Nov. 23-My son just got engaged this week so we will be having a wedding on June 21st. They want to have it on the beach and just the family there. And fortunately for me she is a teacher too.
Dec. 31-My hard drive crashed and I lost a lot of my work. That'll teach me to save my work more often. Fortunately I have a genius son who is very computer savy and somehow made a mirror image of things on my crashed iMac hard drive and saved a lot for me. Martin, THANK YOU! So take a lesson from me....save your work in more than one place!! Of course, with all bad things, some good came of it...I got a new 24 in. iMac and I love it! But I am having trouble figuring out all the differences in the 2003 and 2008 Microsoft Office. And of course, there was the problem of explaining to my husband why it was vital that I spend all that extra money right at Christmas time for a new iMac. But we made it through the year! So here's hoping you and your family have a prosperous and fantastic new year! And keep trying new things with your students...we'll get those math and reading scores up!!!!!
Jan. 17-We celebrated our 40th anniversary! We invited a bunch of friends to eat steak with us at the Salt Grass. My kids decorated it in red roses and surprised us. It was beautiful! We all enjoyed steak and shrimp. My present to my husband was a limo to take us to and from the steak house. We really enjoyed that! It was a great anniversary!!!!
June 21-The wedding was fantastic! I now have a wonderful daughter-in-law. After the wedding we went to Galveston to have a meal. We finally got home last night at 11:30. We were covered in sand, but it was a wonderful experience and my son was so happy!!
August 28-Whooeee! The first week of school has finally passed! I got a great group of kids but they sure like to talk! Do you suppose their parents never let them talk at home? LOL! I've been working all week on their talking in the classroom, the hallways, and the cafeteria...They were really excited today as no one got in trouble for loud talking in the cafeteria! So we're making progress! I apologize for not putting things on during the summer. I had some health issues and spent my summer going doctor-ing! But things are looking up & I have one final visit in November. By the way, we had "Pillow Friday" today...the kids got to bring pillows to sit on. They really enjoyed that! At least no one whoped anyone else...see, we're making progress! LOL! Next week is going to be "Ball Friday" and they can bring different kinds of balls to play with at recess. I'm not sure what the following Friday will be, but I'm sure to think of something! Later!
September 14-I had an email from Liz Tilles who is with a group of a dozen math teachers who have put a website online. It costs to join, but you may want to check it out. It's for K-12 and has over 12,000 worksheets...some are free.
http://mathworksheetsworld.com/ September 17-I've had several emails from teachers who were having problems with some of my pages. I've contacted the staff about this and when they tried it of course it worked. So if you can't get into some of my pages...shut it off and try again. I'm not sure what the problem is, but let me know if it continues!
I'm getting emails from so many teachers who are using my ideas. Doesn't it feel good to try something new and succeeding at it? There are so many things I've wanted to try and worried about the time, noise, etc. But I finally figured out that the things I really want to do I will do! So go for it!!!! Try something new. (Make sure you make some notes for next year...what worked and what didn't with your class.) Try out fresh new ideas you hear or read about. That is what is so great about being a teacher! Your imagination is your best teaching tool!
September 19-Our Apple Friday turned out great! The kids brought apples, etc. and I bought a few things...so we extended it to include Monday as we had so much food left over. We used the apple chips to make a graph to show our favorites (golden delicious, cinnamon, sour, or caramel). We had fried apple pies with whipped cream and of course several different kinds of apples. We got about half of our Johnny Appleseed booklet completed. We're reading the stories they wrote on Monday. What a wonderful way to celebrate fall and Johnny's birthday and also to get some tall tales in my lessons. And to top it off, they started making lists of other foods we could do during the school year to go with holidays and themes. Higher level thinking skills!!! YA!
p.s. Have you been on Facebook? I love their games, but you can find me there trying to beat my assistant principal's FARKLE score! LOL!
October 26-We're still doing Friday things...this Friday we are going to do "Show & Tell & Write". They will bring something from home & share it with the other students. Then they have to write how they got it. Have you noticed how students want to do Show & Tell like in kindergarten? I kept thinking how I could use that enthusiasm for creative writing & I came up with the Show & Tell & Write. I'll let you know how it works! Or maybe bombs!!! LOL!
You may have noticed that I'm not really good at the Blogging! I decided I'd rather just write a short paragraph so everyone can read it. Is anyone else having problems with talkers this year? Mine want to talk all the time. The teacher down the hall has a really needy class, but mine are talkers! I am trying to keep my patience, but sometimes I want to just leave the room...do you think that would work??? I know what you are thinking...they'll just get louder! And you are right...of course, I've tried it...didn't work. I've been trying boys against girls...who ever has the most good behavior points get 10 minutes extra recess...that works to a certain degree. So I've decided to go back to an old faithful...on Friday I choose four good behavior students. They write a note to a friend in another class inviting them over for popcorn. I pop some popcorn and let them share it while the other students work. I've had good luck with that in other years. If you have any ideas, please, I'd love to hear them. I think I've already tried everything I've done during other years.
Today I gave them all neck chains. They got to pick out their initials (beads) to put on the chain. For each 10 points in AR they get to put on another bead. Some of them already have four beads. I hope that encourages the rest.
Today we finished our pumpkin decorating for the cafeteria. We turned the little pumpkin sideways, drew a face on it, added glasses & then added a bunch of brown curly pipe cleaners for hair...I stuck three pencils in it & put it in a water bottle with sand in it. Then I took material and made a dress & sleeves. One of my students made a book to hold in it's hands which another student drew for me. It was so cute...the kids said it really looked like me...so I made a name tag & put on it. It may not win first prize, but the kids had a ball making it!
For Halloween look on my list for Jar Writing. After the students draw & color their monsters, tear off Siran Wrap and have them tape it over the jar...looks great! And don't forget to make them write how they caught the monster. Then when they are finished...let them share their hunting monsters. Then hang them out in the hall...they look great!
Have a great Fall Season!! Joanne
Nov. 11-I saw some success today with all my talkers...I've been having them hold up their thumb signifying "I'm done!" instead of shouting out. Today for the first time, everyone used the thumb...it was great! Then I hold up my thumb meaning, "That's great I am so glad you are finished!" You will notice it was a small victory! LOL! In one more week we will have finished the second six weeks. I'm usually a lot further along with behavior, etc. by now...this group is making me very frustrated. I think this happens a lot when you have a low class. But they are reading and taking tests like mad on the computer to gain those beads. I've got sports beads for 50 points and already have two students with them. Now I need to find something else for 100. Anyway, wanted to share my little bit of success with you. Enjoy your students because next year they will belong to another teacher. Joanne
Nov. 20-
This is my classroom. We are doing math using the clicker system.
I'm sorry the picture isn't bigger, but I've tried and tried to put some pictures on here. You'll notice I put the cleaner side of my room for you to see. The other side is a mess...Our math person, came & took pictures of all the math going on in the building and this is one of her pictures.
Have a great Thanksgiving!!! Joanne
Dec. 9-
This year I decided to have the students write to Santa's elves instead of Santa Claus. The letters turned out great...who knew my kids had so many questions about elves, where they lived, and where they worked. I decided to do this because for years one of my best friends has taught 5th or 6th grade at another school, and I send her my letters and her students write my students back...but they always wrote as Santa's elves. So I thought we'd just write to them. I can't wait to get the letters from the 5th graders. Years ago our high school English teacher had her students write our students. But she retired and I guess no one has asked for Santa letters since then. Anyway, I thought you might like the idea and could figure out how to do something similar. It's worth the time and effort! Joanne
