We are an Success for All school. There are certainly some great things about the program, but at this time of year, myself and the kids are starting to get a bit frustrated with the same thing every day. On Wednesday, all of my fourth graders were at Jamestown and this meant that the best plan for SFA would be to do an alternative project with my fifth graders!
Since we are reading a Wrinkle in Time right now, we are creating our own planet and then writing about it. Figuring out how to show the reader our planet in our writing instead of telling about it is certainly going to be exciting! I can't wait to see how they turn out! Here is some of our planning:
Students have to answer a bunch of questions about their planet and then have a few other things to do to complete their projects. I think the writing is really going to push them. If you want to check out the project, head on over to the TPT store and see my Wrinkle in Time Planet Creation Project!
It has really been a LONG week of SOL testing. So far this week I have tested third, fifth, and sixth grade math. Being a specialist at this time of the year is hard! I miss seeing my math kids! :( Although we can't read during testing, we can read after! During the past two days week I have managed to read two great ones!
Today's book of choice was Wonder by R.J. Palacio
What a read! I couldn't put it down and was crying at my desk. Our county uses this as one of the fifth grade reading titles and I see why! We don't use the reading curriculum since we are an SFA school but I will definitely be assigning this as reading with my students next year. It teaches you so much!
Yesterday's choice was Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.
This was another excellent book! A colleague had a class set in her classroom that she had never read. Our library just got it in and I couldn't put it down! What an excellent book. I read for four hours last night and stayed up way later than I should have because I had to see what Isabel's fate was. I highly recommend it and I will be getting the second book in the series, Forge from my library this weekend, AMAZING!
I am also proud of myself for getting so much done this week! At the beginning of the year I made SOL checklists to help me make sure that I covered everything with my kids. I teach 4th and 6th grade math at the same time and sometimes needing an at a glance way to make sure I was getting everything done. I wanted to go ahead and make this for the other subjects as well, but this year got away from me. I finally motivated myself this week and realized that one of my buyers on TPT is one of my sorority sisters from Radford, what a small world!
Finally, I am so very excited for this weekend! I get to enjoy some relaxation but also will be going to my Little's Bridal Shower on Sunday. I am so excited to see her and give her a gift that I believe will be quite entertaining. More about that next week!
Now it's time for me to get back to that relaxing thing. Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
Happy teaching y'all!
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ReplyDeleteChains is such a great book! I've got a class set! My students really got into it and I love how it ties in with the Revolutionary War social studies standards. Once we were done reading the novel, many of my kids bought the next book Forge (I plan on reading it this summer).
ReplyDeleteChelsea
Fifth Grade Wit and
Whimsy
Boo that you can't read during testing! I'm working through The Book Thief and just getting to the good part! Fortunately we only have 2 days of testing this week and next week (or at least I do), so I can get some work done in my room! When did you graduate from Radford?
ReplyDeleteDon't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late
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Hi! I just found your blog and was super excited to read another Virginia teacher's adventures! I teach fourth grade and you teach fifth so I'm sure there's a lot we can share!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a super small world because I actually know your little, Katie! We were friends in high school :) How crazy is that?! I was like.. wait a minute, I know that face!
-Caitlyn
Fourth Grade Lemonade
Do you use a lot of technology in your classes? Well, I have been reading your blog for a while and I haven’t noticed anything like that. Nevertheless, what is your attitude to this factor of teaching? I mean, we should incorporate some it for sure, but not too much. Students have to also rely on their own knowledge. How can they when they will always be turning to this British essay writing service online, right?! In any cases, your classes are very interesting all the time.
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