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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Wait! It's Saturday? Time to Catch Up!

Where has this week gone? It totally flew by! I am so behind on reading blogs...and missed linking up with a few people this week so today I am going to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and Joanne at Head over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation.
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This week was my second week with my kiddos and I still think they are adorable. They are such a sweet group of kids and I have got to admit that makes my life easier, and teaching so much more enjoyable. They are still learning the procedures and expectations of our classroom, but they are picking it up very quickly.

We started Math Workshop this week. It is my first time using Math Workshop in my classroom, but it is going well. The kids enjoy moving around to different centers, and I am enjoying working with a small group of kiddos. I only have 50 min for math, so I am still trying to get the timing down. I am thinking about adding a fourth rotation and having the kids do two rotations a day instead of three. That will give us more time at each station. My low/middle kids could really use the extra time. The only thing I don't like about that is the fact that I wouldn't see all my kids every day. Any suggestions for me?

We also started Writing Workshop this week. I had the students write down on the first page of their notebook things that make things that make them who they are. They jotted down lots of ideas. Then, because of this pin on Pinterest. I had the kids trace and decorate their hands with things about themselves.





It was a nice "easy" way to get them to generate ideas without needing to write paragraphs. Anyone else's kids still in summer mode when it comes to writing?


We also taught each other about the five areas of social studies to kick off our socials studies unit for the year. If you missed my post on Thursday, you can read more about this activity here.
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My giveaway ended yesterday. Congratulations to Sara for winning my Back to School Giveaway. Be sure to check your e-mail!

 
On a fun, personal note, Glen and I got a new car. His car was slowly dying so we went out last night (after spending the week car shopping online) and purchased a Hyundai Elantra-GT. Glen travels 45 min. to and from work so we wanted to get him a car that was affordable and comfortable. He loves it, and I'm happy I don't have to worry about his '97 Saturn breaking down!

What have you been up to this week? How do you motivate your students?

6 comments:

  1. Your math workshop board looks great. I love the black and white.

    I love the decorated hands. I have that pinned for next year (but I'll be looking for a way to integrate it in a future project this year).

    Thank you!

    Have a great weekend!

    Mary
    Fit to be Fourth
    Follow me on Bloglovin

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  2. Love your math board. I am thinking about doing a similar hand/arm idea - thanks for sharing yours!!

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  3. Cute idea to brainstorm writing ideas! Love your math board-looks incredible and it totally matches my classroom-I need it! :O) Do you teach whole group instruction or just small groups? Thanks for sharing and linking up!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  4. Cute car!! I have been way behind on blog reading too!! I am going into hour number 2 of blog reading today and I'm just now starting to see the light at the end!! Every post is great and I don't want to miss out on anything, so I have to read them all!
    Courtney
    Polka Dot Lesson Plans

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  5. I love your math workshop board! If I was still teaching math this year, I was going to try math workshop for the first year too. I agree that meeting with your low groups for a longer period of time would be beneficial. If it was me, I would be okay meeting with my top group only every other day if you also teach whole group mini lessons. I find that those kids pick it up so quickly and then can move on to other more challenging centers with self checking systems. Those can be fun and do able with your higher level students. I will be interested to hear how it all works out for you!
    Awesome new car!! :)
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  6. I used Math Workshop last year. I rotated the groups, but met with my lowest group every day for a shorter time. The book "Guided Reading" by Laney Sammons was very helpful!

    Love the new car!!

    Jennifer
    Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

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