Peek at my Week [Snowed-In Edition!]

I just got word that my district is closed again tomorrow!  With frigid temperatures and residential roads still a mess, they have decided to close another day!  That makes for one happy mommy! Until the end of the year when we have to make it up, that is!

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughing for her Peek at my Week linky party!

The first thing on the agenda this week, if we ever get back to school, is Benchmark Testing.  Blah!  It is super stressful for the students but it gives us good data to go off of for small groups and such.  Based on my class's last benchmark scores they have a lot of improving to do!  

We are also going to continue our "Myths, Gods, and Goddesses" unit.  My students love it! I don't think they have been this enthralled with anything this year as they are with this unit.  They really enjoy listening to the stories and learning about mythical characters.  This week we will be reading myths out of the book D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths and extracting sentences within the text to discuss their impact on the story overall.  Exciting, huh?!

In Math we will be finishing up our unit on Dividing Decimals.  Going to do some activities relating word problems to real life situations in which they will have to use division with decimals in their future.  I try to make math as real as possible for them since so many of them struggle with it.

I hope everyone has a great week!  And be sure to link up!

Five for Friday Linky & Recipe!!!!

This is my first Five for Friday in forever!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for her weekly linky that I have missed so much!

1.  I had an INCREDIBLE week with my students!  Something seems to have finally clicked with them and they realize that if they give a little, that I will as well!  We had so much fun!  I am still doing the app called Class Dojo with my class and they really love it.  Each time they earn 50 points they get to scan a QR Code that I created and it gives them a prize of some sort!  They love it and so do I!  I love me some Class Dojo!  If you haven't tried it out yet I highly encourage that you do so!

2.  Teacher's pay Teacher's!  I have made a couple new items this week and posted them!  I am really excited to get some of my hard work out there for other teachers to use!  Please check out my super cute and super cheap stuff in my store!  My Christmas Division Scoot is my favorite so far!  Here is a pic of it! 

3.  New Slow Cooker Recipe!  Today I wanted to make a delicious slow cooker chicken dish so I decided to try something new!  It is super simple and only takes a couple of ingredients!  My family LOVED it! Even my little girl!

Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts

1 package Taco Seasoning

1 can Cream of Chicken

1 can Rotel (drained)

1/2 cup Sour Cream

Tortillas

Place chicken breasts in crockpot.  Pour taco seasoning over chicken.  In a bowl, mix together cream of chicken and rotel.  Pour cream of chicken/rotel mixture over chicken.  Cook on high 4 hours.  After the 4 hours, shred chicken with with two forks, add sour cream, and mix gently.

Serve in a warm tortilla with a side of mexican rice for an easy, delicious meal!

It was seriously SOOOO delicious!

4.  TODAY WAS OUR FIRST SNOW DAY OF THE YEAR!  We got about 5 inches of snow, if not more!  My family had fun playing in the snow for a few minutes today!  Isn't she soooo adorable?!

5.  And finally, I got most of my Christmas shopping done this week!  I love the holidays, but gift buying certainly is a little stressful!  I can't wait to give them out!

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Check out my TpT store!

Cyber Monday $1.00 Product on TpT!!!!

Make sure to check out my first "paid for" product on TpT!  It is a Decimal Multiplication Scoot that is super fun!  And what's even better is that it's only $1.00!

I love shopping on there and supporting other teachers!  Have a happy Cyber Monday!!!!

I'm back! Currently and TpT!!!

Whew! It's been way too long since I've been on here.  I was obsessed for quite a while and then it seems like I just dropped off the face of the earth! I desperately need to do some catching up on some of my favorite blogs!

I think that the real reason I have not blogged much lately has been that I have had a really rough year so far.  My class is really tough and I have been working my little tail off to try to make things better!  What was wonderful was that my last two days before Thanksgiving Break were heavenly!  And because my students were so great we did some fun activities, made videos about the French and Indian war on Educreations, played Scoot, Bingo and had lots of iPad free time!  I'm trying to convince them that when they do what I ask I will reward them with fun activities!

This has been an incredible week.  Like I already said, my students were wonderful and Thanksgiving was great as well!  Spent a lot of quality time with my daughter and all of my other family members.  Got some things done around the house, got some Christmas shopping done and even took Olivia's Christmas pics today!  They are beautiful!

I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the December Currently! 

