PSA Part 1

This week is the final week for the Web 2.0 class I've been taking.  This week our assignment was PSAs.  We watched one video and then a video of responses to that video from various people in a school community.  Then we were each assigned one of the school community role's in which to answer some questions about 2 other videos.  The role I was assigned was Teacher, which worked out really nice for me, since I teach 2nd grade!

Video 1:  Role: Teacher
The Essay

     1.  What was the main idea or point being made?

I think the main point that was being made in this video was that a long time ago the thought of having a phone that had so many capabilities, was small and portable, and did things that people didn't even know of yet was unbelievable and was just a childish dream or fantasy.  No one would have ever believed it was possible and yet today most people use their phone for the things said in the video and more.  

     2.  What audience was the video trying to reach?

I think the video was trying to reach a worldwide audience to get them to see the amazing capabilities that we have at our disposal now and to try to get them to buy something that wouldn't have seemed possible in the past, from them.  

     3.  Were the methods used to create the video effective?  Why or Why not?

I felt the method used to create the video was very creative and effective. It got you thinking about how much has changed, especially in regards to technology.  Here was a child "from the past" talking about what could be in the future.  We're in that future now with so many capabilities.  We can't even imagine how technology will change and evolve in the future from what it is now.  

Video 2:  Role: Teacher

We Think

     1.  What was the main idea or point being made?

I think the main point being made was that the internet makes it very possible for people all over the world to come together, collaborate, share ideas.  The sharing of ideas, connecting with other people, and talking things out help to make new innovations.  The more we share out ideas online with people all over, the more things that we'll be able to create and come from it.  

     2.  What audience was the video trying to reach?  

I again feel this video was trying to reach a worldwide audience.  The video wants to let everyone know that the more we can connect, have conversations to share our ideas, and collaborate with each other, more creativity will come from that leading to new inventions/innovations.  

     3.  Were the methods used to create the video effective?  Why or why not?  

I felt the method used for the video was effective, as there was no talking, just some background music.  You had to pay attention to the animations and words that popped up onto the screen.  This focus and the fact that you were sometimes reading things as they were typed and you didn't want to miss something, kept you engaged and thinking about what the video was trying to say.  

     

Infographics Reflection

This week for my grad class we had to create infographics using different criteria.  I have had to make infographics in the past using various platforms.  I really like the idea of having students create their infographic in class as a way to show their understanding of a topic.  With my second graders I think I would begin with having them work in pairs.  This way they'd be able to help each other out.  It would be a great way to see what information students' felt was important to put in.  I could see having my students create an infographic to tell the characters, setting, problem, and solution to a story.  I could also have my students create one after we finish a science topic.  We have been working on Changes to Land in science.  Students could show and explain the Quick Changes to Land we learned about, as well as the Slow Changes to Land.  With my students being so young, I might even have them start by having us all create one together.  I could be doing one on my computer and projecting my screen to the class and students could be doing it from their computer, just so they could get the feel for it when they go to create their own.  This would give them a model and a step-by-step approach to creating one.

You could have students do an infographic on any device, as there are a variety of Web 2.0 tools that could be used to create one.  I would have my students probably just complete it in the computer lab. We could take one day to set up a Google Photo Album with the pictures they want to use.  This way we could also teach them how to cite their source of the photo.  The next time we have lab, students would be able to learn about the infographic tool of choice and start creating theirs.  Since all of my students have Google logins, I like the idea of using Canva for creating an infographic, as you can use your Google login to sign-up and get started.  Then students would be able to post their infographic to their Class Dojo stories page (online digital portfolio) to share with their families.  It's such a fun way to integrate technology, let students be creative, and show what they've learned.  

