Next Year, I'm Definitely Going To...

Hello everyone! I'm back in action here. :) It's been just a tad bit cuh-RAZY at work, as you all well know. We aren't out until June 20, but with testing, assembly prep (my students are singing "Surfin' USA" and are cute as all get out, although I don't think I ever want to hear that song again after Wednesday afternoon), end of year filing, etc... It's all kinds of crazy.

But I was blog hoppin' a bit and found this great linky from Finding JOY in 6th Grade...

 

I just had to partake. :)

At the beginning of every quarter, I swear up and down that I'm not going to fall behind with grades, that I'm going to enter them in our electronic gradebook the day I give an assignment... Then life happens, and I have a pile of papers roughly the size of a phone book to grade! That's my life this week, anyways. I really MUST make sure I set aside time to grade each day... And I think part of that will mean spreading out the days I give assessments. Does anyone else give a million on Fridays? Anyways, something that I have found helpful when it comes to report card time is keeping track of the end-of-quarter grades so I can see at a glance how kids are doing from quarter to quarter. I know, there's probably some way to easily see that electronically, but I like to have a paper version in my gradebook that I can use to check very quickly. I made the form below (click it to download FREE) to help me track those end of term grades:

I find the process of forming guided reading and even writing groups to be a pretty easy thing, but for math, that's a whole new thing. We're moving away from Everyday Math next year and making teacher-written units, so perhaps it will be easier to group kids based on a particular skill. I need to make sure we have more of a mini-lesson/guided practice/independent practice and conferring set-up... and more math games, too.

Our school district is becoming pretty big on UBD, but I'm definitely guilty of not having a unit entirely finished before I start teaching it! My goal is to get it together and have those units totally done before I start teaching them... Printables, rubrics, and all.

Well, I'm off to grade and laminate some more before bed... Have a great week! :)

Teaching Blog Round Up!

Just a quick check in here... I had a PD for my school's area today, and it drained me even more than 29 six and seven year olds in the last month of school do!

Anyways, I just wanted to let you all know of a great collaborative blog that I'm so excited to be participating in...

There's tons of great ideas, freebies, and more. Check it out by clicking on the button above!

Happy Tuesday!

TpT is throwing a big Teacher Appreciation Sale!

Stop by and get 28% off my store, today and tomorrow only!

(Click the cute image from Graphics from the Pond below!)

Five For Friday... On a Saturday, and May Currently!

So, I've been meaning to link up for Five for Friday for for.ev.er! But of course, time seems to slip away, and on Friday nights, after getting the kids to bed, this happens:

I know I can't be the only one this happens to. Right? RIGHT???

So, I'm a day late, but here goes!

1. We have FINALLY started getting some warm weather! First it was cold, then rainy, and finally this week, we hit the 70s!

We enjoyed a little time at the park. They both look so big in this picture!

2. We finished up our plant unit this week. This is the awesome work of one of my kiddos. (Check out that handwriting!)

If you're interested in this craftivity and the other experiments, reading responses, and other goodies from my unit, check it out by clicking below:

3. This week marked the beginning of our end of year testing. What?! We go until June 20 (gulp!) but we started testing our kids with BAS already.

Which, of course, necessitates lots and lots of this:

(Iced, french vanilla, cream and sugar... Yum...) 

And maybe this is a weird thing to notice, but on the cups in the ads, there's always like the flavor above the "coffee" (like where "iced" is on this cup), but that's never what it has at the store... Hmm...

4. I posted my Friday Folder comment sheets a few days ago, and came back to tell you a little more about them. First of all, a sweet reader notified me of a typo on the Spanish version, so I fixed it up and it's available to redownload on TpT.

 (Click the image above to download for FREE)

I was asked about how I used this form, so hopefully I can give a couple helpful hints!

For several years, I've used the communication folders from Nicky's Folders. They are awesome... I've used the same ones for about the past three years and I'll definitely be able to use them again next year. (Plus they're only about $1 a piece... Totally worth it.) They have a view pocket on the front, like a lot of binders do, and I slip the sheet inside. I print them on cardstock - it's easier to slide in and out that way.

I fill out the date, behavior and work habit codes, and make notes on them about any tests, things to work on at home, etc. Then, I fill the inside, which comes with printed labels on each pocket:

Any work that needs signed goes on the left, and other work to keep at home goes on the right.

My students bring the folders home on Fridays and back on Mondays, and it works like a charm!

5. Finally, I gotta brag on my own kiddos a bit... Check out my daughter's drawing (she'll be 3 in August):

(That's a face with hair, eyes, a circle nose, a smile - which is hard to see - and the straight line up is a tongue! Plus an A in the corner for Avery.)

And as an added bonus, in being even later than usual even for me, here's my May Currently!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!