Following My Heart...

I have pretty much known ever since I was a 3rd grader that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Luckily, that dream was able to come true. I think part of the reason that I wanted to become a teacher was because of the amazing teachers that I had while I was growing up. I actually have loved my teachers so much that I am pretty sure that I could name a few of my favorites from every year. I too hope that I can be that teacher in the eyes of at least some of my students. 

While I was in high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to be an elementary teacher aide. By that time, I already knew I wanted to be a teacher. I was blessed enough to be placed with my high school volleyball coach's wife and loved every minute of it. I actually loved it so much that I took the class twice and was with her again my Senior Year of high school. Up until this point, I was really thinking that I possibly wanted to teach at the high school level and coach. However, I remember this moment so well. It was the second semester of my senior year, and I was working with a guided reading group. I just remember getting this overwhelming feeling that I was supposed to be an elementary teacher. I knew then that I had to make my concentration Early Childhood-6th Grade once I got to college. 

While I was in college I was lucky enough to continue to volunteer in this same classroom as well as sub in PK-8th grade classrooms within the district. I loved the opportunity to work in many different classrooms and to observe children of all different ages. To this day, I still believe that subbing while I was in college was one of the best things that I could have done. 

When I student taught I ended up in a 4th grade classroom and loved it! It was such a pleasant surprise because I was not sure how it would be. You see, I had always pictured myself in a 1st or 2nd grade classroom. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed about being in 4th. I do think it was a total God thing though because it ended up being amazing. I was a little shocked though when the middle school principal called the elementary school and asked if I could take over a 6th grade class in the middle of my student teaching. After some thinking, I decided to do it. I was the person that said I would never teach middle school, and there I was doing it. That experience ended up getting me my first job teaching 6th grade Language Arts. I am currently finishing my 2nd year teaching 6th grade. 

Now you see, my dream has always been to teach at the elementary level, but 6th grade is what fell into my lap. During my first two years I have learned so much! I would not trade this experience for anything. However, it is time to follow my heart and my lifelong dream. 

I am so excited because I am going to be teaching 1st Grade in the fall! That's right...1st grade!!! I have known for a week now, but it still has not set it because I cannot believe that it is really happening! My heart is just so happy and I cannot wait for the fall to get here! 

You are probably wondering what is going to happen to this little 'ole blog. Well, I am happy to say that it is going nowhere! It will have a new name and a new look, but all of the content is staying! Hopefully some of you all will join me as I begin a new adventure with a class full of firsties!

I am a better teacher because...

I truly believe that I am a better teacher because of the collaboration and resources that I have found since starting my teaching blog when I was just a little 'ole student teacher back in the Spring of 2011. Never did I ever think blogging would become such a huge part of my development as a teacher. 

I so wish I would have discovered all of the amazing teaching blogs earlier in my college career because I have found so many great ideas on them. I wish I could remember exactly who's blog it was I cam across first because I owe them a huge thank you!

You all have challenged me to be a better teacher each day that I walk into my classroom. I am not afraid to try new things because of you. I have discovered great resources through you all on Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest.

So thanks for helping me to be a better teacher every day. I will never be able to thank you all enough!

Normalcy

I am so excited that we are back in school, but I am so ready for some normalcy with my schedule already. Our first day back was Monday after having two weeks off for winter break. Don't get me wrong, the two weeks was fabulous and I was able to really take some me time. I will be the first to admit, I read four books over the break. It was so nice to finally read books that I wanted to read and not all of my textbooks from grad school.

I am just ready for a normal week. Monday was spent retraining my 6th grade friends because it seems that they magically forgot several of our classroom rules and procedures. Today was spent in the library. On my campus we go every three weeks. This just happened to be the 6th grade week. I was actually supposed to go on Monday too, but I thought that was not such a good idea. Tomorrow will be spent taking our district benchmark, and Thursday happens to be an early release for our County Stock Show. Did I mention we do not have school on Friday either because of the stock show? Only in small town Texas.

I am ready for a normal week because both my kids and I need it. It is amazing to me at what a crazy week does to all of us. 

I was also curious as to how district benchmarks work in your district. Are these something that are pre-created for you through your curriculum, do you have to create them yourselves, or does someone in your district create them for you? I am going to be working with our instructional coach over the next few weeks to write a common assessment for my grade level. I am hoping that the process ends up not being too difficult and that it ends up being something that becomes easy for me.

Happy almost Wednesday!

What We've Been Up To

I know...I am the world's worst blogger.

