Let them be Little?!

This week, I have already experienced one of the most *precious* moments in a student's life! To introduce this wonderful moment of truth, I first have a confession.

CONFESSION:
I didn't want to teach fifth grade. Many of you already know this about me. I convinced myself that I could do it because I taught fourth grade last year. I always said, the two grades I NEVER. EVER. wanted to teach were kindergarten and fifth. Kinders are too babyish and fifth graders are too growny! Still, when given the opportunity this year to teach fifth, I knew they were really little kids at heart and that they wanted to have just as much fun as those little kiddos!!! I convinced myself that I would be the fifth grade teacher that kept those babies CHILDREN! After all, they want to grow up way too fast now-a-days!!! I knew that parents would love my take on keeping their children engaged in their childhood innocence. After all, they are still ELEMENTARY students. That was my plan, keep them children, let them enjoy their childhood!

PRECIOUS MOMENT:
While reading in Where the Red Fern Grows, my school phone rang and it was an early dismissal. I HATE GETTING INTERRUPTED WHILE I"M READING...and my class knows this very well! I told the student to go ahead and pack up and head to the office and have a great day. While he packed up, I continued reading and my students were captivated...as they always are when I read...a little sarcasm here because this is also always really close to our recess time! No one but me saw this encounter take place and even the two boys that were a part of it, have no idea the impression they made on me that day! The student who was being dismissed early left the class, but before he shut the door behind him, stepped back inside and gave me a look of hesitation and then put his hand on another student's shoulder in our class that sits very near to the door. He then said in such a soft whisper that I didn't hear him but was able to read his lips..."I hope your brother feels better soon." He turned and responded with thanks and the early dismissal left the classroom.
The one student's 6th grade brother was diagnosed with bone cancer this week and he was very worried about his brother.
This may not seem like much of a story to you, but as I sat in my director's chair in the center of the class and witnessed the care and expression of the boy being dismissed early...a boy in who I would have NEVER expected this...a boy in who had no desire for anyone to notice him or even know that he was talking..I was met with a moment of truth. The boy who took the time to come back in and express his concern changed that day in a way that he doesn't even realize, in a way that petrified me when I thought of fifth graders. In that moment, he went from being a childlike boy to being a supportive young man.
The wonderful truth about fifth grade is that they are children...but they are in the process of becoming young men and young women. I'm proud to be a fifth grade teacher this year and experience such a vital part of their "growing-up". I no longer resolve to keeping them children, but rather determine to show them how to be young men and young women.
May God help us set good examples before them each day!

Always one step behind!

I can not believe we are in March already...where has my year gone?! Where did the time go?!
February wasn't much of anything in these central Georgia schools except for one snow break after another topped with a week of Mid Winter Break! Which, don't get me wrong, I loved the days off but we pretty much accomplished nothing and my kiddos have been super hard to refocus. It seems they learn something and then go a week without learning anything so it's harder than ever to keep their attention!

Because I'm always one step behind, I'll recap my February with 5 photo collages...(I'm so excited to have actually taken the time to download a collage app and play around with it on my phone...so yes, I will be posting 5 collage pics!)


1. The first thing we finished up in February was our "Kindred Spirits" Bible study on friendship for the fifth grade girls. The idea came because of all the girl drama that I've noticed this year. The other fifth grade teachers agreed that lessons on friendship could help teach our girls how to get along with others. I had just finished reading the first book in the "Anne of Green Gables" series around Christmas time and got the DVD's at Barnes and Noble on a giftcard that one of my students gave me! (Would that we had time to read them the books...my!my!my!...they are so...good!)  We ended up showing the first DVD in two parts on a couple of Friday afternoons. Each time we met, we had a short devotional on friendship. The girls got to bring in a pillow and change into jammies! We had some winter themed refreshments and gave all the girls a bookmark at the conclusion of our meetings. It had a quote from the book on one side..."Kindred Spirits are not as scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world." and the other side had a Bible verse.

 

2. In this same week we concluded and tested on RoCkS! One of our coworkers embroiders and she made these adorable shirts for our team! They were only 12 bucks and that included a custom design and the price of the t-shirt! I love the cutesy rock graphic but... it does happen to land on my left unmentionable! Something I didn't notice until looking at photos! The bottom left pic was an intentional photo bomb by two fifth graders while at recess.

3. We worked on verbs and tenses and mangaged to get a little "Love.Is.Tense." activity in and posted in the hallway for the love month. Unfortunately, it is the ONLY heartsy valentinesy thing that I did during February. I'm blaming upper elementary and the fact that we were out most of this month! I gave them 5 heart die cut- outs and they had to write a heart linked letter to someone expressing their love for them in past, present, and future tense. My example is in the center...so let me explain the past tense heart... I did realize I loved Michael after I broke up with him. I guess when they say you never realize what you have until it's gone, they mean it! The bottom left was a boy student who chose his Mom! It was a precious one to read! The one on the bottom right chose her best friend and I loved her spin on it!

