Five for Friday

Happy Friday! Time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bug Teaching.

1.  Last Saturday, a group of friends and I participated in and for the second time.  Activities included dodgeball, survivor volleyball, dizzy bat, pie eating contest, an obstacle course, and several more activities.  We had a blast. I will definitely be participating again next year.

2.  Our kids' last day was last Friday.   But teachers had three workdays to close out our rooms.  Monday we had a staff meeting as our final Common Core training of the year.  My district required a certain amount of Common Core days this year.  I'm not quite sure why they would have one after the kids left.  Thankfully the training wasn't too long and I was able to complete my student cum folders and work in my room a bit.

3.  I finished packing my room on Wednesday.  And therefore said goodbye to the classroom that I've occupied for the last 4 years.  (I'm changing grade levels, therefore changing classrooms.) I'm not looking forward to moving rooms but I'm excited about the change in grade level.

Goodbye, Rm. 419

4.  Thursday was an amazing day.  I had the opportunity to sleep in and relax the entire day.  It was much needed.

5.  This summer I will be teaching summer school.  I'm not super excited to be working this summer, but it is necessary.  Today I attended the first if two trainings.  I will be teaching literacy.  Today's training was for Making Meaning which is a reading comprehension and vocabulary program and Monday's training will be for Being a Writer which is the writing component.  Both of these programs require read alouds to teach the material.  The amazing thing is that because I am teaching literacy this summer, I get to keep all of the teaching materials I received which means I just added over 50 books to my classroom library which I'm extremely excited about.

Being a Writer

 Making Meaning

There are some amazing titles included so I will be reading a lot this summer to see how I can use these books next school year.

Well that was my week.  How was your week?  Don't forget to stop by Doodle Bug Teaching and link up.

Goodbye Rm. 419

As of 3:00 this afternoon, I am on summer vacation.  I also had to say goodbye to my classroom today.  Due to my move to third grade, I have to change classrooms.  I have been in this classroom for four years which is the longest amount of time I've been in the same room.  In my 10 years of teaching I've been in 6 different rooms so it was nice to settle into a single room for a while.  This room has been my home away from home for the last 4 years.  I love this room.

Because of the change in grade levels, I spent the last few days separating my personal materials from the school's fifth grade materials.  That was a dreadful task.  I did however throw a lot of stuff away, which was nice. Then I had to pack pretty much my entire room into boxes to prepare for the move.  Classrooms have not been assigned yet so I was unable to move anything out of the room.  I think I know where my new room will be and I'm not excited about the location.  It is on the main hall and every class will need to pass it to go to lunch and out for recess.  Therefore there will be a lot of extra noise that I'm not looking forward too.

Even though I am looking forward to teaching third grade again the process of packing and the thought of having to move everything in August is not a happy thought.  But being in a grade level I love will make it all worth it.

So I want to say goodbye to my beloved classroom, but along with the move comes positive changes which I'm super excited about.

Goodbye Rm 419!

On a brighter note, I'm obviously looking forward to next year.  I've already started creating things for my classroom next year.  I will be sharing a lot of things this summer.

Five for Friday - The Last Week of School

School is officially out for summer.  (Well, at least for kids.  I still have 3 teacher workdays next week.)  But I'm happy to say that I survived my tenth year in the classroom.  This weekwas crazy busy but a ton of fun.  So here is my Friday Five....

1.  Field Day
Tuesday was field day.   The kids enjoyed all 16 stations including the two water stations in which most of them got drenched.  It was an amazing day, despite the irate parent who caused a scene in front of my entire class by trying to start an argument with me. Thankfully my principal was there because of the possibility of this occuring.  She was escorted away from the area an banned from the school for the rest of the year.   I was extremely proud of how my students remained calm and focused on their activity while thiswas going on.

2.  Staff vs. Fifth grade Soccer Game
After a long, but fun field day, we held our 3rd annual staff vs fifth grade soccer game Tuesday evening.  There was a great turn out with about 35 kids and 10 staff members.  After all was said and done, the staff remained undefeated by winning 4-1.

3.  Fifth Grade Dance
Wednesday was a very busy day.  We had our annual fifth grade dance Wednesday morning.  This was the best dance we've had in the four years that I've taught fifth grade.  Most of the kids danced most of the time.  We also had a dj.

This is one of our former teachers and who currently tutors.  He also happens to dj part time.  He graciously offered his time to give the kids a great dance.