School has just been absolutely crazy! I am sure most of you can relate. The adjustment from having 60 kids to 105 has been insane, and the amount of grading is crazy. This year might make me move grade levels, well at least the thought of maybe only having 40 kids sounds appealing right now. 

Anyways, I just wanted to share a few of the things that we have been up to lately in room 117. During the first 6 weeks of school we covered Poetry and Non-Fiction. One of the things that we did was write some personal narratives. I had no idea how difficult this was going to be. My students either forgot how to write over the summer, or they have never really learned. It was pretty much like pulling teeth just to get them to write one page single spaced. By one page all I mean is the front!!! We did take some pretty cool notes in our Interactive Notebooks though. I made them on a large post it note to display in the room, and the kids copied them into their notebooks. I got a lot of my inspiration from some of the wonderful work of Jennifer Runde!

The leads anchor chart turned out to a huge help because so many of my friends were stumped on how to start their personal narrative. I can only hope that our next writing assignment will be a little easier for us to complete. 

I also wanted to share my new motto with you all. I don't remember where I originally found this, but it hits home with me. I have really been struggling with collaborative planning with my other 6th grade teacher, and this just reminded me why we are doing it. 

Currently, Anchor Charts, and More!

Is it just me, or has this week been a crazy one? Maybe it is the whole Spring Break is almost here vibe that all of my kiddos currently have along with most of the teachers too.Here is what you've missed in the life of Miss Klohn in the past week. 

one. I survived middle school cheer tryouts. Did I mention that I am the cheer coach? :)

two. I had my midterms for grad school and failed one of them. Luckily, my professor made a mistake while grading it and I ended up getting a 70. I am just not a fan of having to memorize APA formatting when I have a resource book that I can use when writing my paper. 

three. I got asked to be in charge of Tadpole Camp which is like 6th grade orientation in August. This also means that I will be getting a contract for next school year! Yeah for getting to stay in my current position for another year.

four. I survived our incoming 6th grade parent orientation last night and it was so great to see many of the kids that I had when I student taught in 4th grade last year. Hopefully I will get to have several of them in class.

five. I am also presenting tomorrow at our faculty meeting about Class Dojo! I am obsessed with it and my kids love it too!

I am also so sick of TELPAS writing. We had to do 3 prompts and we got our last one finished today. Before we wrote, I did an example compare/contrast with them. I think it turned out pretty great. 

First we did a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast my co-teacher in my inclusion class and me. 

Then we wrote the essay together. 

I haven't read all of their essays yet, but hopefully they did a good job of completing the prompt. 

This is how I spent my evening today, cutting out lamination for 2 hours. I did some serious shopping and got some great literacy center games from Teachers Pay Teachers during the sale on Leap Day. We were out of laminator film at school last week, so I finally got to get it all laminated today. I cannot wait to play these games with my kiddos because I think they are going to love them. 

I also wanted to link up with Farley for her Currently March party! Go check it out and link up yourself too!

Several of you have also awarded me with some blog awards and I promise that post is coming sometime this week. I have a 7 a.m. faculty meeting tomorrow so I am hitting the sack!

What a Week!

It seemed like the week was never going to end, but it finally did. My week started out crummy, but here are a few of the good things that happened to me:

- The parent meeting that I had on Tuesday ended well because the student is no longer in my Pre AP class. It is amazing how much more productive we were this week. 

- We did stations again this week after taking a break from them. I am absolutely loving the time that stations allow me to work with small groups of students. Previously I have been doing a small lesson with them about the topic that we are learning about, but I think I am going to move into some reading strategy groups as a review for our testing in April. My plan is to really analyze the data from our district benchmarks and then place the students into groups accordingly. Any good advice for this?

- I got a big compliment from my principal. She emailed a picture of my word wall out to the entire staff. It is nice to know that I am doing things right and that she feels they are worthy of sharing with others. 

- My district benchmark scores were not too atrocious. Of course they were not where I would like them to be, but they improved.

- After having TELPAS training this past Monday, I had to do my recalibration. I should have waited to take it because I failed it. Luckily, you get a second chance before you have to get remediation. I am glad to report that I made a 90 on it the second time. I may have done a little bit of a happy dance when this happened. 

- I also managed to get all of my grades ready and verified before I was called on the phone and told to do it. :)

I am ready for another great week in 6th grade! What are you looking forward to most this coming week?

Exhausted!

