5th Grade

It's been so long since I have blogged on 5th grade life.... That's probably because 5th grade life keeps me pretty busy.

Each month, I try to have a theme on my door... Yes, I do teach 5th grade and not kindergarten, but I promise that the kids like the door being decorated just as much in 5th grade as they do in kindergarten.... and, it's therapy for me.


Here are the themes I have used thus far this year.

August - I chose a theme that was store bought... it was a cutesy social network type of theme. I bought it from reallygoodstuff.com. If you're a teacher, and you haven't heard of that website, you should make yourself familiar with it!!

September means the start of football, so of course I had a football themed door. Unfortunately, I cannot find the picture I took of that door. The theme was "kicking a touchdown for reading," since I teach reading. It was adorned with sample reading questions on the skills we were covering in September.

During October, I had fun!!! I found some super cute ideas online, and I made them my own. The door theme was "We are Batty About Books." For an art project, the kids made bats out of coffee filters and they were attached to the door below....

If a door was not enough, I also decorated the hallway... we do not have any bulletin boards that I can use, so I use my door, the hallway, and the extra white board as bulletin boards. 

This is our bulletin board for October--- "Witch books have you read?" The kids wrote book reviews on the stories they were reading during October.

October is also Red Ribbon Week, so I decorated the hallways with Drug Free posters for the occasion. 

Because I was sooooo busy during October, I failed to get a new bulletin board up during November :( 

However, I made the time during December!! The #1 thing I was taught in education school was the power of being able to beg, borrow, and steal.... For December, I used that knowledge and stole a super cute Christmas door from Emily Babb at louisianabrideblog.com (if you do not follow her blog, you should)

The kids traced and cut out their hands, and I glued them to the predecorated door. It was really fun, and the kids liked seeing their hands on the board. 

This year, I have become obsessed with window clings... how silly... 

January!! "Be Cool- Read" I love my snowmen and snowflakes-- perfect for January's wintery conditions! 

February also has a lot going on!! This month, my door will be decorated in Mardi Gras (Laizzes le Bon Temp Roulez), the math teacher is decorating in Valentine's, and the Social Studies/Science teacher will do Black History. March is a secret :)

April will have something to do with MCT2 and Spring, and May will be MCT2!! 

Other than door decorating, we have been doing a lot of reading in 5th grade! We read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry last semester along with smaller things in between. It was a tough read for us, with a lot of interruptions. We are in the middle of reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham right now, and it is their most favorite book ever!! After we finish the Watsons, we will read Locomotion (my favorite)!! 

Well, that is all I have right now! It you are interested in donating money to a great website that benefits students, check out donorschoose.org.

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers : )  

It goes without saying...

I've been busy, and I have neglected my poor blog.

A (or a few) new blog post will be delivered this weekend, I promise!



Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers :)

AWANA- August and September

We have had an unbelievably amazing year thus far in AWANA!! God has truly blessed us with an amazing staff and an awesome group of kids! Here are a few pictures of what AWANA has looked like this year! We are looking forward to GREAT rest of the year!! Do you know a 2 yr. old- 6th Grade aged child? We would love to have them join us in AWANA! It takes place on Wednesday evenings from 5:45- 7:30. The OASIS opens at 5:15 on Wednesdays!!

This year, we added a corporate worship service for all of the groups. This is a picture taken in August during the worship service portion. 

In August, we were pleased to have The Leckie Family come and speak about their journey as foreign missionaries. 

Dr. Leckie showing some pictures.

The Sparks won the award for bringing the most visitors. They received a pizza party. Here are a few shots from that party.

In September, Jason Russell told us about Salvation by cutting a piece of paper. After worship, he went around to each group to allow the kids to cut their paper to make a cross. Here he is working with the Sparks. 

This is a picture taken from T&T game time!! 

Now I have two videos to share. 

This is a video that was taken in the Puggles Room.... They have a lot of fun, and the Puggles know their songs!! 

This video was taken during Cubbies game time--- this goes to show that AWANA is not only for kids, adults like it too : )

AWANA Girly Day

Once each semester we try to have a day just for the boys to hang out, and one day just for the girls to hang out. This semester, I decided to have full girly day for the girls! The girls enjoyed girly time at camp, so I thought it would go over well for AWANA too. It did! We had a super fun day, full of manicures, facials, make-up, and hair doing. It was so much fun! We ended the event by talking about the things that make you a beautiful person on the inside! If you want a play-by-play of the devotion, see Rileigh Walters. She was all ears and can tell you all about being modest!! Here are a few pictures from all of the girly fun (Thank you, Brandi for taking the pictures for me)!! 

