Happy Easter!

   Spring break has finally arrived!  I have been counting down for this for so long and knowing I get to sleep in tomorrow is super exciting.  However, the start to my Spring break hasn't been all that perfect.  I have had a cold for the past couple of weeks and this weekend a lot of my family got the stomach bug which didn't make for the best Easter holiday.  We did have a wonderful church service this morning though with a beautiful orchestra. I always enjoy seeing our church packed and everyone singing together in a joyous spirit.
   My plans for Spring break are to relax, spend time with my amazing boyfriend, catch up on some reading and possibly get ahead on some school work.  School is really the last thing I want to think about during the break but I know that if I do get some work done then it will make going back to work much easier.
   I haven't had time to post in a while but a lot has been happening at school and in my life.  My students were pretty crazy the last couple of weeks before Spring break.  We finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows and started the ancient America's unit in social studies. So far my students are enjoying learning about America and I know they will become even more interested when we start the middle ages soon. I'm not sure where I will go with language arts after the break.  The fourth quarter is all about poetry and reviewing for the EOG.  I think I will do one more novel and then go into a poetry unit.  I really want to spend time planning out poetry well so that my students see it as fun and not something that is hard to understand or extremely boring.  
    Cheerleading tryout season is also in progress.  I had a parent meeting last week to explain the tryout process.  I'm still having parent emails or calls almost everyday with some kind of question pertaining to cheerleading. I'm looking forward to tryouts themselves but I am not looking forward to having to cut so many girls.  I do not like to be a heart breaker.
   As for my personal life, I'm now dating a wonderful guy, Buddy.  It is amazing to me how just when I think being with him can't get any better, it does.  He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he listens to me after a long day at work, he is a gentleman, he is a strong Christian and he is all I could have ever wanted & more.  I have a lot to be thankful for this Easter.

God bless!

Five for Friday....late

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     This week was full of ups and downs in my classroom.  There were times when I almost wanted to give up trying to get my students to learn anything and times when I was rejoicing because they wanted to keep reading!  Here are my five random things from this week.

1) I FINALLY started to teach pronouns this week.  We had been reviewing parts of speech up until now and I'm happy to say we are finally learning the sixth grade language component.  This week we focused on subject and object pronouns.   We made an anchor chart that they are responsible for memorizing and understanding. I'm really excited about starting pronouns, but the look on my students faces about making this chart was as if I was speaking another language.

2)  After reading some very interesting parts in Where the Red Fern Grows I had my students do discussion posters.  I put them into groups of four and taped a page of the story to it that they had to respond to.  They also could respond back to their peers which made for some really interesting discussions.

3)  I have started to utilize I Can Statements more in my room.  I bought some already made I can Statements from TeachersPayTeachers.  I laminated them and posted them in my room.  I draw a random student to read the I Can Statements for the day/week and then have another student explain how we learned that statement at the end of the day/week.  It was great to hear my students actually saying how they learned what I wanted them to learn.  I will be doing this as a closure any day that I have a minute or two of extra time.

4)  Pencils, Pencils!  I have tried almost everything I can think of to get my standard group to keep up with pencils.  I've tried buckets on their desk with pencil sharpeners which somehow always seem to get gone.  I even try to check them at the end of the class period and students can't find them anywhere!  Even when students have a pencil they always are having to have it sharpened.  The sharpener on their desk doesn't work somehow so they just have to get up and use one or else they won't have a pencil.  It has become ridiculous so I went out and bought a bunch of mechanical pencils.  If they need one they have to write their name on the board, erase it and give it back before they can leave class.  I'm hoping this will work because pencils are just taking up too much class time.

5)  One of the rules for object pronouns is that it is used after a preposition.  Of course this meant that my students needed to be able to recognize prepositions, so we broke out in song in order to remember them better.  For anyone who wants their students to learn prepositions try The Preposition Song by The Bazillions.  My students loved it so much they were telling me they posted it on Facebook! Have a listen, it's quite catchy.  By the end of the week my students could all name the most common prepositions.

I'm so thankful that it is the weekend. I finished my lesson plans yesterday for next week so I'm going to try to think about school as little as possible.  My weekend has already been off to a great start with a date to a trampoline park yesterday.  After attempting to do flips on a trampoline and still being scared, I gained much more respect for my cheerleaders who are able to tumble on the gym floor.  Only three weeks until try outs for next year get started...but why am I thinking about that?

Currently March

Since March is starting on a weekend I have time to do Farley's currently early this month.  I can't believe it is already March though.  Now if only Spring could hurry along as well.

I'm currently listening to my Spotify Playlist which includes some songs that I have fell in love with.  If you have never heard Paul McDonald & Nikki Reed then you should really listen to some their songs. I'll put one of my favorites at the end of this post.

I'm loving Test Prep Fridays because of how much I have seen them help my students.  Not only is it helping them become better test takers but it's also aiding their comprehension skills.

March Madness starts in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to think of ways I can incorporate this in my class.  I talk sports with my kids as much as I can and they love it, so I know they would love creating a bracket in class. Not sure how this would tie in to Language Arts though.

I'm desperately wanting some watermelon flavored frozen yogurt.  The last time I had some was last year at Freshberries in Raleigh.  They only have the watermelon flavor at certain times and the last time I visited Raleigh they didn't have it.  I guess I need to start trying frozen yogurt places around here.

I am needing warm weather so badly.  My students are getting restless and they need to be able to run outside and get rid of some of that energy. I am also ready to break out my Spring wardrobe.  Sweaters and long sleeves are getting old.

The last part of the currently had to be three words using the first letter in your name.  I said I like jackets, only because without them I would freeze in my classroom.  I love joyrides and taking daytrips.  I don't really hate jellyfish, but it was the worst J I could think of. I'm sure I would probably say I hate them if one were to ever sting me.