Life Lately

Let's just skip past the part about me not blogging consistently and move on to the part that where I tell you what I've been up to: 


1. The cat is out of the bag...I am looking to move school districts next year. It was a super super hard decision to make, because I currently teach where I grew up (even at the same school) and frankly, I thought I'd be there until I retire. But God has a funny way of showing you that you aren't in charge #amiright. I just really want a specific position in another district that involves working with my favorite population of little people: gifted and talented kids. Which brings me to #2...

2. Grad school is in full swing (remember...I'm getting my Masters in Teacher Leadership with a focus on Gifted and Talented curriculum). This week I finish my 5th class and it has been hands down the.hardest. Research for teachers? I have learned a ton but I'm not even going to sugar coat it, I am ready for this class to be over. I am SO looking forward to my GT specific classes but those aren't until the fall. 

3. My little guy is getting so big, y'all. 

Easter at Great-Grandma's house

 

Ok people...I PROMISE (seriously) to blog more often in the month of April. 

Tomorrow my students take their first round of testing: STAAR Writing. Pray for them! My amazing teammate Krissy has worked her tail off this year preparing all 75 of our darlings (P.S. I'll share some of the stuff that we've done to prepare them in a later post) but it's still stressful for everyone! I know my kids are ready--they just need to believe in themselves! 

Talk to ya soon! 

-C

A Peek at my Week

I'm linking up this week with a new linky party :) Check it out! 

Ok, let's see...what's going on this week:

This week is the first of two weeks of intensive intervention for some of my students who didn't do so well the first round of state testing. :( In Texas, 5th graders must meet standard before moving to the next grade level and some of my kids just weren't quite there yet--it is what it is. SO, we are going to be doing a mixture of test-prep and authentic reading with stories and articles. I'll be honest 11 days is a very short amount of time to help some students grow 2-3 grade levels worth but we will do our best! My other students will be working in stations on their CARE books, independent reading and literature circles. I LOVE literature circles--since I was out on maternity leave for 10 weeks (I still can't believe that...) I am starting true lit circles later in the year than usual but I had to get some good guided reading in first! 

Also this week: Tryouts for the Phantom Tollbooth play! I can't wait--some of our 5th graders are really talented and I can't wait to get to the fun part...actually practicing the play and starting to do sets/props. Our fabulous art teacher, Ms. Alkire (ps. Read her blog!) is helping us along with the art club (The Mini DaVincis) so I can't wait to see everything come together! 

Last but not least, I started reading this gem last night: 

As expected, it is wonderful. Some of the teachers in our district are doing a book study on it and I can't wait to hear all the wonderful conversation about this book...PLUS I have already started my list of "next year I will.." stuff based on tips in this book. 

Funny side note: I actually student taught at Trinity Meadows Intermediate in Keller, TX where Donalyn (used to) and Susan Kelley work! With these two ladies, my mentor Mary Fran, and the other fabulous teachers at TMIS, those kids are really in the presence of fabulous teaching. Seriously.  

Alright, that's the peak at my week! Hope ya'll have a great week--its the last week of April. Can you believe it?! 

PS. Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'. Come on, I need some lovin! :)
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11729565/

Five for Friday--blog slacker edition

It has been way too long since I've last blogged, or linked up with anybody. I wish I had some cool excuse but really I've just been swamped at work, had a sick baby at home and then got tonsillitis myself! [can a girl catch a break?!] :( 

I will try to be better next week! :)

Ok, so here is a peek at what we've been up to in Room 410:

Our science state assessment is in a week and a half so I have been trying to support my partner teacher by reading science books in guided reading. Our PTA had $300 allotted to each grade level and we chose to spend our money on these books by the Sally Ride Science foundation. I totally LOVE them! They are high interest and they have 4-6 questions at the end of every book to check for reading comprehension. Below are a few of the titles we read this week. (Listen, I'm totally NOT a science person, so for me to think these books were interesting is really saying something...) 

 I have finally started getting stuff in order for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It will probably be June before everything starts popping up (but hey! you might find something for next school year!) Here is a list of what's to come probably this summer: 

• Questions to use in guided groups (FREE!!)
• Interactive Reading Notebook for 4th and 5th Grade (aligned to TEKS and Common Core--you're welcome, Texas teacher friends!) **Bonus, my fab colleague is translating this bad boy into Spanish too for all of you bilingual teachers! 
• Reading/Literacy Stations for 4th and 5th graders
• Vocabulary puzzles and activities 
• Reading Review folder :)

My wonderful brother is helping me to format everything because he is way more talented than me when it comes to all that wonderful stuff. I can't wait to get things ready to go! 

