Field Day

Today was field day! Usually we have it in June but this year our school hosted Field Day in October. Weird, right? I was so not into having it in October before today. But I loved it! It was cool (65 degrees), so the kids were running around and doing athletic activities and eventually took their hoodies off. But more importantly, it gave me a day to bond with my kiddos who I've had for a month and a half now. I had such an amazing time with them. I just wanted to share that :)

Super happy teacher right here.

New Product, Freebie to 3 and Upcoming Giveaway!

As of today, I have a brand-spankin'-new product in my tpt store! If you're teaching rounding, need to review rounding or will be teaching it later in the year, this is the product for you! It's a rounding card game and you can use it multiple ways. I use it as a fun center game during math class. I also plan on using it throughout the year just to review. All you have to do is print and it's ready to go. There's even an answer sheet for students to record their answers on. Then when all the hard work is over, students can play "war" with the cards. Super fun.

The first three people to leave a comment with their email will get this game for FREE! Yay free things.

Speaking of free things, this blog is SO close to having 100 followers. I am so, so, so excited. I am loving all of my followers and I have had so much blogspiration and teach-spiration from all of your ideas. It has really transformed my teaching. I am loving my job even more because I'm always participating in different linky parties and everything.

ANYWHOO, I am going to host a 100 followers giveaway. There's still time, so if you'd like to contribute, you can leave a comment here with your contact info or you can email me at fourthgradelemonade@gmail.com. I have already been amazed by the generosity of all of my bloggy friends. Love it!

Fourth Grade Flipper's Giveaway!

Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 200 followers! If you'd like to enter the giveaway, click {here} to go to Holly's blog. The giveaway is going to last another four days until Saturday so hurry up and enter!!

By entering the giveaway, you could win a $30 gift card or one of two amazing packages with products from me and 11 other great bloggers. If you follow my blog, you already have a free entry :)

My Advice to a First-Year Teacher

One of the first-year teachers at my school this year was asking me a couple questions about how my first year of teaching went. That inspired me to write this post.

I am a second-year teacher, so my first year is fresh in my mind. I want to be honest about the experiences I had and the lessons I learned.

1. Hand sanitizer & vitamins! Your first year of teaching is equivalent to the pilgrims entering a new world. So many new sicknesses! I only got bronchitis my first year and I consider that to be a huge success!

2. Know & refer to this graph all the time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And you might not feel "rejuvinated" in March. I know I didn't. That could have been attributed that we had NO snow days my first year of teaching. I teach in Northern Virginia and up here they cancel school at the drop of a snowflake.

3. The second you feel like you are on top of things, something huge will come up or you'll realize you forgot something. 

For example, last year I thought I was finally getting into the groove of things in November. Then, the day before our field trip to the National Air and Space Museum, I realized I sent home the wrong permission slip weeks ago. I freaked out. I had to have 100% of my students sign permission slips overnight or they wouldn't be going on the field trip! My team was super supportive and told me not to panic! I printed out the field trip forms, put a bright pink piece of paper on top of the form for each of the students that told parents they HAD to sign them that night and I explained what happened to the students. Guess what? I got 100% of the field trip permission slips in the next morning right before the field trip.

4. That leads me to this lesson: Don't panic! :)

5. Your attitude defines how the day is going to go. I had a tough class behaviorally last year. If I expected to have problems before school even started... then there were problems! It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Always have a good attitude and high expectations!

6. Some days you will feel like you weren't meant to be a teacher. There were days I fantasized about quitting. Days I researched alternative careers I could enter with a degree in Education. Days I called my fiance telling him I was going back to school to major in something else. But in the end.. it was all worth it. And then in the summer, you'll miss those kiddos who drove you crazy!

7. This is one of the only careers that you work super hard, late into the night, make all this progress and then the next year, you start all over again at square one.

8. Save everything you do! Take notes on what worked well and what didn't work so well. You will thank yourself in your second year! One word: laminate! I had a bunch of fun card games I printed for math centers, but never got around to laminating them. This year I have to reprint all those games and cut out all the cards. Lame!

9. Be organized. This will help you find things throughout the year, but it will be even more useful the next year. Randomly stuff your folders and filing cabinets and you'll return for your second year after the summer completely lost.

10. Treat your students well. You have no idea what hardships they could be facing at home or elsewhere in their lives.

11. Be firm. I heard this a million times my first year. But boy, was it hard. If you're not firm, the students know they can get away with more.

12. Don't yell when you're mad. Silence works better.

13. Be positive! Before I said to have a positive attitude, but when it comes to your classroom management, focus on positive reinforcement. It helps foster a better environment in your classroom and extrinsically motivates your students. And as a side-note, don't forget to reward those students that are always good!

14. Be that person that says "Good Morning!!!" to everyone. I am NOT a morning person. But I ooze happiness in the mornings. It makes your morning a happier experience. And believe it or not, that kindergartener and her mom will be in your classroom before you know it (even if you're a fifth grade teacher).

15. You will cry. It's ok! I did. A few times, actually. From stress, mostly. Honestly, though, one day one of my students was rude to me and I shed a few tears about it after school. Refer to lesson #6.

