Friday Favorites

I am excited to participate for the first time in Friday Favorites! I am going to do this teacher style...just because!!

ONE

My students freaked out when I came in and my nails matched my data binder. I have a data binder that I keep everything in...it goes with me to meetings, parent conferences, PLC's, home...just everywhere.  I didn't plan to match my data binder but that fact that my kids know that it matches CRACKS ME UP!!!!!!

TWO

These pants from the loft are my new favs for the end of the year.

They are perfect length for sandals or wedges. They are light and comfy.  You need these for the last days of school!!!!

THREE

My team is another favorite this week!! My goodness we are the best. One of us is leaving. She got her dream job as a GT teacher in the same district, which are are so excited for her, but it's gonna stink with out her next year!!!

FOUR

I know this has nothing to do with school but my husband posted his golf course this week and it looks amazing! 

He is a golf course superintendent and he is pretty amazing at his job. He NEVER post on FB so for him to put this up is a big deal :)

One of the things I love about him is that when someone compliments the course he always says.."I'll pass it along to my guys.." never takes credit for it. I love how he lets his guys know they are appreciated and give them the compliments. 

Being a GC superintendent wife stinks some days..but I know he is amazing at what he does and I'll support him!! 

I hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Area and Perimeter

Y'all...what is it about this topic that is so hard. My cuties always struggle with this!  I have had this as my door decor since December (thus the folds and crinkles on some of the paper)! I thought...maybe if they see this everyday it will stick...

 Well...I was wrong..like major wrong. We started this unit and I the proud, creative teacher stood at the front of my classroom and said.. "boys and girls, today we are going to learn about area and perimeter. Have you ever heard of it?' I stood back waiting for my students to say.."Yes oh teacher we see it on our door everyday"... You know what I got!? This....

So yeah...this is going to go well!!!!

Anyway I did what any good teacher would do...got on pinterest and found some hands on activities for us to do! Like this one..Perimeter and Area Art!!! After we spent the week learning formulas and how to measure,  I wrote two perimeters on the board and an area. They had to decide how to get those. It was fun to see their little minds working and light up when they found out how to create them. I love how they are all different.

We also did this activity, Create your dream house. My kids were struggling with, How do you apply this to real life so we created blue prints for our dream house!! Some of the rooms were so funny!!!! It really brought out their personality and made them think! I hope one day they will have the chance to build their dream house in real life!! 

 This kid has my heart...put in a science lab!! LOVE IT!!!!

And that small little neon yellow deal...that is our TEK for this one. I always put the TEK in the hallway so when people are walking by they know why we did that activity. Also, the kids know that the things  we do have a purpose!! 

Have a great day!!!!

Happenings!!!

This year is just ticking away....which I am not going to complain about!!!

We have been busy doing lots of fun things!!!

We had the first round of testing in March...the writing STAAR test. I am not a fan testing. I hate it. However, we have to do it.  To make it a time of "fun" cause we all know sitting around for 4 hours is so much fun for a 4th grader we do Camp Write A Lot!!! It is a BLAST!!!!!

I set up a big giant tent in my room. My whole class can fit in this thing!!! We do our activities inside the tent for the day. Practice parts of speech, how to we make good sentences, intros, closings, ideas, writing around the campfire, the whole deal! We also practice the MOST important part about writing by...MAKING S'MORES!!!!  There are so many of our students who have 1. never been camping and 2. have never made s'mores. Which, as always, blows my MIND!!!! When we do our memories of 4th grade this is always one of the top ones!!! 

This happened too.....

That is me (as Uncle Si) and my amazing team! We have an end of the 6 weeks hoopla called High Five. We give the students reading goals and if they meet this goal they get to go to the gym and give the teachers high fives! It is a GREAT motivation for our students and we kind of love dressing up! My team isn't afraid to dress up...like any chance we get we are dressing up...characters from the Alamo, Rappers, Hippies, you name it we will do it!!! 