Every year, our campus has CARE Day (Celebrating Authors and Readers at Elliott). The kids all write their own original stories that they share with students in all the other grades (K-5). I'll write a post on this magical day (seriously, it was my favorite thing we did when I went to this school) later. Anyway, we've been writing these CARE Day Comics which are coming along fabulously. Below is a preview of my kid's "To Do" list. 

I'm seriously so excited to see the final products. Some of their stories have the potential to be hilarious.

My partner teacher and I have foolishly taken on the task of putting on a 5th grade play. We are doing the Phantom Tollbooth which is my favorite chapter book to share with kids. I can't wait to see how it all turns out. I think I always secretly wanted to star in a play but now I will just live vicariously through some super-talented 10 and 11 year olds. 

Ok, I'll admit it. I wasn't thrilled about moving to 5th grade. But I have absolutely loved it...probably because I looped with so many of my kids from last year...but it has just been so fun. I love the kids. I could however, do without the love triangles, girl drama and note passing. (Side note: My kids are baffled that I know all the current gossip. #1 I have wonderful little loyal spies #2 I'm not blind/deaf...but I digress). Anyway, being the awesome teachers we are..today we (my partner teacher and I) made this: 

It has had such a wonderful outcome :) Some of my serial note-passers are terrified their oh-so important notes will be shared with the whole class and plus, it cracks up every adult who enters the room. Best Friday classroom management tip I can share, peeps. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend (and a Happy Easter)...next week is Science STAAR testing. yay. 

Mentor Monday 3/31/14: Visualizing

I'm not even gonna lie, when I first saw the topic for this week's Mentor Monday with The Reading Tutor, I was stumped---I couldn't pin down my "go-to" book. I mean, I try to have my kids visualize with every text we read; but then again, when I read picture books to them during a mini-lesson sometimes it kind of defeats the purpose of visualizing. They look at what the illustrator has drawn and assume that was the "right answer" for what they should have pictured...does that make sense? I almost prefer to use chapter books when teaching visualizing because many of them don't have pictures and require students to have "visual recall" [a new phrase I've decided to coin] when reading texts that span over several days. 

Before I get off my soap box and onto which text I love best for visualizing, I have one more (ok, two) things to point out. 1. Visualizing is probably one of the most important strategies we can teach emergent readers because if they don't learn how to picture the words in their head, they really never learn to love reading. I mean, how boring would it be if you weren't playing a "movie" in your head while reading the text?! 2. I think many times readers are disappointed when they see a movie adaptation of a book they've read, because it isn't how they visualized it. See? Visualizing. is. important. 

Ok, on with my book. I LOVE to start off the year reading Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick 

It is such an incredible story, I definitely recommend it to fellow teachers. Now, it's probably not a book you want to read with students younger than 4th grade...and really it's probably best for 5th graders. It has everything you could ever want in a book, dynamic characters, a plot with lots of twists and turns and such a sweet message to kids. The narrator is the main character and he is so sarcastic (which happens to fit my personality perfectly) so the kids can really relate to him. I wanted to share some of the descriptive language the author uses that is perfect for having kids visualize, but I realized I lent my copy to another teacher and I can't remember who at the moment! 

Anyway, I usually start off reading this book the first day of school and allow my kids to take turns drawing what they visualize on the white board. (There is something so "magical" about the white board to them...)

I know there are about a zillion books that are great for teaching visualizing--I mean, pretty much any 'good' book is, right? But this is just one of my favorites! 

PS. Today was the first day of STAAR. yipeee. 

PPS. Pray for my darlin's tomorrow--it's the Reading STAAR. :)

I Choose to be Happy!

This week was..awful. I mean, terrible,horrible, no-good, very bad, awful. Stomach bugs ran rampant, paperwork was flowing out of my ears and deadlines for EVERYTHING crept up on me. My even got a neck spasm from stress...BUT, I am going to choose to share the things that made me smile this week. :) 


1. I bought my plane ticket for my girls trip to Myrtle Beach this summer. Lookout Pawley's Island, a few of us are taking over! I can't wait to spend some time laying on the beach (and by the pool) and hanging with my besties. 

This is where we are staying. Yes, please. 

