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

Join the Linky Party!

     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.

Grammar, Grammar, Grammar!

     I have belabored parts of speech since the beginning of the year but my students STILL don't understand the basics.  I've spent days of each part of speech and provided plenty of examples. We watched all the Schoolhouse Rock videos and did activities with each. I guess grammar is like multiplication facts, they just need to study more. Sixth grade grammar is mainly all about pronouns which I have only barely touched on.  I'm debating on continuing with the basics or just moving on to what they have to know for this year.   I think I'm going to try at least a few more things before moving on.
    One idea I had was to let students print the lyrics to their favorite song and have them color code the parts of speech.  Another thought I had was to have students make a chart on construction paper of the different parts of speech and then glue words from newspapers to go under each.
    I'm really hoping that next year my students will have a little more of an understanding of the basics.  It's been hard this year because it will be the first time students are actually tested on grammar.  I don't know that some of my students were ever even taught parts of speech before at all.  I have a lot of work to do with them, but luckily this is one of my favorite things to teach!
    What has worked for you when teaching grammar?

Test Prep Fridays

      It may seem to be early to start preparing students for their End of Grade tests but I'm already starting to teach test prep skills.  I noticed my students really struggle with reading for a large about of time and then really trying to answer questions.  My goal for Test Prep Fridays is to help build endurance for reading long passages that usually aren't too interesting.
     Each week I usually am working on one or two specific standards that I then assess on Fridays.  For example, the past two weeks we have been working on standard R.L.1 which relates to showing textual evidence and making inferences.  I try to pull Social Studies passages that relate to what we have been studying and include several questions that really make my kids think.
     I made an anchor chart in my room that reminds them of strategies to use when taking a test.  We talk about things like reading the questions first, rephrasing the question into our own words and underlining important words.   To start the lesson we go over the anchor chart and I model a passage with them.  Next, they are on their own to use the strategy and show what they know.  We grade their answers in class and they keep a chart of how they are progressing each week.
    Although this may not be the most fun activity, it seems to be really helping my students be able to read for a longer amount of time.  The rest of the week we are reading engaging novels that most of the class enjoys.  To make these test style passages more exciting, I have my students pretend we are detectives and search for "clues" for the correct answers.  We get out colored pens to write on the tests with and sometimes use dry erase boards to write down our thinking about the test questions.  Everyone loves to write with something other than a pencil so if this helps my students stay more involved in my lessons then I'm all for it.

How do you prepare your students for EOG's?  What are some strategies you use to help your students be able to read for a longer period of time?

Five for Friday Linky Party

   I just saw a new linky party called Five for Friday that I thought I'd join in on.

 My class has been very busy this week.  We began reading "Where the Red Fern Grows,"  started studying Ancient Rome and are trying to finish up the parts of speech.

   1.   I taped baskets that I got from dollar tree to the wall so that my students could play "grammar ball."  This is where I called a student up and gave them a word.  They had to decide if the word was an adjective or adverb and throw the ball in the correct basket.  My students are always asking to play now!

2. One of my students made this diorama of Ancient Greece for extra credit.    We will all miss studying Greece.  It has been a class favorite so far.

3. Yes, that is a snake around my neck.  We had "snake man" come this week to teach us all about snakes.  He helped students learn which snakes are venomous.  The students absolutely loved this and I had a great time myself.

4. This is a picture of the notes my students took on the first chapter of "Where the Red Fern Grows." Instead of buying a pre-made unit I decided to just review concepts that go along with each chapter.    Each chapter I give notes on a big idea and then have the students look for something while they are reading.  It has been working great and my students love reading this novel so far.

5.    It seems like all the sixth graders at our school have been pretty rambunctious lately and seem to be caring less and less about their grades.  Next week my teammate and I are breaking out the rules again and starting stricter consequences.  I'm hoping that something will change because I'm tired of repeating

  How are things going with your class this time of year?

February Currently....

It is now the month of love and also time for another currently from Farley.  

I am listening to Ben Rector who is one of my favorite artists right now.  One of my favorite songs by him is "The Beat."

I am loving that both groups of my students have finished their literature circle novels.  I read "Because of Winn Dixie" with my standard group and "Stepping on the Cracks" with my advanced group.  This was the first time we completed a full novel in literature circles so it is a great feeling seeing them read all the way to the end.

Now I have to think about what novel to start next.  "Where the Red Fern" grows is a possibility, as is "On my Honor."  I'd love to hear what novel studies others have enjoyed reading with their sixth graders.

I'm really ready for this cold weather to go away.  We haven't had a very harsh Winter but I still am ready for the days of short sleeves and capris. The worst weather we had so far was on one of our teacher workdays which is really sad because I needed that day!  Our next teacher workday isn't till the end of this month and it will be filled with meetings.

My current pet peeve at school is students not turning in homework.  I rarely give homework that I don't give time in class to finish.  It amazes me that students STILL don't have it done.  I am going to have to come up with some sort of system for students who continue not to turn it in on time.  I had been doing silent/working lunch but that doesn't seem to phase them.

While is it the month of love, I thought I would also list 5 more things I am loving.
1)  Being single.  In the past I kept thinking that I had to have someone in order to be happy. Right now I am so content with myself that it is nice not having someone.
2)  Chocolate Chip Kettlecorn.  Yes, I LOVE it.  It is by Popcorn Indiana and it tastes wonderful.  I highly recommend it.
3) That I got my passport this week!  I will be going on a mission trip to Belize this Summer and I absolutely can't wait.
4) Teacher friends.  I am so thankful for all my teacher friends.  I have so many at work and some that I still stay in touch with from college. Love you girls!
5) Youversion.  Youversion is an awesome app on my iPhone I use that has daily bible reading plans.  It even gives me reminders to read it everyday.