That's about all that has been going on! Good times in 4th grade! 

Is it enough??

Dear Students,

As your teacher I am always asking myself this question...
Did I teach you enough?
Did we do enough hands on materials?
Did we practice enough?
Did I show you all the possible ways to learn this one TEK?

I want you to know that I believe the answer to this question is YES!! I did enough because YOU are enough!

You are enough every single day!!!

You come to my class and let me teach you things that your amazing little 10 year old brains can't even comprehend because we are trying to raise the rigor.

You write papers about subjects you have NO idea about because you have not had the  same experiences as other kids in Texas.

You come to school dealing with life...a life no child should have to deal with, however you still come and do your best!

At the end of the day...I know you are doing your best and I hate it with my whole heart that we have to take this test.

So please believe me when I say...I believe in you and NO MATTER how you do on that stupid test tomorrow YOU ARE ENOUGH!!!

Love always,
Your Fourth Grade Teacher

For Reals this time..

I have missed blogging.
I want to do this more often.
I know I said that last year and posted NOTHING..but for reals this time!!!!!


So...what's been going on?? I'm still in 4th. We are getting ready for that dreaded writing test in a few short weeks!

My daughter is in her first year of jr. high.
OY VEY...I really do not understand girls and drama and girls...

My little one was sent home Thursday with the flu..yes the flu. It's flipping March. When I took him in his doctor said and I quote "shit..we haven't seen this type I thought we missed it this year" GREAT!!! Congrats son on being the first to have it..NOT

I am trying this... this will be new for me. I am a junk food lover...coke drinker...fast food fanatic..so this is a huge change for me...I mean LOOK freaking spinach in this smoothie mmmkkkk I don't even eat veggies but I'm trying!!

Life...it really is short. God has just placed on my heart you have to LOVE others..just like he loves us. That is what I am trying to focus on.

Thanks for reading!! I'm going to really try to make this happen more often!

Yearly blog post

Well..here it is the yearly blog post!
I'm going to try REALLY hard this year to do more!

Last year was the hardest year for me. My mom passed away in November. We had new curriculum. I was ON EDGE and if I'm being honest I was checked out most of the year. I miss my mom more and more each day BUT I am so grateful for that season because God showed me so much grace and opened my eyes to so much! SO MUCH people!! LIVE LIVE LIVE!!! You never know when your last day will be. Tell people you love them. Be nice to others...and above all else LOVE!!!

One of the fun things with teaching is you get a do over...praise Jesus!!

This year I am in such a better place. I am happy to teach again and just happy to have a new beginning. I am excited about this year! I have my happy back!

I had a goal with this blog..to have fun and share 4th grade fun! I'm going to do this (I am repeating this in my head several times)

Thanks for reading and I hope and Pray you ROCK it this year!!!

Raw and Real

Wowza....I am so glad to be writing again and just can't believe this little blog has suffered. It's a new beginning. I am one of those crazy people and my year starts when school does. I get Jan. 1 is the new year but not in my world. :)
This post will be raw and real...so if you don't wanna read it that's fine...but you have been warned.


