Spring Break

We have spring break this week...it's really girls' basketball tournament time...so just 3 days of teaching.
 Do any of you use Netflix in the classroom?  I find their National Geographic movies are really good (sometime just a little long for 4th graders).
 

 We can't get YouTube at school...but I'm able to use Netflix.  Go figure!

Preparation for the Dreaded STATE TEST

Thank you Stephanie at Teaching in Room 6 .  You have made my weekend.  She has put together a wonderful plan to help students prepare for the STATE TEST. 

I'll be using the task cards from Proteacher, SRA labs, and prepdog.com.

PBS

Most teachers are familiar with Pintrest...and love it...I do, and here's my latest find.  This was an easy sign to make for the hallway...and it relays the rule in a way that's memorable.

This Time of the School Year

This seems so appropriate for this time of the school year...

HERE   is the original site. 

Thursday and Friday, I'm off to Nebraska's Reading Conference

Aimee Buckner  will be presenting Thursday.  Looking forward to her workshop.

Testing

This week we'll be MAPS testing.  How do you use the results?  What or how do you share results with parents?  I would prefer testing at the end of January, because shortly we'll be taking the state assessments. It seems like all we do second semester is test...test...test.

Valentine for students

I have these rock, paper, scissor candy for my students....

so I made this card using PrintShop and the post-it note option...

we'll be decorating Valentine bags this week.  I have a Mystery Valentine (like secret santa) for my students if they decide to particpate.

Parent Communication

What do other teachers do to communicate with parents?

1. I keep all papers and send them home on Friday with a coversheet.  The coversheet lists items of interest pertaining to events coming up for just our class.  Students are suppose to bring back the sheet on Monday---it needs to be signed by a parent. Every other week I send home grades which contains assignments and missing work.
2. I have  a blog where I have a generic look at our upcoming week.  I'm no sure how much this is visited...guess I could add a counter.  Kristen designed the page.  I have the skills to make a webpage, but I can't figure out what to do to make a blog site :(