Five for Friday–April 12th

What a week! My student teacher had been teaching at 100% right up until spring break. I should have started taking over last week, but my son was in the hospital so I was not at school. It was fantastic to do some teaching again, but I am worn out! Thankfully it is Friday, so that means…

Now that I am taking back over from my student teacher, I’ve given her a few jobs. I’d read seen these newspaper seed cups and decided to have her try them out.



She ended up using them as part of her final observed lesson. Our flowers are planted, but I forgot to take a picture of that. Oops! Hopefully we will have something to show by Mother’s Day.

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In preparation for our state test next week, we did a lot of math this week. I pulled out one of my favorite activities from Mailbox.



Centimeters are more fun with frog rulers!

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In reading, we were working on reading strategies. I used these cards (a great freebie) and picked out the strategies that were most appropriate for third graders. I printed passages from Readworks.org and gave each pair of students a strategy card and a passage. They used post it notes and created a poster to show what it would look like to apply that strategy. Each group shared their strategy with the class.



My mom was going to send me her old beanie babies, but she couldn’t get to them in time. Maybe next year!
I was happy with how they came out and I saw a few light bulbs later in the week when they found opportunities to apply the strategies.

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Speaking of testing, I came across this post this morning before school. It made my day! My class is going to eat doughnuts FCAT-style on Friday. After four days of testing I think they will get the joke!

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Update on my son: The little guy has had a week of Daddy Day Care. The Irishman has been off for the week to care for him. He is doing much better! We see the pulmonary specialist next week. After 8 days in the hospital and a week of breathing treatments, it may be diaper rash that brings us to the pediatrician tomorrow. Go figure!

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Enjoy your weekend!

Dealing with Test Anxiety

I grew up in Texas and remember taking standardized tests as far back as third grade. I was always a good test taker, and I didn’t really give it much thought.

About ten years ago I got my first job teaching third grade in Florida. I worked at a charter school, and I remember handing out a practice test early in the school year. I’ll never forget watching little girl put her head down her desk and just bawl as soon as I put the test on her desk.

This little girl knew about the mandatory retention in third grade. We hadn’t event talked about the test as a class yet, but the pressure from home was more than she could take. It was heart breaking.
I realized pretty quickly that I had to address the test anxiety. I’ve come up with an activity that I use with my kids each year.



I start by telling my kids that worry takes up room in their head. We talk about what it means to worry. I provide each student with a sheet of construction paper. They write on the paper any and all worries they may have about the test.

To get rid of these worries, we rip up the worry paper and turn it into the confetti. The confetti is bagged and put aside for later.

I tell my students that the confetti will be used for a confetti party after the test. For the party, I use tape to block off a square on the floor. The class sits around the edge of the square. I call a few students at a time to throw around the confetti in the square. Those on the edge have the job of putting any confetti that falls outside the designated area back in the square.

Last year we surprised the principal. We invited her to come in on the last day of school. She sat in the middle of the circle and we threw confetti at her. She loved it! (She also requested that this year I get a picture of that to share. She is a good sport!)



Tuesday morning I was late to school. My son was fighting his breathing treatment and I had to drop my daughter off at day care. On the way in we listened to a Dora CD from the library. Next thing I knew the song “Three Little Birds” came on. It was just what I needed to hear! I decided to play the song for my class as they wrote their worries later that day. It was a big hit!

Third grade is the first year for my kiddos to take the big state test. I’ve found this activity as a quick way to address their concerns and to celebrate their successes at the end of the year.

 I'm linking up with Joanne. Go check it out!

Made it Monday: Polka Dot Cabinet

I’ve wanted to link up for a Made it Monday for months now. With everything that happened last week, I am going to cheat. I’m going to finally post my Made it Monday from August. I’ve written this post in my head each month since then. Better late than never!



We have a practice in my school of putting furniture we no longer want in the hallway for others to claim before it is hauled off. It is nick-named the garage sale. While things show up throughout the year, the end-of-year and beginning-of-year garage sales are the best.

Last summer I came across this beauty.



It is a solid piece and is probably older than I am. The teacher who had it originally retired 5 years ago. I’d been on Pinterest though and I decided that this would be my big project.

This scrapbook paper was my inspiration in the classroom redecoration of 2012. I made my inexpensive seat sacks to match.