Last year was ROUGH!! I decided to take on a second job (what!?) and my goal was to work this job this year and open a craft store. I wonder if God was laughing at me saying oh you silly little girl...that is not why I provided you this other gig...just wait and see.
I officially took over that job in December and it had nothing to do with teaching and I love it. Now, don't get me wrong there are very stressful times...like the next couple of months but overall I love it.
School was plugging away and I was getting use to my new grade. I like how the kids are bigger and can do more things. I LOVE my team. I even survived the three test we give...then my world came crashing down. I mean CRASHING.
See, my sweet mom got news we NEVER wanted to hear. Her back was hurting her extremely bad. She had taken a fall down the church stairs in December. She never went to the dr. so we all thought it was from the fall. She went in for an MRI and they said she had a broken back. DO WHAT!? It two her two weeks to even get into a back dr. TWO WEEKS PEOPLE. Then it took another week for her to get to the results. She is the strongest person I know. I'm pretty sure if I had a broken back I would have made my husband take me to the hospital and demand a bed!!!
She started loosing her walking ability and praise God her back dr. made her come in and have another MRI. The original plan was to get her a brace (which she hates) and it should heal. This was on Monday April 28th. On Tuesday they admitted her to the hospital for back surgery and we found out the news NOBODY ever wants to hear..she had cancer. The original spot started in the lungs and was 4 inches across.  At that time we knew it was stage 4 but didn't know the severity of it. She had her back surgery and was in the hospital for 15 days. Ok some of y'all might be like..big deal...this is a lady, who in my 31 year has gone to the dr. one time! This was devastating.  You know you have so many questions going through your mind, if she would have had a check up would she be ok, or was that cough really bronchitis? Just so many what ifs....
This time was a whirlwind. The thing that killed me the most was the way she found out she had cancer. I was there with her for a LONG time and we left her room at 9:30 that night. The oncologist came in about 25 min later and told her. She was ALL ALONE. This will be a memory I will never forget..I needed to be there, I needed to cry with her, I needed to process with her, but I wasn't.
When she was strong enough we finally went and had all the scans. The technical diagnosis is Stage 4 lung cancer with matastic bone and brain cancer. Yes, it's in her bone (the reason for her broken back) and in the brain. The funny thing in the cancer world is that you don't have time to think...you don't get to sit back and feel sorry for yourself. You just don't. The day we found this out we were whisked away to radiation because the brain was now top priority.
I had to take a leave of absence...it was so so hard. My team was wonderful. My campus showered us with love. My admin at my school showed me grace. I am still blown away.
She is still fighting for her life. She had radiation for the month of June and we have started chemo. She is scheduled for a scan next week because it has been 60 days since the last scan. We are praying for results, however we are realistic that things might not be better.
Through this whole deal I have never been mad at God. I have question timing but never mad.
I know this year will be tough. I am no longer able to take her to treatments.
As I look at my new year there are things I know I need to do differently. I know I am stronger than I thought. Now I do have days where I just want to run away to Mexico and read a book on a beach, but that will never happen. I can do a great job at being a wife, mom, caretaker, and a really good 4th grade teacher.
The thing I need to do most is show love and grace. I know roll your eyes but really this is what I need to do all that time even when I don't want to.
We have been studying 1 John for the past two months. This chapter has been so good for me.
Y'all we have to love each other. We need to show kindness and grace...I thought I was ok at this until I read this book. Boy was I wrong.
I looked at this chapter last night I was reading my thoughts I had written down ...here are a few that stand out
Darkness & Light can't hang out
When you love the world you are selfish
We need to love a joyful life
People who are loved, love
We have to love others
Guard your heart

So this new school year show love and grace to all...even when you don't wanna!!!

until next time....

It's Getting Hot in Herre...

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful week!! We are having a GREAT week of learning!

This week in science we are talking about heat and how heat can change things..ohhh ahhhh so exciting! The students broke into groups and had to come up with an idea on how to melt an ice cube using things from the classroom. They had to apply heat...they did a great job. One group however..forgot to put their materials on their paper and when it was time for them to do the project..this is what they looked like! Two little boys staring into a red solo cup! I really don't know how MANY times I told them..make sure you have ALL your materials listed, please list all the things you need, hey guys don't forget to put your materials...I even told them they were SOL if they forgot..not even thinking about what the words to that mean and of course someone asked "what does that mean" My reply- sure out of luck! That was a close one!! You ever have those teaching moments and you are like crap I just said or did that! That was mine for the week! Oh well!

Here are the rest of the kiddos and their ideas. We had kids who thought paper would melt it fast. We had kids who thought putting it under the lamp would work. We had kids who thought their hands were super hot like fire and would melt it (they were weenies and could only hold it for 2 seconds). We had one group who thought water would work..they were very excited to see their idea was the fastest!!!

