I Scream, You Scream!!

We wrapped up our study of Matter this week in science, and I must say that I loved teaching this unit.  My kiddos tend to have pretty bleak background knowledge when it comes to science and social studies.  Unfortunately I think this is the truth in more schools than not, especially in lower income schools, thanks to NCLB and our test mania focus on reading and math.  Anyways, it can be frustrating to teach a unit in science when our text book expects so much background knowledge and is written at a very high level.  I decided to pick and choose my text readings based on what the kids most needed to know to understand matter and to supplement with as many labs, demos, and hands-on activities as possible.

When I remembered making ice cream in a bag in my Methods of Teaching Science course in college, I knew I had to make time for this activity.  Have you done this activity before?  Basically, the kids combine milk, sugar, and vanilla in a quart-sized ziplock bag.  Then, they combine salt and ice in a gallon-sized bag before sealing the smaller bag inside the larger one.  10 minutes of shaking later, ice cream!!  I loved doing this activity because not only is it super fun and relatively easy to execute (although prepping and clean-up are a PAIN, as is often the case for science labs), but it gives kids a great opportunity to cause a phase change to happen (liquid --> solid).  We had a great discussion about how the cold from the ice slows the molecules down in the milk liquid, freezing it into a solid.  And YUM!  It actually makes some tasty ice cream!

My kiddos may not be science experts after this unit, but they definitely have a better understanding of solids, liquids, and gases, their properties, and what causes the phase changes between them.  All in all, a success!  Wish I could post the cute pictures, but they all have faces. :(  If you are interested in trying this lab, I'd be happy to send it to you:  email me at juiceboxesandcrayolas AT gmail DOT com

Once upon a time, I sacrificed ISAT practice in favor of actual good teaching...

...and I only feel a little bit guilty.

I tell ya, coming back to school today after a surprise 5 day snow weekend was not the easiest thing in the world.  But it was nice to see the kiddos. :)  Even if they did seem to forget how to raise their hands...can someone explain to me why that always seems to happen?  Oh and I have ANOTHER new student.  That makes #4 this year.  Yikes!  Good thing he seems like a sweetheart, or I'd have to send him back... ;)  Only kidding!

In the midst of a jungle of ISAT PREP that will only get worse over the next 3 weeks til the big tests, I managed to squeeze in a few fun things.  One area the kiddos always struggle in when it comes to testing is literary genres. Since I have hit them and hit them again during literacy, I decided to sneakily fit in a second dose during writing workshop.  For fun I did a mini-lesson on fairy tales today (not that this is a genre they need help with...but sometimes you just gonna teach something fun).  We brainstormed elements of fairy tales, then I read aloud part of Rapunzel. (I don't always read an entire mentor text for WW because it takes too long.  They need to be writing the majority of the time!  All it usually takes is part of a story to get the gist.  The kids begged me not to stop, though, so I will probably finish it during another lesson later this week.)  Then I gave them a story starter for their fairy tale: "Once upon a time there lived a prince/princess with a big secret..."  We did a 2 minute quick-write after that building on the sentence frame (I ALWAYS write with them during quick-writes.  I love it!), before going off during writing time to work on whatever projects their little writer hearts desire.  Some of the kids continued running with the fairy tale idea, and I loved hearing them during sharing time.  Now that we have fairy tales set in our heads, what genre should I try next?  Mystery maybe?  

I am also looking forward to kicking off a science unit tomorrow.  We have been deep in social studies land since early December, and I just realized that report cards are mere weeks away and I have ZERO science grades...oops!  The next unit is on Matter, so we're starting with some hands-on discovery lessons this week. Even though science was my arch nemesis as a child, I kinda love teaching it.  Updates to come on how the carefully planned lessons go in the real-life classroom!

No sign of Mr. Principal's surprise observation yet... :-/ gosh I hate these things!  I get nervous enough when I know when they are/what he'll be observing!  This is just cruel.

Side note:  Some of you know that I moved back in with Mom & Dad when I graduated from college in '09, mostly to save $$$ and partly because I am way too lazy to look for an apartment.  While I am planning to move out in the near future, I will be the first to admit that I've got it pretty good here, and am in no real hurry...Case in point, here's what was waiting on the counter for me when I got home from school:

Costco sized box of my favorite cereal (9 grams of protein per serving?!  be still my vegetarian heart) and giant bottles of my favorite shampoo and conditioner.  Come on.  You can't beat that.  Oh, and my dad was making tofu and veggie stir fry.  Seriously.  Do I have to grow up?

