A change of location

Hello everyone!

It's been many moons since I wrote on this blog. I've found that with teaching full time, working on my master's degree, and trying to live the life of a twenty something single girl, it's difficult to maintain two blogs.

So, here's the deal. If you want to hear about life in third grade, head on over to my other blog:

Maggie's Sunshine and Silver Linings. I also post other random thoughts there, but I promise to talk about teaching too - since it's such a huge part of my life.

Thanks for reading! See you here.

I'm going baaaaack!

Back to school, that is.

After weighing many different options (and costs), I've decided to return to my alma mater to begin working on my masters' degree. School starts in August, and I'm totally stoked. I'll be studying in the Instructional Design and Educational Technology program while also working on my eMINTS certification. I will be one busy girl, but that's how I like it. The anticipation of it all is so exciting. I love the feeling that I'm learning and improving and going somewhere with my life.

So, for the second time in my life....

A UTAH MAN AM I! GO UTES!

Mother's Day

This is my favorite art project for Mother's Day. It comes from the Mailbox magazine, and my students love writing all the ways they love their mom on each of the petals.

P.S. The cups are filled with rice that I dyed green. It looks kind of like grass, and it helps anchor the cup so the flowers don't tip over.

Third graders are really cool

This cheer has been going through my head through both weeks of end of year, high stakes testing.

Special thanks to my third grade team partner who wrote the words to this song. It totally gets me pumped up for my kids to ace the test, and I think it helps them feel more confident too.

It goes like this:


Third graders are really cool, our test scores will top the school
We'll take our time and do our best, because we want to pass this test
Guessing is not the thing to do. Using test tips will help us through.
We'll use our brains and we'll recall all we've learned since way last fall.
Third graders are really cool. Our test scores will TOP.... THE... SCHOOOOOOL! YEAH!


Nothing like a little cheer to get you revved up. :)

Yes we can!

CRTs have started. I have told my students multiple times that it's an exciting time of year when they get to show the world what they've learned in third grade. I say this with an ear to ear grin and pump my fist in the air to tell them, "You can do this! This test will be a piece of cake for you!"

However...

Inside I feel butterflies doing somersaults through rings of fire. I put on a great show, but testing season always makes me nervous. I am being evaluated just as much as the students are. Did I teach what was required? Did my kids understand? It all comes down to THE TEST. I think that's a little strange, but that's a different can of tuna.

Anyway, I've been looking at this picture on my fridge and saying positive things to myself so I can make it successfully through another CRT run. And hopefully this year will turn out as well as last.

Wish me luck!

Pandas!

A recent trip to the San Diego Zoo reminded me just how great pandas are. They might just be my favorite animals. Actually I think they tie with dolphins.

Anyway, I found these two great books at the zoo. I have a collection of children's books from my travels, and these two were perfect additions. In true teacher fashion, I was sure to choose both a nonfiction and fiction picture book.

Working together and working alone

First of all, let me say I'm sorry I've neglected this blog for a while. I'm back. And this time I'm staying.

I love when I get to read my students' writing. It's guaranteed entertainment.

After reading a book together about working alone and as a team, this boy wrote, "It is better to work together when I make a cake. And when I make a book." The next box says, "It is better to work together when I make a flag. And make a big, big cake."

Check out that four tiered cake. I sense a future baker in our midst.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This cute boy wants to be an "army soldier."

Oh, and if he had one wish... he would wish for a "costume soldier."

What do snowmen do at night?

Snowmen at Night is a delightful story by Caralyn and Mark Buehner about snowmen that come to life at night and have all sorts of adventures. I read the book to my students, and asked them to look closely at the illustrations, because in a picture book, the illustrations tell part of the story, too.

In partners, the students created their own illustrations for the book. Some of the students even chose to include elements from the illustrations they'd seen in the book. They used chalk on black paper to create their art, and I was so impressed by the results.

I loved the "Snowman Crossing" sign in this one. And check out the perspective with the road.

The snowman wearing the sombrero in this one makes me smile.


Check out the background in this one. And look at that sky!

Try this in your own classroom. It's such a fun winter project! You could even have the pairs of kids write a sentence or story to go along with their picture.

Silly Bands!

Silly bands are so cool! At least, that's the common consensus of my third graders. I've warned them that if I see them playing with their bands, I'll take them away. I told them, "I'm starting a little collection." Some of my students took that seriously and started giving me bands to collect. This is the collection I've gathered. Pretty impressive, huh?

How I spent my Christmas break...

Okay, I didn't spend all of my break at my desk, but there was a significant portion of vacation time spent grading, grading, grading.

Lesson learned: Don't get behind. But if you do get behind, Hulu and LOST will be there to see you through.

And - I can proudly say I am now totally and completely up to date.

P.S. Did you notice what the box in the left corner of my desk says? There was never a truer word spoken.

The Very Best Part of Christmastime

A Gingerbread Glyph - One of our Christmas math projects

I'm back! And I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas moments as a teacher.

* Some very generous people in the community donated enough Christmas goodies to fill a backpack for each of the students at my school. It was so much fun watching my class open their backpacks and find loads of gifts and treats inside.

* I also gave each of my students a little gift, wrapped and tied with ribbon. They all opened their gifts at the same time and began to squeal and pump their air with their fists. You would have thought they'd won the lottery, but it was just a box of colored pencils. I passed the desk of one of the girls in my class and noticed that she hadn't opened her present yet. I thought she wanted to take it home to put it under the Christmas tree.

"Are you waiting until Christmas to open your gift?" I asked.

She looked at me for a minute and then said, "It won't open."

Then I realized that she hadn't opened her gift yet because she didn't know how. She had never unwrapped a package in her life. I showed her how to turn the present over, slide her finger under the tape, and pull the wrapping paper apart. When she could see the colored pencils peeking out from the paper, she looked at me with a giant smile on her face. "Cool!" she said.

* Santa Claus came to visit every class in the school about a week before Christmas. He caught us while we were practicing for the Christmas sing-a-round. He reminded the students to be good, told them that all the teachers had his email address, and even let one of the third graders pull his beard! It was 100% real. My favorite part was his District ID tag - it read 'Santa Claus.'

*My students loved working with the sound of Christmas music in the background. It kept them focused and quiet, except for when they decided to sing along. Every time they'd spontaneously break out with Frosty the Snowman or Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I had to chuckle.

*To celebrate the holiday, the entire school gathered in the gym and each grade took turns singing two Christmas songs for the rest of the student body. This is a yearly tradition, and such a fun way to celebrate as a school. I played the piano for the third graders, and when I did, one of my students sat next to me on the piano bench. He asked if he could play with me, and I made a deal with him that he could play the last note of each of the two songs we were singing. At the end of each song, I pointed to the note he should play, and he played it with gusto.

* One of my students paid a dollar in the office to buy me a chocolate almond candy bar. He even wrapped it in Christmas paper and placed it under our classroom Christmas tree. When I opened it, I said, "Chocolate almond? That's my favorite!" He sheepishly smiled, and said, "I know."

* I read a picture book of The Twelve Days of Christmas to my class. One of my students pointed out that "it's a song, too, you know," and requested that I sing the book instead of read it. I did, and some of the students joined in. One student in the front row, who is usually rambunctious, sang every single word of the song with me at the top of his lungs.