Three Things I Loved About My Week: Memory Moments, Decimals, and Community Gardens

Hi friends!  I'm back to share Three Things I Loved About My Week with you. I can't believe I just sent home progress reports for the last quarter of the school year!  I am really looking forward to slowing down when summer begins.  I love my class, and I loved the challenge of learning a new grade level.  But I'm ready to make more choices about my time!

#1: Memory Moment
This week we used The Day the Crayons Quit as our Mentor Text.  I love how cute this text is!  I know this book has been out for awhile, but I didn't really have a reason to use it as a middle school teacher.  When I picked it up at the library,  I loved that my mind went to the Memory Moment signpost right away! It was perfect the way the author gives the crayons personalities, and they share the memories of how Duncan uses the crayons.

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I used the text for mentor sentence work this week, so it incorporates a ton within one book.  What made me happy was that the first day we looked at the text, our Invitation to Notice day, several of my students noticed that this book contained a Memory Moment!  <HOORAY>!  Imagine me doing the happy dance!

I just recently taught this signpost and we dug deep with our novel Lunch Money.  It was nice to see the information transfer to other stories as well!
Right now we are working on Color Poems.  Students chose their favorite colors, and we are in the process of using our senses to describe them.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!


#2 Decimal Fraction Review
We took our End of Module assessment this week for our Decimal Fraction Relationships unit.  My kids really worked hard. We started our unit looking at how decimals and fractions are similar. Did you grab this FREEBIE that I created as a quick formative? It was quick and easy and my class started the unit with a Win-Win.  As we progressed, we learned how to translate decimals into fractions to add them.  We also plotted numbers on the number line, and learned how to change decimals and fractions between each other in computation and word problems.  One of the things I really love is how our modules build on one another.  They always give students problems that contain multiple steps that build.  I use these problems a lot for team building activities.  Instead of having just one problem that everyone completes, I create multiple problems that are similar.  Students work together in teams to answer each question.  It creates a feeling of anticipation and cooperation within the group.  Plus it makes review a lot more interesting than "Another Math Worksheet" <Insert fourth graders rolling their eyes here>

#3 Spring Gardens

The third thing about my week that I LOVED, was the spring gardens that are popping up around our school.  This is a project that our third graders participate in, but I have loved watching it grow! Every third grader participates in the program.  Once a week, someone from the community food co-op comes out and talks to students about healthy eating, gardens, vegetables, etc.  Each student has a gallon bucket where they have planted different veggies, and the students learn to tend the gardens.  They grow several types of lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and a few herbs.  When the items are ready to harvest, students help and then participate in a healthy meal together.  Of course there are PLENTY of leftovers, so students go home with two bags of fresh veggies each to share with their families.  I love the community support this program has!

Check out these amazing pictures!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share a few things I've loved about this week.  I'd love to hear about something that was amazing for you!

Happy Weekend!

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Three Things I Loved About My Week: Mardi Gras Fractions, Friends, Facing a Fear

Hello friends!  I wanted to share the Three Things I LOVED about my week last week!  

#1: Celebrating Mardi Gras in the Classroom

This Friday we celebrated with a little Mardi Gras Fun in our classroom.  Fat Tuesday is coming soon, but we have our big state writing assessment on Monday, and I wanted to spend the last 45 minutes of the day relaxed, happy, and ready for the weekend.  Because I still have to teach curriculum and I teach math in the afternoon, I pulled out my Mardi Gras Float Fraction activity.  Students were told there are 12 krewe members on their Mardi Gras Float.  They worked in pairs to answer 10 questions relating to equivalent fractions and easy percents.  These questions told them what each member of the krewe had to wear on the float.  For example, one item said that there were twice as many girls as boys in the krewe.  Students had to figure out that meant there would be 8 girls and 4 boys on the float.  Another was that 75% of the boys had to have dark hair.  Students had to figure out that meant 3 out of the 4 boys.  When they were finished with the 10 math questions and had them checked, they were allowed to draw their floats. They LOVED this activity,  and I loved sneaking in a little extra math practice. The floats while having the same information were all completely different.  So many ways for them to be creative and practice mathematics skills at the same time! Math and art, you can never go wrong.  I love these pictures! 