16. Always pack lunch. If you're anything like me, a hungry teacher equals a cranky teacher. No fun for you or your students!

17. You will get through! It goes slowly, but it flies by at the same time.

18. Don't reinvent the wheel. If it's available, use it. Tweak it next year if you need to. (This one was contributed by my lovely roommate! I definitely agree!)

19. Ask for help!!! You're not supposed to know everything, it's only your first year! Ask your team members and other co-workers for help! I never asked where the guided reading room was at my school. Luckily I had tons of guided reading books left to me by the previous teacher in my room, but I was missing out on a ton of resources because I was afraid to ask. There is NOTHING wrong with not knowing.

20. Relax! My mom was a teacher. Her best advice was that: 

"Teaching is like cleaning, there's always more to do."

You have to know when to stop and go home. You have to find the balance between working and relaxing or you will burn yourself out, especially in this career.

The first year is the hardest. It is EXPONENTIALLY easier the next year. You know what you're doing, you know the curriculum. You know the people. You know how to get help. You know how to communicate with parents. You know where to find great resources and you know what worked and what didn't. I can only imagine, with this progress what my third year of teaching will feel like.

What lessons did you all learn from your first year?

Teacher's Gonna Snap {Sept. Classroom Pics}

Miss Nelson from Run Miss Nelson's Got the Camera! is having a photo linky party. I love taking photos! My school doesn't have a yearbook so my students don't really have any photos after the year is done so I always try to take tons and then I put together a giant slideshow for the end of the year.

We had a ton of stuff donated through DonorsChoose to our classroom over the summer so we have been writing lots and lots of thank you notes!

We are loving reading all the books we received through DonorsChoose. My kids this year LOVE reading!

In math class we are working on place value and rounding. There is this great free math computer game called Ice, Ice Maybe that we played at a center the other day. SO. MUCH. FUN! {Here} is the link to the game.

Every year, we get to go to Jamestown on a field trip with the fourth graders. It's a whole day field trip because it's 3 hours away. We get to explore Jamestown and Yorktown. So in the fall, a representative from Jamestown comes to visit. The man who came to present this year was so great! He had a great rapport with my students because he was so funny. He brought tons of artifacts and got my kids thinking about life back in the 17th century in Jamestown. He really made my job easy for teaching the unit later on. They are so interested in it now! The picture is of two of my kids wearing traditional Native American garb and the other one is wearing a typical African outfit. We talked about sources of clothes and how clothes reflect the climate of the area.

So I was out one day for professional development and I created a giant map of the 5 regions of VA. I assigned the regions to each of the groups in my class. When I came back the next day I was amazed at the map they produced. They had a key and symbols... which was the requirement... but they just worked so well together to produce this! It was a proud teacher moment. I love that I can leave my students with a sub and know that they will still be productive!

We made Maps of our Hearts for our writer's workshop notebooks. You can find this freebie {here} at my tpt store.

My kiddos this year are loving jump rope at recess!

Looking at all of these pictures.. I am amazed at all the great stuff we already accomplished in just one month of school. It has been such a fun year already. I can't wait to do this linky party next month. I'll have to take better pictures.

Currently... October

Farley has posted the October Currently. This is quickly becoming my favorite part of the month :)

So yes, I am LOVING the Big Bang Theory! Friends have told me to start watching this show but I hadn't until recently. So on Tuesday I bought season 1 and am starting from the beginning. I am developing a little crush on Johnny Galecki.

Speaking of crushes, my biggest celebrity crush is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I saw Looper over the weekend and I thought it was one of the best movies I've seen this decade. I strongly encourage everyone to see it!

I hope you all are having a great October so far. October means the beginning of the school year is over. I know that I am super excited to have a 3-day weekend this weekend. I have a team-planning day on Friday so I won't see the kids for a whole four days. I can't even begin to explain how much I love my class this year, so they will be missed!

The favorite halloween book I put in my currently is called "Shake Dem Halloween Bones" by W. Nikola-Lisa. It can be found on Amazon {here}. I first heard this book while student teaching and it is just a super fun halloween book that even the upper grade kiddos can get into. It's got a great rhythm to it. It is by far my favorite halloween book to read to my fourth graders and it would work great for any grade of elementary students.

Flashback Freebie

Lisa from Learning is Something to Treasure is having a brilliant linky party. It's called flashback freebie!

So the flashback freebie that I want to feature on this blog post is one of my math freebies from my TPT store. Right now in fourth grade we are reviewing ordering numbers. In my teachers pay teachers store, you will find an Ordering Decimals packet for free. My kiddos loved this when I used it last year.

I pass out these cards to students (the packet comes with 18 cards) and the students are asked to sort them from greatest to least, or least to greatest. You can give each student 18 cards or give one student one card and make this a class activity.

When students are finished putting the cards in order from greatest to least (or vice versa) you can have them partner up and play "war" with the cards. War is a card game where both of the students have a pile of cards facing down. At the same time, both students pull the top card off their deck and put it face up in front of them. The card with the highest value wins.


So please download this product from my teachers pay teachers store for free!