4. We celebrated V-Day on Valentine's Day! We missed nearly the whole week but surprisingly went to school the Friday of our parties...which no one expected! My plans were to have a Berry Special Valentine's Mustache Bash...we kind of did but had very little time due to missing so much of that week! I found these bright colored mustache valentines online...sorry, I can not remember who I downloaded these from because I was so last minute printing them! I made a run to Walmart at 6:00 that night for just about everything as I didn't think we'd be at school. I had wanted to make cute fruit labels like...I'm Bananas for you! You're berry special! You're such a cutie! Etc...that.didn't. happen. Thankfully the sweet teen girl that I've been using as my class baker was still able to make and bring in the very tasty mustache cake!

The cute little fella to the right is one of my staff kiddos! He's a goof ball but one of the sweetest ever! His mom is also an avid blog reader and Pre-K teacher at our school! Shout-Outs to you two Widby's!

5. Last but certainly not least....My hubs took me to the Circus for Valentines!We had an Amazing Night at the Greatest Show on Earth! He did buy me the precious stuffed elephants but all 32 of the clown noses were free from the pre-show! They will definitely be gifts for my students at some point before our 5th Grade Circus ends this year! Oh, and for those of you who are wondering...the gift I got my hubs for V-Day....was a "mag"...a man-bag...and a very nice one that he has been using a lot lately! I knew he'd love it when he realized his need for one :)

That's really all of the exciting parts of my February. There was very little Black History emphasis and absolutely NO President's Day emphasis...but March is a new month!

Now...to go find my Cat in the Hat shirt and catch some shut eye! 

Night or rather..Mornin'!

Monday Monday...

Monday...Monday...ahah...ahahahahah...

Is that a Beatles Song?! I'm really not sure and those are the only lyrics I know but that's exactly how I feel right now! I am so...glad to be home and have my feet propped up on Buddy, my electric heater!
Nothing elaborate that we did today except get back into the swing of things!

 We did crack into our "rock candy" after lunch and they literally had to CRACK into those suckers! There was absolutely NOTHING on the skewer but a lot of hardened candy on the top and bottom. Most of the students didn't like it but I had about 5 giggly girls that loved it! I had to make them throw it in the trash!

The pics below are what it looked like after sitting for 3 weeks with the skewers inside. Not sure where we experimentally went wrong but somewhere we did!

Whelp...a bowl of cereal is calling my name so I'm gonna go answer it!

CURRENTLY BABY!

Oh my soul! I cannot express how excited I am to do this! Farley's currently links have been something I've been reading and loving since she started them! She was the second blogger that I found and that's when I started my blog stalkness. (Although, I really think I broke Farley's rule number one...I couldn't figure out how to link to this exact post..so sorry! I just put my blog url in...any advice on how to link to this exact post?!) I'm really not a rule breaker!!!

Here it is:

The electric heater has been my buddy for the last 2 weeks! It's always directly in front of me and blowing on me if I'm in my living room! I even had burn marks on my legs one night. Yep. Love this guy. I think I should name him...*Buddy...Buddy the electric heater*
I love that I don't have any plans today...my hubby is working but I think I should make some plans to clean this house!

 I really want to lose some weight fast and it's not going anywhere without some work so I need a routine and I seriously need to be dedicated!

 I am wearing a Little Mermaid tee and this is my first currently ever so ob-V...I'm not a total computer savy nerd or I would have known how to do this a LONG time ago and I'd also know how to not have those big bulky white text boxes that do not blend in with the format.

Yay for currently!
That. Is. All.

Bye Bye January...Hello February!

I cannot believe January is over! Usually it is the most productive month for me but not this year.

Fifth. Grade. Is. Serious.

We also had an unexpected week of Snow Days!!! Don't get me wrong...I greatly enjoyed the unexpected week but if we get anymore our make up days are after Memorial Day and into summer break...ugh.

And I am EXTREMELY behind in my classroom so forget the fun stuff! While I planned to study the Arctic vs. Antarctic this month, I've yet to even finish Mr. Popper's Penguins and Monday is February! Yep. I'm still struggling with adjusting to upper elementary and a new school with an incredible amount of specials. 

So...what did I do in January?!?

We BEGAN this chapter in science...

The layers of the earth and rocks/minerals. Thankfully, I had some study hall high school students come in and cut out all the circles for me...otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten this done. They had to list 3 facts about each layer. 

We also attempted rock candy...

 

Epic. Fail.

This is the only pic I have (it was attempt 2) but I pretty much followed an "EASY DIY ROCK CANDY" recipe that I found on pinterest. It sounded a whole lot easier than the traditional string way. Unfortunately, when we put the sugar coated skewers into the cup mixture, everything dissolved off the skewer. I tried coating them again and letting them dry for an hour (what they are doing in the pic above) vs. the 15 min. the recipe called for but the coating still dissolved. I've been letting the "candy" crystals form in the cup and while it has hardened, it just doesn't seem like rock candy. Getting rid of it Monday morning because I'm ready to move on! 

