Who Knew December?

Wowzers! Who knew that December would become the busiest time in my school year? Usually that falls during testing season but this last month has taken the cake! December was full of firsts for my multigrade class as well as the school getting Ipads for the teachers to use during instruction. Holiday units were chosen and used and one snow day was awarded, a first in two years. All I can say is my class made it!

This year my school has attempted the multigrade setting and this lucky lady was chosen to test out the waters. Many new ideas have been used and thrown away and I believe with two quarters down we have something working for us! I meet with each grade level during each subject so my day is always busy with no time to breathe. This upcoming quarter I would like to try guided math. Has anyone found this to work for them? Do you have any recommendations?

Christmas came and went faster then ever this year. My daughter got a visit from Santa and this was the first year she left out cookies and milk. I loved filming the expression on her face when she saw that he ate ALL the cookies. We were so blessed this year with all the gifts my family received. My daughter is the only grandchild and it shows. How will she react when there is another one?

I am beginning to come up with my new year's resolutions but one is for sure... blogging. This is something I love to do and see what others like to share. The rest of the list will be coming soon.

Happy 2013 All!

December Currently!

It has been such a long time since I have sat down to my blog! Have you all been feeling this busy too? This is the time of year where we need to sit down and get a little creative so our students can stay engaged and not drift off to think about their up coming presents! I have been busy looking up ideas on TpT, any ideas from you?

It's that time already where I am teaming up with Farley and sharing my December Currently!

I am really excited for this holiday season and would love any ideas for some great holiday units for intermediate students. This is a challenging time of year and we need to keep our ideas fresh and ready for what our class throws at us. I hope this finds you enjoying life and ready for the holiday season.

November Currently

Happy Election Day All!! Get out there and get your voice heard. After hearing allllllll of those political ads I hope we all got out and voted. I am teaming up with Farley for this month's currently!

Currently I am listening to the recent episode of Bones. It is such a great show and I can still get school work done while watching it! Check it out.

I am loving Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte during this fabulous weather. I enjoy that I can wear a sweater and boots and call it good.

I am thinking, "What activities can I do with my class outside?" With this weather I feel we should spend as much time outside as possible.

I am wanting a stress free school day. This means I want one day with no meetings and no interruptions so the day runs smoothly. Does that exist?

I feel the need right now to cuddle up with a good book and sit on the couch to read. This would be a fun book and not an educational one. :-)

Last but not least I am listening to Florence and the Machine. If you have not stumbled across this band do so right now. Thank me later!

Happy Election Day and don't forget to have your voice heard!

Saturday Success (a week in review)

Where has all the blogging time gone?! Can you believe it is November already? With conferences and Halloween past we are looking forward to a full two weeks of school until Thanksgiving. This is the part of the year that flies by! Here are a few successful moments from the past two weeks.

1. Fall parent teacher conferences have come and gone and they went really well. Parents that attended told me their child loves being in my class and sometimes go home calling their mom by my name. It makes me smile knowing that I am having a positive effect on my students.

2. This year my district has started coaching teachers. This means each week we have someone from our leadership team pop into our room at an unscheduled time to find some positive things happening in our classroom. I like to keep all the notes that I get from my coaches but this week's note really changed my week. The first sentence on the note said, "I always enjoy coming into your classroom because your students are engaged." The end of the note said, "I am always impressed when I leave your room." It is necessary for us to hear that our leadership teams see the hard work we put in each week.

3. A couple weeks ago I called into my local radio station and won $100!! I have never won anything before and it was so what my day needed. I had a tough day and as soon as I got into my car the radio station played the sound for you to call in and win. Well this week I got to pick up the check and for some me time I will be purchasing some new fall sweaters and boots to wear at work. Its the small things in life!

4. My daughter has been a mommy's girl this week with lots of cuddling! She also got to trick or treat for the first time. She dressed up as a fairy and held her bucket. She was brave and went up to each house to say trick or treat. When her bucket started getting heavy she wouldn't let anyone hold it for her because they were her treats. Since Halloween she has carried around her "treats" everywhere in the house. She likes to go through them but never opens them. I can't believe how much she has grown!

