See You Later Classroom

What does your classroom look like at the end of the year? Here’s mine as of our last day:

Desks stacked

Chairs stacked

Bookshelves covered 

Everything off the ground - all my plastic drawers with STEM materials get a lift onto my desk

Technology covered 

Walls... well I don’t do much with the walls... If they get dusty over the summer, then I'll just deal with it in August.  

Yeah, the office always has a checklist of stuff to do to check out, but this is just for me before I get locked out for the summer.

Things I always do:

One last look in all the cupboards to get it organized for next year. I have fun tossing the stuff I haven’t touched in a year. This year I tossed all my carpet squares. I haven't used them since 4th grade, 4 years ago... I also tossed all those old magazines and old workbooks, it freed up so much space behind my white board.  

I went through the furniture that I'd brought to class, and decided that I didn't need an extra storage rack anymore.  This year proved how little I really need and how floor space is necessary to space the desks.  It's now at home in my kid's closet.  

I went through my front teaching cart (a plastic 3 drawer under the projector table) and tossed almost all the stuff in the drawers.  Sometimes it's just easier to start from scratch again.  It felt really great.

Then I take pictures so I remember where things are. The pictures will remind me that I put (blank) behind the left cupboard behind the (blank). My son had prepped materials for next year's class - the folders and filled pencil pouches.  Those are tucked behind the board, ready to go.  I just keep them on my camera roll for the summer.  When I start stressing about something not being done, I can pull up the pictures and remember how much really is ready.

I make a list of things I need to pick up for summer. There's just some things that are cheaper in the back to school specials instead of ordering from the warehouse. For next year I still need to get some markers when they are cheap. 

I bring home any thing I might possibly need this summer. This year I really only brought home my planner and my pacing guide binder. I need a break. It’s been 4 weeks and I haven’t looked at it at all… 

Hope you have a great day!

Teach Me Something Project - Countdown to Summer

In our countdown to the end of school, I have the kids complete a teach me something project.  It's a way for them to share their passions and talents with each other... kind of like our own wacky talent show.  

First up, I give them this paper with directions:

Directions:

-Figure out what you want to teach us - it has to be school appropriate. 

-Figure out how you want to teach us - and I gave some options for video, project board, powerpoint, pictures, or doing it live.

-Prepare for your lesson and practice 

-Be Ready to Volunteer

Then in a normal year they have to turn in their visual the Friday before the last 2 weeks of school, so I know they are ready to go.  If possible the presentations are interactive and hands on.  Kids bring supplies for their classmates to create as well.  For every one we do questions and compliments afterward.

Over the years I have had a chance to witness some pretty cool things.  Kids really are talented.  

I've watched gymnastic routines - kids bring in their tumbling mats.

I've made a lot of slime using different recipes.

Kids have taught us different languages and cool facts over things that they are interested in.  

I've listened to musical instruments and kids singing.

I've been able to participate in step by step drawing lessons and making origami.

I've tried to learn some of those Tic Tok dances.

I know they are probably laughing (inside) at my lack of talent.  

Sometimes it's not possible for them to do their activity at school - like riding horses or baking a cake... so they submit videos of themselves, we watch, and they still answer questions from the audience and gather compliments.  

It's a chance to have them shine.  

This year, we still did it, but it was a little different with a hybrid classroom.  More kids did the recording option or made powerpoints with pictures of themselves.  It helped fill our last days of school.

Hope this helps,  

Our Class Musical

One of the highlights of every spring is our class Musical from Bad Wolf Press. 

Check out their products! (not an ad, just want to share what my team does)

This year I still wanted to do it, even though it couldn't be in the normal acting, songs, costumes, props kind of way... so we did it on our distance learning day as a Readers Theatre.  

In a normal year, starting in March, I start playing the songs during our independent work time.  Then eventually we choose parts, kids start working with their scene teams on lines and songs, and we practice the songs full class. After spring break we always kick it into high gear with staging and props. Then at the end of the year, parents are invited to 3 performances where they watch their kiddos shine.

Each class in my grade level has a different musical they are working on, so during those 3 performances, each class is able to take a time to come and watch their grade level classmates.  It's really a highlight of the year.  

The plays we normally do:

Mrs. P - 13 Colonies

Miss P - American Revolution

me - US Presidents: Washington to Lincoln

Miss H - Incredible Westward Movement

Last year the world shut down before we could even start the songs.  I'm kind of glad that we hadn't started yet.  That would have hurt even more.  

This year, I chose a Wednesday in our end of year countdown - our DL day - and we picked parts. Everyone had something. I shared my desktop screen with the script so the kids could all see, and had the file folder of songs open so they could hear.  They read their lines with emotion. They didn't sing, like they normally would, but they were still able to hear the lyrics.  It was good and it did my heart good.  

When it was all done, they turned their cameras on and they took a bow.  I'm really glad I was still able to give them this experience, even in distance learning mode.  I'm also looking forward to being able to get back to normal next year.  :)  

Hope this helps,

End of Year Countdown - Shout Out

Summer started a week ago and I'm now starting to feel like a human again.  :)  Today I wanted to share what helped me fill the last 2 weeks of school - you know, when life was crazy.  

The Core Coaches has this incredible resource that I've used the last couple of years.  

10 Days until Summer

When I picked this up a few years ago, I was more thinking for easy sub plans or random theme days for Fridays to spice things up a bit.  This year it was completely used for the end of school.  I wasn't able to do all of them, but we did tackle a lot of the theme days.  Each day comes with a math review and ELA activities, and then some STEM, research, art, fun stuff, etc as well.  

To make this work with my hybrid classroom, I printed off the papers I needed and added them into file folders, then wrote the "to do" list on the outside so I could keep my plan in order, as I was adding in other links and activities as well.  During the actual lessons I took a quick picture to add to our TEAM conversation, and then put the paper under my document camera for my in class kids.  TEAMS was acting glitchy, so I was trying not to screen share for a long time. 

For the most part I did use it as is - highly recommend the articles and activities.  It's a complete unit. There are digital links as well, and those helped to find links for online read alouds, etc.  The kids just used copy paper to work on the activities, we did them whole class.  It kept them engaged over the last weeks of school. 

The days we did tackle: 

Aeronautics Day - tied in perfectly with our Science Design Parachute Challenge. We also made reflection 3D Hot Air Balloons about our dreams for the future, and had a Paper Airplane challenge.

National Parks Day - the kids loved to research. I added in a virtual field trip to Yellowstone, and I did take the kids outside to do the Mentos and Diet Coke. I had joined our class TEAM conversation on my phone so kids at home could participate, and my colleague dealt with my phone when I was dealing with the soda and candy. 

Weather Day - I added in some youtube links with Natural Disasters and the reminders how we can help others that have experienced them.

Summer Safety Day - Oh, the kids were also so good at brainstorming "rules" for their younger siblings of things to remember and why... The articles included were awesome. 

Summer Holidays - This was a fun one. I added in an Art Hub for Kids drawing. We used youtube links for each of the holidays as well.  

Reflection Day - This I used over a span of 2 days as I added in our ABC's of 5th grade, our Class Memory Jar, and Yearbook.  

Like I said, I highly recommend this.  Even if you don't know when you will use it - it really is a complete day worth of material, and you don't have to print tons of papers if you do things full class. To prep for each day, I simply got the specific file folder with hard copies and had added the links to my email drafts so it was an easy access. 

Hope this helps,

Super Hero Ninja Grader

It’s been over a week since I last checked in with you. I’m still over here in the piles of paperwork. If I had a super power I’d like to either have super speed or being a ninja, tackling all this grading. 

We finished state testing. We have 2.5 weeks until summer. 13 school days until the bell rings for blessed vacation. But yet, there is so much to do.  

This Friday is the cut off for grading. The report card portal opens tomorrow to start filling it in. I went lite with homework this week. We are taking tests (math and reading) during class, and the final projects for social studies and science are done in class too. Presentations, group things, etc. At least the stuff that is being graded. Really the kids are just needing to upload after class. They need a break, and a chance to catch up. I’m really tired of nagging. 

There have been a lot of missing assignments these last few weeks with state testing. We were still moving forward and having homework during asynchronous time. Some kids “seemed” to completely forget their responsibilities. I had recorded mini lessons to walk the kids through the material that they had to do independently. But even with daily and weekly reminders some still didn’t turn it in.

So my nagging moved next level with the weekly countdown of reminders to parents about due dates and cut offs. The reminder that I want to give credit and kids can redo assignments. That I care about their kid. That I know their kid can do better. 

Then I have been sticking the grades front and center in the kid’s private channels. Some don’t have their own access to view grades without their parents’ help. The reminder to the kids about GPAs and the award criteria. They want awards, which means they have the earn them. Finish strong...

Since we are standards based, we allow kids to redo assignments as they feel more confident to bump up their scores. It gives them motivation to succeed. Motivation to grow. Motivation to not give up, because grades aren’t set in stone until the cut off dates. 

I feel like I’m knee deep in strategy sessions with the kids. 

“Did you get a 3 last time? Well check the rubric one more time. Did you forget to do one part to extend your answer? Can you aim for a 4?”

“Did you get a 2 last time? You were so close to achieving proficiency. We’ve been reviewing that, want to try again?”

“Did you get a 1 last time? What have you been doing to learn that material better? Did you do all the parts of the question? Let’s reread the directions together.”

“I’d focus on your reading/math/writing scores... I know you know that now... Check the rubrics one more time, is there anything else you can add or change?” It makes my day when kids are popping onto our afternoon question sessions to want to improve. Maybe they will remember that motivation next year. 

But Friday is coming. And the moments of grading are almost complete, and I can celebrate them on the report cards. Then we can have some fun to wrap up the year.  Finish strong.

Hope you have a great day!

Deep Down Dog Tired

This time of year is not for the weak of heart. I’m exhausted, and just need to talk to people who totally get it. 

State testing vibes...

I know we are in the final stretch of this absolutely crazy year. I could barely drag myself out the door to school yesterday. I am just so done. 

I’m tired of pulling teeth. I’m tired of the apathy. I'm tired of having to be positive all the time. I’m tired with being on duty 24-7. I’m tired with all the paperwork. I’m tired of state testing. I’m tired of nagging. I’m tired of the Swiss cheese looking gradebook- full of holes.

It has never been this hard before.

It’s hard enough in a normal year to get kids to understand the importance of doing their best effort. Right now, virtually and with hybrid, it feels impossible.  I’ve gone from most turning in their work on time to now half my class. What changed? Spring break... they came back just done.

They are tired. Families are tired. I think everyone is over it.

We are 2/3 through state testing.

But we aren’t done yet. 20 more school days. 10 more days of grades then time to fill in the report cards. 5 more days until textbook check in starts. 4 more days of math state testing, then 4 days of Fast bridge testing. Then finally the last 2 weeks when we can have a little fun to wrap up the year.  

I ask them to finish strong. I put their grades in their private channels and remind them of their missing work. I hold afternoon question sessions to help with intervention, and no one shows up. I give opportunities to retake past district tests to show mastery. I email and Class Dojo. I don’t know if anyone reads what I write anymore. I’m so tired. 

20 more days. 20 more days to make a difference and shine a light with this group. To hold these kids accountable. Then they are in middle school. 

Every Thursday is Thankful Thursday. Every Thursday so many kids tell me that they are thankful for me. That makes me feel good. I’m thankful for them too. But I’m just so done. 

How can I finish strong?

I write that and verses pop in my head, things that I’ve read and memorized. I need to rest. I need to close the laptop and recharge. The Lord gives strength. 

Isaiah 40: 29-31 "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 41:10b "I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Where does my joy come from? It comes from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth. Automatic response, but am I really living like it? Or am I trying to do every thing on my own strength? 

Thanks for letting me just talk and for being real.  I needed that today.  I'll get back to sharing the positives next time. There are positives right now too. Even when all hard things seem to be overwhelming.  

How are you doing?

I hope you have the most restful weekend.  

 

I Survived

I did survive the End of School 2016.  It was one of the most exhausting ends of school since 2015.  Ha ha!  LOL!  

Seriously though, I've been decompressing for the past week, and I have to say that my eye has stopped twitching, my stress related headaches have gone away, and I'm starting to get more than 6 hours of sleep per night.  In the past week I've read 4 books, gone to the movies twice (Angry Birds with my boys, and Me Before You with my sis & mom), celebrated 2 family birthdays, and my house is back to being clean (at least for the moment - I do have 3 sons).  Every school year I try to find that mythical thing called BALANCE, and every May I realize that I don't know what that word really means.  

But it's now June. 

This year I only brought home 2 file boxes worth of stuff from my classroom.  That's it.  Everything else is prepped and waiting for me when I head back in August.  Out of those 2 boxes - one is paperwork, the other is filled with markers, highlighters, and glue sticks that I don't want to dry out over the summer.  That other box is stuff that my boys don't need anymore and I'll be bringing it to school... I'm terrified that I've forgotten something in the classroom, but honestly I can't think of what I need now.  I just finished my 16th year of teaching, and this has never happened before.  I don't know how in the world it happened that I have an entire summer to relax but my friend & teammate said it's because we started earlier this time around.

  

For that I want to thank our testing coordinator for scheduling our CCSS test the last week of February.  After testing was complete (the first week of March), my brain automatically started thinking of prepping for next year, even though it was 2 months earlier than normal.  

Here's what helped me:

I made lists.  Lots and lots of lists.  

I started early, even if that meant hiding finished projects under tables.

I took pictures of what I'd completed and of my prepped copies.

I tried to plan mostly independent and engaging activities for the last 2 weeks of school.  Two top winners were our Candy Science Experiment Day, and the week we used the Hot Wheels Speedometry kit for our lessons.  Both of these turned out to be free activities - The Hot Wheels kit came from their website, where it's free for 4th grade teachers and I asked my classroom families to help by donating the needed candy.  By only having to supervise students, I was able to wrap up a lot of random tasks during the school day.  As students finished activities, they also became my helpers (which they begged to do) and helped to tackle some jobs that they were capable of completing.  

Are you out of school yet?  Did you survive?  Are you still decompressing?  

It'll take some time to feel human once again.  Have a great night!  

The Best Part of My Year {Did you grab THIS freebie?}

Here's another project that my students completed last week.  We spent time writing down our favorite units of the year and creating an ice cream sundae to stick it all together.  I wanted to have these sundaes up to show parents for Open House, there's something special about all their favorite memories in one place.

 

These 6 scoops of ice cream became our favorites of Writing, Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science, and an Art Project.  The kids first wrote, then colored their sundaes, then cut it out before gluing onto their favorite color of construction paper.  I love how they personalized their ice cream - they really are their favorites.  :)

Head over to TPT to download it.  It's the same thing from last year, just sharing again in case you didn't know me back then.  :)  Hope this helps someone!  

Reflective Science Project

I love having my kids think about everything we've learned this year.  For Social Studies that means we create our California Pillows and write everything we've learned on them.  For Math, we tackle a clock and use the hour and minute hands to show our favorites, for Reading we make the kites... I've never created an art project for Science though.  

Please still be my friend with that confession.

I don't know why, but it didn't happen in past years.  This year I gave them a piece of blue construction paper, paper plate, and a sharpie and told them to get to work...

They traced the paper plate onto the blue paper to form a circle.  They took green and white paint to create Earth from a space view. We used Qtips to paint with since I still don't have a sink in the portable and tempera with paint brushes just makes a gigantic mess  we only had 2 colors..  No cutting was allowed though until after it dried.  Then on the paper plate we divided it into 3 sections for the 3 areas of science we have learned this year.  The kids brainstormed what we have learned (and I wrote it on the board).  They came up with more stuff after I snapped a picture... but that covered the basics.

Once their paint was dry, they cut out the circles, and we stapled them on top of the paper plates to hide their writing.  Super easy but I love the impact that it has brought into our classroom.  There's something special about reflecting on what we learned this year.  Another project done for Open House!

Hope this helps someone!

Hello Summer

Today was the last day of school.  The day that I had to say goodbye to another great group of kids.  What a year it has been.  They were so sweet!  Here was the last view of my room today.  I'm officially locked out of it until August.  

As always, I take a bunch of pictures before I head out for summer - I want to remember what I've already prepped, and where I put things.  Going to be honest and show you some of my cupboards (I forgot to take my 4th one, but it's too late now.)

We get an extra rolling cart for summer storage, it helps to have a place to hold the textbooks and all the odds and ends.  This picture will help remind me that my pencil boxes are partly filled for next year, that my Whole Class Writing Journals (top left) are already glued, that I have my classroom folders and homework folders ready to go.  It also reminds me that I need to reprint some of the Partner Plays (from Deb Hanson) that I store in that blue box on the second bottom shelf.  

This is my cart that during the school year keeps all my Teachers Editions.  This summer though it also has all my teacher stuff from my technology cart and whiteboard.  Those crates on the bottom remind me that I have to order more free EII units this summer, and that I need to make some signs for my read aloud crates (second from bottom shelf).  

This cupboard holds all my materials for each subject in each of those tubs.  The ones on top hold my paper products (napkins, plastic spoons, paper plates, bowls, etc).  Then I have a tub for each Reading (Stories Visuals), Science, SS, Art projects, Index Cards, and movies (separated out by ones that we watch for curriculum vs. the rainy day recess options).  The crates on the bottom are paper needs - folders, etc.  I have all my desk stuff tucked in the random openings as well since everything is cleaned off for summer.  This reminds me that I need to restock my index cards this summer, and that I already have a tons of binder paper, copy paper, and kleenex to start the year.

