Homework Hotspot

Over winter break, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest and reading different teaching blogs. Since it's my first full year, I am definitely trying to improve and form my teaching and management style. One thing that I found that I loved was this great idea from Young Teacher Love for turning in homework. She calls it the Homework Hotspot. Instead of checking homework each morning, or having students turn in their homework to an inbox (what I was previously doing), they each have their own slot to turn in their homework each morning. It is so easy to just look over and see who doesn't have their homework, rather than have to go around to each student or check each paper individually. I've only been using it for a week, but I am already loving it. 

Check out the blog post from Young Teacher Love here. 

Here are the exact pocket charts that are ordered from Amazon.

Tuesday 1-21-14

Dress: Old Navy

Boots: Calvin Klein

Wednesday 1-22-14

Blouse: Merona at Target (and it's paisley!)

Jeans: Citizens of Humanity

Shoes: Old Navy

Earrings: Forever 21

 Thursday 1-23-14

Jeans: Gap

Tank: Target 

Cardigan: Old Navy

Boots: Franco Sarto

Necklace: Forever 21

On a non-teaching note. My sister just gave birth to my newest niece, Aubree Kate. She is absolutely perfect. My boyfriend and I got to meet her this past weekend. Here he is holding her for the first time. He acted as if he was scared out of his mind, but I think he looks like a natural. (:

"I can't look up. I have to watch the baby." 

MLK Jr. Legacy of Service

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. 

For those of you who want to help your students understand that MLK Jr. Day is not just a day off, but a day of service, Scholastic has some great resources for that. I especially like this first video, which explains how MLK Jr. Day came to be a national holiday. Click the video to go to the site. 

While you're there, check out the Student Art Contest. It's a great way to combine art and the message of service to others. 

New Year

My sister-in-law sent me this ecard today and I thought it was hilarious! I could definitely use some Starbucks in my life this week. I feel like I've been going and going and going. I know we just had Winter Break, but I am seriously in need of another. Luckily, it's a three day weekend and I have one more day off tomorrow for MLK Jr. Day. 

Speaking of which... I wanted to do something a little different to teach my 5th graders about MLK Jr. this year. Instead of talking about his life and listening to his speech (as they've done so many times already), I focused on his legacy. We started off by talking about the Civil Rights movement and different forms of peaceful protests on Day 1. We also shared with them the importance of song during the marches and I played this amazing video of the Morehouse College Glee Club performing "We Shall Overcome."

On Day 2 I had them do a quickwrite about the question: "How did MLK Jr. change America?" We talked about how life is different today than in the 60s and how their lives are directly affected by the Civil Rights movement. We then discussed what a legacy is and then I had them discuss and share what they thought was MLK Jr.'s legacy. 

By discussing MLK Jr. and the fact that one man was able to create so much change, I wanted the kids to begin thinking about their own impacts and how they can influence others. Since they are going to middle school next year, I had them think about what their elementary school legacy would be when they graduated. I had them list their accomplishments, service, and characteristics on a graphic organizer. You can get it here: 

My intent is to make this into a writing assignment and then have the kids create a picture board of their legacy to show to parents at Back to School night or graduation. I was thinking of using Glogster, but I haven't decided just yet. Hopefully the project will help the kids see just how accomplished and important they really are! 

Here are some random outfit pics from my phone. I'm not sure of the dates. 

Dress: Mossimo

Boots: Franco Sarto

Necklace: From my mom :) 

Long-sleeve: Old Navy

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Frano Sarto

Vest: Charter Club at Macy's. Similar one here.

Pants: Merona at Target

Top: Old Navy

Cardigan: Mossimo at Target

Close up of my monogram necklace from Personalize Me Jewelry on Etsy. 

Top: Marshall's 

Leggings: HUE 'Ultra' Wide Waistband Leggings

Boots: Calvin Klein

Shirt: Teacherwear

I got it at the CTA Good Teaching Conference last weekend. I love that it matches my favorite cheetah scarf! 

Here's something new that I created over Winter Break: new Hall passes!! I previously had just a normal pass that the kids carried with them to the restroom or office. However, they were really cheap and the kids broke them in half. They were also just really yucky looking. I found these cute lanyards at our local school supply store. I printed and laminated the labels, attached them to the lanyard, and that's it. I told the kids that they have to wear them around their necks (no excuses) so they don't have to set them down in the restroom (let's hope).