I am beyond exhausted after our first full week back this semester! Maybe it was because I started grad school back up last Saturday, or the fact that we had our parent informational meeting for cheerleading on Wednesday, or the fact that I had 12 of my 54 kids absent yesterday. At least I had a sick day today because I had to get blood drawn, go to the dentist, and get a physical. Having the whole day was nice, but I am dreading going up to school on Sunday to see what my room looks like. 

I am really excited for my grad classes this semester. I am taking 12 hours and most people think I am crazy when I say that, but it is the only way my university offers their grad semesters. It really isn't too bad because we only have to go to the university one Saturday a month, and everything else is online. This semester I am taking PPR, Curriculum and Instruction, my research class, and Advanced Content Reading. The texts for all of my classes are really great and I am actually excited about the research class because we will be doing Action Research. Any good ideas for my research? I am currently torn between doing something with collaboration between teachers or the use of small groups in the middle school classroom. I know that both would be a big help to me. 

I am also hosting an online Stella and Dot party right now that you should go and check out! Click here to shop. All you have to do to order from my party is to make sure that you pick my name at checkout, Katie Klohn. It is through the 3rd of February. 

I also came across a new blogger tonight and you should go and share some love over there. The blog is called Fumbling in Fifth Grade and she is about to take over a 5th grade classroom in February. Her story reminds me a lot of my adventure of finishing my student teaching in 6th grade and then taking over for the rest of the year. I cannot wait to hear how her first day goes this coming week! 

Also get excited because I am going to be posting a giveaway sometime this coming week. I am going to be giving away one of my absolute favorite teaching products! Trust me, you won't want to miss it! 

Here is to a productive weekend for all of us!

top 10: fall 2011

As of 1:30pm today, I have officially completed my first full semester of teaching in my own classroom! Boy, does that feel good! I thought in honor of my first semester of teaching when I got paid, I would share my 10 favorite moments or things that happened to me. 

{ten} This kid. There is always that one kid that just drives you crazy, but you cannot get enough of them. Well, this is him. No matter what kind of day I have had, he can always manage to put a smile on my face.

{nine} Even though it is only my first year, I was nominated for an HEB Excellence in Education Award. I wish they told you who nominated you because I would love to thank them. Even though I am not going to go on with the process (there is a ton of paperwork with it) I am very honored that someone nominated me for this. 

{eight} I have successfully created a classroom website that my parents and students are able to access for information about what is going on as well as links to games and other learning activities.

{seven} I had the guts to give the Pep Talk at a Pep Rally and even wrote a song for the occasion. 

{six} I have developed an amazing classroom library that my students love to get books from!

{five} I experienced a bus door falling off on our first field trip of the year.

{four} I opened my Teacher's Notebook shop and have been amazed that other teacher's are willing to buy some of the products I have created. I never thought that others might be interested in that.

{three} I have made some amazing new friends. Some of these are my co-workers and others are because of blogging. No matter if they are IRL friends or virtual friends, they have played such an important role in my first semester of teaching. You all are always there for me and are willing to listen to whatever might be on my mind. 

{two} I have been able to integrate lots of technology into my classroom and the experiences that my students have had thus far. We have used blogs, websites, wikis, online databases, powerpoint, animoto, and Prezi. We are becoming computer whizzes!

{one} I get to do something that I love each and every day! I love seeing my student's faces light up when they finally get it or realize that they understand something. I look at teaching as an opportunity to help build a foundation of learning for the future leaders of our country. I am grateful that I can go to my job each day and come home and still say that I love what I do!

The first semester was a great one, and I can only imagine that the second semester will be just as great!

It is going to be a busy one!

This coming week is going to be a crazy one for me because I have...

Progress Reports due on Monday at noon

a Manifest ARD Monday during conference period

a meeting with a potential student and parent Monday after school who want to hear about the Pre AP classes

working the middle school volleyball games at 5 and 6 Monday evening

sign painting practice for cheerleading Tuesday afternoon

my PDAS observation Thursday during 2nd period

middle school football game Thursday night

Grad school class homework

but I think that is all. :)

Teaching sure is crazy, but that is exactly what I signed up for. Even as busy as I am every day of the week, I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life.

 I am super excited about the things that my students are doing in class this week. My Pre AP kids are going to begin filming their news casts for their mini research projects that correspond with our book The Giver that we just completed in class this 6 weeks. I knew I wanted to do something different with them, and the kids have loved it so far. The had to have a rough draft of their scripts to me on Friday and they were amazing! I cannot wait to see all of the finished projects next week! My 2 regular classes are going to be doing a fun spooky writing assignment this week that I cannot wait to do with them. I hope that their stories will turn out as great as I am picturing in my mind. We are also going to have several mini-lessons this week to prepare them for our book clubs that we will hopefully be starting on Halloween.

 I also got an e-mail from our school librarian about a teacher in Michigan who she worked with last year. She is wanting to do some type of project together with us and Mrs. Z picked my students and I to partner with this teacher. I am so excited about it and cannot wait to see how it turns out. Have you ever done something like this before with a teacher in another state? Any good tips for me?

This past week I also got my first donation for my Donors Choose Project. I am so excited, but I still have a long way to go. Fingers crossed that I am able to get it funded. You can find my project here.  Have you ever done a Donors Choose Project? 

Who knows when I will make it back to the blog this week, but hopefully I will be able to. I am planning on taking my camera to school this week to get some pictures of a few of the anchor charts that we have made as well as my revamped classroom library. 

Just Breathe

It seems as though the past week of school has been so busy. I did not even realize that it had been almost a week since my last post on the good 'ole blog.

Last week was crazy because we had a pep rally on Thursday and I actually had to give the pep talk. (I am still waiting for the video of it to surface on Facebook.) Instead of just giving a talk, I thought it would be fun to write a song for the kids, so I did just that. I changed all of the words to "I Want Candy" to a Billie themed song. I thought it was great and the kids loved it. I also received lots of compliments from teacher about it too. I am just afraid that I am now going to be forced asked to give a pep talk each year now.

Today was crazy because we had an event with our 6th graders called "A Day in My Shoes" where the parents could come and shadow their child for the day. This was my first experience with something like this so I was really worried about it and what the parents would think about my teaching. I of course did not have many parents come in my 2 regular classes, but about half of the parents came for my Pre AP class. We first did an imagery activity with our book The Giver and I thought it went really well. The 2nd part of class I allowed students to work on their scripts for their news cast that they are creating with the information that they collected about their research topic that is associated with the novel. The parents got very into it and I could not tell who was more excited about the project, the parents or the kids. 

I am glad tomorrow is already Wednesday, but my Thursday and Friday are going to be crazy too! Does it ever slow down?

What a week...

This past Friday was by far the worst one I have had since starting the school year. 

On Friday, we had a lady come around our rooms to observe and see how we were doing with implementing our sheltered instruction strategies. Being that I just went to the sheltered instruction training this past September, I was pretty sure she was going to be walking into my room at some point, and I was right about that. However, I did not think that I was going to be the very first room she would go into, but I was. I have been using lots of the strategies that she I already used taught us in my classroom and I had my objectives posted like we are supposed to. She was in my room for about 15 minutes and then she talked to me for a few minutes during the 5 minute break in between 1st and 2nd period. She was quite negative with me and just kept pointing out the things I was not doing instead of at least sharing something positive with me. Let's just say that put me in a pretty crappy mood!

During 3rd period which is my Pre AP class I began to grade spelling tests while they were working on some comprehension questions for The Giver with a partner. Oh my goodness, the grades were horrible! I even had one of my kids in my first class make a 2 on it. Yes, a 2!!! I did not even know that was possible. He missed every single word, but managed to get the bonus right. There will definitely be some retesting and corrections going on with spelling tests from this past week. Hopefully they will do better on it this coming week.

After lunch, I had my Pre AP kiddos again for about an hour. One of the boys came back from lunch and could not follow directions and was driving me crazy. He also happened to be way behind with his work and was distracting the others while they tried to work. I ended up having to send him to the office with a stress pass so I did not blow a gasket. I think it might have been exactly what he needed though because he came back ready to work.

Then it was time for 5th period and this is my smallest class, there are only 16 of them, but 10 of them are boys. These boys also love to talk and argue with each other. They wear me out every single day, and Friday was no different. They would not stop talking for anything on Friday. Luckily, I did manage to make it to 6th period which is my conference.

During conference my plan was to go to the workroom to run my district benchmark bubble sheets through the Eduphoria scanner. I got a little frustrated when the computer program for it kept freezing and then would not take my bubble sheets. I finally gave up and started walking towards the main building to go and check my box. Our principal happens to be in one of the rooms as I am walking by and she calls me. She could tell I was frustrated and upset so we talked for a little while. When she was getting ready to walk out of the room she also told me that the sheltered instruction observer was raving about me and my classroom. The same one who I thought pretty much hated me actually loved me. Why couldn't she have told me something positive instead of making me mad for most of the day?