Back to this picture...CRACKED US ALL UP!! Poor boys..really should have listened..one boy said "man well this is gonna take for ever!! Yes Yes it is!!!

Have a great week!!

Tessa

Anybody there!?

So...we have been in school for 2 weeks now...and I can't get a blog post up to save my life!! We have been running in circles now for two weeks. AND to top it all off I got a NASTY and I mean NASTY sinus infection! I have never had one and I really don't ever want one again. 

Anyway...so this is what I have learned..fourth grade is NO joke. It's good, but the content for me is a new adventure. I can rock blends, letter sounds, and how to read. I feel like I am learning right along with the kids. I feel like somedays I have NO IDEA WHAT THE HECK I AM DOING! It's ok, next year I will look back at this a laugh!!

 

Here are some math games we have been working on to help learn our decimals

I MISS small groups. This was one of my favorite times when I taught Kinder and second, so I am trying to figure out how to fit in into our day. Last Friday we played decimal games for extra practice and the kids LOVED it! They are begging me to fit this into our daily routine..might have to take out recess again...hahaha not really.

We played a card game where the kids drew two cards and created a decimal. The first set was to the tenths place and the second set was to the hundredths place.

The next game was "Go Fish". For the kids to have a match they had to have a decimal and the word form. They loved the classic bingo..decimal style. The caller read the decimal in word form and they had to find it in digits. The last game was old fashion matching game. Like I said they loved it!!

Look at this..minds were blown this week

This was ONE of the models we used to show the value of a decimal...I have never seen it this way but it was a great tool!! Plus as I was teaching this lesson..guess who strolls in..my principal. Ok confession time...I HATE people in my classroom! It's a long story why i don't ..but I don't. And this was one of those days where it could either go good or the kids would look at me like I was a freaking alien and they have no idea what I was talking about. GREAT!! So I hear my door open and my kids look and stare at the door. My heart starts racing cause all my kids are in the room so I knew who it was...I nearly pooped my pants..and I started sweating in places I didn't know I could. She stays..comes up to me when we are done...and y'all not kidding..pats my back and says WOW! Ok I nearly pooped my pants again!! It was all good..my first time as a 4th grade teacher and it was a WOW!! 

AND GUESS WHAT ELSE... our futon came in!!!

 The kids {LOVE} it! We have time to read and sometimes we turn off the main light and flip on  all of our lamps  and they push, walk their way to it!! 90% of the time it's my boys sitting down to read!

One last thing! Our Donor's Choose Project was FULLY FUNDED!! I am beyond BLESSED for people donating to us. The kids are over the moon excited and I can't wait to have all those NEW books in our classroom. Man, just so so grateful!!

Thanks for reading and I hope I can better than once every two weeks for a post!!

Tessa

Can a girl just get a recess break!?

We went back to work on Wednesday! We still have a full week of inservice with a meet the teacher thrown in there. We work with some great people..really we do. I don't know of another district that has a breakfast for ALL employees to celebrate a new school year. Such a blessing.
Anyway...on Friday we had a 1/2 day for a work day...which turns out really to be 2 hours cause it's Friday afternoon and isn't there a rule..thou shalt not work later than three on Friday ever!!
We spent almost two hours planning our schedule which get this DOESN'T have a spot for recess....what tha what!! Yup..it's a sad day when we can't fit recess in!! I'm going back on Monday and by golly I'm shoving recess in somewhere!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend...can't wait to show meet the teacher things, first week things, and my new schedule WITH a freaking recess break!!!!

Classroom Tour

This is my home away from home. This is also my third room to completely RE-DO since I've been at my school in Texas! I am SO SO tired of remodeling my classroom!

I {love} looking at other classrooms! We are all so different and so creative and it is just cool to see.

