My Desk (Linky)

Tori from Tori's Teacher Tips is having a linky party all about sharing what our desks look like.  Please don't think less of me after seeing my pictures...Overview of my desk - as of 3:05pm on Friday afternoon.  It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be as it was test day. :)
Now onto the things that I use all the time:
My gigantic apple (it's a cookie jar) makes me smile.  I found it for $5 at a thrift store this past summer and I keep snacks inside for those moments that I have forgotten my lunch or am going to pass out because I'm so hungry.These homework cards aren't usually on my desk - just on Fridays since we play Homeworkopoly with them.  My push on light that I use to keep the children away when I'm working with individuals.  Since I'm usually working with one on ones during silent reading time when I have the lights off, the light is more easily to be seen.  I like that it's a visual reminder that I'm busy at the moment.  I use my pull out drawers all the time.  I like that it's all organized and has stayed this way for 5 whole months.  The baskets at the top are for library cards and encouragement cards.  Books that kids have checked out from me go in one, the books that they have returned go in the other (just to keep track of what they are borrowing), and the other one has little cards that I write notes with.  Gotta love Vistaprint!
Go link up and let me see your desk!
Have a great Saturday. :)

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Big Kid Snowmen and Snow Globes

Sometimes I really miss my primary days.  This week was a throwback to those days that I could focus on snowmen and snow globes (and have things be cute).  Our writing assignment this week was "If I lived in a snow globe..."  I told my students that they needed to imagine they were trapped in a snow globe of their choice.  It was their little world - where would they want to be?  We are working on details and are halfway through 4th grade, so I made it multi-paragraphs.  The first paragraph they needed to describe where they were, the second paragraph was why they wanted to be there.  Most kids chose Disneyland...I don't blame them - I would want to be trapped there too!So here is how I made the cute little sheet of paper from Ginger Snaps into a multi-paragraph essay.  I printed off the little half sheets but knew there was no way that 2 paragraphs should ever be able to fit on it.  That became their little cover with their name.  They had to take a piece of binder paper, fold it in half and then put it under the half sheet before they could cut out the trapezoid shape.  Some kids didn't listen and decided to write their final drafts before cutting...then they had to rewrite it yet again when it didn't fit.  Each paragraph had it's own page, the paragraphs were stapled onto the cute half sheet, then glued onto the black paper.  They then just had to cut out a circle and draw their snow globe.  This took all week to complete.     As they finished, they were able to start our art project for today.  That alone was motivation for some of them.  They traced bowls and plates for their circles, cut them out and made a typical snowman.  Then I gave them some extra task cards that I had printed off from Proteacher and we made it into an editing game.  Not all the snowmen are complete yet (since some of the Snow Globes aren't complete), but it's great review!The kiddos had to tape the card to their bottom circle so it flipped up, and they had to write the answer under the flip.  I love it when things become interactive.  :)
I'm linking up with Amanda at Teaching Maddeness' Friday Flashback!

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300+ Followers on Facebook = FLASH SALE!!!

I love having people to talk to on Facebook and I love a good deal!  

Happy Shopping tonight!  Click the link above to head to TPT :)

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Sitting on the Other Side of the Desk

In the past 13 years of teaching I have filled out numerous ADHD screening surveys.  I have SST'd students.  I have pulled students closer to the board, used play dough and velcro to help fidgeting, used privacy boards to help with distractions, used highlighters, reduced "red" colors, worked in small groups, taught after school intervention, etc...
Had many talks with parents that consisted of a conversation like this, "I'm not able to diagnose... but what I'm seeing in your child makes me believe that a visit with his/her doctor might better clarify the focus/attention issues."
This morning I sat on the other side of the desk.
I was the mom in the ADHD group screening room.  I was the mom that filled out the parent questionnaire a month ago.  I was the mom sitting this morning through a class on the characteristics of ADHD (wondering to herself how much information has changed since those college courses), the history of it and the whatnot.  I was the mom that tried to convince her child that going to the doctor would be "fun".  I was the mom that dealt with her child throwing a temper tantrum while refusing to go with the kids in the group.  
I was the one wondering what had happened to her child, what she could have done differently, if there was anything in the past 6 years that should have clued me in earlier.  
It's not a done deal.  This may not be what he's dealing with.  Something needs to change though because life is only going to get more challenging, school will get harder...
My son means the world to me.  If nothing else this experience has made me view the process that parents go through - the emotional roller coaster.  It has made me realize the different steps and evaluations that the kids are also subjected to.  I have heard the speech that the specialists tell the parents.  I have filled out the same paper.  I know how they feel.  I only hope this will help me be a better teacher and support system to parents dealing with the same types of things  
Thanks for listening to me ramble.  

