Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!!!

I know it has been quite some time since I made a post.  So much has changed since my last entry.  I'm no longer teaching third grade nor at the same school.  I'm actually teaching overseas in Abu Dhabi!  I'm currently in my second year of my contract teaching kindergarten.  I decided to begin blogging again as it is a good tool to add to my teacher's portfolio.  I'm not sure whose still following this blog but I hope you'll continue with me on this international teaching journey.  Stay tuned!

Proud Moments

I really need to do better with this blogging thing.  Yes, I know I've said it before, but I'm going to try and do better...But in the meantime I'm going to catch you up on a few things that took place since my last post...

Towards the end of March, we had consultants come to my school from Standards Solution, to help get our students better prepared for the EOY PARCC Assessment.  Well the math consultant raved on and on about my third graders and how impressed she was with their math skills.  She said she visited several third grade classrooms and that my third graders were much more advanced than all the other schools she visited.  It really felt great hearing those words!  Often times I feel like I'm not getting through to my students or my hard work is going unnoticed.  To have someone come into your classroom and tell you that you are indeed doing a great job, it is truly a confidence booster.  Our Academic coaches and Administration does a good job of complimenting the staff, but when you have a total stranger say those things, it just reconfirm things.  I just wish that more people could see how well my students have progressed over the school year, and not have PARCC overshadow everything that they've accomplished.  We completed the EOY PARCC Assessment the first week in April, and I'm so glad that testing is over!  

We've accomplished so much this school year, and I'm so very proud of my third graders.  I was able to introduce skills much earlier than last school year.  Back in August when I attended PD, It was suggested that I start the school year off with multiplication.  I'm so glad I followed this suggestion.  I feel good knowing that the majority of my students have mastered their multiplication facts and they are pretty good with comparing fractions.  Both multiplication facts and fractions were a struggle last year, and for this reason I'm glad I started both concepts much earlier in the school year.

Well that about sums up some of my thoughts since my last post.  But before I go, I wanted to share some more good news.  About two weeks ago, I learned that I was named the March/April Teacher of the Month!  I was ecstatic to receive this award!  One day I hope to fulfill my goal of being named Teacher of the Year.  

Until next time!

PARCC Testing

It's day two and I'm home enjoying my extended weekend due to a snow storm.  These days off were much needed.  

Like so many schools across the nation, my school begin PARCC Testing on Tuesday.  For the most part, I would say the day was a success and by success I mean all the students completed the test without incident.  No tears were shed by the students or Ms. Leach.  Lol!  As students completed the math portion, I saw them give a quick fist pump and mouth "Yes!"  One student motioned me over to take a look at her screen.  What had the students feeling accomplished were the green numbers on the screen.  You see, at my school we use Go Math in our math curriculum. I have my students complete their chapter assessments on Think Central, students receive their grades immediately.  Correct answers are marked green and incorrect answers are marked red.  So as students completed the PARCC Assessment and saw those green numbers they automatically assumed they answered every question correctly.  Those green numbers actually meant that the questions were only answered, not necessarily correct.  The red numbers meant that the student did not answer the question. 

For my students, just seeing those green numbers removed some, if not all of the anxiety for the test.  So students were actually looking forward to day 2 of the test.  Day 2 went pretty much like day one with the silent cheers and excitement of seeing green numbers.  Because students saw green, they were reluctant to go back and check their work (sigh).  But it is what it is.....all I could ask of them, were to try their best and not to give up.  My third graders did just that and for that I'm proud of them.  This PARCC Assessment can not tell me anything different than what I already know about my students.  I'm interested in the progress my students have gained since September to now, and they have made tremendous progress.  I don't need these standardized test to overshadow the hard work my students have put in over the past 6 months.  They're growing and learning, some at a much faster pace than others but they are all progressing.  We have one more day of testing on Monday and then we're done with PARCC til May.  If I had my way PARCC wouldn't be an issue, but I don't have that power so I have not choice but to fall in line.  

To all my fellow educators taking the PARCC or preparing for, don't let it stress you out!  Just do what you do best, and that is to educate your students.  Everything else will fall into place.  

Until next time!  

Reflections of 2014

Just minutes away before 2015 and I'm so grateful for life and the experiences I had this year. I'm praying that 2015 be even greater!  In 2014 I experienced many "firsts", and being that I didn't make many posts this year, allow me to share my year in review...

