It's the Final Countdown. Duh nuh nuh nuhhhh.

Hey, remember me? I hope you sung my post's title.

This last month has been insane.

I have a few friends who were major behavior problems in the beginning/middle of the year. We were finally getting to a place where they weren't an issue everyday. But, summer has gone to their brain. So now, I'm back to the 5-6 kids who make my day nearly impossible. I changed seats again because everyone is arguing. Ugh!

State testing is over. I'm very pleased with how my kids did. After the first round, I had a handful of kids who needed to be remediated in reading and another handful in math. I had a few who "needed" remediation pass the test the second time around. I saw that they "need" it because they were totally capable of passing the first time, but didn't take their time and really focus. So, with that being said, I am totally for testing a 4th time. Although, it really did frustrate the lower level kids when a 1 or 2 popped up again. Definitely pros and cons for each.

OH! And I got a "new" student. With only 10 days of school left. I say "new" because he's not really new. He was in my class for the first two weeks of school, then moved out of state. Well he's back. And he is so much lower that my other kids. I feel so awful about the situation. 10 days isn't enough to get him up to speed. I wish I could do more.

As if our plates aren't full enough in 3rd grade at my school, we are expected to put on a third grade musical. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE musicals. I love teaching kids a routine and all of that. I was in musicals/plays in high school and college. But we just don't have the time this year. With the 4th DCAS opportunity, we needed to be remediating up until yesterday.

[No time for musical funny business]

So, our team tried to make it easier on ourselves. We decided to do a broadway medley instead of purchased and performing a "Broadway Jr." show. Each of us picked a different broadway song. My class is doing "Its a Hard-Knocked Life". They are so stinkin' cute. The only thing is, they do it SO well when we're in the classroom, then kinda lose it when we're practicing on the stage. Hopefully we get it together by Friday.

On the same note, another class is doing Seasons of Love, and I kinda just wanna go up there and sing the solo. I'm obviously living vicariously through these kids haha.

Oh, so I should probably touch on at least something we're doing academically. Well research is one of my favorite things to teach! I've come up with my own ideas and weaved them together with Ms. Bongers from Life in 4B. If you teach literacy to 3-4-5 graders, you should really check out what she does. I adore how she uses mentor texts and journaling. I wish I were in her class! Go check her out!

Because its the end of the year, ya know I need a craft to go along with this. So I purchased this Animal Reseach packet from Buzzing about Second Grade. Click the link, couldn't find the button! It comes with a whole bunch of things that were a little two simple for my kiddos this year, but will work perfectly next year when I'm in an inclusion classroom. So for this year, we are just using the safari guide template! I will post pictures when we're finished!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend, if you're still in school. 8 days left for me. 4 days this coming week and 4 days the next. Wish me luck! You probably won't hear from me until all my little chickens leave the coop. This farmer is burnt out!

Take that, TEST! & an Earth Day freebie!

A HUGE multiple choice several 42 paragraph passages long load has been lifted from my shoulders!

The first round of Reading Testing is through. And most of my kids ROCKED it! In their own ways, of course! How are your Tests scored? Like I said, my results are immediate because we test online [BLAH]. Students are given a score of 1-4, with these labels:

        1: Well Below

2: Below

3: Meets

       4: Advanced

To be in the clear [avoid summer school and count towards our AYP, as third grade is the only tested grade that counts at our school], the students need to have a 3 or a 4 by the end of the year.

We test four times. This is new this year, as last year, we tested three times. Today was our third reading test. If the student scores a 3-4, they do not have to participate in the fourth test. Out of my brood, only 6 have to retest! And out of those six, four of them went from a 1 to a 2! The other two did not try. [Don't get me started!]

I did a few things to pump my kids up this morning. Here are some pictures..

YEAH RIGHT. Do I ever bring my camera to school? Fail. But here's a list, think of it as a poor man's photo montage. Don't hold your breathe, but maybe I'll bring my camera tomorrow.

1. Two days ago, we made mustaches and magnifying glasses. We called ourselves Reading Detectives!
2. Yesterday, I made a small Tshirt template, and we made TEAM jerseys!
3. This morning, the students had to do a checklist for morning work. Their tasks included reading a short book and taking a Reading Counts quiz, getting a drink, having a snack [I brought bananas], wishing three friends good luck, putting their head down & counting to 100, and then coming to me for a reward [which was a piece of gum, seriously the best motivator. ]
4. I asked a different teacher to write a short letter to each one of my students. This was THE BEST! I had them open their letters [it was a surprise] right before we went to test, and my kids were SO excited to receive a letter from either a past teacher, a favorite instructional aide, or another staff member! I'm so thankful that my coworkers are so invested in the students, even when they aren't the homeroom teacher!

