End of the Year Activities

As we wind down this school year (5 more whole days, 2 half days...but who's counting) I wanted to share some of my end of the year ideas we do in 5th grade. I just took some pictures at school today and then drop boxed them on my computer. Do you use Dropbox? It's pretty much amazing!

We are still rotating to regular classes until Wednesday so here's whats going on in Math. MATH MANIA! If I would've been smart, I would've downloaded the file...but feel free to borrow and recreate using this picture. The kids are loving it! I listed 30 or so math activities (most taken from stations throughout the year) and listed them all. The kids get free reign over what they want to do these next few days and when they complete a task, they just mark it off. And it gives this teacher some time to do all these end of the year things I'm suppose to be completing. ;)

After Memorial Day, we come back for a full day and then 2 half days. We stay in homeroom all day and do some great stuff.

We read "Last Day Blues" I just love this book and so do my 11 and 12 year old kids. :)

Positive Note Cards:

Each kid gets 20 index cards. On each card they write the name of every student in our class. I let them decorate it and make it cute. Then they have to write one thing they really enjoyed about each kid on the back. (some sort of compliment) When we're all done, we pass them out so that every kid has 20 nice things written about them on a card. We use binder rings and clip them all together. It makes a fun thing to take home at the end of the year. :)

Snapshots of 5th Grade:
We make a list of everything we did over the year. We split all the events up and each kid writes about something different and illustrates it. They can draw it on either a Polaroid Frame or a Film Strip. Then we hang them in the hall in August so that our new kids can get excited about everything we do in 5th.

Mystery Person:
This is fun. I got the idea from Jordan earlier this week. (who, by the way, has tons of other good ideas)  I went through and wrote a little something about each kid and the teachers. They will have to figure out who is who. I can't wait to see if they get them all. If you are interested, I have this activity for sale in my TpT store. 

I also do a homeroom word find from www.puzzlemaker.com at the beginning and end of each year

Let's see...we also re-read our goals and letter to self that we sealed at the beginning of the year, clean and pack up the room completely. Shaving cream our desks (which is way fun but gives me a migraine EVERY SINGLE YEAR...but they love it!) and that's about it. :)

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great mom's out there!

I would like to give a quick shout out to my mom, who I think is THE BEST one out there. Gmonee, I love you to the moon and back. And then to my sisters. Thank you for making me "Aunt Katie" and giving me the best job out there. I love those little girls to pieces...and little Hud too! Those little chickens are so lucky to call you guys their mamas!

I wanted to share a video for all the mom's out there. It's only a minute and a half, but its a beautiful song written JUST for you! I dedicate it to my Mama!! It was made through my church, Gateway, so I hope you enjoy. Happy Mother's Day to you all!!! {just click the link below}

Mother's Day Song

Lyrics...

As you held me in your arms
As you kept me safe from harm
Never ending gifts of love
For your child

After countless hours of care
When you've whispered a thousand prayers
Every effort with none to spare
Just for your child

So in my eyes you define what a woman should be
And I love that you'll always be mama to me
When I think of the love you have given so unselfishly
You're the image of God to me

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.