5. This weekend is our annual craft show in my town and I each year I seem to cross off many items from my Christmas list. I find the best gifts for grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am excited to see the great ideas people have come up with and share. The classroom is always a big part of my time but today is for me!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween and made it through the week!
Happy November!

Positive Outlook/Penny Experiment

I have been listening to Jillian Michael's Podcast a lot lately. She is so inspirational and you can download them for free. You can listen to them on a walk or a workout at the gym and each one leaves you thinking. Today's podcast was full of inspirational quotes and having you connect them to your life. The one that hit home for me was "Don't focus on the negatives of the day, turn them into positives." How many times do you leave school thinking about how Tommy is become  a behavior problem or how that lesson didn't go as well as planned?? My goal for this week is to try and only focus on the positives from the day! I may even get my students involved in this weekly goal.

After thinking about this positive outlook I realized a week ago I had a tough week. My husband had to share some positives vibes with me because the week just felt loooooonnnnggg. Looking back at it I remember some great positives throughout the days. My students completed the penny experiment to practice using the scientific method and it went really well. We worked through each step of the process and then I had the students complete the investigation. Each group was so engaged and wanted to get the most drops of water on their penny. I love seeing them so excited about learning! Here are a couple pictures!!

One student 95 drops on one penny!!

Penny Experiment
Question: How many drops of water will fit on a penny?
Prediction: How many do you think? 
Experiment: Using water droppers and a cup of water, place as many drops of water on a penny.
Observations
Collect data
Conclusion

Students loved the "snow globe" look.

Using the dropper to place water on the penny.

A great experiment to get the students engaged and use the scientific process. Try it out in your room. Have a fabulous Sunday!

Saturday Success (A week in review)

Hey hey hey!! Happy Saturday to you all! It has been such a productive Saturday and I am so excited that the leaves are turning and we are falling into FALL!! Bring out the sweaters! Here are a few positives from this week that kept my head up!

1. My principal asked me to take on another student in my classroom, one that followed her from her old school. She told me I had great structure in my classroom and this student needs a room that is well organized and knows what is expected out of him. Super huge compliment from her since I am feeling the opposite! This definitely put a smile on my face.

2. This week marked the end of the 1st quarter. I can't believe that it was already time to do report cards. I completed them this week and have conferences starting next week. After seeing the grades, my class is really impressing me right now.

3. My mother met me Thursday after school to pick up my daughter. She will have her until next Sunday because it is conference week. I am at school till 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday so that makes it hard to see her. My mother is the best!!! This also gives me time to get ahead in planning and I am happy to say I have been very productive in that category!

4. I teach a multigrade but my 5th grade team and I have decide that for an hour at the end of the day we will be rotating our classes. This means one teacher will teach science for a week and then swap classes to teach science to them as well. During this time I will only be teaching my 6th graders science!! This will help out with planning a preparation now that I only have to focus on one grade level. So excited to see how this works out.

5. I completed a mean, median, and mode math journal entry this week. It is a standard in our curriculum but is not found in our math series. My students really enjoyed it because we used oreos to collect data but then we took the data and I taught them how to find the mean, median, and mode. Well this week for a quick math bellwork my students showed me how much they understood the concepts. We are making great progress.

I hope your week has been fabulous and you are all prepared for conferences! Happy end of the first quarter!

What was one success for you this week?

Independent Math Centers

Scrabble Math

Cube Toss

With teaching a multigrade this year I needed to come up with ways my students could practice basic math facts individually while I was working with the other grade level. I searched for ideas but couldn't find what I had in mind so I tweaked and created a couple of ideas for student practice. I created a product on teachers pay teachers with these great ideas that I use in the classroom almost daily! My students love the hands on learning as well as using something other than worksheets.

This product has three activities that could be used as an independent game or a math center. I have noticed that my students have become more confident in their multiplication and have begun to enjoy math!

Take a look at my product here at The Ever Changing Classroom.

Have a fabulous Sunday evening!