2.19.2013

Meanwhile... in 5th Grade

I thought I would be a super blogger during student teaching and blog about EVERY awesome lesson I taught... FAIL. 

We have been doing SO many fun things in the 5th grade over the past month, but I've only managed to take pictures of a few, so here's a short overview of some things we've been doing in Science!

Two weeks ago we learned about topographic maps, so on Friday the students designed their own mountains, created their own topographic maps from different layers, and then created a model from their maps out of Play Dough! I graded their maps using a rubric in which they had to label the peak and base of the mountain, show a steep side and a sloping side, and make sure the contour interval remained the same from one line to the next.

 The students got to tour to all of the groups and compare each model to its map!

The following week lead in to erosion, weathering, and deposition. We did some killer experiments using the FOSS Landforms kit for 5th and 6th grade and on Friday we broke in to pairs and each duo was either given the process of erosion, weathering, or deposition. I gave each team the task of simulating their process using whatever resources were available within the classroom and outside on the playground. My kids seriously BLEW MY MIND. Every pair came up with a different way to simulate their process, which was not what I expected. 

This team had the process of erosion, so they used water to pick up the material (grass blades) on the riverbank (Play Dough) and carried it away. FABULOUS.
Play Dough seemed to keep making an appearance in science, but it's such a fun resource and CHEAP!

I've learning to LOVE science. It always use to intimidate me so much, but you can be so hands on with it it's hard not to love! 

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far! 

Goodnight and God Bless!




2.15.2013

High Five for Friday

I haven't done a H54F post in so long, but I had a moment to breath, so here we go! 
I'm linking up with Lauren

This week has been jammed packed full of thing that deserve a high five! 

 1. VALENTINE'S DAY AS A STUDENT TEACHER.

Valentine's Day is like amped up by a billion when you're an elementary teacher because you have like 20 Valentines! It was so much fun, and we all color coordinated! 


 2. SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS. 

This week we've been learning about weathering, erosion, and deposition and today we wrapped up our unit by created simulations of one of the three processes. Each pair was assigned a process and to be honest, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. The kids did AWESOME! They blew me away with their creativity and how much they retained! They really learned something!! :) 

Dare I say that Science may be one of my favorite things to teach at the moment???!?!? 
(Simulation of erosion)

3. SWEET VALENTINE'S SURPRISES.

Because my love and I couldn't be together on Valentine's Day, we decided to just wait until I go visit him in a couple weeks to celebrate, so I was completely shocked when I received this sweet card in the mail. I'll have you all know that inside he wrote that out of all of his Valentines this year, I was top 5! 
Eat your hearts out! Haha.


4. CUTE VALENTINE'S DATES.

Um. This picture says it all. I had the CUTEST Valentine's date of ALL time! Watching him was such a blessing and such a pick me up when I was feeling so exhausted. It's amazing how God can work even through a sweet, baby boy! 


5. MOTHER/DAUGHTER DATES

The day has come!! My mother and I are DIE HARD Nicholas Sparks fans. DIE HARD. So, we have had this date for months now! This is our Twilight. This is our Superbowl. This is GIRLS NIGHT! 

Here we come!!!

Have a blessed weekend, all! 

2.14.2013

My Valentine.

It's not always easy being in a long distance relationship, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. 
Yes, there are days I get sad and want nothing more than to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with my Valentine, but that's just not possible right now. 


I'm so proud of our relationship and love being in love with my best friend. 

I love you.

Happy Valentine's Day, all you lovebugs! 

2.05.2013

Lesson Plans and a New Idea



Hi friends!

Finding time to blog has been a CHALLENGE to say the least since student teaching started, but I am loving every second of it.

My kids ROCK and not one child is alike, which makes my job SO much fun.

This week I am ALMOST teaching full time. I'm covering everything except Social Studies, which is what I'm doing my Unit Plan (which is like our capstone at Marshall University) on. That will start next week.

There are so many things I want to mention, so I have a feeling this will be a modge podge of topics all thrown in to one post.

This week I started a science unit on topography maps. I'm finally getting the chance to use a FOSS kit, which I LOVE. Science is probably where I am least confident when it comes to teaching, but the FOSS program is such a wonderful supplement! We have been soaking in all we can about how to read and create topographic maps and I hope towards the end of the week we will design our own and create a mountain based on the maps we made! Dreaming big!!

I am also working DILIGENTLY on my unit plan which starts next Monday. My unit will be called "Making and Breaking the Law". I will do a more in-depth post on it towards the end of the week, but for right now I'll give you the "Big Idea". We will start next week learning about how a bill becomes a law. We will make a class law and by the end of our week we will receive news that our law has been BROKEN! This will lead us in to learning about the trial by jury process, which is one of our 5th grade Common Core standards! We've been approved to go on a field trip towards the end of our two-week unit to our local courthouse where we will be able to sit in an actual courtroom and meet a judge and local government members! I am beyond excited that I've been able to have this experience as a student teacher! More to come on the details of my unit!

With all of that mumbo jumbo said, I've thought of a new idea for posts!

When my mom graduated in 2005 with her Elementary Education degree the 15 year old me told her that she was NOT allowed to wear cat sweaters and teacher jumpers to school. From that point on we started shopping together for cute "teacher clothes". I've decided to document my outfits just for fun because all of my outfits are somewhat stylish, but more importantly, AFFORDABLE! I'm also going to wrangle my teacher friends and their cute outfits as well! I hope my teacher followers enjoy!

Monday's Outfit (2 hr Delay)
Pants - INC -Macy's 
Boots - MIA - Macy's 
Sweater - Forever 21 

Tuesday's Outfiit (Picture Day)
Boots MIA - Macy's
Pants INC - Macy's
Undershirt and Sweater - Forever 21
Statement Necklace - Charlotte Russe

This little peach is not only my best friend, a fellow student teacher, cute as a bug, and stylish, but also RIGHT down the hall from me! She let me snag a shot of her cute outfit before we got to work this morning! Be sure to visit her blog here!
Boots - Macy's
Pants - Macy's
Sweater - Forever 21
Polka Dot Button Up - Forever 21

I hope you enjoyed!
Goodnight and God Bless!