For a few years, I've wanted to join the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Program, to become a big sister to you a young girl.  I was on the list for a year and was finally matched with my "little" in March.  Just a week later of meeting my "little", I arrived home to find a package from Cape Town, South Africa, with a picture of my new penpal.  Let me tell you how this came about..I decided to get involved in a program called Metro Kids Africa after reading a blog from one of my favorite bloggers, Curly Nikki.  She and her hubby took a trip to South Africa and while there they stopped by an orphanage that is run by Metro Kids Africa.  And since I always wanted to get involved with a charity in Africa, I decided to investigate further and reach out to Mrs. Janet Senior, who is the director of the program.  After a few conversations with Janet, I was all ready to get involved with the program.  And just a few weeks later, I was able to "meet" my new friend in South Africa.  I enjoy receiving mail and cards from her, and I'm so thankful that I'm able to be a blessing to these girls.

Another great thing that occurred this year was that I finally became a member of the Illustrious Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc!!!  I've had an interest in this organization since my undergrad years, and now a few years later, I'm officially a Zeta Women!

More great news on a professional note...I love departmentalization!  As I shared with you before, the Administrators at my school decided to departmentalize grades 3-5 for the 2014-2015 school year.  I was reluctant when I first heard of the change but I absolutely love it!  I love teaching my favorite subjects and lesson planning is so much easier.  And last but not least of my 2014 "firsts", I had the great opportunity to have a student teacher in my classroom.  As you already know,  I was very apprehensive in taking on a student teacher.  But I'm so grateful of the opportunity, and being able to mentor this young lady during her journey to becoming an educator.  She was awesome and great with the students, we learned a lot from each other.  I already have another student teacher lined up in January, I pray she's just as great!

2014 was good to me, and it is my prayer that GOD allows 2015 to be even greater!  No New Year resolutions as I don't keep them anyway, I just pray to learn how to "live" more each day.  

Happy New Year!!!!

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Wow!  I really have to get better with making updates, as I realize my last post was August 1st.  I have to do better!  So much has happened since my last post, one of them being the start of a new school year.  Yes, I'm back to work as of this past Tuesday, and I'm loving the new changes that I stressed over this summer.  I'm still working on my room as I only had three full days to work on it.  But I'm going to keep working on it until it's where I want it to be.  I'm not exactly sure when I'll get  everything done, working after school is no-go.  My classroom will house the after-school program, so I'll have to work around students.  But I'm thankful for the extra set of hands I have this year.  Oh wait, I forgot to share this information with you...

So, this year I have the pleasure of having a Student Teacher in my classroom.  I'll admit, when I first received the news I was very apprehensive of the idea.  But after conversing over email, and finally meeting each other, I'm glad that I was chosen.  "Jessica" is very sweet, with a bubbly personality.  We actually have many things in common.  She came to the school and helped me out tremendously with the room.  She's eager to learn, and happy to be in our classroom.  I'm both humbled and honored to be a part of her journey to educator.

As I shared with you all in a previous post, grades 3-5 are now departmentalized.  I will teach mathematics, science, and social studies, I enjoy teaching all three subjects.  At my school there are two third grade classes.  I teach my homeroom students math, and science/social studies, then switch with the other third grade class.  My students travel across the hall to to receive their language arts lessons, while I teach science/social studies and math to my other students. Since I've worked with these kids as kindergartners, I pretty much know them all.  So learning 40 new kids isn't too much of a problem.  

As much as I worried this summer about the school year, the nervousness has taken a back seat to the feeling of excitement.  I'm ready to soar to greater heights this year and I'm claiming this year to be my BEST year yet!

Here are a few pics of my classroom, more pics to come!

It's August Already...

Today marks the first day of August.  For many teachers everywhere, the month of August is a sign that summer vacation is slowly coming to an end.  How is that summer vacation is nearly over, when I haven't even begun?  My school year ended on June 27th, yet I haven't stopped working, except for the July 4th Holiday.  Since school ended, I've helped to get curriculum ready for the upcoming school year, as well as attend training for a new program my school is piloting in September.  So much for summer vacation, right?  Well, I have off the next two weeks and I'm going to make the best of it by enjoying my summer.  

