Five for Friday

Happy Friday!

I've survived Parent Teacher Conferences (except for one last one after school next week), and am excited for an upcoming midweek day off! :)




Not only do we have Wednesday off, but I'm out Monday for a workshop (all about fourth grade-I'm super excited!), so I've been prepping for a sub.

It's my first full day out (I've only been out for 2 hours at an in school meeting), so I'm hoping they behave...


Last Five for Friday, I mentioned that I was getting a new cell phone.

Welllll, it turned into a bit of a saga.

I got the reconditioned phone, and was liking it. Except...I only had about two bars in my apartment, and NO service in the area where I teach (which is about 30 minutes away from where I live).

I had some issues with this, as what if I needed to be contacted at school (other than the school number, my only line of communication is my cell phone) because something major happened, and then I only got the message on the way home (which I can't pick up because we're now a 'hands free' and I don't have bluetooth in the car)?

I didn't necessarily need cell service in the building, but I would have liked it in the parking lot!

So, I bought a new phone that was on a different network (my old phone was on the global network, and the new one was on the CDMA network, and the newest one is on the global network), and I now have almost full service in my apartment, good service in the parking lot at school, and even a bar inside school! :)

The only thing I don't like-my new phone is HUGE compared to my old phone. I wish I could mix and match the two smart phones I bought to make a perfect one!

Old 'dumb' phone on left; old 'new' not working phone in middle; my cell phone now on the right

Needless to say, the old new phone is on the way back to the company for a return. Hopefully, that goes smoothly (when I phone to ask about-since it has a lithium-ion battery which is a hazardous material, it was not so smooth).


Since it's a new month, I have a new garland for my door!

The turkey was a little tricky, and was feathered and defeathered  a few times, but he finally was able to stay feathered. :)

We've also been working at double-digit multiplication, and I'm so proud at how well they've been working at it! We learned the 'short cut' way (the way that everyone learned before the standards changed) yesterday, and while they were a little resistant to the weird way, they were happy by the end of it. :)

Task Cards are from the Primary Gal

I started by teaching them the area model, then partial products before 'short cut'ing it. Hopefully, we'll be ready to move onto division by next week!

I had recently entered a contest from Responsive Classroom and was one of the winners! I got to pick my choice of book, and it arrived yesterday!

Scored a free book through a Responsive Classroom contest and it came today! 🙂 Can't wait to delve in!! 🤓📖 #responsiveclassroom #ilovetoread #professionaldevelopment #iteach4th #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Nov 5, 2015 at 2:55pm PST

Since I already have most of their books (in original editions), I decided to go for one of their newer ones. It looks really interesting, and I can't wait to get started!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn