December 2014

Party Animals

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Hey everyone!

We partied it up in my class on the 19th and I just had to share how much fun I had with my first official Christmas party (err...winter party) with my kids!

We are obsessed with writing by the fireplace. So calm and cozy!

We got a new class pet, Spot. He's big, but I don't have to feed or clean up after him!

We had a pajama day. Note, this is at the end of the day. I am POOPED!

Our one of 2 junk food parties for the year. We're a healthy school and they did not skimp on this opportunity! That was not my plate, but one of my kids!

Pajama day in the morning, before all the craziness. So cute and calm.

I gave them a cocoa bar and they loved it! That hot water thing is the best ever! I've used it for boiling water for science (the crystals) and now for hot cocoa. The parents thought it was genius!

I'm glad I have 2 weeks to recover from this crazy day!

Hey everyone!

I honestly don't know how full time teachers create, blog, teach, and take care of their families all at the same time! I'm struggling with just my cat and myself hahaha! I'm hoping that with my break, I'll be able to create products (or finish some) and do a few blog posts.

Our social studies unit right now is world cultures and traditions and my kids are eating it up! I had to set the mood right from the start. All my kids made passports and suitcases and got boarding passes. I played a video of a take off from in an airplane (many of mine haven't flown before) and we were off! Our first stop was India. We read a book about India one day, watched a video about two families in India, made a box and T-chart to compare and contrast the US and India, and wrapped up our stay with Henna art.

Each kid got a stamp to put on their suitcase.

We celebrated by creating Henna (Mehndi) art.

I was amazed that my boys were so into it too!

And their suitcases? Manila envelopes with brown construction paper handles and green construction paper straps on front! Easy and cute!

We then got our passports stamped on departure (I have a book stamper) and we traveled to Brazil next. I only nabbed one picture since it was the day before our crazy, wild, assembly/pajama/party day.

We made mask for Carnival and I played music while we shook our groove things. I love his mask!

We are headed to Russia next, then Australia, and ending in Kenya, with perhaps a trip to Germany in between there. I also start the week with music playing from the country, for my students to guess. It sets the mood and gets them hooked! Safe travels!

Array City

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Hey everyone!

I know I've said something on my IG account that I use Engage NY now for math, but I didn't know if I said it here. My school decided that Investigations doesn't fulfill our needs to meet CCSS. Engage NY fits it much better and my third grade team was onboard to use it. This unit we are doing now is our first full Engage NY unit. Module. Whatever lol. They have their modules in a different order than what the third grade team teaches math currently, but that's ok. We re-arranged and I think we're good and on goal.

So currently we are doing multiplication and division. My kiddos were both excited and anxious. The way Engage NY has it set up for multiplication is easy to teach and they were getting it! Now between meetings, professional development, and all that fabulous stuff, my lessons were getting shuffled around. The kids had many pre and post tests the week before for reading and math, so I thought we'd have a fun math day. Plus we had an assembly that cut into our math time. Hence, array city math/art time!