I am beginning to get my teacher thoughts in order.  I go back to school Aug. 19, so it is just right around the corner.  This year I won’t be blocking for math, science and ELA.  It has been a loooong time since I kept my homeroom class all day.  If you are not familiar with blocking, a second teacher and I traded classes.  She taught math and science to my students while I taught ELA to her students and then we traded back our classes and did the same subjects with our own students.  That won’t be happening this year, so I am looking for ways to integrate all the subjects.

Right now I am putting together a pirate unit that I have had in the back of my head for quite a few years.  We will be doing close reads about pirates in ELA lessons and solving pirate math problems.  Here in North Carolina, we are in the midst of hurricane season, so we will be learning about latitude and longitude as we track any hurricanes that might come up the Atlantic Ocean.  We will also be investigating force and motion…I just haven’t quite worked out a pirate slant for that.  Perhaps look at pulleys as pirates used them to raise and lower sails.

I am also trying to figure out how to make morning work more meaningful for my students.  I have seen ideas on PInterest (I am a big fan and have many boards if you want to check them out!)   Our students are pulled in many directions; breakfast in the cafeteria, safety patrol, student council, recycling club.  Morning work often becomes homework as a result, which has always seemed a bit unfair.  There are also students who are unable to get to school on time. Morning worksheets become homework for them, also.

My thought is to create a binder with a ziplock bag of manipulatives.   In the bag would be flash cards (addition, subtraction to begin with).  I don’t want my fifth graders using their fingers to count out subtraction and addition…they need to know these facts as well as multiplication and division facts.  I will also put their spelling words for the week in the bag.  I might also have a deck of cards for some place value games I will have in my class.  My hope is that students will work with a partner in that time from 7:15-7:45 am and improve their math and spelling skills.  I want morning work that will engage my students and be meaningful at the same time.

Any ideas to go along with what I have in mind, feel free to leave me a comment.

Sue

School starts for me in less than a month and I am actually getting excited…am I sick or what?  I am rearranging my room and I am really anxious to get in my room and get set up.  My tables will be set in a “U” shape around the edge of my room with a large open area in the middle.

For the past few years, my 6 tables had been arranged in two rows of 3 tables perpendicular to the Smartboard.  My change came about at the end of last year.  Our annual 5th grade picnic had to be brought inside due to rain.   To accommodate my students and keep the picnic “feel”, we pushed all the tables to the edges of the classroom and everyone hung out in the middle.   At the end of the day, the students asked if we could keep the tables arranged that way for the last full day of school, which was the next day, and I agreed.

My room was going to be used for a camp for rising 5th graders the week after school was out.  The teachers who would be using my room loooooved the way my room had been “arranged”  from the day before.  They tweaked it a bit and called me in to see it and I was very excited.  So of course, we grabbed my principal and showed her.  She, too, loved the feel of the new arrangement and on top of that, suggested that a new larger rug be bought for my classroom!

My plan with this arrangement is that I will move from group to group when it comes to guided reading time.  Students will be rearranged at tables into their small guided groups during reading and I will move.  Groups will be working on activities at the other tables or other places like on the carpet,  while I move and meet with my different groups.  The table groups will ebb and flow depending on their needs and comprehension of skills.

So here I sit writing about my room set up.  Any thoughts about your room set up?  Do you have desks or tables?  I am also thinking about what to have on the table as far as shared table supplies.  What do you have for your groups?  Do the supplies stay on the table or on a nearby shelf?   Let me know!

I have to share my newest activity…listening to audiobooks!  Thanks to my friend, Trish, who probably won’t see this as she does not cruise the internet as I do.  She has been telling me about listening to audio books on both her computer and her MP3 player and I always poopoohed (is that how it’s spelled?) her talk.  After all, I am a book reading addict with both physical books and my Kindle.  Who wants to listen to a book instead of physically reading?  Newest answer…me,me, me!

Let me explain.  I decided to try an audiobook on my phone as I don’t have an MP3 player.  I wanted to be able to tell Trish, “I tried it and it’s not for me.”  I found the North Carolina Digital Library, set up my account, and downloaded my first book, “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter”.  I put in the ear plugs my husband bought for me, hooked them to my phone and went outside to work.  More advice from Trish,  I only put in 1 earbud, so I could still be aware of what was going on around me.  Before I knew it, I had worked in my yard for over an hour and gotten a lot more work done than I planned!  I was hooked!

I have continued my newest obsession!  I am listening to “Kill The Messenger” by Tami Hoag and as a result, my house is sparkling!  I listen when I clean house.  In fact, I look forward to cleaning and doing chores around the house, just so I can listen to my audiobook!  If you are a teacher like me, you know it can be very hard to find time for any personal reading you  might want to do.  I also don’t get too excited about doing housework on the weekends during the school year.  Audiobooks will make those chores sooooo much more enjoyable.  So good listening!  No more excused for not “reading” a good book!  lol

It’s summertime and the relaxing is easy!  Welcome to my blog AND my first post!  My name is Sue Mescall and I am a 5th grade teacher.  I just finished my 18th year of teaching…time flies when you are having fun.  And it has been fun.  I have been married to a great man for nearly 37 years and we have 3 kids.  Thanks to those kids, we have 5 grandkids who keep us on our toes.

So here we are…taking that first step in the journey together.

This week I am finishing an online class all about Web Tools.  I am learning a lot and I can’t wait to use the tools with my students.  Thanks to teaching, I have been able to keep up with technology changes.  I also depend on my students’ knowledge as they have no fear of “crashing” their work.

Also this week, I am going to start brushing up on my knowledge of the new math standards for 5th grade.  Why am I not familiar with them, you ask?  Wellllll, my grade level, has blocked for math, science, and reading for the entire 8 years I have been in 5th grade and yours truly has taught only reading and science.  We implemented the Common Core in my school last year and I was teaching ELA (the newest acronym).  It was all I could do to keep up with what I had to teach/test for ELA and since math was off my plate, it went to the back of my to list!

So here is my first request of all my readers.  Please share with all of us, your favorite math website, activity, or anything else  you use with your students.