The view from the front door.

One of the little princesses....

The girls all getting seated for devotion time...

Devotion time...

Facial time!! 

A boys only day is in the planning stage!!

Order of Importance

This year, I have a smart board in my classroom!!!! I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!! Currently, the only computer I have in the classroom is not compatible with the smart board software, so it will only act a projector and screen. I am not complaining though because I love powerpoints! However, I will be super excited when it's all up and running!! I am going to try to post some of the powerpoints I create for class, and put them on here, in case there is anyone who would like to use them. Right now the powerpoints are just plain powerpoints. However, you can take them and make them your own, and make them smart board friendly (and maybe you could give me tips on how to make them smart board friendly)!! 

Please let me know if there are any typos! I am trying to get them, but I keep catching new ones! Also, I am new to the smart board era, so any resources you can share, I am all ears :)

This week, we are studying Order of Importance. This powerpoint is on that, and it a good opener to text structure!  Enjoy!! 

In order to view this weeks' powepoint, you will have the click here. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53228736@N05/sets/72157624662101231/with/4918948560/

Sorry guys, this was the best I could do.. I'm sleepy!! 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53228736@N05/sets/72157624662101231/with/4918948560/

Youth Missions Week

Each year, our youth group participates in a week of missions projects around Natchez. This year, they visited Adams County Nursing Home on Monday. At the nursing home, they painted fingernails, played bingo, and talked with the residents. On Tuesday, the youth went to Kyle's house. At Kyle's House, they played games with kids, made several crafts, and painted a Parkway Student Ministry Sign on a section of their fence. This is the only day I have pictures from. On Wednesday, the youth went back to the area nursing homes to visit Parkway church members. It really meant a lot to the Parkway members to have 15 people (especially youth) show up and spend time with them. On Thursday, they helped with odd jobs around the church. Some of the boys fixed up the Rec Center, which houses the the children's room and the workout room. The girls helped the secretaries send out letters to the church members about our new paster, Jeff Brewer. Then they all went and helped a church member do a few things in her yard. It was an awesome week for everyone involved, and I look forward to next year's youth mission week!! 

The youth that got to paint the sign... Kent was also there, but had to leave early! 

Their painting on the fence! 

The bottom two pictures are of the youth making crafts with the kids. 

BYBC 2010

All I can say is WOW. I was talking to one of my parents/volunteers this weekend, and we both completely agree that this past week was the best week we've had. It was a wonderful experience for the kids, youth, and the adults that helped out. Here are a few pictures, so you can what a typical day at BYBC looks like! We had the BYBC in the church's backyard. We did this, so that we could have a few things inside to get the kids out of the heat for a little while. 

Each morning the girls started us off with a puppet show that displayed the theme of the way - Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. 

After the puppet show, Steve went through the wordless book with the kids. At the end of the week, the kids made a colors of faith bracelet, and were all given a wordless book to take home. This was by far, the most learned thing we did. At the end of the week, all of the kids could tell you about the colors, and what they meant. This is something we will continue to use to share the Gospel with kids. It's awesome! I recommend the wordless book resources for anyone and everyone!!! 

After our "morning meeting," we started rotations. We had bible study, games, crafts, and snacks. Here are a few pictures from that!! 

The older boys acting out part of the Bible Study- Jesus temped three times in the desert. 

Mrs. Suzy came to my rescue and lead Bible Study for the rest of the week. She is a wonderful teacher!! The kids all love her, and she can keep them all in line... as you can see!! 

Craft time... Mrs. Danielle is just wonderful all around. We had a lot of extra craft stuff from years past, and she took all of that and allowed the kids to make stuff from it! They loved it, it saved us money, and the kids thought is was all AWESOME!! 

On Monday, the kids told Mrs. Danielle they wanted to build a house......so on Thursday, Mrs. Danielle brought big boxes, and let them paint them. These boxes will be turned into a village in an unused Sunday School room in the preschool area. We will have several houses, a church, a school, stop signs, roads, ect. 

The youth boys are awesome! They showed up and did anything and everything we asked them to do. The hardest part of their was leading game time. They showed up early everyday and put together a game plan. ALLLLLLLL of the kids loved them- and so do I!! 

Snack time!! Always a good part of the day!!

My personal favorite part of the day was music time. The youth did an amazing job teaching the songs and motions, and getting the kids engaged in worship. I look forward to worship time at AWANA!!! 

Overall, it was WONDERFUL!! I look forward to AWANA starting next Wednesday. On SUnday, we will have our Back- to- AWANA celebration at the church. It starts at 5:30!1 We look forward to seeing everyone there!!!!