Padlet and Narrated Tutorials

This week for my grad class I had two assignments that I needed to create.  The first one was creating a presentation using Padlet.  I like Padlet as a way for students (or even other teachers) to post thoughts, ideas, or what they already know about a subject on a virtual type bulletin board.  I also like that you can include links, videos, and pictures. This week we needed to think about a topic in education and use pictures to create a Padlet presentation on the topic.  I chose my topic on Flexible Seating as that seems to have taken over many classrooms.  I've seen many blog posts and classroom pictures of teachers ditching traditional classroom seating and getting all types of other seating for students to sit on and work from.  I give my students choice of where to sit during Daily 5, Math centers, I'm Done What Can I Do.  They can sit anywhere they want around the room; in their cubbies, on pillows, in comfy chairs I have, just a different part of the carpet, or even at someone else's desk (with permission).  For me, I still want my students to have a specific desk that they go to for certain parts of the day.  I feel they need to learn how to sit in a classroom chair for more than five minutes, as when they grow up they won't always get the choice of the type of seat they will be able to sit on.  It was challenging to create the Padlet to share those thoughts in only 6 pictures and using pictures that are allowed for reuse through creative commons licensing.  There are so many great pictures out there, but I wasn't able to use those since I was posting it on the web and didn't have permission.  I think that would also be challenging for my students.  If it's just for classroom use and students were able to just cite where they found the picture, I feel that would be easier and they could work together to create a presentation on a variety of different things that we are learning about in the classroom.  It would be a great way to create a presentation and share with the class.  I have not used Padlet with my 2nd graders yet, but in the future I would like to use it as a different way to create a KWL, where there could be a Padlet for each letter.  Then if we want to look at it or add to it, we can easily pull it up and do so.  It's a space saver in the classroom and students can access it on any device to add to it.

I also had to create a narrated tutorial and I can definitely see the advantages of that with my 2nd graders.  There are MANY times when I give directions and students don't remember what to do as they have a hard time remembering multi-step directions on their own.  Creating a tutorial that they could stop and play as needed would be fantastic!  Again the problem I was having was coming up with an idea I could do in 4-6 pictures using pictures that are allowed for reuse with the creative commons license.  Once I was able to come up with one, the process wasn't hard.  We did this using Adobe Spark.  You just click on the plus sign, then video, and it's very straight forward from there.  This would be very handy if you had multiple iPads and could put them at a station for student use.  Again if it's only being used for classroom use, I could take pictures of the actual materials and steps in my classroom to use for the tutorial and that would be much easier.  I like the idea of students creating their own narrated tutorial as a stepping stone or alternative to How-To writing.  It would make students stop and think about each step and talk about it.

Both of these assignments could also be used as a different kind of assessment for students to do to explain and show what they've learned about a certain topic.  If you're not 1:1 and just have a few devices (I only have 5), you would still be able to have students do both of these, you would just need to allow more time for all the students to complete it.  They are both things to consider using in the classroom.

Daily 5

One of the things that I love implementing every year in my classroom is Daily 5.  I love that the students are doing something meaningful to enhance their reading and writing skills while I'm meeting with guided reading groups.  Daily 5 has changed a bit, in regards to the stations, from when I first learned about it and started doing it in my classroom.
I start introducing Daily 5 the first or second day of school.  It depends on when I can get books in my kids' book boxes.  We start off with Read to Self and work on building up their stamina day by day.

After a couple weeks, I introduce Read to Someone, which makes them very happy since they get to be with a friend.

 

Then it just depends on which center I introduce next.  This year I introduced Listen to Reading.  I have 6 iPod Nanos in my classroom for my students to use during Listen to Reading.  I got the iPods thanks to three grants I had funded through Donor's Choose.  For each grant I asked for two iPods so I'd have better odds at getting them funded.

 


Then I plan on implementing Work on Writing and finally Word Work.  For Work on Writing I have lots of different writing activities that the students can do: recipes, letters, creative writing, poems, lists, and postcards.  I also have an Art of the Week project that I do each week where the students do a craft and writing that goes with it.  I also have some fun Word Work activities for the students to do.  There are magnet boards and magnet letters, white boards and markers, letter cubes, and different spelling and grammar centers.
My students love all the choices that they have at each center and in which centers they do during the day.  Taking all of the time to introduce each center and expectations of Daily 5 really pay off and help to make them independent while I'm meeting with groups.  Even though I don't get to guided reading groups until October, I feel it's very worth it.
I have a Smartboard in my room so I've created a Daily 5 board for my students to use to make their choices.  I take each students picture and they move their face to the center they want to go to.  Each center has a certain amount of spaces available for each rotation.  Students can easily see which center has spots open and make their choice from there.  I also teach them that they can't repeat the same center on the same day.  So they aren't allowed to do Read to Someone twice in one day.  They would have to wait until the following day to do it again.  We usually only do three rotations each day, but all five Daily 5 choices are available to them.