I know it seems like a lot of bells & whistles, but like I said, most of them ROCKED the Test, even though some have not "met the standard" yet! These six friends retest in about a month. There are a couple who are only a few points away, so it is totally do-able!

We test Math next Friday. And it happens to fall on a Pajama Spirit Day. FANTASTIC. But now that three quarters of my class know what success feels like, I'm pretty confident we'll do just as well on that!

I promised an Earth Day freebie!

I've been so wrapped up in testing that I'm just now getting around to planning Earth Day things. My B. As a school, we do a mile long walk called Walk To School Day, in order to promote exercise, so this is in the afternoon. As a grade level, we are going to collect trash around the out skirts of school property.

As for my classroom, we are going to complete this organizer and turn it into a letter to the earth, promising to do certain things. In the product, the graphic organizer is page 1. Upper grades can write in the boxes and lower grades can draw in the boxes. Or both!

Page two is a blank earth graphic. We are going to do a "teared paper" \slash\ mosaic earth craft. Click the image to pick it up fo' FREE at my tpt store.

Happy Earth Day and Happy State Testing! =)

Just Poppin' In..

to say that my trip to Jamaica has come & gone. Snookie Waaaaah.

After all of the arrangements for my PopPop, I left for my trip to Jamaica the next day. Not ideal, but the trip was booked like six months ago. I'll update with pictures when I get around to uploading them onto my computer.

I have to say, spending all this time at home [when I say home, I mean at my dad's house], makes me miss living in PA. I miss being minutes from my friends and family. I can't say that I regret moving to DE, being that I've met people who are extremely important to me. And I'm so thankful for my job. Moving on..

I'm on the Spring Break downslide. I'm so anxious to go back to work, in a good and bad way. Being away for a week with my kids have a sub has seriously stressed me out, especially with the reading portion of The Test being this week. Along with a handful of meetings. Then the math portion next week. Yikes. But I'm excited to see my kids. Maybe they've matured over their spring break.

Maybe not.

So many posts about The Test. Ugh. I've noticed that most of you still do the paper/pencil version of The Test. I'm jealous. We do computer based, which means instant feedback. Which means anxiety attacks for me. Does anyone out there do computer based testing and feel my pain?

Like I said, just popping in. I'll be back with a more substantial update once I get back into the swing of things.

I'm back!

I'm posting again. Maybe I'm back in blogging business!

I hope that some of you will get some use out of my freebie. Like I said, I'm using it as a brainstorming piece. Once we conference and decide which will be the best topic, they will fill out the more specific graphic organizer.

So I was observed on Friday. Let's just say it could have gone better. My usual suspects were being ridiculous. Not doing what I asked them to do, whining, playing with their manipulatives, etc. I was pretty much putting out fires the entire lesson. On top of this, it was a new concept [equivalent fractions], so of course there was going to be a little bit of confusion. My post-observation meeting is on Monday, and I'm sure we will talk about everything. I was hesitating on even posting about this, but I think it's important. Everyone knows I have a handful this year, and I just hope that my administration knows that I do my best everyday, and that, honestly, teaching is my top priority. I live an hour from my friends and family, I don't have a family of my own just yet. Teaching is my life [for better or for worse]. I give 110%.

Have you heard of Mr. Anker's Test? It is a website with test questions, broken down by grade, subject, topic, and even skill within a topic. I've been using it to supply an element of "test prep" with each skill we're passing. My students get their white board and their dry erase markers, and work a few problems. It has definitely been beneficial. Click the picture to see what I mean!

Are U There State Test? It's Me, Stressed Third Grade Teacher.

Say a couple prayers to the state testing gods tonight.

My crazies are taking their midyear math DCAS test tomorrow.

Yes, I called them crazies. My room is a three ring circus to begin with. Now times that by Christmas break [not 'til next Thursday though, WHAAA?!]. I'm about to lose my mind. I wouldn't be so stressed out about it if we weren't knee deep in mid year testing. SO getting through tomorrow means still doing curriculum [obvi], but not being SO darn uptight about everything.

So anyway, life is a whirlwind.

And no, I didn't quit teaching yet.

No fun for two weeks. BAH HUMBUG!

UGH. That's all I have to say about the next two weeks. Instead of using all of the fun activities I've been seeing in Blogland, I'm cramming knowledge into the heads of my class preparing my class for our midyear state test. We take Reading this Tuesday and Math the following Wednesday. It is computer based, so we get the results right away.

Blessing and a curse.

Because our administrators watch the scores roll in. Seriously. Enough to give me a panic attack. So I will be Ms. Grinch until next Tuesday. I know it is only the middle of the year, but my kids came in VERY low this year. They have a ways to go before they get their 3s and 4s. Some have over 200 points to go, which is equivalent to over 3 years growth. I'm fighting an uphill battle.

Anyway, after all of this, I can't wait to have some fun with my kids. They deserve it!