Mid-week busy-ness

This was one non-stop day.  One of those door duty before school, common planning meeting during your 1 and only 1/2 hour special, making up math tests with students at lunch, parent meeting right after school, principal meeting right after THAT, no time to pee until 4, forget to eat lunch, making 240 copies of club applications at 5, crazy kind of days.  Phew.  I just got exhausted again reliving it.

Busy as it was, there's no time to be exhausted on a day like this!  Not until I was in the car driving home, kicking off my heels next to the pedals, and cranking up the music that I realized how tired I was.  The only way to recover was by watching a little Grey's, enjoying a diet coke, and icing my sore ankle.  (Oh, I slipped on the stairs at my friend's apartment building Saturday night and rolled my ankle.  Yes, my right tibia is still recovering from a now 8-week stress injury.  Obviously, I rolled the LEFT ankle.  Now I have pain in both legs.  But it gives me an excuse to teach on a stool. :)  But I digress...

We did another great science activity today that showed how salt water is denser than fresh water.  It turns out it you add food coloring to water to help you see it better, and drop a droplets of fresh water into a cup of salt water, you can actually see each drop float back up to the top!!  If you put enough in slowly, it will actually form a layer on top.  How awesome is that?!  The kids were really into it.  I love when they get as excited as I do about an activity.  Hey, I love that I have a job that I get excited about!  Yes, the lab was a lot of extra work and was part of the reason I missed my lunch, but it was worth it.  I also love that the kids fight over each other to help me clean up.  Seriously, you really want to wipe down the table with paper towel and dry out all of the plastic cups?  oookay then... :)

Tomorrow is a 1/2 day in-service which, while potentially boring, is always a nice change of pace mid-week.  It's always nice to go out to lunch and be guaranteed an entire lunch period free of students.  I always end up keeping a few in with me because of missing homework or behavior, and while I know that it's my choice to do that, it's nice to have a day of lunch with grown ups. :)

And as if this week weren't busy enough already, I have my first observation of the year Thursday afternoon.  Yikes!!  While I have gotten nothing but positive, supportive feedback from my principal since I started this job, I'm a little unsure of how this lesson is going to go.  He will be observing Writing Workshop, and while I know my lesson plan is DYNAMITE (seriously, it's a good one), there is a LOT of potential for things to go wrong in WW, especially since we haven't done it in over a WEEK.  So I'm a bit nerve.  Also, we are doing the observation lesson IMMEDIATELY after a fire drill (our first of the year).  I'm talking principal is bringing his notes, etc. outside for the drill with him and accompanying my class back to our room right after.  Hmmm...honestly, I picked the day for this observation.  What was I thinking?  Keep your fingers crossed that we have no melt downs during the drill and everyone reenters quiet, calm, and ready to WRITE!!!

Photo Update: I AM A SCIENTIST!!!

I wrote the other day about the fun Science Careers interest activity I started with the kids last week.  With most of them finally having finished their detailed drawings, I wanted to share a few of the final products.

My absolute favorite:

Left side: "Who is a scientist?  Wahahahahahaha" (<-- evil laugh)
Right side: "I am a scientist!  I'm a engineer scientist"

Another favorite:

Left Side: "Who is a scientist?"
Right Side: "I am a scientist!  Ecologist, Botanist"

Amazing that kids who had never heard of these careers before are are actually interested in them now, and can SEE THEMSELVES doing them someday!  Next year, I'd love to extend this activity by having the kids research different science careers and present on them...or maybe I could have some science professionals visit the class...hmmmm something to keep in mind :)

Anyways, seeing those final products was a very happy part of my day.

Helping Kids Fall in LOVE with Science :) (or that's my goal at least!!)

I'm not exactly a scientist...in fact, I barely scraped a B- in high school biology, and that was only because I went in constantly for help from the teacher.  But, that aside, I really do love teaching science--in fact, while I may not be good at learning science myself, it's probably my favorite subject to teach.  There's just something magical about seeing kids ask questions about nature, conduct hands-on experiments, and grasp for the first time the science behind how things work in the world around them.

During my student teaching experience two years ago, my students loved science.  Almost all of them were interested in learning more about the sciences and looked forward to our activities.  It was exciting to learn and discover along with them, and so special to watch them become excited about the sciences. You can imagine my disappointment when, last year (my first year teaching), I read a shared reading story about the space program to my kiddos and asked, "Who thinks it would be exciting to be an astronaut?" and NO ONE raised their hands.  I was completely taken aback!  What, NONE of you thinks that would be cool??? Come on, I could barely make it through basic high school physics and would never seriously consider the career, but you have to admit it'd be pretty awesome!  But nope, no interest.  Nada.