I have so much to do, with very little time. I promised myself not to stress over things that are beyond my control but I can't help but to worry (just a tad bit), about getting ready for September.  My school is housing a summer camp, and some of the classrooms are being used, one of those classrooms belong to me.  Because my room is being utilized, I won't have much time to prep it before students return to school.  I'm not too happy about this but it's beyond my control.  It's one of those things that I just have to deal with.  Getting myself worked up about it, will not do me any good.  I have to remind myself that it's not just me that's affected, it's my entire floor.  But I sure wish things were handled a little differently with the camp situation.  I'll have to come up with a game plan on how I'm going to tackle my classroom; make every second count in that short time frame.  I'm sure everything will work out fine, and my room will be ready, and welcoming on the first day of school.


Until next time...

The Shake Up

Many changes took place this week at the workplace.  I was called into the office on Tuesday to sit down with my Principal, and other Administrative Staff to discuss changes for the upcoming school year.  I really didn't know what to expect, all I know is that I was hella nervous.  I knew they weren't letting me go, I just figured whatever it was going to be, would be pretty heavy.  Then came the news..........after having such an awesome year with my fabulous partner, she and I would no longer be a team.  The 2014-15 school year will be my third year teaching third grade, as well as my third partner change.  My old partner is moving down to kindergarten, and my new partner is moving up from first grade.  There was a total shake up, and moving around of staff.  Everyone except for three teachers (myself included), will have a new grade level in September. 

As if a change in partners weren't enough, I also learned that grades 3-5 will be departmentalized for the new school year.  I will teach math, science, and social studies while my partner will teach language arts - reading, writing, and word work/vocabulary.  I'm not exactly sure how it will work, but I'm up for the challenge.  I can honestly say that language arts is not my favorite subject or strongest area.  But I love math, science, and social studies.  I'm not quite sure how departmentalizing will work in third grade, but I'm willing (as if I have choice) to give it a try.  This is definitely going to be an interesting school year, and I will make sure to tell you all about it.......

Until next time! 

End of 2nd Year

I can't believe I went the whole year without making a post :-(  Well the school year ended just two weeks ago, today.......yes we have a loooooong school year.  I truly do not know how I made it through the year, my class was tough!  We did have some great times though.  I enjoyed working with my new grade partner (she's the best), she made my year more bearable.

I wasn't able to do many of the things that I did the previous year.  But I'm determined to make the 2014-2015 school year my greatest year yet!  I'm back at work, preparing for September and I'm getting excited about our social studies program (although, I hate the textbooks).  Sometimes science and social studies is pushed to the back burner, but my grade partner and I have come up with some awesome units and we're excited to teach them.    

Good-bye Summer Vacation

Well, we're down to the last weekend before a new school year begins.  For me, it feels like my vacation has just begun.  Thankfully, I was able to travel this summer, and visited sunny California for the very first time.  I had a ball!  Los Angeles is a beautiful place!  For so long I was afraid to visit L.A., partly due to the five hour plane ride and earthquakes.  So glad I was able to push my fear of flying, and earthquakes to the side.  I would have missed out on an awesome vacation.  Other than my visit to California, my summer consisted of broken promises to read various books on my books to read list, a little bit of exercising, working on curriculum, and spray painting. 

I got the idea of spray painting from one of my favorite bloggers Jodi of Clutter-free Classroom.  Last year, my classroom library had a red and blue theme.  Going forward, I didn't want the same color theme, nor did I want to throw out the perfectly new bins.  I remembered Jodi's post on spraying paint and decided to give it a try.  And I'm glad I did because the bins turned out to be awesome!

 

I really love the color scheme!

School begins next Tuesday, September 3rd, and my classroom is 95% ready.  I have a few more things I want to do, but my new kids will feel welcomed once they enter the room next week.

I've spent the last week working on my classroom and preparing for the new school year.  Last Monday, we had a staff development session and I was able to meet my new grade level partner.  If you've kept up with my blog, I shared with you all that my team of three was now a team of two.  Each grade level now have two classrooms.  Anyway, I gained a new partner and I'm excited to work with her this school year.  We share the same name and live in close proximity to each other.  Not only did I gain a new partner but we now have three new people on our floor and they are all awesome.  I love our hallway!  Again, I'm excited about the new partnerships and school year.  I know we're going to have an awesome year!

Summer Vacation............

Wow!  It's been quite some time since I made a post.  Today is July 4th and like most of you, I'm enjoying my summer break!  The school year ended over a week ago, on Monday, June 24th.  I can honestly say I had an awesome first year!  And I'm not bragging or anything, but I had THE BEST group of third graders ever!  I'm going to miss them all so much.  This group will have a special place in my heart because they were my first "babies."  There were many memories made over the course of the school year, many laughs and cries.

