End of Year Awards

         Next Tuesday is our last day of school! It's always tough to say good bye, but it'll be nice to spend more time with family and friends that have moved away, during the summer. I need to print some award certificates to present on the last day. I have some A and A/B Honor Roll students, as well as two with perfect attendance in the 4th nine weeks. Check out my award certificates in my store.

2 more days!

            Today was the last Friday, and another busy day! We began the day ripping up old tests before recycling. The students made huge piles of shredded paper and the room was quite a mess for about 15 minutes. Good thing I'm not the neatest person in the first place or I would have been freaking out!! While some were carrying giant armfuls to the recycling bin, I was redirecting the two students making "snow angels" in the shredded tests. Inside my head, I just had to laugh!
           
           Then we sorted math manipulatives to get the materials ready for next year's 3rd graders. Somehow the fraction bars always get messed up. For 10 minutes there was a lot of "I'm missing a tenth!!!" and "I have an extra sixth!" In the end we found all pieces but one missing eighth. Have you seen it? ;)

           After a game of sharks and minnows on the playground and then lunch (we eat at 10:30 am! Hello brunch!) I had students write letters to their future teachers. I love this assignment. I explain that students need to introduce themselves by telling their new teacher about their strengths, weaknesses, and concerns. Until now my students didn't know that I'd be moving up to 4th grade with them. Somehow the news had leaked and one student said, "...but aren't you going to be one of the 4th grade teachers?" Meaning, why do I need to introduce myself to you?! I told them yes, but I won't be teaching all of you, and I reassured them that I don't get to pick! This news was very exciting to them and then they got to work writing about themselves. I always hold on to these letters and give them to the next teachers during preplanning. I've already been handed the "welcome letters" from the current 4th graders to give to my students during the first week of school in the fall. Such sweet letters with words of encouragement and advice.

            To squeeze a few more productive minutes into today we made our summer journals. One of the most important parts of 4th grade is writing, so I wanted to get my students excited about next year. I passed out their reader's response journals from this year, we ripped out the pages we used and then they decorated a cover for the journal and glued it to the front. On the inside of the cover they glued a list of journal ideas- just in case they can't think of anything to write about it. I also gave them a list of funny writing ideas. I had them cut that list apart and glue the prompts onto random pages. The students thought this was a fun activity. Here's hoping they actually use the journals this summer!

A Day at Legoland

         Today we took the 3rd grade to Legoland in Winterhaven, FL. We had a great time despite some of the rain that fell on us around lunchtime. The kids rode roller coasters and kid powered rides, and also took a class on amazing machines in the Imagination Zone with some of Legoland's staff.
       
         For some of my class it was the first time they had ever ridden on a roller coaster! I was so impressed with their bravery! They all enjoyed exploring the park and seeing all the creative ways legos were used.

         We left school at 6:45 am and returned around 6:15 pm. It was a long day, but a lot of fun. A good way to wrap up the year.

4 more days!

           Today was a very busy, and fun-filled day. We took our last spelling and grammar tests of the year. My class and I actually enjoy spelling tests. Not to brag, but I am one of the most hilarious people my students know. Well maybe not, but they certainly act like it! I try to think of amusing example sentences for each word and I get them laughing pretty hard. I always begin by reminding them to not talk during tests. Sometimes my example sentences are funny questions and they want to shout out answers, but they know to just giggle instead. :)

          Today was also the last school-wide flag ceremony of the year. My school has awesome flag ceremonies outside on our covered basketball court. Our music teacher leads songs and cheers and there are always award presentations as well. Today was also the 2nd grade musical, which was adorable. The past three years I've spent the 2nd grade musical checking out my future students, but not this year! I found out I'll be teaching 4th grade next year, which is super exciting. I like new challenges, and I love my students. I'll probably have about half of my current class again next year, so that's good news. :)

           After the flag ceremony we checked out the science fair. 5th grade students performed their own experiments at home and presented their findings at the fair. K-4th grade classes experimented at school and made a project board together. It was very neat to see what all the classes did and my students enjoyed learning about the 5th graders' projects. Here is a picture of our class project.

             Remember, I said it was a busy day? After the science fair we had a picnic lunch outside and then watched the 5th graders' egg drop. In teams of 3 or 4 they built contraptions to protect an egg from a 20 foot drop. Our science lab teacher went up in a cherry-picker to drop the students' contraptions, then the team would check to see if the egg was "in tact" or "cracked". Some 4th grade students were in charge of holding up signs to tell the audience the outcome. Most of the school comes to check out this yearly event. So much fun. It's definitely a challenge the kids look forward to doing once they're in 5th grade.

            Back in class we had an hour to complete our Social Studies presentations. One student sang the Canadian national anthem, another showed us a video of dances from Puerto Rico. The students learned so much about the Americas!

            Only a few days of school left and Legoland tomorrow! My alarm is set for 4:40 am...off to bed!

5 days of school left...

       It seems we are always very busy in my room. "Free time" what's that?

       Today we were busy putting together our science project board for tomorrow's science fair (and I forgot to snap a picture- I'll get one tomorrow!) My class experimented to find out which colored shirt would absorb the most heat energy. We found out the darker the shirt the more heat energy it absorbed. Since we experimented with blue, yellow, white, and black shirts one student had the idea to make the backgrounds on the board look like t-shirts. I thought that was so clever (and cute)! 

       Today was also my school's last STAR event of the year. The STAR program is our school-wide positive behavior system. Students earn stars for extra good moments and can save them for events. Today's was a Wacky Track and Field Day. There was tug of war, a sack race, hurdles, hula hoop tossing, hippity hops, target practice, and more. It was an absolute blast! There was even a bit of a breeze, which made it much more enjoyable. I didn't get any pictures there either; I was too busy cheering on my class and being impressed by their athletic skills. I think I have some future Olympic Hurdlers in my class! 

        Our last social studies project of the year was due today and we spent the afternoon presenting our glogs (have you seen glogster?) and practicing our cursive. My class loves technology! The things they were able to get their glogs to do was very impressive! We watched videos of an iguana, salsa dancing, and different Mexican foods, while students presented on a country from the Americas.

        I should really get to bed; tomorrow will be another busy day!