This year, I am determined to "capture" my students' interests in science right off the bat.  I had them do a fun activity called, "Who is a scientist?" that I dreampt up this summer based on bits and pieces of other sciency activities I stumbled upon this summer.  I had the students draw a picture of a "scientist" including where they are working and what they're wearing.  Not surprisingly, almost every drawing pictured a person wearing a white coat mixing chemicals in a laboratory.  Many were "mad scientists," characterized by their fantastic hair styles.

Quote from a student while drawing "mad scientist": "How do you spell, 'Wahahahaha!'" :) amazing.  (PICTURES TO COME!!)

Anyways, we talked about the pictures and what they had in common.  Then, I showed them a picture of my brother and told them that he's a scientist (he's an aerospace engineer).  Obviously he looks nothing like their drawings.  I told him that he wears jeans to work, loves xbox and wii, plays hockey, and works mostly at a computer.  But he's still a scientist!  Then, the students took a science careers "interest survey" that described different career interests in  some of the different fields of science.  After they had selected the most interesting descriptions, the kiddos got to see which science career matched their interests.

I have to say, it was wonderful to see my students realize that they could be scientists too.  It is heartbreaking to me when minority students or female students see certain careers as being completely out of their element.  I wanted to drive home the idea that anyone can be a scientist, and that scientists do many, many jobs.  Do I think they're all going to start doing science projects on the weekends?  No.  But just like the first step to classroom management is getting them to fall in love with me, the first step to teaching any subject is to get them to fall in love with it. :)

yes, you should be taking a shower every day...

today we are teaching the first session of the "family living" unit aka human reproduction aka sex education. except we are forbidden to talk about sex. (interesting, i know.)  the focus is mostly on "the reproductive system," "changing bodies," and "adolescence," with some fun hygeine thrown in.


anyways, this is the day i've been dreading ever since i heard the words "fifth grade."

yup, it's days like today when i wish i taught 3rd grade, and also that I had better control of my laughter. because my team and i already can't stop giggling when we're together, throw in a power point with words like "scrotum" in it and forget about it. good lord, wish us luck...

1 good thing though is that, as a first year teacher, the nurse has decided i will just be "observing"...and hopefully not cracking up/blushing too much!!

and we're back

Okay.  I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight, so I'm not going to get into everything that's been going on.  But after last Monday's somewhat bleak posting, I feel I should briefly update.  Monday (last) was a real low point for the year so far.  It was just one of those days where enough things went wrong to make you wanna throw in the towel.  Between a whole new level of behavior problems with my "difficult student," the rest of the class being off-task in general, a really irritating display of unprofessionalism geared at me from a colleague, and my car being keyed in the parking lot one night I was working late, I was about done.  Thankfully, the next day my team stepped in and helped me out enough that I could get things back together.  I've been working hard the last week on reteaching expectations, enforcing rules, and gaining control of my class (minus 1 who I am OUT OF IDEAS for).  In general, it's going well.  Although I never dreamed we'd need assigned carpet seats in 5th grade...but that's besides the point.

Anyways, things are going a little better.  It's still really draining, and I am constantly wishing that this one kid would just get sick and spend a day at home, because he is so exhausting.  Every second I am making choices on how to handle his behavior, and I'm just never sure if I'm doing the right thing.  I spend half my time and energy on trying to keep him in line, or dealing with him when he has a melt-down, a tantrum, or does something crazy...but that's life I guess, or at least teaching.  I'm crossing my fingers that SOMETHING changes and that maybe someday we'll be able to get through a day without any real disasters...wishful thinking...

On another note, I'm in the middle of an expository writing project that some of my students are enjoying as much as I am (I say some, but that's really the best you can hope for in 5th grade!).  We're writing about someone in our life who we think is a hero.  I'm modeling each step of the process and am enjoying writing about my hero as much as I'm enjoying hearing about my students' heroes.  I'm looking forward to seeing the final product, although we are nowhere near that point. 

Tonight I spent the true elementary educator's evening in my kitchen making playdough and doing experiments on "buoyancy."  This I learned:  when you read a lesson plan for a lab on the internet, always always ALWAYS try it at home first.  They're not always as simple as they sound!  Cross your fingers that the few experiments that look like they WILL work actually do tomorrow...

Finally, today was the first day of Battle of the Books meetings.  While part of me knows it was crazy for me to take this on this year, another part of me is so glad I did.  Reading with kids who love reading and are volunteering to take part in this club/competition is so refreshing.  I need something like this back in my life--spending time in small groups with kids who want to learn.  During guided reading, I spend most of my time meeting with my approaching grade level groups and deferring my on and beyond students to my aid and lit coach.  I miss reading with kids who are strong readers and love engaging with texts and having discussions as much as I do.  So, even though the time committment is huge (and I have to read all the books for the battle too...eek), I am confident that the payoff will be well worth it. 