Some of the changes that have come to Daily 5 are in regards to adding more or different technology into the stations.  I usually introduce it as the year goes on.  They start off with the iPods.  Then I introduce using the iPad minis for Read to Self.  I have QR codes that the students can scan of new books they can read on the iPads.  That usually helps to re-energize Read to Self and get the students to stay focused again.  Then later on I introduce the app Epic! books.  With this app, students are introduced to a TON of books that they can read.  They can search series, topics, and authors, besides what's recommended for 2nd grade.  I also introduce new Word Work centers where students can use the QR reader on the iPads to check their answers.
I have another Donor's Choose grant proposal out now to try to get 2 more iPad minis for our classroom.  I would love to be able to have some Work on Writing choices for students to do on the iPads, like using Smore or Chatterpix to bring their writing to life.
Adding in little changes helps to keep Daily 5 fresh so students stay interested and I don't have behavior issues while I'm meeting with groups.  It's one of my favorite times of the day, as well as the students.

Been Awhile...

So it's been a really long time since I've been on here as I found it hard to keep up with blogging as well as work and family.  I also never felt like I had anything new and interesting to say that anyone would need to take the time to stop and read my blog when there are so many amazing bloggers out there.  Well now I'm in my final class of a Masters in Instructional Media program and our assignment this week is to create a blog.  I thought, well I already have one of those sitting, not being used.  I'll log back in, give it a sprucing up, and use that one again.  Who knows maybe it will get me blogging again.  I've learned so many other great technology tools and ideas that I want to put in practice, maybe this will be a great place to reflect on them.  So I'm back from a 3 1/2 year absence.  Hope everything has been going well with everyone!  Going to be posting again soon!  :)

St. Patty's Day in Review :)

So last night when I linked up for the fabulous Monday Made-It I said I would try really hard to get back on today to post my pics of everything I talked about.  I'm here!  I did it!  :)
When the kids came in the classroom they found this on their desks,

their bag of Lucky Charms (I bought a big bag of the generic stuff and 1 box of the real stuff and mixed it together so that everyone would have some of the real in their bag) and a 4-leaf clover sticker to wear (in case they didn't wear green or just to be festive).  They were very appreciative about it (which is so nice) and some of them even replied that they were so lucky to have me as a teacher, which was so sweet and a great way to start the morning.
For morning work they had an old St. Patrick Day worksheet of words to unscramble.  Later they had a couple more St. Patrick Day themed papers to do as well.
Our PTO got the Earth Dome again this year.  We've had it in the past, but it's been a few years and it's very cool so after lunch it was our scheduled time to go do that, which they loved.  After learning about the outside, you actually get to go inside too.

That ate up almost 40 minutes of our math time so when we got back we didn't have time for the math game so I had 2 St. Patrick Day themed math papers ready to go as well which filled that time very nicely.  After math the students go off to specials.  While they were in specials I got the little surprises ready.  

The first was the green coin and card.  

Then I had to get the Rainbow Treasure Hunt ready.  

Halloween cauldron doing double-duty.  :)

After I picked up the kiddos and we had our bathroom break, before we entered the room, I told them that there was some St. Patrick's Day fun and surprises waiting for them in the room but I needed them to be good listeners, follow directions, not ask a million questions when they went in the room, but to just sit down and wait for directions.  They were very excited and I got a chorus of how I was the best teacher ever (Thank you Teri from Cupcake for the Teacher for making me "the best teacher ever!"  lol).  They did a really great job with all of that.  They were excited about the "good luck" coins and loved that they could keep them.  lol  Then I explained the directions of the treasure hunt.  I told them that there could be no running or pushing or they would have to sit out.  I also told them that they would have to work all together to figure out the clues and whoever got to the clue first could grab the clue and read it aloud to everyone.  They had a great time with it.  