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Fifth in the Middle Giveaway

2nd post for the day... more like 2nd post in the past 2 hours...
I totally forgot to show off Diane's blog the other day when her giveaway started.  
I'm so sorry!!!

I am helping out with her giveaway as well. :)  Check her out!  
That sounded bad, but you know what I mean... or you should know what I mean...
She has a ton of different bloggers helping out PLUS a magic sharpener PLUS an Amazon Gift Card.
Just click the link above to go enter!  

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Inferring, Compare/Contrast, and a Giveaway!

Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper made it to 300 followers and she's having a ginormous giveaway.  I'm one of the people that is helping her out... now if that's not enough reason to click the link above, I don't know what is!
So what did we do in school today?  During Reading we discussed inferences and we did the Pinterest idea of discussing the contents of my purse.  I forgot to take a picture of the anchor chart we made.  Here's what they came up with though: 
Contents of Mrs. S' PurseWhat - Why is it important?*phone - make calls, emergencies, use timer*wallet - need drivers license to drive, need inside cards to go buy stuff*keys - need to drive to school and go home, need to be able to open the house door*sharpie marker - because I'm a teacher, need permanent marker*Yoda toy - because I'm a mom, entertain my kids
Overall they pretty much got the point that they need to take the "facts" and add their schema to figure out why things are important.  
I got a kick out of the fact that they think every teacher carries a sharpie around with them.  Do you have one in your purse?  I have one in my purse since I label my boys' drinks, snacks, toys, etc when we are out and about with their initial.  Anyhow, the entire point of it was for them to be able to take the text of our story and compare/infer about the two sisters. 

This week we are reading "The Bridge Dancers".  I have to be honest - I'm SICK of doing Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast information.... doesn't help that this week we have done Venn Diagrams in Math as well.  
So instead we made picture frames of our 2 main characters - the sisters - and we pretended that we were creating pictures for the girls' mama (since all mommies love pictures of their children).  We folded our paper and drew 2 picture frames, then they drew a quick sketch of the 2 girls.  In each box they had to infer and write the contrasting information, and on the frame itself they wrote the similar information for the girls.  They worked by themselves and with partners, and then we went through the story together to make sure we had all the information.  It was a really fun lesson, and one that I know stuck with them.  
Hope you had a good day!

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Mode and Median

Today I felt the urge to jump off a cliff.  It really was one of those moments that I couldn't wrap my head around WHY these children didn't GET IT?!?  It was the first day of learning Mode and Median and those first moments with the glassy look in their eyes terrified me.

At least until a moment later when I had them all up out of their seats with their whiteboards having them act out median.  We stood in number order with their number on their whiteboard, the line stretching across the classroom.  I had them sit down going in order - least (#1) then greatest (#32), least (#2) then greatest (#31) until we got to student #17 who happened to be our median for the day (a student went home early so we had an odd number).  The kids celebrated the student and then we dove into our textbooks to find other median "heroes".  

After it was all said and done - we will need to review this concept again - definitely tomorrow, maybe again next week, definitely again before testing.  

So I whipped this up tonight.  A cute little scoot game and then another thing to stick into the math center rotations.  Isn't it adorable?  

32 task cards with an answer key.  5 or 6 numbers per card to learn how to find median and mode in a group of numbers.  Sometimes there isn't a mode... I'm so tricky.  :)  

It's over at TPT in case your class needs it!

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