Pinterest is the Best!

I love Pinterest!  I have gotten so many great ideas for my classroom from that website!  You can follow me on Pinterest @crabbr.  I'm hoping to have my desks all set up very soon so that I can post photos of my classroom set up.  Coming soon...Data Walls!  Today's post is short hope your summer is going great!

July 2015 Getting Off The Ground!

Hello!

I'm going to make more of an effort to be a blog teachers want to follow!  I have been working diligently on anchor charts and pinning like a madwoman on Pinterest!  Pinterest counts as professional development right?  My goal this year is to incorporate more anchor charts that the students can refer to in the room.  My school district is using Houghton Mifflin's Journeys Common Core, Math in Focus and McGraw Hill for social studies.  So my blog will be related to those texts.  Below I have included pictures for Point of View, Story Structure and Subject and predicate which are the skills in the first story in reading A Package for Mrs. Jewls from the Louis Sachar book Wayside School is Falling Down.  I have also included a picture of a chart for place value which is lesson 1.1 in Math in Focus. 

It is very important to me that students take ownership of their work and learning, so this year I have created some charts to help them with their ownership.  The first chart is a "rate your learning" chart, the second chart explains their grade scale and what their grade means.  The third chart is how to phrase questions.  It drives me insane when a student says "I don't get it" or "I don't understand".  My usual answer is..."If you have a question I'd be happy to answer it".  They are often flummoxed by this response.  I want them to tell me what or why they don't understand.  Simply stating, "I don't understand" is lazy. 

5th grade is not an easy job.  It is my goal to help you make your 5th grade class (or intermediate class) a little bit easier to manage.  Happy summer and see you soon!

photos of my classroom

This is my Every Day Counts Math Center.

This is my CAFE bulletin board, year long 6 traits bulletin board and library center.

My new arrangement of my desk!  Love it!

It's almost 2 AM...

It's almost two in the morning and I am pinning and watching the Golden Girls. This episode is the one where Dorothy is the director of Henny Penny. She encourages students to have a love of reading. Rose tries to get the children to want to change Henny penny. I have been thinking about rearranging my classroom to make it more user friendly. All of my bulletin boards will be rearranged. I am on the search for a pensieve for my cafe paperwork. I am so excited to get back into school mode!

Finally Finished!

I finally finished the Daily CAFE by Boushey & Moser and I cannot wait to get started this fall with my partners in crime Mrs. J & Mrs. G!!!! The vacation to beautiful Nashville gave me lots of time to read and reflect. My goal this summer is to upgrade my blog so that people want to read it :). I'm spending a great deal of professional development time on Pinterest. Happy summer pinning everyone!

Organizing Student Info at the Start of the Year

Okay, so I am not the most organized person in the world and to those who know me this is a shocker...NOT!  I have however with the help of my friend and fellow teacher Kim come up with a good way to keep all student info at my fingertips.  How you ask???  Well I'll share...here's what you'll need:

A 3/4" binder
page separators and tabs
copy paper

What do I put in it?

1. Previous year ISTEP (or your state standardized test score).
2. Our schools Internet use agreement, daily dismissal form and code of conduct agreement.
3. A time capsule sheet that the student has filled out.
4. A reading inventory that is boy or girl specific.
5. A sheet for the parents to fill out about their child.
6. Behavior plans for students who have them.
7. IEP or 504 information for resource students. 

This year I had to break out the binder to remind student's parents that they had signed an Internet use agreement and code of conduct agreement when they said they hadn't seen them...I was so glad I had all of this information in a class binder so that it was easy to find.  I only have to look in one simple place to find all information I need. 

I will post my parent sheet for you to use, I hope this helps you!!!!  Below is the URL for Smekens Reading inventory.

http://www.smekenseducation.com/interest-inventories-for-your-readers.html

Why did I choose this title for my blog?

I chose Fifth Grade and Fairy Dust because 1. I teach fifth grade and 2. I think teaching is magical (the fairy dust). I love love love my job! I wake up happy to go to it every day. What makes the magic...well, first I have the best principal to work for, I have a great staff to work with and Smith School has great students! I use the following programs in my room: 1. 6 traits of writing (I follow Smekens). 2. Daily 5 by Boushey and Moser. 3. We use RtI. 4. Singapore Math/Everyday Counts math calendar. 5. Technology! Technology! Technology!