On the hunt…

The very last clue (before the prize) is to look under your chair.  Well I had taped it to the underneath of my helper of the day's chair.  They all looked on the floor under their chairs.  lol  Then I told them that it was taped to the underneath of a chair.  No one could find it.  I said it IS taped to the underneath of one of the chairs, if you have to, turn your chair upside down.  Then the clue was found, which said where the pot of gold was located, "where your teacher sits."  I had placed it under my desk.  

It took a little bit for them to find it.  I had my chair pushed in.  They were looking all over the top of my desk.  Then some decided to look for it in my comfy chair where I do my read alouds before someone finally found it under my desk and passed out the treats to everyone.  They were very thankful again.  So it was a very nice day and the class had a fun time.  

Tomorrow they learn about the Flat Stanley spring break project and get to start coloring their Stanleys. :)  

March Made-It! St. Patrick's Day edition :)

Okay so I can't believe that it's been a couple of months since I was on.  February was VERY hectic for me.  I had my niece's FROZEN birthday which was crazy trying to get ready for (I help with planning and making decorations, and the cake and everything).  Then I had conferences.  Not to mention how it's the shortest month and you have 100th Day and Valentine's Day and Presidents, Black History, and Dental Health Month.  I would have had a TON of made its to share!  Maybe I'll remember and share this week anyway.  lol  I don't know what happened with the rest of January that I didn't post and this month it has been all about assessing and report cards.  Well report cards went home Friday.  So that leaves me with time to actually post Made-Its!  I was reminded that Made It Monday was this week because of good old Facebook.  I forget that it's the 2nd Monday and not the first.  So this weekend was all about getting things ready for St. Patrick's Day for my kiddos.  Now I don't have a lot of pics of these things yet because I'm going to take pics when they are set up in the classroom.
Made-it 1:
I too, made those fabulous, "I'm so Lucky to have you in my class" goodie bags for my students with the lucky charms.  Loved the freebie from A Cupcake for the Teacher as well.

This is her pic.  I thought I'd use it so you could see my other Made-it as well.

Made-It 2:
I also made the "You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow" with oreos baggie for my kiddos too.
I'm putting these in my Halloween black cauldron that will magically turn into a pot of "gold" for St. Patty's Day.  This will go along with…
Made-It 3:
Also from the fabulous Cupcake for the Teacher (she's fabulous isn't she??).  We will be doing her classroom Rainbow Treasure Hunt where they will find those fabulous oreo pots of gold.  So those are printed, cut, and ready to go.
Made-It 4:
A Leprechaun will be leaving the kiddos green coins on their desk with this little note:

The coins I've had for a while.  I think I got them from Party City one year.  I had exactly enough left over so I guess I was lucky!!  So these are cut out ready to go and I'm going to put the green coin right in the middle of the clover.  I honestly don't remember where I found this.  I googled "leprechaun note for kids" and found it, so if it belongs to you let me know and I'll link to it!  

Made-It 5:

I also made stickers for my kids to wear because I like them to have something green on in case they don't wear any to school.  I couldn't find any that were a good size or that I liked in the stores so I just made some using this DJ Inkers clipart and 2 x 4 in. labels. 

Made-It 6:

My final Made-it is for my co-workers.  I follow http://www.howdoesshe.com/.  If you subscribe to the blog you get certain Members Only Freebies.  Well this month's freebies were for "St. Patrick's Day in a Jar" labels.  They had different ideas of filling the jar with rainbow candy or colorful flowers or mini rainbow cupcakes.  I thought of this:

So it's just Smart Pop Kettle corn that I popped and then melted a package of green Candy melts, poured it over the popcorn and mixed it up to coat it.  Then I sprinkled on rainbow colored M&Ms and let it set.  I bought mason jars and some green fabric (already had the ribbon) and printed the labels.  I thought this was definitely St. Paddy's Day in a Jar, green and rainbow.  So my team will be getting this as well.  

