1st Product Endorsement - WOW!!

Ok I can't wait for my new teacher friendly pencil sharpener to come from Classroom Friendly Supplies.  For the next week I will be racing to the mailbox each day after school for my first product endorsement.  I have been reading on all my favorite teacher blogs about this amazing pencil sharpener.  The most recent was Mercedes at Surfing to Success who mentioned that you could request to do a product endorsement and you get the pencil sharpener FREEEEEEEE!  Yahoo!  So last night I went on the Classroom Friendly Supplies website and clicked the link and left the required information. Guess what I got an email this morning!  At first I read it and it said that I had to have at least 100 followers.  I only have 61:(  Boo!!!!! But then I kept reading and the owner Troy said I had a really cute blog and my blog was the type of blog they are looking for to endorse the pencil sharpener and get the word out.  It felt like Santa had came early for me.  I was hootin' and a hollerin'!   So I am writing about my first endorsement before I even get the product because I cannot contain myself to wait for the sharpener to come in the mail and for my class to take it for a test run.  I also wanted to thank Mercedes at Surfing to Success and Troy over at Classroom Friendly Supplies.  I cannot wait!  Yippee!!  Come back soon to see how this pencil sharpener stands up the pencil destroyers, A.K.A. my fourth and fifth graders.

December Currently & Ornament Swap Linky

What a fun blog to write today.  I can't wait to share Farley's December Currently for this month.  Especially since I at last figured out how to do the December Currently!  Yahooooooo  I did download a free 60 day trail of Microsoft Office to get the powerpoint software.  Hmmm I may need to invest in the software & buy the program.  Ugh! 

So Ta Da here it is...
I am listening to (not watching because I am typing this blog post) my favorite thing to do on the weekend which is to watch the weekend news shows with a hot cup of coffee.

 I am loving the fact that I was able to finish decorating the house for Christmas.  Some years I am into decorating and some years I am not.  It is just so time consuming probably because as I am putting the Christmas stuff up, I am also cleaning.  Ugh!  It was quite precious this morning to listen & watch my youngest run around ohhh-ing & ahhhh -ing over the decorations that were magically put up while she was sleeping.  Sweet!  There will not be many years of that so it was so worth all the work.

Ok this is always what I am thinking on Sunday, that I need to do my lesson plans but what fun is that? 

I am so wanting Christmas break this year to come quicker.  I am not sure why since I am having a pretty good year at school.  I have been feeling this year a nagging feeling to stay home with the kids so I can be there for more activities. It frustrates me that there is many school things that I cannot go to because I work especially with my youngest who is in preschool & I hate the fact she has to go to aftercare until I get done with work.  I have been racking my brain for a job that I can do from home but make decent money.  I even looked into teaching at one of those online schools but wow it is a ton of work with little pay.  Oh well off to work I go.

I am always in the need of more money especially this time of year. We do sell on Ebay & Craigslist & that helps.  I would love to open an Etsy shop.  Hmmmmm  maybe a summer project.

My RAK is do give my Advent Prayer Buddy a little something extra to pick up her spirits.  We are only suppose to pray for our buddy but my buddy is having a really rough year & needs a little more then prayer.  So I am going to leave her s little something in her mailbox at school every Monday so I need to think, think, think!

Wow this is a long post, sorry.  Trying to avoid breaking that blogging rule of only posting once a day.

So on to my last thing that I want to share which is that I linked up to this really cute linky party which was an ornament swap over at Ginger Snap Crafts.  Jennifer's rules were that you can buy or make an ornament for your partner that she assigned you trying to stay with the partner's blog theme.  My partner was Alecia over at Mrs. Leigh's Blog.  She has a cute blog about her daily life as a new wife & college student.

Here is my "melted snowman" ornament I made.  I saw this all over Pinterest & couldn't resist.

 

Here is what Alecia sent me.....

 

 

It is so cute on my "teacher tree."  Thanks Alecia!!

 

Well I hope everyone has a nice Sunday.

Is It A Solid or a Liquid? & Thanksgiving Prediction Buddies

Is it Thanksgiving break yet?  Last week was absolutely crazy & I have been sick again!  This time with a fever & sinus infection that I at last gave in & went to the doctor for some meds.  I am so looking forward to some time off.  Last Friday my 4th & 5th grade science classes did a buddy project with the first graders.  First my fourth graders & their first grade buddies did a state of matter lab where they tested the properties of Oobleck.  We discussed what the molecules of solid, liquid & gas look & act like.  Then we tried the slow finger poke, fast finger poke, pour, bounce, form it in a ball and after each test we tried to decide if the Oobleck was acting like a solid or liquid. 

Oh boy did we make a mess & can you believe I forgot to take any pictures!  Every year I tell myself never again but it must be like giving birth you forget the "pain."  LOL  I think we are still finding corn starch in the most unusual places and I am still getting dirty looks from our school janitor.  LOL  I only wish I would have taken a few pictures. 