Our third grade team of three, has now become a team of two.  Because of this change, I had to switch classrooms during the last week of school.  For me, this wasn't a welcomed change because I LOVED my old room.  But there's no since in sweating the small stuff, so I'll just have to accept the change, and make more memories in my new classroom.  I'm excited for the new school year but for now I'm going to enjoy my summer vacation.  I have my own list of summer reading that I want to complete and some videos I need to watch.  I also need to think of a new name for this blog, since I'm no longer a first year teacher.  I promise to get better at blogging and update more often.  

But for now, I'll leave you with one of my favorite summertime songs.  Enjoy!

CFC Project 2013 - Before Pictures

I'm an avid follower of the Clutter Free Classroom.  In June 2012, I learned I had a 3rd grade teaching position.  I immediately set off in search of classroom ideas.  I stumbled upon the Clutter Free Classroom Blogspot and have been a follower ever since.  Jodi is simply amazing! 

Anyway, let's get back to the reasoning of this post.  One of my personal goes for 2013 is to become more organized both at work in school.  It's time I get some balance in my life.  Most school nights, I don't leave work until after 6:00.  I can count on my hand the amount of times I left work at the close of the day (4:00).  By the time 4:00 rolls around, I'm much too tired to run out of the school doors.  I take that time to sit down for about 20 minutes.  I just need to sit.  Then I proceed to straighten my classroom and prepare for the next day.  This cycle is repeated several times during the week.  As you can imagine, it can leave a person tired and worn out.  It's time to end this cycle!

I've decided to get more organized and join the 2013 Clutter-free Classroom Project!  Our first assignment is to take before pictures.  In yesterday's post I spoke about implementing math workshop into my class routine.  I have the perfect spot, only thing is, it's cluttered mess!  I'm ashamed to even post these pictures!  (smh)  This area doesn't always look like this, I promise!    

 

 

I'm ecstatic to get help from Jodi and read posts from other teachers, who like myself, need help with organizing our classrooms.  So I'm going to focus on this area first.  I can't wait to see the end results!  Until next time!

 

Looking to get better organized, come and join the party!

 

 

Teacher of the Month

Guess who was nominated for Teacher of the Month for the month of December?  That's right, yours truly!  I was truly shocked when I saw my name.  Being named teacher of the month was one of my goals for this school year.  It may not be a big deal to some, but I'm so proud to have achieved this goal.  Some may have questioned, "Why her?"  And to that I say, "Why not?"  #Favor 

Well on to the next goal - implementing math work stations.  You may remember a post I made a few months back about reader's workshop and how I wanted to give it a try in my classroom.  Well, I decided to put it on hold and start with math.  Math, in my opinion, will be much easier to implement than reading.  I haven't given up on reader's workshop.  I plan to devote some time working on it during the summer break.  I believe adding these workshops will help both myself and my students.  Trying to teach to the whole class, can be very frustrating.  So it's time I change things up a bit.  So enter, math workshop!  I'll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year

Wow!  I can't believe 2012 is gone and it's now 2013.  It is true, as you grow older the years fly by rapidly.  When I was young, I couldn't wait to be an adult.  Now, I just want time to slow down, just a tad bit.  Lol!  Anyway, I'm so grateful to see a new year, 2012 was good to me!  In 2012, I became the first in my family to receive a Master's Degree.  This degree made it possible for me to achieve a long awaited goal of becoming a certified teacher.  Not only did I achieve that goal, I was also blessed with a teaching position soon after.  

I haven't had any major issues in my life that caused major setbacks, and for that, I'm forever grateful to the ONE who holds my tomorrow.  God has been good to me and if he never does another thing, He's done enough!  I pray that your new year be filled with joy, love, peace, and abundant blessings!

Day of Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

WHY????

Yesterday, a tragic event occurred at an elementary school in Connecticut.  I repeat, an elementary school.  Twenty-six people were killed, more than half were children between the ages of 5 -10, just babies!  What type of person goes to a school with the intent to kill babies?  I cannot fathom experiencing what those children and school staff experienced during that short time period.  I can't concentrate on anything at the moment, my mind keeps going back to that small town in Connecticut.

Here I am sitting in my classroom, expecting students to flow in at any minute for Saturday School.  I'm wondering if any of my students have heard about this, and if so what do I say to them?  Because of the times we're living in, my school as most schools around the country participate in lock-down drills.  This is where we "pretend" that an intruder is in the building and we lock the doors, find a safe spot in the classroom and keep quiet.  Well, to many students this is a quick game of "Hide and Seek" and many do not take it seriously.  No one ever believes that something so tragic would happen to them.  What happened in CT could have happened anywhere.  Praying for the families and the entire community of Newtown, CT.  May GOD bless their souls.   