Armed with an idea, I took off the doors and started spray painting. Somehow I didn’t take any pictures of the painting process so you will have to take my word for it. I did a lot of spray painting last summer. This is a filing cabinet I also picked up in the hallway garage sale.



(More on the filing cabinet another time…)

I knew I was going to cover the cabinet doors with polka dots, so I didn’t worry about making them perfect. There were some spots where the years of paint and poster tape and who-knows-what left a bump. I just made sure to cover it up in step two.

When I came back from maternity leave last year I discovered that they’d purchased this machine I can only describe as an industrial sized Cricut or Silhouette. It is fantastic! You can cut out words, phrases, shapes, and more. I pulled out construction paper in the colors I wanted and cut out several hundred circles in all difference sizes. I love that thing!



A couple of layers of Mod Podge later and I was feeling good about the whole project! I had to get help putting the doors back on. They are solid wood and HEAVY.



I love the finished product. It now houses all my science materials and other assorted supplies. It is also the background for any pictures I take of my students.



Every once in a while I just stop and look at it. That cabinet makes me smile!



The only downside was the size. I’d measured the height before I took it in, but it was a bit of a “can’t get it here from there” situation. I had to change where I’d planned to put it, but after all that work I didn’t mind too much!



(This picture above is from the first day of school and shows those seat sacks I made from Home Depot aprons. I’ve also used the polka dot theme to paint paper boxes for storage. I’ve got a lot of polka dots going on this year!)

Hopefully next month I’ll have a new, non cheating Made it Monday!

You and Me Fighting EB

I wanted to share information about a wonderful fundraiser that I am happy to be a part of right now.

Tamera at My Heart Belongs in First is holding a special fundraiser in honor of a little boy at her church who suffers from EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa). It is a very rare genetic condition in which the skin and internal body linings blister at the slightest knock or rub, causing painful, open wounds.

Tamara has gathered a group of bloggers to help the cause. For a small donation of $10, you will get over $85 worth of products!
 

To learn more, please visit My Heart Belongs in First. I hope that you will join me in helping. After spending a week in the pediatric ward of the hospital with my son I want to do anything I can to help a sick kid!

Pass the Torch

Get Ready for Bloggy Olympics!!!

Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!



I first came across Reading Olympians this summer while teaching summer school. I realized that I needed more resources for teaching prefixes and suffixes. My first stop was TpT, and I downloaded the Nike bookmarks. I also made a mental note to go back and look at the program another time.
 
When I saw this Linky, I remembered looking at it over the summer and was thrilled to sign up! I printed the entire packets right away and told my student teacher that we would set up folders and plan it out on the teacher work day after spring break.
 
If you’ve read my blog, you know that my son was hospitalized with pneumonia for the last 8 days. We were finally sent home today. Instead of planning with my student teacher on the work day, I was in the hospital with my sick toddler.
 
I was really disappointed not to teach these lessons. My student teacher was able to look at the packet I’d left on my desk and carry on without me. I pestered her with text messages while my son napped in the hospital, so she sent me some pictures, too.


I requested that they use purple folders to hold all their Reading Olympian materials because my old Latin book from high school was purple. Silly, I know.


I love the key rings and the graphic organizers. There are so many resources to reinforce the roots. The ESE teacher who works with my kids said they really knew the roots.


Prefixes, suffixes, and Greek/Latin roots are big in third grade common core. I love the way this program is organized. The focus is not on a list of words with the same prefix or suffix, but rather learning the meaning of the word part. The sets or units are chunked to make them manageable. 

I should be back at school on Monday and am looking forward to starting the next set with my class!



Discover the program IN ACTION in more K-6th grade classrooms as you Pass the Torch!! Get ideas, discover the progression of the program, and enter the Raffle for a chance to win ONE of the three prizes listed below!!

First Place Winner : Gold Medal

  Prizes: Complete Reading Olympians Program
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Second Place Winner: Silver Medal

   Prizes: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
              40% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Third Place Winner: Bronze Medal

    Prizes: 30% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Pass the Torch!!!
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An Update

They tried taking my son off the oxygen last night, but his stats kept dropping so they turned it back on. I was really discouraged this morning.