Don't forget to click the pic below and hop over to blog hoppin' and see all of the wonderful classrooms!!

This is my classroom...oooohhhhh....ahhhhhhh!!!

Ok here is the 4-1-1 on rm 16! Before I came in it was all paneling like 70's paneling! I knew I had to paint it. I love bright colors but not bright primary colors. So I painted robin egg blue, mint, and coral. I do love it and when you walk it it's bright but calming...does that make ANY sense!?

This is my word wall area. I loved how this turned out. It makes me happy happy happy! And you know what else is exciting...you see that sad area below my word wall space...well don't worry friends cause the best chevron futon will be taking up that spot!! It should be in next week and I can not wait!!

See...it's going to be perfect..and I am gonna scotch guard the CRAP out of that thing!!

This is our cubbies and sink area. Each kid has a tub in their cubby where they will hold "stuff"...I really don't know what but I'm sure there will be lots of "stuff"!! The ABC picture is from my MIL. I love it! It's one of a kind and I just am grateful she painted it for me! 

This is our main teaching area with my smartboard. The smartboard is a great teaching tool. I just can't wait to think what the technology will be like in years to come. If you notice there is a little glow around my board. I took tulle and wrapped it around Christmas lights. We plug it in when the lights are off and it creates great ambiance..for learning!! It only took 4 episodes of Real House Wives New Jersey and 3 Pretty Little Liars to finish...no lie you will not complete in an afternoon friends!!! 

This is my desk area. For those that know me know this will be the cleanest it will look til next school year. I spend most of my time at my table for guided reading but everyone needs a cute teacher desk!!

I spend so much time here too! I {adore} guided reading time. I feel this is one of the most important times to help reading and then the rest of the kids are doing Daily 5! 

Speaking of Daily 5..this is how I am going to keep track of what the kids are doing. They will stick a popsicle stick in the pocket and I will be able to tell what the student is doing! 

This is our library area! Like I have said before we are in desperate need of books. Those bright color boxes will hold the books that we have now BUT we need MORE!! That is why I did the donors choose program and I am praying people will donate to help us out!  If you are interested please pray out about it and click here!

Well that's it! Thank for stopping by!!

Teacher Week 2013 Link up

Ok first MAJOR link up for the whole week!! Lets hope I can remember!!!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for this amazing get to know you time!! Just click on the picture below to meet so many more amazing teachers!!!

And incase you are interested this is the schedule this week!!

Ok now let's talk about me

1. I love Jesus- My mission is to serve him and better the kingdom

This verse lives in my heart  Matthew 16:24-26  I must take up my cross daily and follow him.

2.This man has my heart!!

This is my husband! This December will be 12 years. We were high school sweet hearts and were married right out of high school. I remember so many people thinking how crazy we were, or dumb, or she has to be pregnant. We LOVED each other and we knew God created us to be together. We didn't want to wait so we got married! He is the hardest working man I know. He has the biggest heart and I just love him so so much. I am so lucky to spend the rest of my life with him!!

3. I have two adorable kids!!

See I told you!! My sweet girl is 9 but looks like she should be in 8th grade. She is TALL! She can thank her daddy for that!!! She has the sweetest heart and is such an amazing girl!! The little guy is 4. He keeps his momma on her toes. He has such a loud personality. It's funny to see. 

4.I have been teaching now for 9 years. I tried the whole stay at home mom thing and it wasn't for me. It was hard!!! So I have taught 1st, kinder, second, and now i will be in 4th!! YIKES 

5. We love to move. My husband is a golf course superintendent. He has been blessed in this area. He can turn any course and make it amazing..really don't know how he does it but he does!!! We have moved A LOT!! I don't mind it. We like new surroundings, people, and challenges. We have caught a lot of flack for this. Every move my sweet husband has made has been a promotion. It was good for our family. The question I get the most...Don't you want roots...As long as I have my family we are good. We are very open with our children and they love to move as much as we do!! We are currently going on year 3 here....