Sidenote: I got this email from the owners and it totally cracked me up. I gotta make my handwriting into a font and cash in on this! :) 

2. One of my students stapled his paper like this. Because of the ridiculousness, I started laughing and had to take a picture. He didn't even do it to be funny. He is just that ridiculous without trying. Several of my kids (especially the ones who I looped up to 5th grade with) were laughing too because I am usually so organized with everything in a certain order and everything has a procedure, etc. but this week we were all just a little "off".  :) This mis-stapled paper basically summed up class this week. haha

3. We had our district-wide technology fair and I took Jackson with me. He snuggled up to my dear friend Danna and it was so precious! 

4. Speaking of Jackson, (and due to last minute change of plans), we went to the Spring carnival at my school today and enjoyed the sunshine with one of my besties who I happen to also teach with, Carrie and Mateo (aka Jackson's future bff). The weather was wonderful, I didn't have any responsibilities and it was so fun! 

He is just too cool for his mom's shenanigans. 

5. This video made my day. I love Frozen and the song Let It Go. You HAVE to watch it. It is just too darn perfect for all of us who will be administering STAAR next week. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3rysTvrFPs

Alright, this is probably it for me before Tuesday. If you think about it, pray for all the teachers and kids in Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday as they take the super stressful state assessments. (Specifically the little darlings in room 409 and 410 at Elliott!) 

Have a great weekend! 

Caitlin

It's Almost Here...

So we are only one week away from the STAAR test and honestly, there isn't much more I can do...which is both a freeing and a terrifying feeling. The next week will be spent "putting into practice" our knowledge of the content + test taking strategies I've taught. My students made 2 foldables to remind them of important strategies to use so I thought I'd share them :) I wish I could say that they are completely original wonderful ideas BUT everyone knows teachers are the best at taking someone else's ideas and making them work in their own classroom. However, I am not going to steal someone else's fabulous ideas without giving them credit--the first foldable's contents came courtesy of some Pinterest searching which led me to The Savvy School Counselor.  She wrote this post about test taking tips for new test takers but I think it's totally acceptable to review these tips with "experienced" test takers. I chose the parts I liked and added in the RELAX acronym (thank you, Pinterest) to make this useful little thing: 

So Monday we made the generic test-taking strategies and then Tuesday we made a foldable with strategies specifically for Reading. I found this little gem FOR FREE on TpT. Even though it says its for the Common Core, it totally fits our TEKS. 

We used this little tool to anticipate what kind of questions might be on a few practice passages we read and that's what we'll be doing this week too. I'm not really into test prep but sometimes, you gotta do what ya gotta do. :) Let me know what kind of test taking strategies you teach your little darlings--in Texas if our students don't pass, they have to test another round in May so I (hopefully won't but might) be looking for more tips for some of my kids. 

Have a great week! 

Caitlin

Five for Friday {Linky} Spring Break Edition

I haven't posted in a while because the week before Spring Break was chaotic and then Spring Break was here! These last 2 weeks have FLOWN by. Here's a super brief summary 5forFriday style of what I've been up to..

Our last week before Spring Break was only 4 days, thanks to a "snow" day. Then we had Open House on Thursday night and my grade level planning day on Friday. The week blew past with several things not getting accomplished on my to-do list. It was kind of a bummer. I had every intention of doing some reader's theaters to let my kids analyze drama before the break (something that would keep them AND ME entertained!) but being out of the classroom for 2 days didn't allow for that. Hopefully we will find time in the coming weeks but we have officially hit the home stretch before our state testing (only 2 more weeks) and it's time to put the pedal to the metal. [In TX, 5th graders have to pass to go to the next grade level so it's a ton of pressure for the kids and teachers but I am trying to stay positive! We haven't done much "test prep"..as in a benchmark and that's it...because I wanted to make sure I taught the content as in depth as possible.] Anyway, that brings me to #2

I decided when we get back to school Monday, I'm going to teach some "test taking strategies". I looked all over Pinterest and TpT for a collection of strategies I liked and I compiled them to make this foldable. 

