Rocks Rock!

As my first year in Fifth grade it is also the first year I was giving the opportunity to teach rocks and the rock cycle! EEEEK!
I was stoked about this opportunity because my mom used to work in a Copper Mine and we had all these samples of rocks and I always found so cool. Not to mention living in various places and seeing all kinds of rocks which were so cool. 

Having never taught Rocks or the Rock Cycle, I didn't have a lot of resources or even know where to start. Thanks to TPT I found TONS of awesome resources! I would like to shout out to Melissa Mazur and her awesome Rocks and Minerals pack that I used in my classroom. This pack comes with so many awesome activities and resources! I used the reading passages, the task cards and the word wall cards. Next year I will use more of the experiments and hands on activities because they are so awesome.

I used the word wall cards as a matching game. I cut the definitions apart from the picture and term. They have really great pictures to match the vocabulary terms and definitions. My kids matched them all first and then played memory with the cards. They loved it and I felt like it really helped the terms and definitions stick with them.

 


The task cards we used as they are intended. The kids worked as a group to answer the various questions. They love working on task cards it gives them a chance to move and talk while answering content related questions.

We have these great reading books that come with our Science textbook. Using these books the kids read to answer questions about the Rock Cycle. It is great to have these resources because they can be used in a small guided reading groups, read to a buddy center or just plain old reading non-fiction choices for the kids.

Sometimes I draw pictures and just love how I drew them! These are two examples of our Rock Cycle and Rock Formation pictures we drew for our Science Notebook.

Happy Teachin' 

Professional Development - what's your favorite and not so favorite

Every year most of us teachers get a survey about our intentions for next year. 

Sometimes I've been asked what Professional Development I think would benefit our staff. This year is one of those cases. This year it feels especially important to answer this question because I really feel like my principal really listens to us when we make suggestions. 

I have sat through so many different professional development opportunities some which were so helpful and some which were a waste of time. As a teacher I know our time is valuable and that we are incredibly intelligent and usually know what is best for our kids without someone reading us some book they wrote or some ideology they have "discovered". While these PD's are important and I don't mean to down play these PDs in anyway, ones that are more valuable to our teaching and classroom are far better than just any old PD. I wish I could be a full time student and just sit in classes all day and learn - seriously if full time student were a job I would sign up! I absolutely love learning.

There are tons of different professional development opportunities out there are there any that anyone could suggest that they LOVED or didn't love I would appreciate hearing your feedback. 

Thanks for helping out in advance!

January Wrap Up

Things have gotten away from me I was doing so well that last week of posting and then fell off the wagon! So here is the belated January Wrap up!

Florida's Literacy Week...we saw day 1, 2, 3...

Day 4: Snuggle up with a Good book (wear your slippers, bring blankets and stuffed animals to school)
My kids loved this day even though we didn't get to wear our Pjs they seemed content with slippers and stuffed animals. For our 30 minutes of independent reading time they were able to snuggle up and read and boy was my room quiet! It was so precious to see them all snuggly and reading.

 I love that this kiddo is using Mr. Bear for extra cuddles! He loves to read too!

Day 5: Reading Makes you classy! (Wear your class shirt) This was an unofficial day, fifth grade wanted to wear our class shirts so I added this to the week for my kids. We also had our guest speaker come from the Pensacola Light House and told us all kinds of cool facts about the lighthouse, it's history and read us a story about a similar light house from Maine called Abbie Against the Storm. It was a great Nonfiction book that made relating to our lighthouse great for the kids! Check this book out but keep in mind it is probably for older kids grades 3-5. 

The Pensacola Lighthouse sits on Naval Air Station Pensacola and is open to visitors year round. I has 177 steps to climb to the top! It is also pretty close to our school! You can see it from Pensacola Beach as well. :)

While we were wrapping up Literacy Week we were also wrapping up our unit on Space and the Planets. I created a sort (quickly) and had the kids sort the planets by size and then match the numeric sizes to the correct planet. Super easy but more fun than me just giving them the numbers. They worked in groups and some had it perfect on the first go. I love doing sorts like this because it lets the kids do the exploring on their own rather than having me drive all the exploring. It also helps them work as a team which some of them have trouble doing. haha 

Forgot to add this awesome board to my 100 Days Celebration! Fifth grade decided to create this board with 100 things we learned in Science. Each class got a different colored sticky note and the kids wrote what stuck out to them. Lots of kids and teachers admired our board because it is right after the office!

Some Groundhog Day Writing. Which animal from Florida should predict the weather and why? How will it predict the weather. These were some of the best writing pieces. I loved the different things they came up with! We also had a cute window display that I swore I took pictures of but don't seem to have the pictures so I will have to get those this week and post about them!

 Happy Teaching Everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

100th Day of School

Today was our 100th day of school! Hard to believe it has already been 100 days of fifth grade, 100 days through my first year of common core and teaching in Florida! Yay!! 

Since Fifth grade is a little old to be doing some of the standard 100th day activities but I still love doing them we celebrated in our own "grown up" way. 

1. Using number die cuts we created a Space Colony scene and then wrote about it. The kids were asked to use the die cuts in their picture and then explain why they chose this new place for their space colony.