Anyways.  Off to find some fabric scraps in the basement because I promised my future fashion designer student I would bring her some to work into her designs...and then bed.  Bon nuit :)  Let's hope I have no more "I'm going to quit" melt downs anytime soon!

note to self: do not say at school until the custodians close the building EVER AGAIN

This has been QUITE the week!!!  Tuesday Mrs. J and I stayed EMBARRASSINGLY late at school...so late, I don't even want to say what time I made it home.  There are always just so many things to do.  I stayed at school forever and was literally constantly working, but did not even get ahead.  I feel like so much of the time I am just barely staying above water.  This is NOT what I'm used to--I am a planner big time and like being on top of things.  So it's a little unnerving for me to feel disorganized.  Anyways, after that marathon and a half day, Wednesday felt even worse: full day at school, autism therapy, then back to school for celebrate reading and writing night.  Thankfully, my team would not allow me to stay after that and continue working.  One even threatened to pull me out by my hair if I tried to stay. :)  I believe she would, too...  Anyways, it's been a long week.  You'd think if I put in that many hours, I'd have the next MONTH of school planned.  But I feel like so much of my time is just spent staying organized.  So many papers being turned in all the time, I've started just recycling the morning work and random hw pages. It's not even worth the time to check some of it.

Well, after that incredibly long week of early mornings and late nights, by yesterday, I had about lost my mind.  I was crabby all day and very sarcastic with my kids.  And, by the afternoon, I wasn't even feeling like myself.  I think I literally was just completely overworked.  I'm going to try not to put in another week like that again, because it just really screwed me up.  This weekend, I am planning on having some fun to recover.  However, I also want to get a lot of work done this weekend so I'm not left with it next week. catch 22 really.

Hmm what else to update on...well, my challenging student's behavior has been improving.  He still goes off about things and can be disruptive in class, but he's made a big improvement.  I also find that when I am well-rested and calm in general, I can handle him so much more easily.  I know we are headed in the right direction, though. 

I started a unit in science about water on Earth and did a cool experiment about density of salt and fresh water.  I'm hoping to pull some other experiments and activities from Project WET, and am excited about actually teaching my favorite subject.  finally.  I also had this epiphany last night and decided to start a writing unit on Heroes this week.  I'd been planning on starting an expository essay and didn't really know how to approach it in terms of topic.  So I settled on heroes.  I think I'm going to connect it to Veterans Day initially, then we'll right about heroes we know personally for the essay.  Finally, as a social studies tie-in, because god knows I don't teach it enough, maybe we'll do a little research of heroes in history.  Anyways, I still have no idea how this is going to turn out, but I like when I get excited about planning things.  So often school just feels hard or stressful or frustrating that I really need some of these little happy things to keep me going.

Anyways, here's just one small thing that made me smile last night:  I was grading my math quizzes while watching Say Yes to the Dress (for someone who has anything but weddings on the brain, I'm not sure why I even like that show!), and the quiz was on angles.  I had them label points on the angles and they could choose which letters to use.  5th graders are hilarious.  I loved seeing the different words they would make with them: RAT, DOG, OMG, BED, CAT, their initials, etc.  I know that's just a tiny little thing, but it reminded me that, yeah, they drive me crazy, but they really are still kids and they really are cute sometimes.  (I especially liked the OMG). 

Well, in the spirit of productivity, I think I'm going to get out of bed and start my day...

oh 5th grade

Drumroll...I taught science today!  Woohoo!  When I announced that we were FINALLY doing a science experiment, the kids actually cheered.  It made me so happy :)  Anyways, we did a short and sweet lab to practice applying the scientific method by checking how many water drops fit on a penny.  I love science.  It can be crazy at times, but it is so worth it seeing the kids get completely wrapped up in excitement.  And it was even more worth it today when one of my kids exclaimed, "Miss Teacher!  I noticed that this dropper is a little different than that one!  That might make some pennies have more water drops than others!" And me saying, "You're right!! But shhh!!! Let's see if anyone else figures that out too!"  I teach for "my kids are actually thinking, learning, and excited about school" moments like this. 

On the other hand, I had to call the office today because one of my kids flipped out and pelted his stress ball at the wall in a fit, and then another kid dropped an f-bomb at a kid...sooo quite the day all in all!

For the first time, though, when I left school right away for autism therapy, I didn't come back after!!  I actually left with all my things and went home after.  I decided I needed an evening off. :)  Definitely worth it...

Is it bad that I am DREADING the Halloween party Friday??