My first Observation

Well my first observation has come and gone and I can breath a little easier, just a tad bit.  Lol!  My principal came in on last Friday during guided reading time.  I begin my lesson maybe five minutes before she arrived.  I was fine at first but the minute I saw her walking towards my classroom I became nervous.  I was afraid that some of my students would act out or maybe I would say something wrong.  Overall it was a good observation.  There are definitely some areas that need improving and I'm working to improve them.  

Which brings me to the reason of this post. My school uses Everyday Math for our math curriculum.  Anyway, I was just browsing the site and looking at the professional development videos, something I planned to do back in September.  But being the procrastinator that I am, I'm just now watching the videos.  I know what you're saying, shame on me.  Lol!  Anyway, I wished I had watched these videos earlier.  Maybe my students would have caught on to the lesson much better.  I know many of them could use extra practice in this topic so I plan to do the lesson again.  I'm sure they will have better success the second time around.  

Cue the music!  "If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again, you can dust it off and try again, try again."

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

Post-Thanksgiving Thoughts!

Well yesterday was Thanksgiving and I wasn't able to make a post so here it goes........

I have so much to be thankful for!  I will be here all day if I tried to list everything but I want to share just a few things with you all.  I'm most thankful for a supportive family, where would I be without them?  I'm thankful for my job and school family.  I love my kids and co-workers!  I'm thankful for good health!  In all of my 33 years I've never had any sickness or accidents that resulted in a hospital stay.  I'm thankful that Hurricane Sandy showed us mercy and everything is still intact, although some families were not as fortunate as mine.  I meant to blog about the hurricane but never got around to it.  We were out of school for seven days!  The hurricane did a lot of damage.  I still can't believe that a storm of this magnitude happened in Jersey.  I usually see storms like this on the news in places like Florida but never in my state.  Again, I'm thankful that we made it through the storm!

On another note, I happy to say that I survived the first marking period and my first Parent/Teacher Conferences.  The conferences went well and I'm pleased with my student's progress.  I have my first observation coming up next week and I'm a little nervous.  I pray that all goes well.   Wish me luck!

Owls and Technology

Hello Folks!

It's been quite a whiles since I made a post.  I'll say it again, I don't know how others keep up with a blog.  Nevertheless, I'll recap what has gone on the past few weeks.  About three weeks ago, third grade finished up our owl unit and I must say it was an awesome study.  We finished the unit with our students dissecting owl pellets, in other words, owl puke.  Are you disgusted yet?  LOL!  Many of the students were grossed out with the thought of looking at, let alone, touching the pellet.  But after awhile, all of the students were engaged in the activity and enjoyed trying to figure out what animals these bones belonged to.  Of course after this assignment, my little scientist want to dissect  everything!  LOL!  Are next unit of study was bats, and everyone wanted to know if we were going to dissect, one.  My response, "Absolutely not!"  LOL

Bones found inside the owl pellet

Bones and fur

Bone matching

On to the next update - so I received some gifts last week, well I guess you can call them gifts.  I received a few Mimio products - Mimio Teach, Wireless Mimio Pad, MimioView, and MimioVote.  I was so excited to receive these products and cannot wait to use them in my classroom.  How did I get these awesome products?  Well, I expressed to a parent that my goal is to implement more technology into my classroom, he informed me that he could assist me in making that happen.  And a month later he made good on his promise.  I don't own the products, you can think of it as a lease.  My job is to use the products and write reviews as I use them.  So I'll be sure to let you all know how I like the products.  

A Day in the City

For the first time in my life I traveled alone to one of the biggest cities - New York City. There I was standing in the middle of busy NY Penn Station.  People surrounded me on every angle.  Everyone seemed to be in such  a rush.  I walked at my normal pace trying to catch eyes with a friendly face.  I wanted to stop someone, anyone, and ask for directions.  But I was too afraid to ask for help.  Crazy as it seems, I didn't want to let others in on my secret, which was, I had no idea where I was going.  LOL!  So I blended in with everyone else and pretended like I knew where I was going.  I already knew that once I arrived at Penn Station, I had to take the #1 subway to 125th street and walk a few blocks.  Sounds easy enough right?  Well, there were two #1 trains and I wasn't quite sure which one to take - uptown or downtown.  I remembered that Harlem was located uptown but I needed confirmation.  So I gathered up the nerve to ask a passerby if the #1 uptown was the correct train I needed and she confirmed that it was.  Everything was smooth sailing from there, that is, until I reached my stop at 125th street.