I did take pictures of the fifth & first grade buddy project.  This was really fun for the kids & the teachers!  This project is definitely a kepper.  First the first grade teacher read us a book about the Mayflower.  Then my fifth graders got their first grade buddies on the Scholastic Mayflower Virtual Tour in the computer lab & they toured the Mayflower together.  Next on to the science lab where we discussed prediction.  The first grade teacher found this buddy project on First Grade O.W.L.S.  We had a lot of fun first trying to make a boat out of clay that would not sink.

 

 

Boy was this tough.  The secret was the wider the bottom of the boat the better the boat floated but watch out for those holes.

Voila!  We got the boats to start floating with a few bears.

 

Then on to predicting how many bears our little boats could hold.  Hmmm? 5, 10, 15, 20, 100?????

The maximum bears our boats would hold was 19!

 

We had so much fun with our first grade buddies.  This was so much better then the Thanksgiving webquest that I usually have my fifth graders do.  Now I need to come up with a great first & fifth grade buddy project for Christmas.  No corn starch please!

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

November Currently YAHOOOO!

At last I figured out how to post Farely's ( I love that teacher & would love to work at her school)  Currently linky from Oh Boy 4th Grade.  OMG I even looked at another teacher's website for the directions on how to do Farley's Currently.  It said to copy and paste the image to your powerpoint program.  Guess what?  I do not have a powerpoint program on this cheap notebook, only a viewer!  UGHHHHHH!  So I tried to copy and paste the image to my Microsoft word and insert a textbox.  Nooooo I was left with a giant white textbox that I could not make disappear.  I even asked my 13 year old son.  No help!  Then I tried to download Openoffice program and that would not download, for some error message kept popping up!  I at last tried Paint and guess what?  It worked!  Whoot whoot!

Here is my first Currently!  Yeah for me!

Listening - My youngest giggling while trying to sneak up on her big brother and stick a cut out of the mail flyers' picture of Obama.  Ever since we have been buried with election flyers my two biggest kids have been getting a kick out of sticking pictures of Obama in weird places. 

Loving - Fall is definitely here is Ohio since the tropical storm Sandy blew through.  The only bad thing is that all the beautiful leave are gone due to that crazy wind.  But there is a fall chill in the air.  I just wish for some sunny skies. It has been grey and raining since Oct. 29th.  Booo! 

Thinking - I definitely need to do my lesson plans.  Enough said on that!  Ugh!

Wanting & Needing - More money in my paycheck.  After getting my job cut three years ago due to decreasing enrollment caused by many of my parents losing their jobs but after given the gift of getting another job right away.   I should not complain.  But it has been tough with a $6,000 pay cut and no raises from my current school for the entire three years I have been there.  Booo!  I worry I may have to quit teaching.  My family is barely scraping by.  I keep thinking I should try to sell things on TPT or Teachers' Notebook but just haven't gotten the confidence or the time to devote to that project.

Music - Ok this is my pet peeve.  My four year old has picked up the 13 & 12 year olds wonderful habit of turning the Ipad / Iphone up to maximum volume while I am trying to work.  I do like Katy Perry even though I think some of the lyrics are not appropriate for my 4 year old.  I just think I am definitely getting old.  Ha!

Ok now it is on the small side but I can't fight with it right now.  I have to go serve spaghetti at my school's annual fundraiser. Yahooo!  I hope they make a few bucks that they can pass on to the teachers.  I hope you come back soon!

Mad, Ears, October SIB, Booed

I am so mad at myself!  I have so ignored my blog which frustrates me.  I have been dealing with a double ear infection and it has taken about a month to feel close to "my" normal (I have a hearing lost in both ears due to chronic ear infections as a child).  So the double ear infections really diminished my hearing which was exhausting me by my struggle to hear, and the infection.   I could barely keep my eyes open long enough for schoolwork so the blog got put on the back burner.  Now I am back, close to 100% and wanting to share my October Science in the Bag (SIB) experiments for my school....

Kindergarten - Second Grade - Discovery Box
I made a discovery box of magnetic & non-magnetic items to explore using a wand magnet.  I got the idea from Pinterest (fav!)  at Chalk Talk. Mrs. Larremore used an open tray of items and a wand magnet to pick up the magnetic items and then sort them by magnetic & non-magnetic. I used a large clear storage container and placed various items in the container. 

The students then used a wand magnet to find which items are magnetic.  Then they were to journal / draw about those items in the science notebook & why they thought some items wouldn't move or stick.

Third - Fifth Grade - Floating Magnets
This one I really cheated on or you can look at it that I struck gold by finding floating magnet kits in our science lab closet.  The kits come with donut magnets, rubber washers, a pencil & foam base.  The students are to figure out that if you stack the magnets a certain way (The same polarity repels.) they will resist and push against each other and float on the pencil.  So far the kids have thought this was really cool.

