A Fresh Start

As part of an on-going reflection to create a better classroom for my students, I have officially switched over to a different kind of blog. I have followed and watched other teachers for a couple years now, and have always wanted to voice my own ideas in a similar format. I have struggled coming out of my introverted personality and sharing as well as communicating with other like-minded teachers, but I am hoping that updating this blog and continuing to follow my favorite blog authors will help on the road to becoming the best teacher ever!! (or, you know, something close to that...). 

Here's to the journey ahead!

It's a dangerous business, going out of your door. You step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to. - J.R.R. Tolkien

Busy Times are Coming!

Three weeks left in the third quarter-it's hard to believe! I think we may have our first full week of school since getting back from winter break. (Now let's hope I haven't jinxed it...)

I have been working with the students on utilizing their time management skills, especially when it comes to homework.  I do not give homework nightly. Rather, I give the students long term homework which they have anywhere from one weekend to a month to complete. Lately here it seems they have been procrastinating more and more.  When this occurs all of a sudden they have a TON of homework to complete and they become overwhelmed. The purpose of giving them a period of time to complete it is so they can do just a little at a time and steadily complete it without being overburdened. I feel time is better spent reading and studying for tests when at home. In reality, we just don't always have enough time at school to get the things done that need finished. I try to give the least amount possible, but starting this week I am going to try a new strategy with the students. Let's see if it works!

This week:

English: We will begin our Adjective unit and continue working on our Crosswalk book.

Reading: We will continue to work on Comparing and Contrasting and Point of View. Book reports are due Friday. Next month we will begin working on non-fiction books rather than fiction.

Science: Quiz on Light Energy is Monday, and then we move on to Sound Energy! This should also be short and sweet like the Light Energy unit, and will conclude with a quiz rather than a test. We will then do Force and Motion, and then move on to Life Science!

Social Studies: We have started our Interactive Notebooks which the students seem to enjoy so far! This week we will finish up the French and Indian War, and then begin looking at what led up to the American Revolution by focusing on the Stamp Act.

Pennies for Patients begins this week. The students really impressed me when we talked about it last week! When I mentioned the fundraiser, someone asked if there was a "prize" for winning. Before I could answer, a majority of the class began answering with comments along the lines of "it doesn't matter, we are doing it for a good cause to help those in need!" Needless to say, I thought it was a very impressive way of thinking for fifth graders!

The testing time is upon us. Starting in the first week of March we will begin our MAP testing, followed by PARCC tests at the end of March, then OAAs at the end of April, and more PARCC testing in May. Plenty of rest and a healthy breakfast will go a long way in success for all students on all of these tests!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Perkins

President's Day Week

Well what do you know-another short week with more snow coming our way! Hopefully there are no delays or cancellations from the snow!

This week we are finally moving on in most subjects.

Science we are working through our Coach books to get ready for the tests-that-shall-not-be-named in May, as well as learning about Light Energy. The quiz for this concept will likely be at the end of this week or beginning of next week.

Social Studies we are taking somewhat of a hiatus to work on test preparation and catching up on other subjects. I really like social studies,  though, so I want to do a little bit with the students even if it's only one day a week.  This week or next week we will begin interactive notebooks focusing on pre-Revolutionary War events.

English we will be moving on to adjectives this week as we took the verb test at the end of last week.

Reading focus will be on comparing and contrasting and point of view. We are also doing some test prep during this time-oh boy.  I might start sending home some practice tests for the students!

We begin our Pennies for Patients campaign this week. Bring in any kind of loose change you can find!

The students did an awesome job with the box tops! I was very happy with how many were brought in to support the school!

I believe that is it for now. Only a few weeks left in the third quarter. Everyone wish for warmer weather soon!

Mrs. Perkins

11 days and counting...

        Right now we are sitting at 11 missed days with more bad weather to come in the near future! Luckily we are currently able to utilize 8 calamity days, with a possibility of more if the legislation decides to add up to possibly 4 more days. If that is the case, hopefully we will not have to make up too many days at the end of the year.

