Open House, Days Off and Fun!

Well, it has been a crazy few days. Last night was Open House, and I was at school for about 12 hours. Only to come back 12 hours later to do it all again :) I only had about half of my parents show up (it wasn't presentations style...yippee!...it was more wandering in and out), so I put all the information I had out in lots of mailboxes.  Here's what I wore to impress the parents (I had wanted to wear my contacts, but my eyes were just not having it)...

Sweater: Fashion Bug
Tank: Target
Pants: JC Penny
Shoes: DSW


We wrote a letter to our parents on Thursday to leave on our desks for our parents. I had them tell at least 1 thing they have learned so far (a lot of them did measurement...can you guess what our latest math unit was? ;), and something they liked about school. I just had them write, and not correct it, so the parents (and I) got a good idea of their skills.


Wednesday was a different story. I got up, got dressed and drove to school...only to be met by the principal in the parking lot. He told me to go home, as a water pump had failed, which meant no water. No water = no bathrooms = no school. :) I asked if I could go in and grab some things so I hadn't brought any work home the night before (bad teacher! ;). He said that was fine, and I could stay as long as I wanted, but I couldn't use the bathroom or turn on the water. I spent the day in PJ's once I got home...so I'll save the outfit and show you at a later time. Almost no one saw it, so it'll be repeated soon :)

I went in, grabbed some things, chatted for about 45 minutes, and drove back home. I was a little annoyed because I didn't get one of those animated phone calls to let me know that there was no school, which a lot of people did (except the new staff members). However, I wound up taking a 3 hour nap, so it all worked out in the end :)

Guided Reading groups have gone great! Today instead of taking groups, I met with smaller groups of students to check up on their writing, and help those who were still brainstorming and not on their first draft. I liked doing it this way, because it gave me some more time to focus in on writing. I feel like writing is kind of hanging around outside, what with the new literacy program and only having 90 minutes to teach literacy.

I've also been wondering about math. I would really like to implement a math workshop type program, as I reading Guided Math this summer and a lot of it makes sense. However, my team has been talking about switching groups for Math, which kind of bums me out.

I've started Math Notebooks with the kids, and I really want to try this workshop idea. I've been talking to the awesome teacher next door (who teaches 3rd grade) and she has given me some really good ideas on where to go and what to do. I don't want to rock the boat, but I really want to do a Guided Math type thing and keep my kids with me. It's something I'll be thinking about this weekend.

For those that asked...I will be working on the 4th Grade CC ELA I Can statements...so stay tuned!

Today's Look:

Sweater & Pants: JC Penny
Shirt: Limited 
Shoes: TJ Maxx.

Any suggestions on the Math thing? I have some ideas, but always welcome more! :)

Have a great weekend!


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn