Our Ecosystem Terrariums

Excitement!! Well that is an understatement! My class is beyond excited about our new Terrariums in our classroom. We have built new Ecosystems. Today they all received their Cockroach to go in it. Yes, I said Cockroach!! My kids love them and think they are the bomb!

Yesterday, we began creating our Ecosystems and the students were told they had to have a few mandatory things in their Terrariums. The mandatory items were: cockroach, plants, water, soil and some sort of light source. Then students were allowed to pick 6 optional items for them. They had choices such as: rocks, driftwood, shredded paper, sand, gravel, pool of water, shells, rotting wood, wood chips, moss and worms. Well needless to say everyone chose to have WORMS in their Ecosystems too. So, they began by working in trio's planning how they wanted to arrange their ecosystem and coming up with a plan as to what elements they wanted in it. It was so great to see my students working together! They worked hard to come up with their plans as to how they wanted their Ecosystems to look and feel. When they were putting them together yesterday, however, we didn't have our hissing COCKROACHES yet! With that being said they were pretty amazed with just their 3 worms too!

Today, we got the Cockroaches in and they put them into their new homes. Here is a picture of one of their Terrariums and you can see the Big 'Ol Cockroach on the left side of the tank!

This should be a fun time! I never thought I'd be saying I have a pet Cockroach in my room, but it's been pretty fun watching my students interact with one another and how happy these little things make them. We did have a scare today though...one of the Cockroaches was laying backside up in the pool of water and the kids were convinced that he had drowned himself. I had to remind them how hardy Cockroaches were. I also told them they are nocturnal animals and he was just taking a snooze! We pushed him a little and sure enough his little legs began to wiggle! Whew....we hadn't killed him!

Well I'm sure I'll be telling you more about our little friends soon!

No More Reading Without Support

What a gloomy rainy day! This is the kind of day that makes you want to curl up on the couch watching TV, surfing the internet and reading a book. Well that is what I've done this weekend. I read the book "No More Independent Reading Without Support". The book was co authored by Debbie Miller and it was a short book and an easy read.

This book gave some clear reasons why we shouldn't just let our students loose with independent reading. We have to be there with conferences to support them and ensure that they are growing. I knew what they were saying in this book, but it just solidified my belief about independent reading and how I know this is a great way for students to grow as readers. However, I also know that I must be there for support! Happy Reading!

How often do you conference with your students?

Liebster Award!

I have been trying to get my blog up and rolling, and I know I need to be more consistent with my posts. I received a nomination for a Liebster Blog Award over a month ago and I forgot all about it. I was blog hopping today and I saw that someone else had just gotten one, and a light bulb went off in my head. "Hey, I had one of those before too!" So I checked my email and I still had the invite so here I am.

Thanks to Paulina over at Blessings of a Teacher. For nominating me for this Liebster Award.
This award is for newer blogs with less than 200 followers. It is a great feeling for someone to recognize your efforts. I am very new to this blogging thing. However, I have learned so much already. I learn everyday about great teaching practices from other teacher bloggers. I really believe that teachers are the greatest and they are always willing to help other teachers! I love what I have been learning through blogging!

To accept the Liebster nomination I must do the following:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me.

2. Nominate 5 -11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

3. Answer the questions posted by my nominator.

4. Answer 11 random facts about myself.

5. Create 11 questions for my nominees.

6. Contact my nominees to let them know I nominated them.

Let me answer Paulina's questions:

Here you go:

1. What made you decide to go into teaching? I went in to teaching after working for 16 years for Farmers Insurance. I did everything from working as a file clerk to being a Yacht Underwriter. I had always wanted to be a teacher and in 2006 I had the opportunity to go back to school to become a teacher. My husband retired from the Marines and we moved from California to South Dakota. It was the best decision I ever made!

2. What is your favorite things to do to get ready for school? I love getting to school early at least an hour before the kids get there. This gives me time to unwind and make sure that I'm prepared for the day.

3. Tell about your favorite school memory. My favorite school memory was in high school and being part of the yearbook committee. My senior year I was Editor. I loved those times.

4. What is the best thing about the school you teach at? The students of course! I have a great group of kids this year and a small classroom of 13 fun loving 5th graders eager to learn.

5. Who inspires you? I am inspired currently by learning as much as I can about reading from The Sisters, Stephanie Harvey, Tanny McGregor and so many others.

6. Any advice for new teachers? Get to know your students and always have a positive attitude when engaging with them. This will help in having a very productive year.

7. What's your favorite subject? My favorite subject hands down is Reading! I love reading and love to share my passion with my students!

8. Do you use technology in your classroom? If so, what? Yes, we have 6 laptops, a smart board, computer labs, mobile labs with laptops and ipads, and we have 2 mobile ipod labs.

9. What is the last book you read? The last book I just read was  No More Independent Reading Without Support by Debbie Miller.

10. If you could do anything, what would it be? If I could do anything right now I'd travel the world with my husband. However,  if I could do anything in school I'd love to be a Literacy Coach or a teacher of just Literacy some day.

11. What is your favorite quote? The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. Dr. Seuss.

11 Random facts about me:

1. I love Peanut Butter M&M's

2. I am addicted to Amazon

3. I have over 2,500 books in my classroom library

4. My favorite genre is Historical Fiction 

5. I love my amazing husband and 2 fabulous sons

6. The beach is my happy place

7. I love to read 

8. I love to teach reading

9. I wish I could draw

10. Teaching is my passion

11. My favorite food is Mexican

My nominees for Liebster:

Tony: Learning with Literature 

Kristen: Aspire to Inspire 

Marie: Beach Lovin Teach 

Sarah: MissKinbk 

Katie: Mind Sparks

Here you go:

1. How long have you been teaching?

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

3. What is your favorite grade to teach?

4. Why did you get into teaching?

5. What is your best memory of your teaching career?

6. How do you plan to get all the standards taught, especially Common Core?

7. If you had a million dollars what would you do with it?

8. What is the best thing about your school?

9. What do you do with behavior problems in your class? Behavior system?

10. Do you have a theme in your classroom?

11. Do you let the kids listen to music while they work?

What I'm Reading!

Well, I always seem to be reading something these days! My goal is to make my students better readers and writers, and the best way I know how to do it is to educate myself! I love what I have been learning and I'm excited to keep learning as much as I can! Here are some of the books that I am reading or I've just ordered to read.

The above book I learned about this September at the Daily 5 conference in Denver. This book is a way to get rid of the regular spelling routines. Per the blurb on Amazon: "Cindy Marten responds to the demand for "direct, systematic, and explicit phonics and spelling instruction" that goes way beyond what to teach - she addresses the questions of how, when, and why spelling should be taught. More important, she situates spelling within the contexts of real writing and the individual learner's needs."

I've only just begun reading this, but so far it's very interesting!

I'm pretty excited about this book! I just recently ordered it and hope to receive it tomorrow. I've read the 1st chapter online and I'm excited to read what Debbie Miller has to say about ensuring that kids have support in the classroom when reading independently. I have been conferring with my kids daily with a para in my room and my kids have made some great improvements. I really hope to learn more in this book.

This is another book that was recommended to me at the Daily 5 conference I have the book, and it is on my reading list! Writing is one area I don't feel as strong in as I do reading. I can't wait to read this and learn more about read world writing!

This book was just released yesterday, and I haven't received it yet, but I've been reading about it on the blog, "The Nerdy Book Club". I'm excited about reading this book, because close reading is such a huge component to the CCSS. I have been working on close reading with my students and I hope this book will enhance my students learning and understanding. In addition, I hope it will enhance my teaching!

You and your students will fall for close reading. In Falling in Love with Close Reading, Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts show us that it can be rigorous, meaningful, and joyous. You'll empower students to not only analyze texts but to admire the craft of a beloved book, study favorite songs and videogames, and challenge peers in evidence-based discussions.

Last but not least this is the book I'm SUPER excited to read! The bummer part is, the book has not been released. It was originally going to be released in October, but now it's not until November. If you've read "The Book Whisper" by Donalyn Miller, then you'll want to read her new book! I'm so excited to find out what Donalyn has to say about building lifelong reading habits in the classroom!

I've got quite a bit on my reading list, but it will all be worth it!!

Celebrating!

I am linking up with Ruth Ayres writes to share a celebration! Every Saturday we will link up on on our blogs to share some kind of Celebration that you want to talk about in the classroom. It can be anything! I was trying to think of something fun that I can celebrate.

So this week I am celebrating my class in working on their Mystery Stories. We are wrapping them up this coming week and we are doing our writing celebration this coming Thursday. My kids still have some work to do with editing, but we are on the right track! They have been working hard and I know our writing celebration will put them in the right frame of mind to continue down this writing path!!

Reading

I have been doing the Daily 5 in my classroom and it's been in full swing. I haven't introduced all of the choices quite yet, but the kids are doing well with what they have been doing.

The one thing that is going amazingly well is conferencing! I have a small class this year of only 14 students and with the help of some great para's in my room we have been able to conference with every kiddo in the class everyday! I am truly hoping this extra help for the kids will help them to become better and and more metacognitive readers! I will start strategy groups next week and we will be focusing on Close Reading! We will work on other strategies as well, but using Close Reading will allow the students to really dig in deep to their reading.

What kind of strategy groups do you use in your classroom?

Class Dojo

This year I am trying something new for classroom management and so far it seems to be working great! We are are doing the Class Dojo in our room. This is an online classroom management tool that you can monitor both positive and negative behaviors of your students. We strive to find the positive behaviors and students have really responded to this!

If you haven't checked out this site yet, you really should! They have thought of so much and you can customize the behavior goals to fit your classroom!! This can also be accessed by parents and students so they are always aware of the behaviors! In addition, you can download an app to your smart phone and you have access throughout the day to add or take away points! What a great tool!

Professional Development

Well I have been meaning to post, but have been busy! I had a pretty exciting September and got to see the Sisters in Denver for a Daily 5 and Cafe conference! It was AMAZING, despite the flooding that was occurring around the Denver area.

Another positive thing going on right now is our district has contracted with Stephanie Harvey and her company, and they are providing PD for all of our title schools. I feel very fortunate! Hopefully, this will help me to become a better reading teacher! Since reading is my passion, and want to help all of my students succeed in this area!

I will be posting more about news in the classroom soon!