        Due to the amount of days missed, we really have not moved much in terms of where we are in each subject. However, we do have a lot of tests coming up. Our next day of school we will have a Science test on Electricity, followed by a Social Studies test on the 13 colonies the next day. The English test on verbs will then be right behind the Social Studies test by a day or two.

        We also have Parent-Teacher conferences this week on Thursday, February 6, and then on Monday, February 10.  We will keep you updated on conference scheduling if school is cancelled.

        The annual Snowball Box Top competition is in full swing at school. For every 10 box tops your child brings in, they can get a "snowball" to throw at another classroom's door. The classrooms with the least amount of snowballs on their door win a classroom party. The kids really get into this, so cut up those boxes and bring them on in! It is all for a good cause.
        *On that note, please make sure to cut out the Box Tops right on the dotted line. If anything, just make the kids do it! It will save our office ladies an awful lot of energy and time. Thank you!

        Although it may not seem like it, we are already halfway through the third quarter. Please make sure your child is keeping up with their work and studying for their tests, as we definitely will not have as many grades to put into the books this quarter.

        Please be safe out on the roads! Hopefully we will get back to school on a more consistent schedule soon!

Mrs. Perkins

Cold, Colder, Coldest...

Looks like another cold week for the Midwest. Due to the frigid temperatures I am not sure how often we will be at school this week. Hopefully the meteorologists are all wrong and we have a full week of school for the first time this quarter!

This week, due to all of the cancellations and delays, we will be continuing what we were working on last week.

In Social Studies we are working on Chapter 5 focusing on the 13 original colonies. The students received a study guide on Thursday which was originally due Monday. I am sure many of them did not take their social studies books home Thursday assuming we would have school on Friday, but I expect them to at least attempt to finish it on their own. I will not count it as late if they at least attempted it. The test for this is planned for the end of this week, but will depend on cancellations.

For Science we are working on electricity. They have been having a LOT of fun with this concept, so it will be sad to bring it to a close. The study guide for this will be passed out this week, and the test will be either at the end of this week or pushed into next week.

English is finishing up Unit 5 on Verbs. We are only working on the second half of the unit as we took a test for the first half at the end of the second quarter. They will also receive a study guide for this subject this week, and we will finish up the unit next week with the test.

Reading we will be meeting with our groups to work on inferring and theme. Centers will be working on opinion (persuasive) writing, inferring, theme, prefixes, and main idea. 

As you can see, we have a lot of tests coming up! The students are receiving the study guides plenty of time in advance, though, so just looking it over for a few minutes every night will definitely help them out!

Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up on February 6th and 10th. I would like all of the slips back, even if a conference was not requested, so we can start setting up times.

Have a great week everyone!

Mrs. Perkins

Focus Boards

Focus boards are good to go! Here is what I did today (who says teachers get days off?!). All of the subjects can be found on the boards. 

Enjoy!

Mrs. Perkins

MLK Day Week

Today I was able to make it out to watch some of the boys play basketball. It was a lot of fun,  and I was pretty impressed with the talent!  Keep up the good work boys! I am hoping I will get to watch the girls play sometime soon as well.

This is a short (and another freezing cold!) week ahead with no school tomorrow. Hopefully there are no more cancellations as we are out of calamity days.

I have started something new in the classroom called a Focus Wall. This will allow the students and anyone coming in the room to see what our focus is in each subject. I am hoping this will also help the students in their focus and allow a visual and heads up for what we are going to learn each week.

Some subjects like social studies and science will be fairly simple. For example, this week the focus for science will be electricity. Reading and English will be more complicated and broken down into specific skills. I will post it as soon as I have it completely finished!

I wil post again tomorrow with a (hopefully) completed board and specific topics for the subjects.

Have a great night!

Mrs. Perkins