Now I also took pictures of a few of my file cabinet drawers.  Most of my copies for next year are already prepped.  This top picture reminds me that I have my ELA assessment copies all ready to go, and that I have already prepped the assessments for my read alouds.  

I also have my weekly comprehension stories ready to go.

This final one reminds me that my Math Quick Checks are all printed off.  

Do you take pictures in your room before you leave for summer?  It is so handy!  

Hope you had a great day!

Candy Awards for Staff

I wanted to do a shout out about the FREE Candy Awards that Reagan Tunstall has shared over on TPT.  Awesome stuff!  I didn't print these out for kids though, they will have another gift, these are for my teacher buddies at school.  Who exactly?  The secretaries, custodians, admin, teammates, librarian, ELD teacher, etc... and for my boys' teachers and paras as well.

This time of year I have a very limited color ink situation going on... so I saved ink by printing 6 per page.  I filled them out, laminated them, hole punched, and then used ribbon to attach to the candy.  The ones I used for teachers were Snickers, Skittles, Bubble Gum, and Crunch.  

It's the thought that counts!

3 1/2 Days Left

The past couple of weeks have flown by.  My school life and home life have meshed, and it's been absolutely nuts (love it, but still nuts).  My "baby" just graduated PreK, my oldest was presenting his class play, and my in laws were visiting to celebrate my middle's upcoming bday - all last Friday.  3 1/2 days this week until summer.

Every year I do a send off to 5th grade - the Final Four Days in Fourth Grade. It's a big deal for myself and for the kids.  I make it all fun, and I switch up what we do.  Here's the plan for the rest of this week.

Tuesday:  Art Day!

The basic premise is to use all the different mediums possible.  We will be painting with Jello in the morning, creating Father's Day cards using Oil Pastels, melting crayons with hair dryers to make some crayon art, and making collages with our extra scrap paper.  In between the big activities we will also be finishing up our State Symbol booklets with guided draws.  I LOVE Art Day!

Wednesday: Science Experiment Day

Science Experiment Day involves a bunch of candy.  Yep, CANDY!  It's a kid's dream day.  

I picked up this freebie from Stay and Play last year, and it worked perfectly.  Most involved just water and basic materials.  They were simple enough that I had the confidence to tackle these in groups, pairs, and whole class.  We complete a simple Scientific Method as we go through these together.

Skittles - Color Separation

Pixie Sticks or Sour Candy - Acid Test

M&M's - Floating Candy Name

Lifesavers - Candy Sparks

Starbursts - Candy Clay

Candy Bars - Sink/Float

Pop Rocks - Exploding Candy

I also complete this Mad Scientist Craftivity and the grand finale is Mentos and Diet Coke.  My dear wonderful husband comes and is the official Mentos dropper as the kids & I stand far away.  :)  Good times!

Thursday: Game Day

By Thursday I absolutely have to finish packing up the classroom and completing my check out sheet, so it's a lot of multi-tasking on my part.  The kids are invited to bring in board games from home, and between giving time to work in groups to play them, we also play some of our favorite class games (Silent Ball, 4 Corners, Heads Up 7 Up, Around the World, etc).

Friday: Movie Morning

The last day of school goes by so quickly with it being a minimum day.  I let the kids bring in G rated movies from home, and then as a class we vote on what to watch.  

How do you celebrate the end of school?  Please share!

Math Board Games

The last 3 weeks of school are always hard since we are done with our math curriculum.  I mean, we have to have covered almost everything by testing.  In our old math book, we had unit tests that we used to review - but this time around we don't have the option.

Every year my class has the discussion of different games - Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Connect 4, etc... From there they get into groups and design a board game that can work with many different cards and situations. 

After they designed the boards, the kids created specific questions on 20 index cards for the review of the day.  One day was all about Place Value and Rounding, another was on MultiDigit Multiplication, one on Long Division, and another on Fractions.  Next week we still have more review with measurement, line plots, etc..

The kids get so excited to use their board games every day.  They have full rein of using the colored counters for keeping track of their spaces.  I also let them decide if they wanted to use money, dice, or spinners in their games.  They are being responsible with keeping everything organized.     

Do you have your kids create board games?  I highly recommend it!