Oh!  Made-It 7!!

While I was uploading these I remembered one more Made-It!

Flat Stanley!!!  I had to re-make him again this year because apparently my other one has gone off traveling some where and couldn't be found.  We have Spring Break NEXT week so I had to get him ready so I could show my kiddos what to do with him over spring break.  So he's copied, colored, and laminated again for this year.  

So as you can see it was a very busy Sunday for me.  All this plus laundry (did grading Saturday).  

So I will try VERY hard after school to post the pictures of St. Patrick's Day in the classroom with all of the goodies.  

Have a great day and woohoo for me for getting a blog post done!!!!  

:)

Winter Break and "Cold" Days

So as always, not a lot of blogging that happens during the school year.  But I have been good with keeping up my goal of at least posting once a month!  I usually do it only for Made-It Monday, but I thought I would post today since I have time.  :)
The week leading into winter break was fun.  We did a lot of holiday themed Roam the Room activities from Teachers Clubhouse and Christina Bainbridge, which was a fun way for the students to learn and get them moving that crazy week before break.  Also to go along with our social studies curriculum about Cultures, Customs, and Traditions we did our yearly Culture Quilt Square where families decorate a "quilt square" with things about their culture and we put it together on a bulletin board to form a Culture Quilt.  The students present on their quilt square before it is hung up.  You can click here to download a copy of the "quilt square" we use.  We also did this awesome Holidays Around the World Paper Bag book by Hope King.  The students loved making it.  We did 2 pages a day and I tried to use the countries of the students in my class.  During guided reading groups we used this great Close Reading packet from Ashleigh, that I LOVE!!!  I'm really working on close reading this year due to common core and that packet made it super easy!!!  I hope that makes even more!!  
We had a fun "Snowed-in" theme for our winter party leading into break.  The students were allowed to come to school in the pajamas and bring a blanket, small stuffed animal, robe, and a board game.  During math time they played the board games.  Only 3 of my little girls brought in games, which I couldn't believe!!  So I let them use the board games I have for indoor recess.  You can tell that most families don't do board games, because they were having a heck of a time staying focused on a game, or playing the correct way.  While they were as music, my parent helpers came and we got everything organized for our celebration.  We made the hot chocolate so it would be cooled down, got the craft ready, and the treats.

Mini donut snowmen, oreos, and popcorn.

We did the snow globe craft where you use a clear bowl or dessert plate.  I just had the students draw a winter scene and them add fun winter stickers.  Then they went to a mom and could add some glitter and snowflake fun foam shapes as the snow in the snow globe and the moms hot glued the plate over it.  The kids really liked it, but they were done in like 5 minutes, which surprised me.  I kept telling them to go back and add more to their scene.  All they wanted to do was fill the circle with stickers.  Then they got their treats and we watched the Elf on the Shelf movie.  Then it was time to go home!!  

My break was nice.  I finished my shopping, wrapped, baked, spent time with my family.  The day after Christmas is my birthday so we did it all over again, but at my house.  Then finally got to relax a bit and went out to lunch with a friend.  For New Year's Eve my friends and I went to Red Lobster and then to the movies.  We were super lucky because the theater by my house is having $5 Tuesdays with a free 44oz. popcorn through February and that included NYE!!!  So we saw Saving Mr. Banks which we all enjoyed.  Then we hung out at my house watched the ball drop in NY, played 80s Scene It and then rang in 2014 here.  It snowed quite a bit during break, not a lot, just a little at a time, but that continued NYE into the New Year so I stayed at home and took down my Christmas tree.  The next day I went out to dinner with my parents.  Friday I went in to school to get everything ready for when we get back, which always makes me feel better.  Otherwise I would be stressing.  Got things cleaned up, organized, and ready to go.  I also have a new student starting so I wanted to make sure everything was ready for her.  Later on I scrapbooked and had dinner with a friend.  Saturday I took down my Christmas village and then went to see Frozen with my sister and niece.  We loved it!!  Olaf the snowman is so great!!  We were quoting lines from the movie the rest of the day!  Sunday I started working on some school stuff to get ready and got the call that we weren't having school today because of the frigid cold that was coming.  Sure enough when I woke up this morning my phone said it was -43 with the windchill.  So I have stayed at home all day and got another packet done for tpt!!  Also printed out some great resources I bought and got this weekend with the awesome 2nd grade fb hop that happened.  We already got the call that there is no school tomorrow due to the cold temps too, so I will probably work on more school stuff.  My own personal professional development day from home.  