By this point I was pretty sure that my day could not get any worse, but it did. We took our MS cheerleaders to the HS pep rally on Friday because they were invited. It is always such a neat thing for the girls and it is a fun pep rally too because it was the black light one. We were supposed to be there by 2:45pm so the girls could warm up and everything. We were all there, but our head cheer sponsor did not get there until about 3:05 when the pep rally started at 3:15. This is when I just lost it and cried. Luckily I did feel better after crying.

Did I mention I had some major projects for grad school do this week too?

I can only hope that this week will be better than the last one.

What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents

I am sure that some of you all have already seen this, but if you have not you must read! Our principal shared this with us last week and it is so true!

You can find the article here.

Friday It Begins!

It is so hard to believe that I really begin my first year as a teacher on Friday! Well that is at least when inservice starts for new teachers. My room is finally beginning to look like a classroom after being at camp the past 6 weeks. I took my camera up to the school with me on Sunday, but of course it was dead when I turned it on. Tomorrow we have Tadpole Camp for the incoming 6th graders to get acquainted with their new school. All day Wednesday and Thursday are going to be spent putting my finishing touches on my classroom. I cannot wait to share the pictures with you all!

Enjoy what is left of your summer vacation!

I got a job!!!

If you follow my personal blog, you already knew this because I could not hold it in any longer! As of about 11:30am today, I am officially the newest employee of Fredericksburg Independent School District as a 6th grade Language Arts teacher.

 I sort of had a hunch that after I did not get the 3rd grade job that I would have a pretty decent shot of getting this 6th grade job. Yesterday Ms. Principal told me that she needed to talk to me sometime today so I figured I would find something out. During my conference I headed over to Central Office to vote in our school election for a bond that we are hoping passes. When I got there, the sub coordinator was talking to the secretary and I overheard her say that she was pretty sure they had just offered a job to me. I was a little surprised to hear this since I had not talked to the principal or anything yet. I get back to the middle school and go wait in the library for our teacher appreciation lunch that the PTO was putting on. I am just finishing up my lunch when the receptionist from the office comes to find me and tells me that Ms. Principal needs to talk to me. Of course I got all nervous and everything, but I headed to her office. I walk in and I see both of our counselors sitting there and she told me to close the door. I took the open seat at her table, and she informs me right away that she would love for me to continue teaching Language Arts for the 2011-2012 school year! I of course told her yes! I did not even have to have an interview or anything, but it does help that she knows exactly what she is getting. 

This afternoon I went over to Central Office to get some paperwork started, and then after approval by the school board Monday night, I can sign my contract Tuesday sometime. It is so surreal, but I am so excited. I already know that this summer I am going to have to go through a 30 hour GT training in either SA or Austin. Have any of you all ever done this? 

I promise to share more as it unfolds!

One More Week

That is all I have left of my student teaching experience. Tuesday and Wednesday don't even really count because I had potty patrol during the TAKS test. May 2nd is my official last day of student teaching and then I will be all on my own in 6th grade for the remainder of the school year.

On Thursday I had my final observation for student teaching and I am excited to report that I got a perfect 120 out of 120 from my supervising professor. I knew I would do well, but I was not expecting a perfect score at all. Now all I have left is to graduate and then I will be fully certified to teach EC-6th grade in the state of Texas. I am also planning on taking the 4-8 generalist test this summer too. 

On Thursday I officially applied for the 6th grade ELA job that I am doing right now. I have my fingers crossed because I really think that is where I would rather be. Don't get me wrong, I still love the elementary kiddos, I just think I would like to start in 6th grade especially now since I have a rhythm with it. The idea of possibly only planning for 2 things is nice too compared to having to plan for all 4 content areas. Hopefully I will have a better idea by the end of the week though. 

Do you do anything special for your kiddos for testing or give them an encouragement note? I am wanting to give them something on Monday but am just not sure what I want it to be. I would love to hear your suggestions!

Exciting News

1. I am finally getting around to taking some pictures of my classroom tomorrow. I have to warn you now though that it is not too exciting. 

2. I set up my interview today for the 3rd grade job. It is on May 2nd at 10:30am. The principal told me today that I also have to prepare a 5-10 minute reading lesson plan that I could use in a 3rd grade classroom. Any suggestions or ideas? I am thinking I want to do something with a guided reading strategy because that has been a lot of the focus lately on the campus.

Happy almost Wednesday!

You Know You're A 6th Grader Teacher when...

I am loving Abby's blog hop at the Inspired Apple and decided to join in on the fun too!