#2: Time with Friends:  Filling my Cup

I had a few friends from New York visiting me this week.  We got a chance to go out to one of our favorite hangouts, Buffalo Wild Wings, and watch the Syracuse vs Duke game on Wednesday night.  The game was killer!  I mean a win at the buzzer against DUKE is the BEST ever!  But even more important, I had a chance to catch up with friends that I don't often have a chance to see, and well frankly, they "fill my cup." 

Do you have friends who do that for you?  Even though we are far apart I have a few friends that are just... well... there for me.  When I see them they fill up my cup!  I talked to my class about that on Friday.  They know I love Syracuse basketball, and they asked me about the game.  As exciting as it was, I found myself talking more to them about the friends I have who really help me out, and are just fun to be around.  It was honestly a great way to reinforce that Kind is the New Cool mentality, and I saw a lot of my students checking in with each other on the playground and including everyone in their games.  That also was a cup filler!!

#3:  Facing My Fears

My daughter also had an opportunity to "fill her cup" this week by having other friends from NY visiting.  We met our friends at Disney Springs for dinner and to hang out a little.  As a group we decided to go up in the hot air balloon.  Ok, so... yea.... I'm afraid of heights... but I couldn't be the ONLY person who didn't go up in that balloon, so I mustered up a little confidence... yea.. I used my Confidence Essential Oil roller... LOL... and I did it!  8 minutes in a hot air balloon.  I smiled the whole time but inwardly.. I .. WAS... FREAKING OUT!

So that being said, this week after out writing test I am going to read a book to my class called Courage.  We are going to spend some time writing an essay about what it takes to make a person courageous, and how they are courageous about something in their lives.

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Share with me something from your life that you LOVED this week, or a way you had your cup filled, or were fearless.  Any Mardi Gras parades or activities in you week?  I'd love to hear about them!

Have an amazing week friends!

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Three Things I Loved About My Week!

Welcome to the weekend friends!  I wanted to take a moment and share Three Things I Loved About My Week.

I hope some of these make you smile or laugh, or give you a new idea for your own life or classroom. Spread the positive my friends... spread the positive.

#1:  Retired Teachers Make the Best Secret Pals
The retired teachers at my school are amazing!  Every month they bring in snacks and goodies for us, and we get a few days of heaven in the teachers room.  They are part of the reason why I never seem to be losing any weight.... ( the other reason may be that I have to get off my couch.. but that isn't something I loved, so we won't talk about it)
How delicious are these cakes looking!  Do you see how they made MANY MANY cakes!  NOT one cake or two cakes that are gone by the time the second lunch round is over, but CAKES for DAYS.....
Do you have anyone who is wonderful to you like this?

#2: World Read Aloud Day!
February 16th was World Read Aloud day.  To celebrate my class found their favorite picture books from my classroom library and a partner that they do not normally read with.  Together they shared their book for about 15 minutes.  Although this wasn't a huge amount of time it was nice see them sit together and read to each other. It brought a sense of calm to the sometimes chaotic classroom that we have, and it made me smile.

#3: Peer Editing and Collaboration
We have been working really hard on our writing skills since we came back from our Christmas break.  We are getting ready to take our state writing assessment in just a few short weeks, and I need my students to have a solid sense of both opinion and informative writing, and how our state will be assessing their skills.  We read a paired text on roller coaster design.  The informative prompt that I gave my students asked them to explain how roller coaster designers are innovative.  I have seen so many improvements in their writing, adding leads, and key details.  Their conclusions are getting stronger too.  One thing that has FINALLY clicked in for them is the importance of peer editing and discussion.  This week I had them practice being both the teaching coach AND the learner.  I pressed them to give specific examples, and we worked on speaking kindly to each other but still giving constructive criticism.  When each group finished students were able to grab a post it note and create a writing goal for next week.  Baby steps lead to giant leaps my friends!

I hope everyone else could find three things that they LOVED about their week!  Feel free to comment below and let me know what you loved!! I would love to hear about it!

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