What's Planned for Halloween?

Halloween... the day that kids look forward to all year, and the day that teachers dread?!?Just kidding.Sort of.Anyhow, here's my plan for tomorrow.  I know I shared the pins the past week at different times...so if you click the pictures they will go to when I last posted it, which will then take you to Pinterest and to TPT, etc...8:20-9:00Morning work (Daily Math), correct homework, decorate paper candy corns, and share our Spooky Stories...

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Red Ribbon Week

For Red Ribbon week, my school always has fun dress up days.  This year here is the list:Monday - PJ day - Be cozy and safe, don't use drugsTuesday - Sunglasses day - Be cool and don't use drugsWednesday - Halloween or Orange day - Say Boo to drugsThursday - Crazy Hat and Hair day - It's crazy to use drugsFriday - School Spirit colors day - Have spirit and don't use drugsWe had to create a door decoration and this year I found this on TPT.  I...

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My Halloween Treat for the Kiddos

It feels great to get something accomplished.  I found these Halloween treats over at Ladybug's Teacher Files.  Kristen had them for a free download - which I truly appreciate.  I was a little nervous about using so much color, but there are 5 per page.  Her picture is much better than mine - just saw the marker spots on my kitchen table in the background.Michael's (craft store) had packs of 15 glow bracelets for only a dollar,...

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Minimum Days Mean Rearranging The Classroom

Every year it's the same issue that I have.  I can not just leave well enough alone on minimum days.I do the same thing at my house and it drives my family crazy with the constant rearranging.Parent conferences are this week, and after spending all day on Monday in my classroom, I just wanted to change everything around - at least on the bulletin boards.So Tuesday and Wednesday I spent a good portion of my prep time standing on a chair.Here's...

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Something Good Linky

Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade is hosting a linky that is inspiring me to forget the stressfulness of work and focus on the positive.Her rules are pretty simple:  Write about something good at home and something good at school.  Something Good at Home:My 3 boys have adjusted to a new year with new expectations.  My 3rd grader has done a great job with his reading. (He is reading at a 5th grade reading level.)  He...

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My Halloween Pins

Somehow Halloween has been sneaking up on me - I don't know how it came so fast, but I'm not ready for it.  I haven't had a chance to do all the fun stuff for October yet - there have been too many must do's instead to accomplish.  So, I've been busy researching FREE things to do in the next week that combines the fun of Halloween and the needed review of being a 4th grader this time of the year.If you see something you like, just click...

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Parent Survey - Conference Time!

I'm updating this post to link it over at 3-6 Free Resources for their linky party about Parent Conferences.  Maybe it could help someone else too!Parent communication is so important.  I feel pretty confident about all the information that I send home to the parents on a weekly basis (VIP folder/behavior/reminder emails almost every day/monthly newsletter/etc), but sometimes I don't feel that I'm getting their input as much as I would...

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Native Californian File Folder Report

There is so much you can do with a file folder.  The other week my class was taking a break from Life Science and we did a week of learning about Native Californians.In our Social Studies book we have ONE lesson about Native Californians, which in my humble opinion is not enough to properly cover the information.So, what do I do?  I supplement.A couple of years ago I used the power of Google to find this free printable on...

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ID cards and AR Reading Levels

You know when you hear something that seems so simple you wish you had thought of it yourself? That happened yesterday afternoon.My teammate mentioned she writes her students ZPD levels on Avery labels and puts them on the back of their ID cards.How simple is that, and why did I never think of it? No more book marks to make. No more bookmarks for kids to lose. No more shuffling through lists of ZPD levels to find each kid as they are trying to check...

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Cereal Box Book Report

There have been many projects going on in my classroom as we ended the First Trimester.Above is one of my talented students with her Cereal Box Book Report.  When I switched to 4th grade, I spent that summer going through a ton of websites looking for "fun" activities to do to enrich the curriculum.  I ran across the idea for a Cereal Box Book Report at Mrs. Pearce's Class Website.*Updated to add that the link that I had doesn't work for...

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I've Been Boo'd!

I was Boo'd a couple of days ago by Layla over at Fancy Free in Fourth.  Layla has ALWAYS been that mentor blogger that is willing to give a shout of encouragement.  It made my horrible, no good, very bad day so much better.  Thank YOU!Of course, it's been that kind of week already and I haven't had a chance to pass on the good tidings to someone else yet...That changes tonight.There are a couple of different Boo Linky Parties going...

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What I'm Pinning

I'm addicted to Pinterest and it's not helping that October has a ton of stuff going on.Here are some highlights of what I've been pinning:(If you click the pictures it will go to the pin. If you click the topic link it should go to the board that I have it pinned on.)It's Anti-Bullying month so a bunch of read alouds and activities.We are covering food chains and webs in Science.We are on the brink of double digit multiplication in...

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