Oh, and please go check out my first "for sale" item on TpT!  It is a Decimal Multiplication Scoot that is super cute and only $1.00!  I am wanting to make more products in the future to put on there.  I'm excited!

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Five for...Sunday!

Yet again, another super busy weekend! I am just now getting around to Doodle Bugs Five for Friday Linky!

1.  For one of my centers this past week I had my students come up with a word problem including decimals and make an Educreations video of it.  It's a great app that you can create slideshows and videos on!  They had to first come up with the setting, characters, and action to take place.  Then they wrote the word problem.  They had to find pictures on the internet to illustrate their video.  Finally they put it together and then created it!  The videos were awesome!  Here is a pic of some of my girls narrating their videos!

2.  I already wrote a blog about my new favorite app, Class Dojo, but I figured I would share it again!  Class Dojo is a classroom behavior management app in which you can give and take away points for good or bad behavior.  It is the best thing that has happened to me all year! If you haven't checked it out yet, go do it right now!

3.  43 days until Christmas! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!  I love everything about Christmas!  Can't wait!

4.  Today my mother, sister, husband and I took my daughter to the Pumpkin Patch for the first time!  We had a blast!  She, on the other hand, didn't exactly enjoy the super expensive pony ride or the carousel.  We got some funny pictures of it though, so the tears were worth it!  Here are a few good ones!

5.  Last but not least, it's a THREE DAY WEEK!  I am super excited about having two days off to lounge around with my baby girl and have some fun!  YAY FALL BREAK!

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Jamie

Class Dojo!

Man.  It's been a rough couple of weeks.  I normally don't have a big problem with behavior management in my classroom but this year nothing seems to work.  I have been really upset lately and have been trying to think of a new behavior management strategy to use with my class.  Then I found out about this amazing app called Class Dojo!

Oh my goodness! I love me some Class Dojo!

It is a behavior management system in which you can give and take away points based on behavior.  The sign up is super easy; just the standard information.  You put each student into the app/website (whichever you use) and you can immediately start giving them points!

Here is what the layout looks like...

Students can choose their own avatars by logging on using their student code, which is given to you after you put all of your students in.  They can also check their behavior when they get home each day.

What is even cooler is that parents can log on using their parent code (which is on the same sheet as the student code) and track their child's behavior any time they want to! Parents also receive a weekly email each Friday that summarizes their child's behavior for the week.

Here are some of the super cute little avatars!

This app is highly customizable.  It comes with positive and negative behaviors built into it but you can create your own as well!  One big problem I have in my class is students getting out of their seats, so I added a negative behavior for that.  Anytime a student got up out of their seat when they weren't supposed to I simply clicked their name, clicked add a behavior and chose that one!  

All in all, I love this app.  I plan on creating a rewards program to go along with it.  Basically, each reward will have a QR code.  When students accumulate 50 positive points they will choose a QR code to scan with the QR scanner app on their iPad.  Their reward will be whatever they scanned.  Such as no shoes for a day, sit in the teachers chair for the day, eat lunch with the teacher, iPad free time, extra computer time, king sized candy bar, soda at lunch, etc.  Nothing that costs much money and nothing that I have to keep track of!

I am really excited to get the reward system up and running!  Can't wait!

Do you use Class Dojo?

Let me know in a comment!

If not, check it out HERE!

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Jamie

October Currently!

It's been way too long! I have been super busy and just plain ol' tired lately.  But I'm excited to link up to Farley's Currently Linky to share my October Currently!

Listening:  Olivia likes to mumble to her 'Lovey' before bedtime.  It's adorable.

Loving:  I needed a day off with my girl.  I needed to remember what summer was like when I got to spend every single day with her.  Today we played, laughed, napped, watched tv and had a blast!  It made my heart happy.

Thinking:  I am obsessed with tv.  Once I finish a show I immediately begin another.  Today I finished 'Flash Forward', an ABC show that only lasted one season and started 'Prison Break'.  We will see if I like it!  Everyone needs their vice, and worthless tv shows are mine!

Wanting:  I want to go shopping for some new fall/winter clothes!  Fall is my favorite season and I cardigans are one of my favorite things in the world!  I always need more!  Kohls, here I come!

Needing:  I need a get-a-way!  Just a small weekend vacation somewhere!  Desperately!

Trick or Treat:  A special treat to use in the classroom, Remind 101!  Check it out if you haven't!  It's awesome!

Like, Comment, Enjoy and don't forget the rule of 3!

Jamie
Life As I Know It