One more night....

Hmmm.  Lucky I checked my blogspot because I never added my SMART goals to it that I thought I did!  Next step, I am going to add them to my Livebinder. :)

Well...One more night...then all of our assignments are to be submitted. 

Thoughts...wonderful last weekend with my professional learning community, two years of working hard, learning a a lot, from myself, about myself as a teacher, from my awesome accountability partner, from my colleagues in our learning community.

It was a fabulous journey.

Reflecting...

As I  finalize my thoughts on my Livebinder,  I am thinking about reflecting...did I do enough...how much is enough....did I grow...am I a Master Teacher now????  

I do believe I reflected as I looked over my Livebinder.  Many reflections.....of assignments given, happenings in my classroom, education today, happenings of each others, in our communities.  We all were constantly reflecting on D2l. 

What is reflecting....is there one type of reflecting???....or is it a personal journey of each of ours....and the route...ours to choose....

A Christmas Gift?!

You just never know when you will get a piece of data in a 4th grade classroom. :)  Yesterday a student came up to me in class and said, "Mrs. Roberts, my mom says for Christmas we get one thing we want and one thing we need and do you know what I want?"  I said, " No, what?"  She replied, " I want a bean bag chair just like the ones we have in class!"

A comment. :)

A teaching assistant said to me, 

" Mary, when I walked in your room I had such a good feeling."  

I had a GREAT feeling when she said that to me. :) Happy that the environment that I was trying to create, was felt by an adult that doesn't even assist me in the room but had that feeling when she came into my room after school to share something with me about a student of mine at our after school homework club. :)

It's been a long time...................

I haven't posted in quite awhile.  The students seem to be doing well in the classroom with choice of seating.  I am going to switch it up a bit now.  They have been sitting in a certain table or desk area each day but they have been able to choose where to sit within that area.  Now I will be putting name tags at a seating spot for each student.  Students need to sit at that specific spot for approx. 4 weeks and then I will switch their area again but give them a different specific spot to sit.  Now we will see what happens. :)

Keep that Energy Bus Moving!

We decided to move our Energy Bus from the classroom and into the teachers' lounge. Janet inspired us to finish the year with a new poster added each week and some treats to keep the gas tank filled!

Some of the posters we put up include:

1. Too Blessed to be Stressed.

2. Positive Passengers Wanted.

3. No Energy Vampires Allowed.

4. 10 Rules for the Ride of Your Life.

5. The Goal in Life is to Live Young, Have Fun and Arrive at Your Final Destination as Late as Possible with a Smile on Your Face.

We were Inspired. :)

Abby " read the book review "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work" by Matthew B. Crawford, which was reviewed by Joseph A. Henderson in the March 2011 edition of Educational Leadership."

We agree that we need to reintroduce opportunities for students to work with their hands. There is too much emphasis on paper and pencil or computerized multiple-choice tests in schools. Hands-on projects could not only get kids "hooked" on coming to school, but also allow their intelligence to shine through.

We read about different anti-name calling and anti-bullying techniques, and we thought Janet had a great idea. At Osceola Intermediate School the art classes made huge posters for the cafeteria with hands, chains, symbols and words of kindness, respect, tolerance, etc.

 This is one idea we decided to implement at our school in the cafeteria. Students have already enjoyed making posters for other events, and the reinforcement for anti-bullying behaviors at the end of the year could make a difference.