5 for Funday?

Ok, I know I'm extremely tardy to the party BUT I have had a great week...(and I haven't often said that phrase this school year!) so I want to share some of the awesome stuff that's been happening :) 

We had our district assessments this week so I did a gallery walk for reviewing the steps of analyzing poetry.

Listen, if there is any "test strategy" I teach, it is the steps to reviewing and analyzing a poem. For the past 3 years they have proved worthwhile for helping students figure out what elements are in a poem, the author's message, etc. And because I like you people, I'll share my secret ;) 

 It is seriously that simple but we learn all the vocabulary and definitions of the various elements and poetry types early in the school year and then start analyzing by the second six weeks. I have my kids analyze lots of popular songs first because they find that a little more fun :) but then we move on to poems that are a little more "meaty". One tip: When identifying the speaker, I always tell my kids, don't write down the author's name...write down the type of person who would have authored this poem. 

I am a Texas girl. I love the unpredictability of Texas...this week it was 81 on Monday and all of our kids were in shorts and then Tuesday the high was 50..which in Texas means it's freezing so the next day they were all bundled up. I LOVE it. And now it's snowing...which means everyone is already crossing their fingers for no school tomorrow. ((Yea, yea, we know...Texans are winter wimps...but come talk to me in the summer when it's 110 and we're outside playing sports.)) :) 

Seriously. In November. In Texas. I am beside myself. I. LOVE. WINTER.

Fossil Ridge HS lost their playoff game on Friday which means football season is over and I have my hubs back!! :) I'm not a terrible person for being a little excited they lost, right? I mean, we all know they were never going to be state champs this year...

So remember how in #1 I told you we took our district assessments this week? Well I typically don't put a lot of emphasis on these tests (and I didn't this time either) because I'm not about to stress kids out over a little test. They have plenty of stress when it comes to the pass-or-repeat-5th grade STAAR test....

BUT...ya'll, I have 50 kids in my 2 gen. ed classes and I had a 90% passing rate!! I was stoked. They did such a good job analyzing those texts! :) 

 Ok, and now the most exciting part of my whole week. In our school district, the PTA (same as a PTO) always puts on a Jam The Gym Basketball tournament in the Spring and a Volleyball tournament in the Fall. If you know me AT ALL, you know I live and breathe volleyball. It is my happy place. But I don't get to play that much now that I'm teaching and a momma....but our school decided to put a team together with a few of us that like to play afterschool sometimes and WE.WON. We won the whole tournament...as in we are the best (elementary teachers) volleyball team in Irving ISD. It was such a fun day spent with my Elliott family. We played hard but most importantly we played as a team. Shout out to my teammates: Rebekah, Jenn, Maria, Corinne, Mike, Warren, Jeremy, Tino and Fernando! In the words of Mr. Love, we GOT IT DONE!

Side note: Our final game was against Good Elementary which had an AWESOME team...and they also have awesome admin...they have BOTH of our old principals! :) It was almost like a family feud.

My cutie teaching partner Kristin stayed for most of the day--what a loyal fan! 

You guys have no idea how excited we were!! 

Check out the hardware! 

5 days until Thanksgiving Break. Let's do this, people! 

Monday Made It 8/24/14 ...and Happy First Day of School!

As you read this, I am greeting my 29 5th graders. Listen, I don't know if your state has a max number for the classroom, but in Texas, PreK-4th grade, 24 is the maximum number of students per class. Then you get to 5th grade and there is no cap. Which means I have large numbers of students. In classrooms that were made to house no more than 22 [when it was originally built]...so. We are packed in like sardines. BUT, we will survive. Maybe

On to my made it Monday :) I inherited this adorable red bookshelf from one of my besties who became an administrator this year. I have always loved this bookshelf... [It's been passed around at our school]...BUT red isn't my color. :) 

Some of you know my love for GREEN. I'm not sure when it started but I went to college at UNT and we were the Mean Green AND my classroom is UNT themed so I had to paint the shelf. 

Yes, I painted in my classroom. Please don't tell on me. I used green chalk paint and let it dry overnight before I went back and added a wax. 

How stinkin' cute is this?! I LOVE it. You are probably wondering "How did she know how to do that?" Well, my sweet friend, Mary Jo, took us to a little shop in Waxahachie, TX on her birthday to learn how to make shabby chic looking furniture. Mandy at Texas Pearls and Co is so ridiculously talented and she taught me everything I know :) 

Here is what my shelf looks like ready for this first day! 

My 2nd Made it Monday is a little sign I made with chalk and black butcher paper. I saw a wall painted on vacation at the Oklahoma City Science Museum that said "Here is where..." and was all about science. I loved the concept so I came home and wrote my own "Here is Where" poem. I am going to have my kids write poems about their favorite place. Anyway..here is mine: 

Can't wait to see what you guys have been making!