We celebrated the 100th Day of School for a whole 5 minutes of the morning with a breakfast treat and morning work assignment before they went to their Band/Chorus class. 

Ain't nobody got time fo that in fifth grade! Honestly, I think they were more excited to learn that we only have 70 days of school left!

We also celebrated Milk Day...no intentional pun there. One year I had a first grader look at our class calendar and ask "What is Milk Day?" when he saw MLK DAY. What a funny moment in the life of a first grader learning to read.

 We read a biography on his life and discussed several of his most famous quotes. The students really seemed to learn a lot and then we did this craftivity paragraph writing for display. (Again, this wouldn't have happened except I had some study hall helpers!)

This one was very well drawn and I LOVE the quote above on the right! SO...true! 

 We also enjoyed many snow days. I had parents send me pics of their kiddos in the snow because I thought we'd be at school on Friday...that didn't happen (well, it did for me but not them) so I won't be having a Snow Day Show and Tell. Instead, I took their pics and put them in blue hearts to somewhat bring in Valentines. I wanted a catchy "Love Snow" phrase but this was the best I came up with. It won't stay up long because I'll be getting out the pink and red, but it's a nice way to welcome them back!

I'm really terrible at free handing hearts...

Me and my love enjoying the snow!

Well...Now that January is gone, the only thing in February that I'm ready for is Valentine's Day with my hunny. For the first time in 3 years of marriage, I actually have him a Valentine's gift! I can't wait to give it to him!

Back in the Saddle Again and New Years

When my alarm went off this morning these words literally came flowing all countrified right outta my mouth "Back in the Saddle Again"....I  was right back into my groove and not even half way through the day when I felt my voice begin to get weak. I could not believe it. I guess I just had too much enthusiasm in my voice?!
Anywhoo...it was a good day back but I am pooped. We reviewed and practiced ALL of our procedures for the classroom, hall, and lunchroom. (which is probably why my voice went weak...I talked TOO much today)

Me in 2014

We did this "Me in 2014" paragraph writing and I emphasized the use of pronouns. I downloaded the freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers from Amy Murdock. There were a lot of cute options for printing and even the cute little faces with several different options.  If you click on my pic above, it will take you to her TPT store. I also downloaded and laminated the banner below from TPT. Click on the pic below for the link for it also. It's great because it can be used year after year!

I hope the links work, I think I remembered how to link them;) HA! It has been a while!

I do sincerely appreciate all the amazing teachers who share their work, talents, and creativity on TPT as a free download. You all are extremely talented and I will go to Heaven with many thankful praises for you all!

sNOw Way!

So after being out for 2 1/2 weeks there was sNOw way I wasn't going to school today because of cold weather! My inner soul just desired to be there! I didn't do anything plan-productive...and really my plans are shot because of the "snow" days... but I did organize and make it a little more winter-friendly. I have a TON of winter books and games from teaching younger grades. I debated on taking most of it to school but the reality of it is BIG kids are still LITTLE kids they just don't want you to think so and with all this cold weather this will give them plenty of indoor recess entertainment.  Some of my favorite winter reads are Balto the True Story, the Tacky series, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. I plan to read all of these and start tomorrow out with Mr. Popper's Penguins.

When my fifth graders finish early, they like to work on puzzles.

 I found some loot on clearance and I LOVE Michael's clearance. I couldn't resist all the circus animal plush ornaments! I will save them for next year's Christmas tree. I also bought a super cute 2013 teacher owl ornament for one of my fifth grade teacher friends. Upon first impression, I likened her to James and the Giant Peach'es  "Spiker" which I soon learned she is nothing of the sort and is every bit of sweetness that there is and also super dedicated! I wanted her to know that she has been a CRUCIAL and SPECIAL part of my adjusting to a new school year for the 2013-2014 school year...and she will appreciate the clearance part because she is one of the biggest  penny pinching, recycling tree huggers that I have ever met. She's been a great influence on me in many ways and I'm very thankful for her. The "Let it Snow" wreath is for my door and then they had some great Barnum and Bailey circus stuff but it wasn't clearanced so I only bought what I couldn't resist.

Are they not the cutest circus ornaments ever?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't ever resist photo booth props!

Ever since day 1, I have wanted something for sweet notes, cards, drawings...that you feel so bad to just throw away so I came up with something for that hopeless door that I hope will next year be a closet...NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...it leads to that nasty disturbance of the server room. It makes the inconvenience much more bearable to me! This isn't nearly all of the notes I've gotten this year and most of them are from the same 3 girls :) Except the handsome pictures of 2 boys and the paper airplane! It happens to be from the sweetest little boy *EVER* and has my name written on it as Ms. St"u"wart...I shall treasure it forever...though I'm sure he'd much rather see it flying around the room than taped onto a door. He also gave me this cute picture frame with a sweet quote by Anne Frank for Christmas so I found a spot to put it as well! I used that super de dooper outdoor sticky stuff that holds up to ten pounds to adhere it.

 I also covered my door. I feel much better about going back now...though I do need to spend some time on my plans!
Happy Second Semester!