create letters to each student in the classroom we adopted. This pack is *full* of ideas to use. On the first morning of testsing, our grade-level lined the hallways to 'cheer' on our kids as the went to breakfast before testing time.

Then, each day that our adopted class had a test, we left them a treat on their desk. We found these adorable Motivational Testing Notes to use.



Such cute and easy ideas to use during state testing week. We take 2nd grade diagnostics in the fall and I am going to use some of these ideas for my own kiddos next year.

I'm off to take advantage of this rainy day and get some things done. Hopefully it won't be 3 weeks until I'm back again :)

April Currently

How is it already time for April's eddition of currently?! I'm not complaining but I can't believe the end of the school year is approaching so quickly! Head on over to Oh Boy 4th Grade so you can join in on the fun too! 

I can't believe we only have 8.5 weeks of school left! I am thrilled at the prospect of summer being just around the corner and I know these weeks will go all to quickly!

Do you also feel like you have a never-ending to-do list. I mean I was on break last week and I am please with how much I go done, but the lists just keep growing.

It's Ohio.....and it's cold. Like way too cold. This morning when I headed to work it was around 30 degrees. That is February weather to me. Hello....it's April. We should be in the upper 40's by the end of the week. I'm sure it will feel spectacular!

The best advice I can give about blogging? Don't sweat the small stuff. There are so many fabulous, wonderful and over-the-top blogs out there. How you all manage to squeeze it into your life is beyond me. I started with high hopes and good intentions. But life gets in the way sometimes (ok a lot of the time) and all those plans I had for blogging or creating some new learning packs gets pushed to the wayside. And ya know what, sometimes I have to be ok with that. 

Happy April!