Procrastination

Procrastination at it's finest!  Report cards are finally done but there is packing to be done.  Is it happening?  Nope... I'm planning for next school year and making last day of school to-do lists for this year still.

Tomorrow is our last day of school and we have a few fun things planned.  We have t-shirts we made, games to be played, special treats to eat, and of course good-byes to be said.  I might just shed a tear over these little ones.

A couple weeks ago we made class tie-dye t-shirts.  They turned out SUPER cute.  I tried to stick with school colors.  Parents came in to help us twist up the shirts and dip into the colors.  A parent volunteered to wash them out and another parent volunteered to iron on our crayola sand paper designs.  I tell you what, THAT was the best decision EVER!  I remember the first year I tie-dyed... myself and my 82 year old grandmother were in my backyard IN the kiddie pool, washing the coloring out of the shirts.  HAHA!!  I have learned so much from trial and error.

Then I planned some games for our last day of school.  Each kiddo made a goodie bag to give away and we will play a "musical chairs" type of game.  They will pass around the goodie bags they made and after a few rounds and the music stops, the bag you get, is the one you can take home.  I made sure they put their names on the bottom so they do not get their own bag.  If you want the send home letter click {here}.  It's an idea a co-worker passed along and our grade level changed it to meet our needs.  The original idea had sweets, etc in it and we decided against it because we had so many food allergies and you just never know.  Better safe than sorry I always say.

Since the classroom is pretty much packed up because of moving grade levels and it IS the last day of school and all, my Daily 5 rounds are OVER!  So to take place of the Daily 5 rounds, we are playing games.  I planned four different games and four to five students will be in teams.  It is almost like my 100th Day of School Survivor Style.    Each team will have a task to complete within a certain amount of time.  What is the  amount of time you ask?  I have not planned that far yet.  I think I'll just wing-it tomorrow.  But I do have the games prepared and ready.  We have Go Fishing, Bean There Done That, Scrambled Breakfast, and There They Blow.  Again, I put this together on the fly after seeing a similar idea.  It's not as cute as others I have seen and I did change the games to meet the needs of my class.  One thing I changed was trying to limit the germs.  We will keep our straws to ourselves and NOT blow in any of the straws.  I am a HUGE germaphobe if I haven't told you yet.  One game I saw had the kids picking up a bean in a straw to get it to the other plate.  I changed that right quick to using straws as chop sticks to lift the bean and get it to the other plate.  There will be no blowing in or out of a straw in this classroom.  OK, I take that back, one of the games is blowing a cup across the floor, but they will do that and then put the straw into the garbage, PRONTO!

Since the germaphobe thing gets in the way, I am trying to figure out what to do if they want a hug tomorrow on the last day.  I have changed over the years about the hugging thing.  I am more of a high-five... with plastic gloves on kinda person now.  :)  I

Misadministration

That's the big word this year for EOG's.  I am not even in a testing grade and I am feeling the anxiety.  Anxiety for these kids, anxiety for their teachers, anxiety for their parents, and anxiety all around.  I am not sure what it has become like in other states but here in NC, I do believe things are backwards.  VERY backwards. 

As I have heard from friends who teach in testing grades... and from the e-mails that go out to the WHOLE school, you basically cannot breathe this year or there will be a misadministration and the whole class must take the test over.  EOG's this year have been made harder and longer.  You can't even bend down and pick up a paper clip this year or it's test administration! *head desk*

The rest of the school is basically on lock down until testing is over.  Non-testers must eat lunch in our classrooms... no recess... no specials... until testing is over!  The school must be quiet, very quiet. 

I'm also very anxious for my children when they get to that age.  I have SUCH respect for the hard working people in our school having to train everyone, organize and prepare everyone for these exams, AND the teachers in these grade levels.  I'd be a MESS... MESS I tell ya! 

QR Codes

If you don't know what they are by now... well, you are just like me I guess.  I have seen them around at stores and even my dr office.  I had NO idea what in the world they were for.  Then I found out they could be used in the classroom along with ipads or smart phones.  SO VERY COOL!!!

The other day we had a small workshop all about QR Codes at school.  So on Monday, I came into school right away and created some QR Codes to go along with out high frequency words of the week.  I placed them around the room and the kids had to hunt for them with the ipads.  There were nine altogether and the they had to find all nine words to put them alphabetical order.

Cool, right??  I am in the middle of creating math story problems on QR Codes and then the kiddos will have to solve the math problems they find.  I am way excited about this.  You can also encode youtube videos into the QR Codes.

Too bad it's the end of the school year.  There is so much I want to do with this group now.  But alas, I will have to save the fun for next school year now... once I teach the Kinder babies how to use them.

I created my very own QR Code... so grab your smart phone/ipad/whatever with a scanner and get the Scan app.  Then scan my code and click FOLLOW. *big smiles*

I used QRPhoria.com to make my code. 

Good-Bye First Grade

The announcement was made last week about certain changes happening for next school year.  ALREADY,  planning for next school year.  Us year rounders start pretty early. We're moving on and not looking back!  Ok, that's not all entirely true but that is how I am feeling right at this moment. 

My news is saying good-bye to first grade and hello to Kindergarten!  It has been a while since I have taught Kinder and I am actually excited about it.  I think I needed a change and this may be what it is.  The dynamics of a Kinder classroom is a lot different than that of a first grade classroom but it should all come back to me once I jump on in. 

I've already begun making lists... MY FAVORITE thing to do.  There are lists for:

*items needed for centers

*how many tables and chairs are needed

*what to put in my reading and writing centers

*wish lists for parents

*new games and manipulatives I want

*projects I want to do with the new babies

*songs I used to remember singing

*sign language I used to use

*rules that need to be taught

{Let's not forget the most important thing...}

*WHAT I am going to teach them

The lists could go on but I'll stop there.  There's just so much running through my head.  But first, I need to end this school year, send my firsties off to second grade, and then move classrooms {NOT on my list but don't tell the other teacher who is moving into my classroom that I said that}. 

Where Oh Where Did My Time Go?

**Note- the documents I had uploaded over the weekend were removed.  The links would not work correctly.  If you would like a copy of any of them, just send me an e-mail and I will get them to you.**

It's been a long time since I blogged on here.  This year I lost the yearning to write about my days in school.  I tell you though, this blog still came in handy when I couldn't remember some things from the 2011-12 school year.  Common Core has kicked my butt this year.  There are so many new things I have added {and removed}from my lessons.

As a grade level, some of us took an area and made pacing guides, common assessments, intervention notebooks, data notebooks, and profile cards.  We recreated the wheel this year folks!  Ok, maybe that is being dramatic but that is exactly what it feels like.

The last part of each profile card is what went home in data notebooks with the kids.  They are "I Can" statements that the kids and families will understand instead of using the common core language.  We have created these for all four quarters.  Also, pacing guides have been created for literacy and math.

For the 2013-14 school year, the pacing guides have already been completed as well, thanks to an AMAZING team member.  Now we have added the Letterland component for first grade.

Next school year is going to be tricky for me as it's going to hold some new adventures.  One of them, I can't quite talk about yet, although many people already know.  The second one, is I am going to begin working on my National Boards.  I am hoping I am not biting off more than I can chew but I think I can make it happen.  I am waiting for just one school year where I can find my "zen".

A certain saying comes to mind...