Science in Math

Next week in Texas, all the 5th graders are taking the STAAR test. Sooo...on my team, we like to help our Science teacher out and shut down our regular subjects to teach, or should I say re-teach Science. <--Kinda. :)

My Assignment.

Monday. The Water Cycle.
I did teach 4th grade Science, which totally covers this, so I was good. Thanks to Shake and Learn Science, I had my kids singing and dancing all around demonstrating the water cycle. Then we drew out the water cycle and made it colorful.

Tuesday. Electricity.
I was in luck, I taught this in 4th too. I do, believe it or not, know how to complete a circuit. So we looked at how to light a light bulb with a battery...you know the usual experiment we all do to teach electricity. Then we drew a diagram of a circuit. I guess I was feeling kind of artsy this week. :)

Wednesday. Phases of the Moon.
Ut Oh. We did not do this in 4th grade. Planets yes, although now they're dropping Pluto...but Phases of the Moon, no. I somehow convinced all my kids that we were going to all learn this together from the greatest scientist ever. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Yes, I know I could've just looked it up (and I did actually) but this method seemed more interesting. I mean, would you like to hear a Math teacher try to explain the moon phases or Bill Nye. Exactly. The loved it and I love hearing them sing "Bill, Bill, Bill Nye the Science Guy..."

Thursday. Phases of the Moon part 2.
Thank you Pinterest for your fabulous idea of using Oreo's to show the Phases. Awesomeness. Tell me you wouldn't love this...and they can eat them. Winning.

Pretty fun if I say so myself...

Pittsburgh

I had a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh last week. I just loved it there. Man, it was sooo pretty! As I sat there, in awe of its beauty, I realized how boring the scenery in Texas is...and Oklahoma for that matter. The mountains and rivers, bridges and amazing architecture. It's beautiful!!! For reals. So many cool things to do there. And I will be back soon so that I can go see my Steelers...and my family again. :)

Here is Pittsburgh...through the eyes of Instagram

The Hunger Games

Tomorrow Night.  Midnight. I will be at this movie and I cannot wait!

Thank you Scholastic Book Clubs for my Mockingjay pin. :)

With all the excitement of The Hunger Games, I decided it would be fun to make a graph. I had to get creative (since I don't teach reading) on how I could get my kids excited about the books. It wasn't hard, it's spreading like wildfire. 

I covered half of my chalkboard with this. The Mockingjay Club. 

When a kid has read a book, they can write their name on a post it note and put it on our graph. I can't wait to see how it grows. I have a lot of kids in the middle of one of these, but I wouldn't let them put their name up here until the finish the book. :)

 (The last section is for the movie)

This was last minute. One of my kids says "What do we get for being in the club?" So we made stickers using labels. I guess the satisfaction of completing a great book didn't work like it did for me. Ha! 

Who's ready for the movie??

Diaries of Aunt Katie

It's been a while since I've showed off my beautiful nieces so here we go.
Diaries of Aunt Katie...straight from the iPhone. :)

Harper and Ella Kate,
I love you to the moon and back.
You guys have brought such joy to my heart and I hope you always know that!
I LOVE YOU!!!
Aunt Katie

Ella Kate

 and Harper

Twitter Board

A few months ago I found this super cute idea on Pinterest.

via

I knew I wanted to use it at some point so I pinned it. :) We use Twitter a lot in my classroom. I have a class Twitter page and we love to "Think-Pair-TWEET." Twitter in the Classroom is a pretty cool thing and there are tons of neat things you can do with it. It's actually pretty amazing how much effort kids put out anytime I mention we're going to tweet. :)

Earlier this week I sent home an assignment. It was called "A Tweet in the Life of of a 5th Grader." They basically just had to write what their status update or tweet would be all day/night. Anything they thought, were doing, etc. I put about 20 lines on the paper and just about everyone filled them all in. :) You would've thought I just gave them all a million bucks they were so excited that their homework was to tweet. Ha!

The next day we shared our tweets and did activities involving Elapsed Time. Then, we put the tweets in chronological order. :)

I just got my official Twitter Board up this afternoon (just in time for Open House) so I wanted to share.  As you can imagine, it's quite the hit in the 4th and 5th grade hall.

Kony 2012

Kony 2012 is a call for help, a social campaign and a worldwide movement to expose Joseph Kony and the horrible crimes he does against the children of Africa. He's been doing them for 20 years and Invisible Children are out to change that with our help.

If you haven't heard of this, please watch the video. Sharing it helps, taking action can help bring justice and change lives. It's a pretty awesome awareness campaign brought to us through social channels like this but also Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and more. Young people can make a difference.




HOW TO HELP:

Join TRI or Donate to Invisible Children
  http://bit.ly/yp5Ffv 
Purchase KONY 2012 products:

http://invisiblechildrenstore.myshopify.com/


Sign the Pledge:
 http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony-4.html

I just bought my $30 kit and plan on doing all I can to spread the word.

P.S. Some Science Professor from Yale can say this is a scam and some people might believe him, but I don't. I personally know lots of people involved with Invisible Children and they are a wonderful organization. The purpose of this movement is not for anyone to make money, its to spread the word about something awful happening to kids. 

Teachers!

Tell me this isn't true....