5 for the Week

Yes, I know it's not Friday but I still want to show y'all what I was up to this week. I'm a little late on this because yesterday started my SPRING BREAK! I couldn't be happier! So here's my 5.

 

1. If you read last week's post I told you I was going to show you my learning scales on my students desks. This is a way they can monitor their learning of our goal for the week. The students just move the paper clip to where they feel they are based on the learning goal. I'll tell you what each number means:
 1. I don't get it and I need a lot of help.
2. I'm understanding with help.
3. I understand this.
4. I understanding this and can teach a friend.

That would be the generic scale but we have gold specific scales for each learning goal. Example:
Learning goal: We will be able to understand how to tell major differences between fiction and non-fiction.
1. I do not understand the major differences between fiction and non-fiction and need a lot of help.
2. I understand the major differences between fiction and non-fiction with help.
3. I understand the major differences between fiction and non-fiction.
4. I understand the major differences between fiction and non-fiction and could teach a friend.

2. Okay enough with this boring scale stuff. Here is all my testing data and data notebook that I lived with for 4 days this week. I tested my kids on their Houghton Mifflin leveled reading passage. This is just a running reading record. I'm happy to report that most of my class is ready for 2nd grade and all but 2 are on/above grade level in reading. I also STAR testing my kid which is a computer program that is linked to finding their just right level for Accelerated Reader. After collecting all this wonderful data I had to do report cards. I'm so happy I'll only have one more report card to do after this! EEK! Only 9 weeks left now to get these babies in gear for 2nd grade!

3. This week we read Flat Stanley and I gave my kids their Flat Stanley project for Spring Break. I know this sounds terrible mean to give homework over Spring Break and I thought this at first as well. It works at my school though because parents ask for homework and want their kids to continue working, they go on trips, and this is a two week long project so you don't actually have to do it over Spring Break. What they do is they take their cute laminated Stanley home with a notebook and write about their adventures with him. They have five pages to write on and they can draw the pictures or take photos and paste them in. The kids are actually really excited to take them on their family trips and around town. In the past Stanley has been to Sea World, Publix (grocery store), Chuck E Cheese, Disney, Universal Studios, the pool, the park, the beach...you get the idea you can pretty much have fun with him anywhere. This isn't due until April 2nd so they have two weeks to complete it. Many will take pictures on their vacation and the next week write about their adventures. 

                                               Before

After

4. We did some major spring cleaning! On Thursday the last day before my kids started Spring Break we did some major spring cleaning! My kids cheered when I told them we were cleaning. Obviously I've made them into organized and clean people this year. We empties out our material buckets, cleaned our desks, wiped down everything Lysol wipes, got new crayons and pencils, and organized the library. The room is now super clean and ready for our last 9 weeks. The kids felt a sense of pride after their hard work and were happy about their new materials.

5. We did some adorable chick writing curtsey of A Cupcake for the Teacher. I was going to use cute scrapbook paper like she did but thought I didn't have any. This is because my paper cabinet was a mess. The next day I found it. But I thought they came out super cute with their own designs for each egg. The kids loved doing this writing and of course making this craft. My kids know what in style to with those chevron stripes. 

Yesterday I worked a teacher workday and only had to be in for a half day because I had comp time. I got so much work done without the kids there it was amazing! In three hours I got the same amount of work in I would in 4 regular school days. I organized my cabinets, wrote lesson plans for April, got all my April centers for math and literacy ready to go,  reviewed my report card comments, got all copies made for April, homework packets, sight words, and reading logs ready for the return. It was a super productive day.

Here is one last picture of my room before I left for Spring Break. I have my laminator at school but I know I'll be needing it at home over the break. Buh bye class! See ya next week!