I used pieces of this pin from the Savvy School Counselor and the RELAX acronym I found here. I plan to go over general strategies on Monday and then on Tuesday, my kids are going to make an accordion foldable using tips found in this awesome download I got for free from TPT. Then we will spend the rest of the week in stations called "Put It Into Practice" for fiction, nonfiction and poetry texts. If it goes well I'll give more details later :)

One of the things I started within the last 2 weeks was a book study lead by one of the coordinators in our district. We are reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. It's very interesting so far. My principal is actually going to have our entire faculty read it over the summer. The basic premise [so far] is that people have to choose their mindset. A fixed mindset is when you believe you have reached your "peak"...whatever ability you have (intellectual, creative, athletic, etc.) can't be improved...a sort of "it is what it is" take on life. But a growth mindset is when you believe your basic qualities can be cultivated through effort. If we teach our students that their is purpose to their failures, that it's totally okay (and even) encouraged to not experience success immediately, then they learn to always seek more. We need our kids to know that their intelligence and abilities don't ever "max out" and we as teachers need to show them the "goodness in failure" (to take a line from my friend, Demesha). Anyway, it's worth a read!  

I love, I mean LOVE, jewelry. Specifically Stella & Dot jewelry. I got this package in the mail and it made my whole week before Spring Break happier. 

We made the drive to Cincinnati...all 16 hours of it. Jackson was over it on the way after we hit Tennessee which was only 7 hours in...yay. Then when we arrived, we grabbed dinner and went to my sister-in-law's house, where my hubs and I promptly BOTH became super ill. As in stomach viruses and food poisoning. Mine was over in 24 hours and my poor hubs endured almost 48 hours before we took him to the doctor and got some medicine. I am so thankful that my in-laws took care of Jackson while we were down for the count. Then, (praise the Lord!) Jackson was AWESOME on the way home. He didn't cry until the last 30 minutes but I can handle that! All in all, not the best trip to Ohio we've ever had BUT J got to meet his great-Gram and I think everyone else was spared our near brush with death virus.

So, there you have it...a super brief summary of the last 2 weeks. I hoping for a more restful rest of my Spring Break because, thanks to all the ridiculous snow days, there are no more little breaks until Memorial Day. (uh, what?!) Happy Friday!

-Caitlin

The Countdown is On

So I'm not one who usually does countdowns. I mean, maybe sometimes but I don't live my school days from holiday to holiday or anything like that. But yesterday, when talking with one of my teammates about my plan in Reading for "the two weeks before Spring Break" and the "two weeks after Spring Break" I realized that..uh, I only have one more week of instruction before Spring Break and only 2 after until the dreaded and highly anticipated STAAR test. (WHAT?!?!) 

I think I dread the STAAR test because it seems like so much rides on the students' scores. I totally understand the need for some sort of assessment to make sure that students are on grade level and that they are ready for the next grade level, but I feel like the people who write the tests in Texas are paid extra to make them super confusing for kids. Anyway, that being said...it's 17 instructional days until my kids have to show what they know. Pray for them. Pray for me. Pray that these next few days are purposeful and as stress-less as possible! 


My goal is to try and blog more frequently but with the chaos of testing season, it is what it is! :) 

Reading Review Folders--best thing EVER

So last year, our Academic Specialist showed me a folder that was used in a college course over curriculum. The moment I saw it, I had visions of colorful paper, fonts, graphics and (oh, yea) reading content coming together in one beautiful reading review folder. The only sad thing, I made the folder at the beginning of April and in 4th grade, we take our state assessments at the end of April...so the folder didn't really have time to serve it's full purpose. Lesson learned. This year, after we finished teaching all of our TEKS (the standards in TX), I pulled out the ole Reading Review folder, revamped it for 5th grade and we were ready to go! The folder has sections that cover (almost) everything our students need to know for poetry and fiction and (most) of our nonfiction TEKS. During any kind of independent practice, I let my kids use their folders as a reference tool. My hope is that some of these little things will stick with them for good. 

This is the front of the folder. (I just used a file folder and folded it so that both sides opened. The front focuses on poetry, sensory details and figurative language. The simile/metaphor and analyzing poetry portion were on my kids' folders when I taught 4th grade but I added the other stuff for my 5th grade darlings. 

The Back

The back of the folder is kind of "unorganized" in that it has random topics (Context Clues, Analogies and Types of Conflict) but these things needed a home and this was the best fit. The types of conflict opens to explain the 4 types (character v. character, character v. nature, character v. society, character v. self)

Inside the folder is mostly information for fiction texts but I also included a little booklet I got off of TpT about text structures. You can find it here if you want to purchase it yourself :)

More of the inside :) 

 So I hope to get all of this stuff up on my TpT account (when I actually set that up...). It's totally useful and my kids use their folders all the time to refresh their memories about elements of fiction we've already studied. Tell me what you think!