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Friday, April 10, 2015

What An Awesome Week!!!!

It was my first week back from spring break and you know how those weeks can go.  But...... I think today and this week was one of the smoothest days / weeks I have had this school year.  It was awesome!  I am going to try and link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday!



For the last quarter I switch from science and teach health.  First I had my fifth graders work on designing a school lunch for one day but they had to follow the US guidelines that our school follows.  This was the video I used in my Google presentation to inspire them, school lunches in Paris, France.  You should have seen the reaction of the kids to the idea of eating escarole for lunch!  LOL  We had a pretty heated debate after this video.  I divided them into five groups and when they are done they need to create and design a daily lunch that they would eat but meets the US regulations.  I cannot wait to see their lunch ideas! 



With my fourth graders in health, we are looking at food labels.  So I found this awesome website Fooducate and printed out the five different food labels (FREE) and put them into five groups.  They answered the questions and then presented the information to the class.  The next day I partnered them up with a different food label and had them fill out a worksheet comparing the 2 food labels.
 


Every Friday I do "Flashlight Friday" where the kids can bring in a flashlight and a furry friend to read with.  They LOVE this and look forward to it every week.  My kiddos that were not book lovers now beg to read!  We now read for 30 - 45 minutes at a stretch but boy did we have to build up endurance.  At the beginning of the year they were a bit squirrelly after 10 minutes.  They make me so proud!  I usually try to meet with a few kids to discuss what they are reading or AR scores at this time.  I tried to take some pics of the kids without their faces showing but oops their faces were showing too much.  Ugh!


Also in reading we are working on the final project for our historical fiction genre with Bloom Balls or a 3D figure that is twelve sided.  On each panel the kids have to do something about their book they read in book club such as;  problem, solution, setting, character, sad part, favorite part, text to self..... No pictures yet but if you Google "Bloom Ball" you can find tons of images and the templates.



Then finally the last thing that made me really happy.... my lesson plans, grading, newsletter and gradebook are all done so I do not have to do any school stuff over the weekend!!! The one thing I cannot live without and makes my life easier and is sooooo worth the money of $12.00 a year.  Planbook an online lesson plan program.  I love this website because I can just merge years and presto my plans are pretty much done but for a few tweaks here and there!

Well I am off to dinner with my hubby and girls.  My oldest is at a friends house.  Have a fantastic weekend! 
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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Spring Break, Vents & Food

Yea!!!!  It is April and the weather is at last changing after a cold and snowy winter. I have been seeing peeks of spring everywhere.  My willow tree bloomed, the daffodils are popping out of the ground and crocuses are blooming.  How beautiful....

 Also it is Farley's awesome linky party!!!! Click HERE to check out her hoppin' party!!   This I my favorite linky especially since I am on spring break so I can link up kind of early. Also check out those cute chick graphics what is not to love.


Listening- Okay that is obvious to any parent with kids home on spring break too. 

Loving - I think every teacher at this point in the school year needs a break.  I know some teachers do not get a spring break.  How do they do this home stretch????

Thinking - I always need to clean and every Currently I want a cleaning fairy but she never comes!  LOL So it is up to me....and boy do I need to. I am taking a break now after taking all my heater vents off and vacuuming and wiping them down.  Talk about gross with 2 dogs, 1 cat and 3 kids (not counting the hubby) the vents become hair and dust collectors!  Now I hope to vacuum and wash the carpeting next but I am still hoping for the fairy to come save the day! 

Wanting - We all wanted to go somewhere fun over break but with a family of 5 it can get expensive.  We did do a lot of fun things so far over break;  Skyzone, formal dress shopping with my middle (Nope, we did not find anything.  Is there such a things as a formal soccer jersey??), ear piecing for my youngest, poker party for my oldest and we have a few more days to have some fun especially since hubby will be home through Monday.  Yahooo!! he is always up for an adventure.

Needing - Ok one word....teenagers!  They eat me out of everything within a few days.

EGGS-plain your name - Well I think this is obvious with the blog name of 4th & 5th grade Happiness.  I have been a teacher for 19 years and have pretty much taught 4th & 5th grade the entire time.  The intermediate grade kids are AWESOME.  They are old enough they do not need to be babied (NO hanging on me, blowing noses or tying shoes...I taught preschool for one year.)  but they are not too cool to still like / love their teacher. Most of the kids love to come to school and their curiosity is contagious.  I also love the curriculum at this age and I am usually smarter then a 5th grader!  LOL  What is not to LOVE about 4th & 5th grade, it makes me happy to see their smiling faces everyday!  One strange thing is I never completed 4th grade due to kidney disease.  Hmmmm what would a psych say about that? 

Happy Thursday & Happy Easter,

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