2. We had a 100 cup tower stack challenge. I split the kids into two groups and gave them 100 cups and told them to create the tallest tower they could using all 100 cups. One group just couldn't get the cups to stay standing. The other group built two towers! one was 29 inches tall and the second was 48 inches tall! They really seemed to enjoy this activity. They do need some help working together and talking to each other like a team rather than just yelling but we are working on it. 

Oreo Moon Phases!

While in our Space Unit we get to cover the 3rd and 4th grade material too for review and because unfortunately Science isn't tested in 3rd and 4th grade it isn't as much of a priority so we really focus on it in Fifth grade. (no one would admit to the above statement if you asked them of course all subjects are important and taught to their entirety based on the standards) :) 

So while reviewing I decided since I have never gotten to teach moon phases or space for that matter that I was going to do it up right this year. I LOVED making my space smartboards and find pictures and videos to help my kids better understand the standards. Space is truly amazing and beautiful. Seriously beautiful.

So while on Moon Phases I decided to do the Oreo Moon phases activity. I learned about this in college and our 3rd graders did it at my old school. My kids hadn't done it yet so it was even better for me! 
I prepackaged the kids with 4 oreos, a little tongue depressor (I can't think of the teacher words for these little wooden sticks is!) and a paper plate. We then drew the Earth in the middle of the plate. And drew the sun on the left hand side. After drawing these two on the plate we discussed which phases would be occurring and why based on the location of the Sun and Earth. I drew on the whiteboard while they wrote on their plates. First we just labeled the moon phases and then I let the kids go with their oreos. 

We did discuss the secret trick of twisting the oreos to get the icing on one side or the other of the oreo. Obviously New Moon and Full Moon were the easiest followed by the first and third quarter moons. Crescent moon were the trickiest for the kids. 
 
Another trick I discovered during my planning of these lessons was the difference of Waning and Waxing. Waxing means the light is growing and each phases should be growing with light to then get to Full Moon or full light, after full moon the light then wanes or decreases until it comes back to New Moon. I loved this idea having never had to learn the moon phases (that I can remember anyway) it totally helped me remember the phases. My kids even started saying "Wax on" more light..."Wax off" less light. Bahahahaha close but not quite! Still funny though. 


Enjoy checking out our pictures of the this awesome activity. Of course after I checked off their phases they got to eat their cookies. I didn't make them glue the cookies down or anything but you can!

Florida Literacy Week Day 2 and 3

Day two of Florida Literacy week was Reading is fun year 'round! Yes it is. My favorite time to read is on school breaks. I can usually finish 2-3 books at Christmas and Spring break and about 5-6 over the summer (depending on what else is going on)! I LOVE that I get to read for me!

I decided to wear my Merry Christmoose shirt that I found by total chance at the little thrift store near my school for $1! YES A DOLLAR!! (For those of you that don't know I LOVE moose! My house is decorated in moose decor and at Christmas time my house throws up Moose! I also happened to use my gingerbread coffee cup that we got from our Art fundraiser when the company sent us a duplicate set of the mugs! (Yay teacher gifts) 

But I am distracted...back to reading and literacy week!


My kids came dressed in various outfits ranging from Christmas outfits with little antlers and bells to halloween costumes, decked out in Mardi Gras beads, St. Patrick's day hats and Native American attire to represent Thanksgiving. It was great seeing all their holiday outfits!

Day #3: Put your thinking cap on and Read!
Tons of Hats today! Probably the easiest day of them all. Wearing hats to show your love of reading. Almost every kid in my class had a hat on. I wore a hat my grandmother gave me at Thanksgiving before she passed away. It was a hat she had when she was younger (I want to say high schoolish age range but could totally be wrong). The hat is a beautiful teal color and I happen to have a cute teal shirt to wear with it too! 

Tomorrow...Snuggle up with a good book! Wear slippers, bring blankets and stuffed animals to snuggle up with a book. We aren't allowed to wear our Pajamas though. Only our kindergarten class gets to wear their PJ's and they only wear them on the last day of school before winter break. So strange we don't get regular PJ days. It isn't my favorite dress up day but everyone else loves it, so I am totally on the bandwagon of complaining that we don't get it at my new school! Excited to see what my kids bring in tomorrow...guess what slippers I am wearing?? Yep my moose ones!! 

Happy Reading Y'all!

Florida's Literacy Week Day 1

Florida's Literacy Week: Day 1 Reading Ties Us Together

Today we got to wear a tie with any outfit. I wore one but didn't take a picture of me or my kids! 

Ahhh!! I did get to snag a picture of some awesome first grade teachers wearing their ties though!

 They are reppin' Tennessee, Florida State and the Patriots! - I will have to get a Dallas Tie for next year!

This was a great first day to literacy week because it really helped us think about why does reading tie us together? This was a great conversation to have with my kids. I think sometimes we forget that books are a link to many worlds including our own and that without them we may or even could lose track of ourselves and others. This theme for the day also worked well with our ELA review which asked use to discuss and explain the quote by Samuel Johnson "A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it."

Ready for day 2! Reading is Fun All Year 'Round!

How do you celebrate reading year round? What would you wear as your favorite holiday outfit? 

I promise I will post pictures tomorrow!