My husband spent the day with the little guy at the hospital.  I went home this afternoon to take a shower, enter the last grades into the online grade book before the midnight deadline, and fold laundry in my PJs while watching TV. It was only a few hours, but it was a much needed break!

Thankfully he has had the oxygen tube turned off all day. On the way to pick up my daughter and head back to the hospital I got a text from one of the teachers at school. A few of them wanted to buy us dinner and take it to the hospital.



Spaghetti anyone? They loved it! It was worth the mess I had to clean up. The linens needed to be changed anyway!

It was the first time we’d brought my daughter into the hospital. It was the first time in a week we'd been together as a family of four. The kids loved seeing each other! His face lit up when she walked in the door.



Unfortunately she did not want to leave to go home. She wailed for mommy all the way from our room on the 4th floor to the car. My poor husband had to carry her out in the rain, kicking and screaming. We have talked via Facetime twice since then. Even as the healthy one, this is a lot for a three-year-old to deal with.

All in all though it was a good day. The patient is now sleeping soundly and his stats are good. My husband and I are watching Grey’s Anatomy together – sort of. We might be in different places, but it works!

I’m praying that the night will go well and we will be home soon. Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers. It means a lot to us!

Worries, Worms, and Winners

Well when I said I didn’t want spring break to end, this is NOT what I had in mind. My poor little man has pneumonia. We came into the hospital on Friday morning and thought worst-case scenario would be that they keep us overnight. We quickly learned it was going to be a longer ordeal. Much longer. We are at 6 days and counting.

Monday was downright frightening. Mid morning he went into distress. The room was full of people trying to increase his oxygen levels. I called my husband and told him he needed to come right away. He asked me to leave the phone on speaker as he drove. I am sure it was as scary on the phone as it was in person.

After that we met the head of the PICU. He assessed my son and ordered a number of tests. I left Monday afternoon to pick up my daughter and heard the doctor’s assessment over the phone while watching my daughter at gymnastics class.

They decided that he did not need to be moved to the PICU, but they adjusted medications, ordered a few more tests, and had some outside specialists come in to see him. My husband and I are both feeling a bit under the weather. I’d been at the hospital for four days straight, so I took a break and went home to see my daughter, sleep in my own bed, and get an appointment with my doctor.

I got home and cried on Monday. He had more tests done after I left and I felt helpless that I couldn't bet there. I was afraid that I was going to get too sick to see him in the hospital. I was worried about my daughter. She heard me cough and was worried that I was going to have to go to the hospital, too.

Then Tuesday happened.



The staff here all admitted that they were really worried about him on Monday. Tuesday he was eating, sitting up, and playing. I came to visit, but I let my husband stay the night at the hospital again. I went home almost giddy. My daughter and I used up a Groupon for dinner.



We also stopped at the store on the way home to buy balloons for the little guy. She is only three so this is hard on her as well, but it was a good night!

This morning there was talk of going home soon. They tried to wean him off the oxygen, but he isn’t ready yet. It looks like it is going to be another couple of days. It is disappointing, but we told the nurse this morning that after Monday we have a different frame of reference. If he needs another couple of days, that is okay with us.

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On the school front, my student teacher has been a star! She got a lot dumped on her this week and she has really done well.

My Donor’s Choose project was funded recently and I’d arranged for two pounds of red worms to be delivered today. It was too late to change delivery, so I talked to one of my teacher friends with vermicomposting experience. Christine helped some of my students get the worms set up in their new home after school today.

Better yet she sent me pictures! There are enough to do a blog post on the worm delivery I was not there to see.



I can honestly say I did not intend for my student teacher to have to deal with worms this week on top of everything else! I cannot wait to be back in class to get the worm project underway!

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Thank you to everyone who entered my 100-follower giveaway!

The winner of the K-2 giveaway is Entry #293 Leeann F.

The winner of the 3-5 giveaway is Entry #348 Jen O.

(Side note: My husband looked over at the screen this afternoon and asked if the winner really was Jen O.  What are the chances Jen O. winning Jen O’s giveaway?)

I have e-mailed the winners and will be e-mailing my friends who donated prizes soon to make sure they get the goods. (Tonight I hope if my son and hospital wifi cooperate!)

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I have literally been working on this post all day. It is my night at the hospital again and my little guy is finally asleep. We are all looking forward to being back at home with healthy kids. Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers! Please keep them coming!