6. I love to read!! Anything by Karen Kingsbury is a must read. They are awesome!! I am currently reading this book!! It is wrecking me...I need to simplify! This quote got me "As I simplify, He is enough."

7. I am a new blogger. I haven't been doing this bog for a month yet and the feedback and love I have received has blown me away! I love it!

8. I am a craft-o-holic. I love to do crafts. I host a monthly craft night at my house. It is a blast!! My dream is to open a craft store in our small town. I'm working on it but it might be a little while before it gets started!!! (and we have to still be here!!!)

9. I hate to do laundry...I'm not really sure hate is a strong enough word for this job. My poor husband is always looking for things...oh well

10. I blush all the time. You can tell when I'm mad, embarrassed, flustered, shy, or whatever. It's the one thing that always give me away!!

Well thanks for reading along..tomorrow class tour!!

Monday Made it Homework

I hate homework. I know that's a very strong word but I hate it. I understand extra practice but really!? Well anyway..I was looking on the awesome blog world and I saw stalked Ladybug's Teacher Files and how she had a spot to turn in her homework. I loved this idea BUT I couldn't find the cute folders. I thought I could use this

to create a homework spot!! This is what I did! By no means is this cute but it's a time saver!!!

Like I have said before this year I am having a number system. I created this on the bottom part of a wall that I don't need and I think it fits great!! This will be easy for me to see the number that doesn't have a paper hanging. I'm hoping this will help with grading homework. Sorry for the LAME-O homework spot sign...that will be fixed very soon!!!

Anyway..link up with Tara for Monday Made it and look at all of the other fabulous things everyone is making!!!

Monday Made It

Hi!!

Linking up with Tara for another Monday Made it!!

Go check out all the awesome ideas!!!

This year I am trying the number system. I have seen great things from many teachers so I am very excited to try this..my only concern is that we have lots of movement...our kids don't have stable homes so I'm not sure how that will work..what do y'all do!?

I wanted a check in and check out system to add to our morning routine. So I took these....

And turned it into this....

I put it on the file cabinet RIGHT next to our door when we come in. I'm will have a person who will be in charge on telling me what numbers are AT HOME..Lame!!!  

Very simple but I'm hoping very affective!!

Ok this next one I made is a freebie on my TPT page...Let me tell you the story behind why I made this.  At our school we have the BEST and I mean BEST secretary! Well...we have this stupid thing we have to do every morning called Attendance! UGH how dare they!! I am the WORST at taking attendance cause there are rules...like you can only take it between these times...and once you click it it's marked in history FOR-EV-VA...  

So my sweet Imelda is looking for me all the time..and my class is the furthest away from the office! I told her just to call my phone...but AT LEAST 3 times a week she has to come find me! AND my BFF Teacher next door has a timer! Rumor has it that we will be written up this year if we miss the dreaded time...I'm freaking the freak out so I WILL take attendance on time this year! HA HA

So that's it. Very easy and I have all of the places I could think of to clip up there. So if she kind find me ...write me up baby!!!

Hope y'all link up!!!

Donor's Choose

Hey everyone!

We have been on a little vacay....boy am I tired! It was a last decision trip (my husband's assistant quit)!! BOO which means he won't get to go anywhere for a long while!!

Anyway...I worked on getting a Donor's Choose project ready on our trip! I LOVE this program..I have used it a couple of times and they are great to work with!! SUCH A BLESSING!!!

I am in need of books for the big kids. I had some I collected over my years of teaching but they are all lower level books that will not work. I am praying we get this project filled! 

What I find amazing is that people who don't know us donate...it always blows me away! 

My kids really do need these books. Some of these kids don't touch a book ALL summer! NOT cause they don't want to read but because they don't have any books OR can't show proof of residency to get a library card OR a car to get to the stinkin' library.  

Anyway...I thought I'd try this!!

You can click the picture to go to our page!!

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for looking!!