4. READ, READ, READ
I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that my school had a book drive with the goal of collecting enough books to ensure that all of our kids would take home at least 5 books to read over the summer.  We exceeded our goal by collecting close to 7, 000 books.  Throughout the day there were guest readers who volunteered to read to various classes. We also had an assembly on Wednesday afternoon as a kickoff to summer reading.  There was music, cheering, dancing, mascots, and more.  At the end of the assembly we passed out the bags of books.  The kids were so excited to get their books.  It warms my heart to see kids so excited about reading.

5.  Saying Goodbye
We had our Fifth grade promotion ceremony on Thursday morning.   Many students left early so I said some final goodbyes then.  A few others knew that they would not be at school today so there were some final goodbyes yesterday afternoon as well.  All of those were easy compared to today.  After a pretty uneventful day, it was time to make our final walk to the buses.  After I had given each student a big hug, I was headed out to our usual spot where the staff waves goodbye as the buses pull out of the lot.  Another teacher walked up to me and said that three of my boys were crying.  Yes, 3 now sixth grade boys, two of which were behavior issues were crying.  I went back over and gave each of them another big hug and I started to tear up.  (This was the first time that I've cries on the last day of school in ten years.)  I just couldn't help it.  Seeing two of those students crying just broke my heart because I know how far they have come and despite how hard of a time they gave me this year, they really do care and relied on me.  It breaks my heart and yes, I'm starting to tear up again.  After getting them to calm down a bit, I head over to my coworkers to wave goodbye.  As we are walking back towards the building, I see another student who was a behavior issue crying while he's waiting for his bus to come.  I couldn't believe it.  I teared up again.  I'm really going to miss this group of students despite the difficulties that they gave me.

TIME TO PARTY!!!!
I know this is officially number 6, but I couldn't stop at just 5.  Once back in the building, it was time to party.  Yes, we dance in the halls each year once the kids are gone.  We did all the line dances: The Wobble, The Cha Cha Slide, The Cupid Shuffle, and The Electric Slide.  I always look forward to this.  Many of the staff then headed out to continue the celebration with a few drinks.  Always a fun time!!

It was a bit of a rough school year, but I learned a lot about me as a teacher.  I will be writing a post soon to reflect on the school year.

Well that's my Friday five (six) for this week.  Stop by Doodle Bug Teaching to link up.

Currently June Goals

Today I'm linking up with two different linky parties for the first time.

First up is Farley at  Oh Boy 4th Grade with the June Currently.  I've seen this link up for several months so I'm finally taking the time to link up.

Listening: I'm listening to the Cincinnati Reds gam.  Baseball is one of my favorite things about summer.

Loving: Last week, I was issued a iPad from my school.  I'm loving the time "playing" with it.  I'm looking for some usefuk apps to use.  All suggestions are welcomed.

Thinking: I'm thinking about going to Walmart, but I'm struggling with leaving the house.  It's so hot outside.

Wanting: I really want to stay on my couch and do nothing for the rest of the day, but unfortunately I have some stuff that I need to do.

Needing: I desperately need to do laundry.  I have no clothes to wear this week.

3 Vacation Essentials: I love reading a few good books during the summer. I also ccouldn't do without my phone.  It serves multiple purposes especially as a camera.  I definitely need my camera when spending time with friends this summer.  I love recording the memories.

Secondly, I'm linking up with Jess from  I Heart Recess to share my June goals.

Personal: My closet is a disaster area.  I will take everything out and reorganize it.  

Family: I just finished talking to my mom on the phone.  With our busy schedules, we hadn't talked for over a week.  I will make the effort and time to talk to her more often.

Health: In an effort to live a heathier lifestyle, I will walk at least 3 days a week.

School: I am teaching summer school starting in a couple of weeks so I need to start preparing for that.  I also already have an extremely long to do list to prepare for teaching 3rd grade next year.  I have already started tackling that list.

Blog/TPT: I will blog at least 3 times a week.  I don't want to forget about my blog over the summer.

Read: I've heard great things about the book Wonder so I'll definitely be reading that this simmer.  I've wanted to read The Book Whisperer since last summer, but I haven't had the time.  It is a must read this summer.  I'm sure I will also be reading many other books this summer too.

That's all I have for today.  I guess I'll put on some real clothes and head out to Walmart now.  Well, I'll do that after I start a load of laundry.  

Don't forget to stop by Oh Boy 4th Grade and I Heart Recess to join in on the parties.