So that's been what's been going on with me.  How are things in your neck of the woods?  Hopefully I'll be back next Monday with Monday Made-It!!  :)  

Monday Made-it and Elfie!!

So I SHOULD be going to sleep right now because 6AM is going to come really soon and I'm not going to want to get up, but I'm blogging now anyway, because Monday Made-It, MAKES me blog at least once a month.  So I'm doing it!!!

So we'll start off with my Made-Its.  Again I don't have anything really for my classroom.  I kind of do with my Elf on the Shelf, so you'll see that a little later.  I'll show you the other Made-its I have though.
So for Thanksgiving, my sister, niece, and I made these cute little turkey napkin rings for everyone.

Do you see my niece photo bombing at the top of the photo!  Too funny!  

Then I wanted a winter wreath to replace the fall one I have in my classroom that I made last year so I made this yarn one.  

I got everything at Michaels.  That snowflake came in a pack of 6 for $1.99!!

Then I have my Christmas decorations up so I'm including that as a Made-It cause I made it happen!  lol  

My Department 56 North Pole/Elf Land village.  

My Christmas tree.  I used to work at Hallmark so I love ornaments!

Now on to my Elf, which is also kind of a Made-It.  So just like last year, Elfie came to visit this new class.  My elf writes my class letters to let them know he's keeping tabs on them and to give them encouragement for making good choices.  He doesn't do anything really silly because I don't want my kids to do anything silly or get worked up by the silly things he does.  So here are some pics of Elfie this past week:

He's back!  

Elfie decorated the room again with snowflakes and Christmas lights isn't that nice?  He stayed until 5PM on a half-day to get it done too!  ;)  

Day 2 he was next to my globe again.  I forgot to take a picture, but I have one from last year that you can look at if you want to see.  Just click on the Elf label on the side.  :)  

Day 3.  Hanging out above the cubbies.  Bribing the students to be good, and boy did it work!  16 kiddos moved up on the behavior chart after this note!

So the next day,

Thursday, little prize for some kiddos (bell garland, cut, pack of 16 bells $1 store)

Let me tell you everyone was really good after that too because they were hoping to get one the following day, no luck though.

And this is where Elfie was hiding on Thursday.  Hanging out with my snowman and leaving a note on how proud he was and how he told Santa about how awesome the class was.  

Friday I had Elfie on top of my Smartboard projector.  Again, forgot to take a pic, but again he was there last year so you can see a pic in the Elf section.  

The students will find him today by the clock and he is leaving another treat and note for students who moved up on the chart.  Really does seem to help and is fun!  

So those are my made-its and Elf scoop.  It has been one busy weekend!  Friday night was out til after 10PM for our annual girls family shopping night (first Friday in December) and got some more shopping done (still have more to do).  Saturday I watched my niece and we baked cookies for a cookie exchange we then went to and then I went to my parents for my weekly dinner and stayed until after 10PM watching Elf and helping them put up their Christmas decorations.  Then Sunday was our annual girls family cookie baking event, where we each pick 2 Christmas cookie recipes to bake and we get together at 1 house, help each other bake them and split them up for each other.  Here's what that looked like:

Everyone's containers lined up and filled.  

A close up of mine.  

Super fun, but busy, busy, busy.  Now I need to go to sleep.  Luckily we can wear jeans all this week if we pay $1 each day for charity, so I can get up and go more easily tomorrow.  

Happy Monday!!  

:)

November Currently and Monthly Made-it!

It's November!  How crazy!  October was hectic, as usual!  We'll see how this month goes!
I'm starting off this post with Farley's Currently for November:

Not much to explain for Listening.  I always do these once I'm in bed for the night so it's pretty quiet around here.  