1. Almost all of your students are taller than you. 

2. Your students appreciate your humor and sarcasm and love to dish it back at you.

3. Your students don't care about the super cute letters or border that you put up in your room. 

4. They choose not to tell their parents anything because they think they are stupid. You can bet that the note that you typed up and sent home will not get to the parents. The only way for that to happen is to email them a copy of it too.

5. You are grading research papers for days.

6. The kids think you are stupid, but what they don't know is that you pulled the same tricks on your teachers back in the day.

7. It is torture trying to get your students to read a book for fun and not because they were told to do so.

8. You can't seem to ever have enough copies of something because they all keep losing it. 

9. You have to give the boys your teacher look when you hear them talking about googling Spring Break when they are supposed to be working on their Biography Project in the Library. 

10. The students love to correct your mistakes, especially on things that you type. Darn you auto correct!

One Down...500 to go!

Not quite 500, but that is what it seems like. I have officially submitted my first application for a job and have 2 more to fill out tomorrow during conference. I finally got my resume and cover letter just the way that I wanted them, and I hope that the principals and HR people will love them as much as I do. 

This evening for our student teaching seminar, we had the Head of HR from the school district in Kerrville come and talk to us. He brought his Dean of Curriculum at the HS and also a first year teacher from the HS with him. The Dean was actually my assistant principal in middle school, talk about a small world. I can now add her to my list of contacts that I have within districts. She told my supervising teacher that I needed to take the 4th-8th generalist test too in addition to my EC-6th certification which I already passed. I am not too sure how I feel about the possibility of teaching middle school, but with the school budget crisis here in Texas I want to make myself as marketable as possible. 

Speaking of applications, what should I expect when I start my interviews? What would you say is the #1 thing that administrators are looking for in a teacher? My personal opinion is that they have to know that you are passionate about kids and education. They cannot teach you that, but they can teach you the curriculum. Hopefully I will get an interview out of this application that I filled out tonight! 

Happy Friday eve! I just love Fridays, they are for sure the best day of the week!

I Just Want a Job!

After talking with the principal yesterday, I have been working on my resume and letter of intent that I will submit with my applications. I understand that I am really going to have to sell myself with my resume and letter of intent. For you all who have applied for jobs recently, what do you suggest for length, is longer than a page acceptable? Do you list your references on the resume? With the job market being so tough this year, I am really wanting to make a good impression with this. I am hoping that the principal will look at both and tell me what he thinks too.

This evening was the 4th grade production that the music teacher puts on every year. They did Annie and it was so cute. The kids were all so excited that I made it back in time for the play and I am sure they will still be talking about it tomorrow. I wish I would have gotten some pictures because they all looked so cute! 

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, it is for sure my favorite day of the week...I wonder why?!?

Resume Help and Center Update

I am beginning to apply for jobs, but am not too sure about my resume. What categories do administrators want to see? As tough as it is going to be to get a job here in Texas this year, I want to make sure that they are really impressed with my resume and cover letter. If anyone wants to look at mine and critique it for me I would love that or if you have a really great format for yours that you think would help me would be great too. You can e-mail me at k.e.klohn@gmail.com or if you are interested just leave me your e-mail and I will send it to you. If you are a Texas teacher, I am sure you are familiar with the Texas Association of School Administrators job search, I pretty much stalk it every day!

Monday was day one of using centers during our ELA block and it has been such a hit. The kids love it and I also think that they have been able to get more out of the content because of the small groups. I am most excited for my center tomorrow because we are going to do the conversation hearts writing activity that I posted last week. I hope they really like it and are creative with their quotations. I am ready for the writing TAKS to be over though so that we can not work so much on writing and can dedicate more time to the center activities. 

Something else that has been pretty exciting this week in 4th grade, is that our class was selected to write for the local newspaper for the upcoming Texas Public Schools Week. One 4th grade and one 5th grade class was selected. We were given 2 topics for the kids to write about that are really pretty fun. The topic we have been working on the past two days was "What do you think school will be like in the year 2050?" They were so creative and I am hoping that if they are in the paper I can share some of them with you all. They wrote about things like inventing exploding homework in science class, anti-gravity classrooms where if you get in trouble the teacher just turns on the gravity switch and you fall to the floor, and robot teachers. I am pretty sure none of that will happen, but it has been fun seeing what their imaginations think of. The topic that we are starting tomorrow is for them to plan a day at school where their parents join them. The newspaper lady is coming on Thursday to take pictures of them too. 

Hope that everyone survived Valentine's Day on Monday! I cannot wait to plan my own Valentine's party next year!