5 for Friday Flashback: 2.8 & A Little Late

I know.  I know.  I'm a day late and a dollar short.  

But happy hour with two of my favorite teachers was calling my name yesterday. I was also busy sleeping 13 hours last night, running 11 miles, grocery shopping, and cleaning the house.

My school motto is "No Excuses"  which applies in this case as well.  

There is no excuse why I did not post this yesterday.  

Moving right along.

I wanted to show you what we've been up to in our classroom this week.  

I also like that I now have a timeline of the Spring Semester on my blog! 

 Maybe it's more for me than you? 

Either way, here's the action.

*ONE*

My students and I play a little game during whole group lessons in order to get anything done learn.  It's called Teacher Vs. Student and if you have heard of Whole Brain Teaching, then you have heard of this game.  

Here's what my board looks like.  

Notice the T chart with T and S? That's where we keep the "points"

If my students are working hard on the carpet, I give them a point.  The students respond with a "Oh Yeah!" and a little fist pump after I give them a point.  This keeps everyone actively involved.

When I loose all control of the class I am working hard teaching, I give myself a point. 

The students then say "Boo Hoo" with baby/tears motions.

At the end of the lesson, whoever has more points wins.  

If my students win, they get to turn over a letter.  

Here's what I mean:

In this picture, my students only needed one more letter to win the game.

When all of the letters are turned over, they win the prize.

This happened on Monday!  So we all got extra recess on Tuesday!

What a treat!

*TWO*

I have the best parent volunteer! She cut out ALL of my lamination and sorted it into zip lock baggies!  

She also brought me a starbucks on Friday.  

#spoiledrotten

*THREE*

 

Remember how I said we were starting our Secret Admirer or Cupid at school with the teachers?

My secret admirer left me a lollipop, poem, and prayer!

It was such a fun surprise.

*FOUR*

This is my new.favorite.book.  Hands down.

I think my kids loved it just as much, too!

Last year I bought Cara Carroll's Love, Splat Unit and couldn't wait to try it out.

We are gearing up for Valentine's Day with all of the fun things from Cara's pack.  

On Friday, we read Love, Splat and made our Splat the Cat Craft.  

Not everyone finished, but I put some of them on the wall.

They turned out SO cute!

(Note for next year: Have my students do the writing part first.  Then the craft.  They were all rushing to be finished by the time the writing happened.)

Also, one of my students decided to make Kitten, from the story.  She isn't finished, but I think it's going to look so cute!  

*FIVE*

I was formally evaluated on Tuesday (Surprise!) and then we met and talked on Friday.  Our district is implementing a rubric that scores teachers 1-5 (not sure how I feel about this...).  I was happy to receive lots of compliments.  My homework is to come up with an instructional goal and a professional goal.

Here's what I've got so far:

Instructional: Incorporating more Daily 5 and Conscious Discipline in my classroom as well as providing flexible small group instruction.

Professional: Develop more teacher collaboration on my campus and communicate with parents on a more personal level.

What are your goals? 

Would you like to join me in mine?

That's all for now.  I have a bunch of blog posts running around in my head.  I can't wait to share more and get your feedback.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!