I love my family so much and we are a very close bunch.  I'm one of 5 kids and my 4 siblings all have families and we live around each other and get together all of the time.  I'm very lucky.  So today I went to the circus with my eldest sister and her family and my younger sister and her daughter.  Fun time.  Let me share one of the pics I took:

So fun!

Thinking - So I follow Hip2Save on fb.  If you don't know about it, it's this great "couponing" site.  So the gal who runs it posted about this great Little People toy that amazon had on sale for $22.99.  Then a reader tip was that Target would price match and you could use the $10 off coupon that Hip2Save had posted a few days earlier.  So I went to Target and got a regularly $39.99 toy for $14 with my Red Card!  Woohoo!  I was very excited.  One present down for the holidays.  Couldn't pass up a deal like that!  Then I put away all of my Halloween decorations, printed out a whole bunch of center games for math, and went to my parents.  Then today was the circus, cutting and laminating all of the center games, grading papers, and updating my classroom website.  I got it all done!  Another big Woohoo!  And now I'm blogging!  

Wanting is pretty self-explanatory.  I have a great group but sometimes we can be a little chatty and not pay attention.  

Needing is also pretty self-explanatory.  I'm very happy with what I got done this weekend, but I never feel that accomplished during the week.  I would love to have 1 day every week where we didn't have students and I could get everything done then.  I would take longer school days so I could have that 1 day where I could get stuff done at school without running around like a crazy person.  

No onto the yummy pin.  I pin yummy things all of the time.  I have a dessert board, a cookies board, and holiday boards with yummy things.  This pin is one of the newest so I thought I would put it in:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie

I mean come on, does that not sound soooo good!  There is nothing in that title that I do not love so I had to pin it!!  

Okay so that is my Currently.  Now onto my Monthly Made-Its!  

http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/2013/11/monday-made-it-november.html

So first things first, I pinned this really cute pumpkin sign from The Polka Dot Pavillion that I loved, but did not want to spend $50, so I thought I'll just make it.  So I headed over to Michaels to pick up a wooden pumpkin.  No go.  I found one I liked online, but it was a set of 6, so I said okay, I'll make them for my family too and give it to them at our yearly Trick-or-Treat party.  I had 1 extra left over so I made it for my friend Krista.  Hers is below.  

Now I just made the pumpkin.  She added it to her basket she keeps on her door.  All I did was get 11in. wooden pumpkin cut outs (6 for $19.50), painted them, used my Cameo and vinyl for the lettering, and some tulle for around the stem.  I texted everyone and told them they couldn't ask me why, but polka dots or chevron.  2 picked polka dots the rest were chevron. Painted it orange first and then added the yellow polka dots or chevron stripes.  I was very happy with how it turned out.  On mine I just put Happy Fall Y'all.  Krista jokingly told me she needs one now for every season.  lol  

To go along with the pumpkins, I made these cards:

I followed this video and used my cameo.  Very happy with how it turned out!  I also gave them to my teammates with a purple jar of candy that I cut out Trick-or-Treat in vinyl and added to it (forgot to take a picture of that).

On Friday, October 25 is when my school had their Halloween celebration.  The neighborhood does Trick-or-Treating on Sunday so starting last year we do it the Friday before.  Really love doing that.  This year my teammates and I dressed up as scarecrows.  

It was great because this cost me no money!  My teammate bought the raffia that we used as our straw (I used blue painters tape to tape it on the inside of my clothes and it was not itchy) and I had everything else, just turned it into a scarecrow costume.  Super fun and my kiddos loved it!  The pic above was taken at my parents house for the Trick-or-Treat party.  

Well that same night (Friday the 25th) I had Jodie and Brynn come over to my house for a Halloween themed dinner.  I made mummy dogs (but with sausage because oddly enough my niece doesn't like hot dogs), smiley face fries (thought it was like masks) and Halloween mac and cheese.  I also made witches brew drinks with lime sherbet, ginger ale, and lime concentrate with gummy worms as garnish. My sis got the pics of all of that.  I finished it off by making these stackable surprise cookies:

You just get the tube of sugar cookie dough, slice them into round cookies, bake them and then put one cookie down as your base, for the next cookie, cut a circle out of the middle, put it down, do the same to another cookie, and add a full cookie on top.  Before I put the cookie on top I filled it with Reese's Pieces.  Frosting is the glue holding all of the layers together.  Yummy!  

