Summer!

Time has gone by too fast again, and summer is already well underway! I've got plenty of ideas for the next school year and will be sharing some of my plans and organization sometime in July! Until then, have fun in the sun!

Too Little Time

I can't believe I haven't had a chance to post anything in over two months. We have done so much in our classroom and at our school. I actually have several posts that I started, but didn't get a chance to finish.

I don't particularly like posting without pictures, so I often start a post and think I'll find the time to add the pictures later. Sadly, there is just not enough time throughout the day. I'll try to get some of my saved posts up by the end of this week!

Book Projects

We've been reading so many books this school year. I started out the year doing Literature Circles, which ended up being a huge success. My students actually really enjoy doing them, but I wanted to change things up a little.

I decided to do Book Reports and Book Projects. Students were given a choice on what kind of project they completed for their book. Some of the project choices were creating a shoebox diorama, writing yourself into the story, and creating a scrapbook among many others.

I was so impressed with the projects my students did. They put a lot of their creativity into their projects, and they loved being given a choice. Here are a few of my favorites:

Three students from our Hatchet group decided to create Scrapbooks. They had to pretend they were the main character, Brian, creating the scrapbook by including pictures or items that were from the story. 

In our Islands of the Blue Dolphins group students decided to make a shoebox diorama depicting a scene from the story. 

In this scene, a tsunami is on its way to the island!

In this scene, Karana has just lost her brother to the wild dogs and realized she was truly alone and could not stay in her village. She burned all the huts, and left when everything was turned to ash. 

Students in the Charlotte's Web group decided to make a model of a character and write about them! They used modeling clay and painted. 

 Not pictured were the chapters from Hatchet that students wrote to put themselves into the story. I really enjoyed all the projects. They were all incredible and made me realize just how talented my students truly are.

Time Flies When You're Grading Papers!

Wow! I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post. I've had so many ideas for posts since then, and took a ton of pictures in my classroom but I just have not been able to sit at my computer. Luckily, today is an extra day off of school (President's Day) and I have tons of time!

A lot has been going on in Room 12! Since November we had our Winter Concert, Spelling Bee, and Science Fair on top of everything else we do in the classroom.

Students in third through sixth grade participated in our Science Fair. They were given a planning packet in early December, and had weekly due dates until the day of the Science Fair on February, 5th.

We were very fortunate to have four wonderful judges from the local high school. These judges were all seniors taking AP science classes. They were all very impressed with our students and when it came time to deciding on our winners, they had a hard time!

After much deliberation, they selected four projects. Overall, it was a great Science Fair and I can't wait to see what my students do next year.

Grammar

I've found grammar to be a tricky subject to teach in my class. There are so many rules in the English language that are constantly broken, it's no wonder grammar is something so many people struggle with when writing. Luckily, I found an amazing interactive grammar notebook that I decided to add to my lesson plans for the year. I've become a little "Interactive Notebook" happy lately, but honestly, the students love it and I think they learn so much more this way.

For grammar this week, I decided to do a bit of a review in a collaborative way. I have four table groups, so I decided to have each group create a poster for a topic of grammar. I had each table choose from the topics of Capitalization, Commas, Plural Nouns, and Apostrophes. Their directions were to, as a table group, create a poster for the rules of their grammar concept, and then present it to the class. 

 Everyone set to work right away, and I heard some wonderful ideas being shared at each table. From almost every group I noticed a lot of wonderful collaboration, which I think is really challenging considering the age differences in my class. It would have been very easy for all the sixth graders to take control of their groups, but it looked like everyone was contributing equally. I even saw some fourth grade students take on leadership roles, which I really wasn't expecting. Overall, it was a great way to review some of our grammar and now we have some pretty awesome student created posters!

I really liked this poster.
The cloud has the rules for using an apostrophe,
and the raindrops have the examples!

I loved how color coordinated this one was.
The rules are colored on the top left,
and the examples are in the same color
on the bottom right!

This group decided to use bullet points for their
rules and examples. 

I really loved listening to this group work. When they
were discussing their poster organization,
they decided to use polygons for the rules.

Our trimester ended on Friday and we are now on Fall Break! That means one week of catching up on my grading and getting Report Cards done!

The Bad Day File

Have you ever driven to or from work and thought "Why am I doing this?" I think it is something that happens to everyone. We all have bad days sometimes, but as teachers there are so many contributing factors that make our bad days worse. Some of these things include being severely under paid, lack of respect and discipline in today's youth, and little to no support from parents.

I feel very fortunate to be at school where I am supported by both parents and staff.  A school where my students are respectful, and where I am genuinely happy to be. Yet, even I sometimes fall victim to those days where I question the choices I have made that led me here. Typically, I question it on days like today: Sunday.

I often come into my classroom on Sundays, like right now. I don't have to come in, and many people think I am crazy for doing it, but sometimes I just need that extra day to organize, grade, plan, or prep without any distractions. Sundays give me that, but the cost is less time at home and when I'm here alone in my classroom on Sundays, I start to question. If I sometimes wonder why I am here (and I love my school and job because of the staff, students, and parents), I can only imagine how others feel with less desirable teaching conditions. This brings me to what keeps me here: The Bad File.

When I was student teaching in 2010, I had a wonderful Master Teacher. She told me that there would be days in this profession where I would question myself and my choices to become a teacher. To prepare me, she had those students start my Bad Day File. They made little notes and pictures for me. My Master Teacher, Alisa, said throughout the school years, students always give you little things, and that I should keep them to help remind me why I am here. This was probably some of the best advice I have ever been given.

I have kept up my bad day file since I student taught with Alisa, and on days like today, I pull it out and look at some of the things students have given me over the years. This is what reminds me. They, my students, are the reasons I'm here. They are the reasons I do everything I do in this profession, and that makes it worth it to me.

So, if you have one of those days when you question what you are doing and why you are doing it, look back on some of those things students have left on your desk. Save them! I know we sometimes feel like all our hard work goes unnoticed, but if even one student thanks you...well, then you know at least one person has noticed.

I ended up putting some of the notes and pictures in a scrap book.

I love looking through this book. 

Everything in it always makes me smile.

I guess that makes my Bad Day File successful :)

When you are down and feeling blue, 

and questioning what it is you do, 

take out this file and look inside.

You'll be overjoyed by the love you find. 

-Morgan Stowers

Social Studies Field Trip

I rotate the social studies curriculum every year. Last year, I was on the sixth grade curriculum rotation. This year, I am on the Fourth Grade curriculum and in the state of California, that is when we learn California history. A big part of our state's history is the mission system. There are 21 missions in California, and I decided to take my students to the one in Santa Barbara.

We had a wonderful field trip. We did the Docent Guided Combination tour, which took us from the La Huerta Historic Gardens all the way through the church, to the cemetery, and ending in the museum.

 

 After touring the gardens, we were offered a sample of the freshly picked produce and some fresh guava jam (it was incredible!). My students were so enthralled by the entire place, and were very well behaved. They asked really great questions, and the Docents were happy to respond. Before leaving the museum, the Docents actually gave each of my students an abalone shell neckless as a souvenir. They were all very, very excited!

This is for Karana, the girl from The Island of The Blue Dolphins. She is actually buried in the cemetery. 

We ended our field trip by having a picnic on the lawn right in front of the church. Overall, it was a wonderful field trip and I will definitely be going back the next time I teach the Fourth Grade social studies.