Sunday, August 25, 2013

First Days of School Activities

I can't believe that I have made it through the first three days of school!  They were long, but filled with lots of fun and engaging activities. We have been working on a lot of getting to know you and building classroom community activities.  In order to get to know a little bit about the students before they arrived, I sent them their very first homework assignment with their welcome letters!  We use Edmodo in our classroom, so I had them to join our class Edmodo page and create a post telling me and their classmates a little bit about themselves.

Of course, they wanted to know A LOT about their teacher!  So I had them to complete a KWL chart on me!  It's always interesting to see what the students already know about you as a teacher or what they think they know about you!  Each learning club was given a few sticky notes and they had to write down what they knew about me, and what they wanted to know about me.  We then posted them on our class KWL chart.  After that, I used a PowerPoint presentation to introduce myself.  Students then completed the L part of the chart.  


Finally, the students completed a Find Someone Who.... on Ms. Scriven.  They had to mill around to music to find someone who could answer several questions about myself.  They really enjoyed this activity!



One last activity to share...I wanted the students to learn more about their classmates so, they completed  "Me Puzzles."  After they completed the puzzles, they cut the pieces out and placed them in an envelope.  Students then had to draw a self portrait on the front of the envelope.  After everyone completed their self portraits, I collected them and gave each student a different envelope.  They had to put the puzzle back together and try to guess whose puzzle they had based on the information on the puzzle pieces and the self portrait! My students were disappointed that I didn't complete a puzzle, so next year, I think I will!





What are some fun getting to know you and building classroom community activities have you done with your students?  I would love to hear all about them!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Technology Share Out!

Dear Diary,

Yesterday was my first day back at school! Boy, was it a long day!  The first part of the morning was spent reviewing and going over district goals and the nuts and bolts of our school, but the second part of the day was spent on technology!  Oh, how I love me some technology!! My principal shared several technology web 2.0 tools, all of which I have heard of and used in my classroom.  But she shared an Ipad app that was new to me.  I have been eager to share this app with you all.  The name of it is Tellagami.
Telligami
Click on the image to learn more about Telligami!

It is very easy to use!  You can use it to create short presentations to introduce a topic to your students or you can let your students use it to demonstrate what they have learned! This app allows you to create a character, put your own voice to it, and create your own background scene.  How cool is that!!  I created this in less than 10 minutes and the background is from my classroom!!  I simply took a picture of the area of my room that I wanted as my background, uploaded it, created my character, recorded what I wanted to say, and BAM!!! It was ready to go! That's how easy it is!  Click below to check out the video I made to share with my Facebook fans!


What do you think? How might you use this in your classroom?

Friday, August 9, 2013

We Have a Winner!!

Dear Diary,

We have a winner for our 100 Bloglovin' Followers Giveaway! Congratulations to Lizzy Allen!  She will receive a $25 gift card to Target!  A special thank you to all of you who entered my giveaway! This was my first giveaway and I enjoyed it!  There will be a new giveaway coming up soon!  I now have 100+ TpT followers so that means another celebration!  Soooo...be on the lookout!
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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Diary of a 5th Grade Teacher Newsletter

Dear Diary,

After much thought, I have decided to be put out a monthly newsletter!  This newsletter will be filled with lots of classroom ideas, tips, resources, and any popular posts from my blog.  The great thing about this newsletter is it will include a monthly FREEBIE for all of my subscribers!  If you would like to receive Diary of a 5th Grade Teacher's newsletter, please sign up by clicking the link under Newsletter Subscription on the right sidebar of my blog! What are some things you would like to see included in my monthly newsletters!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

100 Bloglovin' Followers Giveaway!

Dear Diary!  I am so excited to announce that I have 100+ Bloglovin' followers!  In order to celebrate I think I will do my first giveaway!  Enter to win a $25 Gift Card to Target!  The giveaway will begin August 5th and end on August 9th!  Good luck and thank you for following me on Bloglovin'!  You all are the best!



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Great Classroom Finds!

Dear Diary,

Today I did some more shopping for my classroom and came across some really great finds.  I went to Michael's and found the cutest note cards that I am going to send my students to welcome them to my classroom.  I am so excited about these note cards because our school's theme is "Sailing Beyond Excellence" and the note cards say "Sail Towards Your Dreams."  I know I can incorporate the two some kind of way!! The note cards were 6 in a pack for $1.00!
My classroom colors are chocolate and turquoise.  While shopping at Educational Wonderland, a teacher supply store, I found these designer cut-outs.  As of right now, I have no idea what I am going to use them for, but I absolutely love them! I think they are soooo cute!  I may go back and get more for a giveaway!! What do you think? There are 36 in a pack and the cost was $5.99.  I especially like them because there are 3 different designs in each pack!
I also found the cutest border to match the cutouts! These were also found at Educational Wonderland.  I can't wait to see how this looks on my bulletin board.  I think I am going to accent it with an orange boarder to make it pop or stand out! What color would you use to make it stand out?!

Finally, I just had to go to Target!!  While there, I found these cute foam apples.  There are 10 in a pack for $1.00. There are 5 red and 5 green apples in each pack.  I think I am going to put a cute bow on the top and take pictures of the students during Meet and Greet to put on the center of the apple.  I then may create a bulletin board with the apples.  What would you do with these?!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Save the Date - Facebook Frenzy on the Way!!

Dear Diary,

Creation Castle is hosting yet another FB Frenzy.  This Frenzy is scheduled to begin August 9th.  I am excited about this frenzy because it will be my very first frenzy that I have actually participated in!  Be sure to mark your calendars because there will be tons of free back to school products for you to grab from this Frenzy...including something from Diary of a 5th Grade Teacher!!  What would you like for me to create for you all?

 
 

Classroom Preparations Begin!


Dear Diary,

Today I finally made the decision that it's time to begin decorating my classroom for my new 5th graders that will be arriving in three weeks. Here are some pictures of what my classroom looked like before I got started working.  



 
 
 
 
 
 

If you can't tell from the pictures, my classroom is in a portable.  We call them cottages to make it sound a bit better! :)  The entire 5th grade team, along with, 1 art class, 2 gifted and talented classes, and child development are housed in cottages.  I have been in a cottage for 5 years!  Hopefully, this will be my last year in a cottage. We have a new elementary school being built right next door, and yes, I mean right next door to our elementary school.  It will open the 2014-2015 school year.  This will cause our school to be split which means we will lose several hundred students and a handful of teachers to this new school.   

Well anyway, be sure to check back later for photos of my classroom once I have finished decorating it!  What do you think I can do with this bulletin board in the last picture??!!