For my family's party on Sunday I made these:

They were green velvet cupcakes that I made to look like witches by using the cookies that have the hole in the middle and chocolate bottoms.  I just flipped it so the chocolate was on top and added a caramel kiss to the top.  Melted it a bit to stick to the cookie, added frosting and presto.  I thought green would be a nice touch to make them witchy with orange hair.  lol  Big hit.  :)

So those are all of my Made-its I did in October.  Can't wait to get some things done this month too!  

Fall Time

First, since I'm behind, here's my October Currently, thanks to Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.  Click the pic below to join the linky.

Listening - had a busy morning, so just sitting blogging while my computer fan goes off, no other noise.  

Loving - spent the morning with my parents at a craft fair and am getting ready to busy circus tix to go with some siblings and nieces/nephew.  

Thinking -  about everything I have to do for school: conference goal sheets, art of the week project, grading...

Wanting - So conferences start this week and the only goal sheet I have done is for the conference I had early, this past Thursday.  The other 24 are waiting for me...

Needing - to get off the computer and get everything mentioned above done!  

Trick or Treat - A freebie is down below if you would like it!  :)

This is my favorite time of year.  I just love it!  I love the leaves turning colors.  I love that it's apple picking and pumpkin patch time.  I love the cooler weather.  I love that fun holidays are coming up: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  It's just the best.
We have been busy in my classroom with fall.  We have done the projects that I do pretty much every year: the build your own ice cream cone (for the first ice cream cone patent on September 22nd),

This pic is from last year, but it's the same idea.  Students build ice cream cones and then have to write about them.  

and also our fall tree craft with tissue paper.  

Students write about what they love about fall and make a fall tree (this pic is also from last year).  

We also did a great Johnny Appleseed activity from Mandy Gregory (Johnny Appleseed Common Core ELA Lesson and Craft).  

I read the students different books about Johnny Appleseed and then they watched the Disney Legends short about Johnny Appleseed.  I told them that they were going to be writing about Johnny before we did this, so they were going to need to pay attention so they would be able to think of things to write.  Then I gave them the great brainstorming web that's in her pack.  They wrote the main idea and then a fact in each apple.  Then they wrote up their little biographies and made Johnny Appleseed holding their paper.  The pics above show the wide range of abilities in my classroom.  I loved that it was a fun activity and it was very common core with having to write about what they learned.  

All of these are hanging up in the room for parents to see this week for conferences.  We do goal setting conferences so we always have them the week before Columbus Day, so we can have a 4-day weekend to recuperate.  The first 2 projects were part of the Art of the Week I do as one of the choices for Work on Writing for Daily 5.  They were optional.  This week I am going to have them do their first Have-To Art of the Week and we are going to do a Jack-o-lantern glyph.  I found a ton online and I liked components from a few of them so I made my own using the great ideas.  

I'm going to draw in the mouths before I copy it.  

Since the Art of the Week is part of Work on Writing, there is always a writing component with it.  This writing component is going to be a PUMPKIN acrostic poem that I do every year with my class.  I thought they would look good next to each other.  You can find tons of those online too.  I added the pictures for my class because I have a lot of LOW readers this year and I am hoping that it will help them.  I have to make my example today so they can see it.  My plan is to give each of them a copy of the direction paper and have them circle what is true for them.  Normally I wouldn't do this, I would just hang it up, but with this class, I think this will be better.  I'm also going to have them fill out the Pumpkin acrostic poem as we think of ideas for each letter too.  Again, normally I don't do that, we just brainstorm some ideas and when it's their turn for the art of the week, they write things down, but with this class, I'm going to help them along.  lol  

I'm joining up with Classroom Freebies Manic Monday to give the above to you for free if you would like it.  

Have a wonderful week!  :)