I stepped off the train and walked down the stairs to the street level.  Which way do I go?  I looked left, then right and decided to walk left.  I must have walked about 20 blocks, all in the wrong direction.  I was pissed!  Before I left school and was given my ticket, I was promised that the route was fairly easy and the train would take me straight there.  What was the problem?  How come I can not find 120th street?  I'll tell you why, I'm directionally challenged.  LOL!  To make a long story short, I did make it to my destination albeit hot, frustrated, tired, and late.  The workshop was entitled "Rally Third Graders for This Year's New Challenges".  I've heard that the workshops could be quite boring so I walked in with the mindset that I was going to be bored to tears.  But I actually enjoyed it!  I walked away with a wealth of information and I plan to implement most of what I learned into my classroom.  The workshop was mostly geared to reader's workshop which is excellent, because that's what I want to try in my classroom.  All in all it was good day, even my hike through uptown.  LOL!  Oh and by the way, at the conclusion of the workshop I made it to the subway in no time.  And my co-worker was right, all I had to do was walk a straight path from the college to the subway.  I'll remember this for my next workshop which is scheduled in February.

Until next time.........

I Survived Back to School Night

"It's Friday night and the weekend's here I need to unwind with the party, Mr. DJ, DJ!"

Well it's Friday and the weekend is finally here!  I wanted to make a post earlier this week but I was experiencing technical difficulties with Blogger.  Tuesday evening was Back to School Night, but not too many parents attended.  The low attendance was due in large part to inclement weather.  I can tell you that I was very nervous at the thought of standing in front of a room full of parents by myself.  Yes, I've attended Back to School Night as a Teacher's Assistant, but I wasn't in the forefront or alone.  Anyway, we started the evening in the multipurpose room where the principal introduced all the teachers.  Teachers were called by grade level, with kindergarten being introduced first.  My heart pounded as each teacher was introduced.  Finally, I here my name called, and wouldn't you know it, I hear cheers of "Yay Ms. Leach!" and "Go Ms. Leach!"  By then I was cheesing!  LOL!  It felt good to hear the cheers and see people genuinely happy for me in my new position.  After the introductions, I became less nervous.  

The teachers were dismissed to get ready to meet the parents.  I mingled with the other teachers in my grade hallway, and talking with them released more of the nerves.  By this point I was ready to meet the parents.  Only three parents showed up, but as I stated earlier we were experiencing bad weather.  Having worked with some of these same parents in kindergarten, I know that the majority of them are involved parents and I'm quite sure there will be more in attendance during Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Anyway, I was happy with the parents who did come out and they were happy and satisfied with me.  One parent raved about our OWL Folders, she loves it!  Another parent even offered to assist me with getting more technology in my classroom.  Yes!!!!  I'm very much pleased with the way things are going.  

Before I end my post, I have to tell you how proud I am of my students.  I was having issues with writer's workshop in getting my students motivated to write.  Most of my students didn't seem interested in writing, for some it was like pulling teeth.  Nothing I seemed to do worked.  Well yesterday, I sat in on my grade partner, Jill's writing lesson.  I took everything she did back to my students and reassessed my approach to writing.  The lesson went much better then previous lessons and my students were prepared to write.  

Fast forward to today's writing session.  Writing is right after recess so they're pretty worked up after playing on the playground.  After making a restroom and water fountain stop we proceeded to class.  My lights were already off when we entered the classroom, so I decided to keep them off and let the sun do its job.  I reviewed the strategies for writing and reread one of my journal entries.  I gave my expectations and set them free to write.  I walked over to my computer, clicked on Pandora, hit the classical station tab and watched the magic begin.  I couldn't believe it was the same group of students.  They wrote the whole time without any complaints.  They were so engrossed in their writing, I was in awe!  I wish I would have taken pictures.  I have to remember to keep my camera nearby.  But even hours later, I'm still happy with the kiddos and their progress.  I hope it continues next week!

Have a great weekend!

Oh yeah, these are the images of our OWL (Organized Weekly Learning) Folders  

Front Cover

Homework pocket & OWL Folder rules

Class information (blurred for privacy)

Weekly report 

Parent/Teacher Communication Log

Important Papers

Keep at home