A Day in My Heels

I saw this cute idea on another blog site so I thought what the heck I'll do the same to let others know about my life as a third grade teacher. 

My morning begins at 5:30 and it literally takes me until 7:00 before I'm out the door headed to work. I have issues with clothes in the morning. Everything has to be just right including my hair. Lucky for me my school is only 5 minutes away. YAY!

As you know I'm in a portable so I'm subject to all the weather elements that occur in the state of Texas. 

7:10 I'm in my room checking emails, writing daily objectives on the board, and making quick copies if necessary.

7:30 I'm picking up my peeps from the library. They are usually taking AR test at that time and checking out new books. Love our librarian!!!

7:35 attendance is taken and guided reading groups begin. At this time my students are reading independently and taking AR test. I have a volunteer that comes during this time and takes another small reading group. Mrs. Martin is amazing and my students love her. She bought her reading group books for Christmas. So sweet!!

8:15 Daily Reading instruction begins. The instruction is based on the objectives on the board. I always try to make my lessons engaging and give students the opportunity to communicate with their peers regarding the content of the lesson. As they communicate with one another they build communication skills and utilize higher order thinking skills. Each lesson has a guided practice then an independent practice. During independent practice I grab another Guided Reading Group.

9:30 Writing begins....My least favorite subject is writing but I'm adapting and beginning to really understand the importance. I'm learning a lot of new things. We have an amazing 4th grade teacher that teaches writing and she's inspired me to branch out and conquer the fear of writing.

10:30 My peeps go to Music or PE depending on the day. On Tuesday and Thursday I do admin duties during my conference time. I recently received my Masters in Admin at A&M Central Texas. I enjoy assisting my principals and I gain much needed experience. My intent is to eventually follow the path of an admin. I would like to experience my first year in a brand new building before I take that leap. My campus is scheduled to have a new building in the next year. So Exciting.

11:30 My students go to the restroom and off to lunch we go! I'm usually starving by that time.

After lunch my second period peeps come to my classroom and we begin the process all over again!

Dismissal is at 3:00 and teachers leave at 4:00. Yes, a long day!!!!!

After work it's homeward bound to cook for my teenage kids. Then the gym and of course to watch reality shows. Now, you can say ---Wow she lives a boring life! LOL

Thinking Bubble

http://oneextradegree.blogspot.com/search/label/reading%20strategies

I found this idea on a the blog site listed above. I love it. I might make some adjustments and then send pixs to see what all of you think......I suppose this will be my weekend project. No Money Means No Shopping For Me.....So I have to stay busy...Heeeheeee

Text Features

Product of the Completed Assignment


I got this great idea from PINTEREST. Here is the template that I used to label  the Text Feature Components.
http://pitnerm.blogspot.com/2011/09/text-features-freebie.html

Boosting Thinking during a Read Aloud

Today we did a read aloud about "The Albertosaurus Mystery". The story was located in our third grade Journey Series. I added my own touch by drawing a chart on the board and labeling it Predict/Questions/Reflect. Each table was given sticky notes to use during the read aloud. They had such inquisitive questions and they put a lot of thought concerning their reflections. Students were eager to share and that's what makes me so HAPPY!

After the read aloud we did a quick Cause and Effect Activity. Each lesson that I develop always has higher order thinking incorporated, collaborative sharing, and an objective based on our TEKS.

MLK Time Line

YAY!  I found a MLK template for my students time-line tomorrow. Students will view important dates of Martin Luther King's life and write them on the template image. Then they will be responsible for putting the events of his life in order. http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/january_mlk.doc Enjoy!!

Primary Grades/Higher Order Thinking (HOTS)

I found these great tools from http://thegototeacher.blogspot.com/2012/01/questioninginferring.html. Great blog site. Please check it out!

2012 Party Hat Examples

These are examples of the student's Party Hats for 2012. All students selected one goal and had to write about why the goal was important to them. The second paragraph explains how they will reach the goal. We had previously reviewed transition words so they had to utilize them correctly within their writing. The final paragraph describes how they will feel if their goal is reached. Students loved the assignment.

We all laughed after they glued their hats on to their person. We thought the hats maybe should have been a little smaller. LOL