It's CRCT time!

This week has been state testing in my school.  Tomorrow is the last day and I might be super excited about that.  :]  Anyways, I figured I'd share this little gem with ya'll.  My roommate and I made this while we were student teaching.  What better way to get the kiddos pumped up about the CRCT than to rap about it?  Don't worry, I'm not gonna quit my day job.  ;]

Happy testing!

P.S.- A friend of mine from another school wrote the rap...we just added a little bit to make it work for our kids.  I am totally not talented enough to write stuff like that.

Hallelujah!

Testing is over!!!

Hallelujah!

That song was most definitely playing through my head this afternoon.  I am so ready to see my kiddos tomorrow.  These have been a loooong three weeks.


Until next year--see ya, testing!

See, I told you I was excited.  :]



Actually...I'll be doing more testing when the CRCT rolls around in April.  At least that's only five half-days.  Whew.

A Day in My Shoes

So I am very late to this linky party, but it's still open so I am going to jump right in!  I'm writing about a typical school day for "A Day in My Shoes" hosted over at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher.

6:00AM- Alarm goes off.  I hit snooze an embarrassing number of times before I finally get up and shuffle around getting ready.  I shower at night because I am so not a morning person--if I waited to shower in the morning I would probably never be clean.  Disgusting, right?  So that's why I shower at night.

7:10AM- Rush to my car with my purse, school bag, lunch bag, and morning drink (OJ, coffee, Slim Fast, or a diet soda).  Pray that there isn't a lot of traffic.

7:15AM-7:50AM- Sit in rush hour Atlanta traffic and eat my breakfast...always a delicious Luna bar!

7:55AM- Roll into school right on time and head to my trailer.  Check my e-mail, finish breakfast, get stuff ready for the day.

8:30AM- Head to the cafeteria for morning duty.  Kids come with their class's breakfast order and I hand them the number of juices they need.

9:00AM- Pick up my testing materials, check my mailbox, and head back to my trailer.

9:15AM- Pick up a student for testing.  I'll test individuals til about 12:00.

12:00PM- Take about an hour for lunch and planning.  I head to the staff lunchroom to make my oatmeal, which I then take back to my trailer to enjoy.  It's very quiet and peaceful.  :]

1:00PM-3:00PM- Continue doing individual testing until the end of the day.

3:00PM-3:50PM-  I don't have afternoon duty, so I spend the last 50 minutes of the day getting stuff ready for the next day and checking my testing materials back in.  I normally don't stay too late, so at 3:50ish I'm right out the door!  If I stay past 4:30 I hit major afternoon rush hour.  Living and driving around Atlanta is a beast (but I love living and working here). 

Unfortunately, my current day-to-day isn't very interesting because of the testing.  My hope is to finish testing this week so I can start up with my students again next Monday.  They keep seeing me in the halls and asking, "Ms. S!  When are you going to get us for ESOL again?"  I miss those little kiddos.  :[  I'm definitely ready for us to get into a routine. 

Speaking of routine, next time I'm going to share how we start class every day.  We sing a super cute song that is geared towards ELL's (English Language Learners), but I can see it being used in K, 1, and Special Education classes.  Tune in later this week to see it!  :]

Have a wonderful Sabbath, and don't forget to go check out the linky party over at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher. 

My Very Important "Organization Spot"

One good thing about this testing is that it has given me plenty of time to work on my classroom.  As a new teacher, my decorations, etc., are pretty sparse.  I see all of these classrooms (at school and on blogs) that look AMAZING with all of the decorations, books, games, and so on, and then I wonder why my room doesn’t look like that.  Which has led to me spending tons of time trying to make my room look cuter.  With all of that said, I’m not too worried about the issue of not having enough stuff, simply because I know that having too much stuff will someday be my problem.  It seems that after a certain number of years, all teachers complain that they are drowning in resources.  One day that will be me, but not today!

Long story short, I am learning to be resourceful.  I’m taking what I have and using it to its’ full potential.  Today I want to show you one little area of my whiteboard.

I’ve been thinking about what to call this area…maybe just my “Organization Spot” for all of the little info tidbits I need.  I got the border secondhand from another teacher and it already had magnets on the back…perfect for my board!  Somehow I ended up using only red and blue in this area…totally not planned, but I love it!

Here are some different aspects of my Organization Spot:

Vocabulary for the week (or day).  I already have these on pieces of tape, so after we’re done with those words I can stick them straight to our word wall in the back of the room.

Essential Questions.  Do you use these at your school?  I put them on our intro activity on the computer, but I think it’s good to have them visible all the time.  Obviously there aren’t any questions up right now because we’re not having class!  Although, I guess I could write “How can I cope with testing?”  Seems like a good question!  :]

 

Love bots.  Valentine’s Day is in a couple weeks, and I just couldn’t resist these little love bots in the Target dollar section.  So cute!  And I love how the glare makes the boy bot look like he has angry eyebrows.  He has some angry love.

Schedule stuff.  I have my daily schedule, the specials schedule for a group that I take to specials, and the day of the specials rotation.  I could never keep track of where I was supposed to be if I didn’t have these up there.  I also have my name in this area because I know the kids can’t remember my name.  Maybe seeing it written will help (maybe).  :]

So there you have it—my Organization Spot!  How do you stay organized and on schedule?

Testing, Testing

So, I’ve been doing this job for three weeks, and right now we’re in the second week of testing.  Which means that I’ve seen my students a total of three whole times.  Goodness!  I am so ready for this testing to be over so that I can start really digging into our material.  Of course, the testing is very important, but I won’t be sad when it’s over.  :]

Here are some things I’ve been thinking about this week.  When testing is over, I am going to spend three days doing a review of two major topics: map skills and curiosity (in science).  I’m still thinking about how to do the map skills days, but I have curiosity down.  And I’d like to share with you.  :]

Back in college we did a project where everyone created a short science experiment that had an unexpected outcome.  We had a blast coming together as a class and checking out the really awesome experiments that everyone had found.  My friend Michaela did one called Dancing Raisins, and to this day it is one of my favorites.  Kids absolutely love it. 

To do this experiment, you need ginger ale (or another clear-ish soda), raisins, and a tall clear container.  Pour the ginger ale into the container and ask the kids for their hypothesis.  Do they think the raisins will sink or float?  When you drop the raisins in, they will sink at first, but then the bubbles will attach to the wrinkles, which makes them float back up to the top.  Once they reach the top, the bubbles burst, and the cycle happens all over again.  It will keep going for quite a while—for as long as the drink is still slightly fizzy. 

With my kiddos we are going to focus on one big word: hypothesis.  We will define it and talk about what it means.  Then after the experiment, they will complete this worksheet at their seats.  The statements are cloze statements.  I will provide a word bank on the board.  I have uploaded the worksheet I am using for you guys to “borrow.”  Let me know if you do this experiment!  I’m sure your kiddos would love it, too!