Sixth - Eighth Grade  - ???????
This one I have not figured out yet since last month's "Magic" Ketchup (last post) was a little too challenging for them.  Many of the students just brought the bag back not even touched. Ouch!  Hmmmmmm?  I first thought of having them make a homemade compass by rubbing a magnet on a needle or pin which floats on soap in a bowl of water.  Again too challenging? 

I am really leaning towards sending the Floating Magnets home with them too. Not very creative but I think it will be a quicker experiments for those busy middle schoolers with all that homework and easier on me.  What do you think?

 

 

I saw this really cute Halloween linky party at Tori's Teacher Tips where you "Boo" other teacher blogs.  I think that may be my next post, barring no more ear infections or other cooties:)  So come back soon and see who I "Booed!"

Happy Fall,

Science In A Bag Club and Linky

Well my first bags have gone out.  I am talking about my Science In A Bag Club that I started last year at my school.  I am the fourth & fifth grade science teacher and  I absolutely LOVE science.  This club was a way for me to share my passion with my entire school so I started this club.  Anyone in grades kindergarten through eighth grade can join and last year out of 150 students at our little school 77 students signed up for the club.Wow!   I was really overwhelmed because I had no idea what I was doing making adjustments along the way. Such as I eliminated the lab sheet since the families were telling me that it was too much work to do a lab sheet and a journal in one night.  Last year I managed this club on my own, this year I have an awesome friend who volunteered  was recruited, the first grade teacher to help Thank you! This year we have about 55 students signed up out of 160 students.  So far it is looking good.

I was trying to figure out how to do a "club" without meetings after school. Our school has a lot of bus riders so I did not think an after school club would work.  So I came up with Science In A Bag!  In the bag is an experiment of the month specifically for kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade and sixth through eighth grade.  I also include all the directions, supplies, tools and a lab book to write or draw their observation and if they liked the experiment.  The bag needs to be brought back the following school day so it can be reloaded with supplies and sent home with the next student. I change the experiment each month so I end up sending home about 8 experiments a month.  I try to keep all the experiments in a binder so I don't do repeats but I figure after year three I should be able to start rotating the experiements since the students should be in the next group.  Right?????

Funding????  Last year I had a wonderful parent who contacted Walmart who donated a $50.00 gift card. Boy did I had tears in my eyes!  This year I have been creative trying to find experiments that use common household supplies or supplies that we already have in our impressive science lab (It is huge, stocked and I want to live down there!  lol)   at school.  My sweet husband did go to Circle K last weekend and bought a pop so we could get some ketchup packets for the middle school experiment.

Here are my 3 experiments for this month...

Magic Ketchup 6th - 8th Grade

Capillary Action 3rd - 5th Grade

Magic Cup K - 2nd Grade

Also I am linking up with  Megan over at I Teach, What Is Your Super Power for the "What I am Lovin' Linky! Science In A Bag of course!

Happy exploring,

Fun Friday Linky & Facts, Facts, Facts

Hello Guys,
Well I keep slipping up on my blog posts.  It is not like I am short on ideas just time.  Aren't we all?  This time I wanted to link up with  Kelly at Teaching Fourth Fun Friday where we share something we are using in our classrooms.  This year I am trying to move away from the traditional paper and pencil timed multiplication facts quizzes.  This felt like it would take forever to take, peer check and then I would quickly check them again. Let alone the amount of paper I would use to print out the quizzes for the kids & the time to print all the copies.  Big time UGH!  If the student passed with 100% I would give them a sticker on the class chart. If not they needed to retake the quiz next week until they pass.

Now we take our quizzes on Fun 4 the Brain website which has math type games and self-checking addition, subtraction and multiplication quizzes.  The student types in their name and clicks start to start the timer.  There is 36 multiplication problems they need to complete.  When the student clicks finished and then print, it also prints out the date, time and score. I then collect the quizzes.  They can take home the quizzes under 100% and practice the facts they got wrong and then retake that quiz next week. Those that pass get a sticker on the classroom chart.  My only complaint is that my students with test anxiety (I have quite a few) get overwhelmed with all the problems shown at once and just freeze up.

 Does anyone know of a online quiz that only shows one problem at a time? Please leave me a comment!!!!  I would LOVE it!

 It seems to be going well after a bit of training with the kids.  I do not think it has cut down on time yet since I have not been setting a time limit.  So for those quick test takers I let them play a math game on the Fun 4 the Brain website while the slower ones finish up.  I told the kids as they get the hang of the new quiz I will be setting a time limit, I just hope it makes this new procedure quicker & more efficient for the kids & myself.  The kids love using the computers so the interest level is high.
Soooo I hope you enjoyed my Fun Friday.  Leave me a comment and enjoy the others that have linked up.

Happy Friday,