The theme of my classroom as of late has been hard work.  Seriously.  My kids have been impressing me one assignment after another....and this is just the latest one to have me thinking, "Wow, that was a rather difficult thing I asked them to do, and they did it!" So, what did we do this time?  We learned how to add, subtract, and multiply mixed numbers. One of the new things that I found myself teaching this year in greater depth than I ever had in the past was operations with mixed numbers. We had talked about it in past years, but I really never concentrated on it.  But when I saw the released questions when we were practicing for our new computerized state test, I actually had a mild panic attack. Mixed numbers are just hard to deal with.  They have rules, but the rules seem to be just *slightly* different than regular fractions and regular whole numbers.  They are just different enough to make kids (and their 5th grade teachers) shutter.  Wh......

Fifth grade is the grade that I have spent the longest time as a teacher.  I have taught many other grades, but really, when it comes down to it, 5th is where my heart is.  Because of that, I am super excited to bring you, my loyal blog readers, an entire blog dedicated to fifth grade!  I am a contributor on Fifth Grade Freebies , a blog that strives to bring you the highest quality fifth grade ideas, lessons, and FREEBIES for you to use in your own classroom! I am teaming up with 14 of the blog contributors to bring you an awesome blog hop filled with great freebies along the way....and when you make it to the end, there is a special giveaway in store for you! So here we are, the start of the hop and I have a nice little time-freeing freebie for you.  This is something I use in my classroom to help the students with the scientific process.  It is a little trifold that we use for each and every experiment that our class conducts.  I find that i......

School has been in session for a bit now, and I am getting to know my kids more and more each day.  I have to say, they are a really fun bunch!  They are interested in so many of the things that I am that I thought they would really love to do a fun "Social Media" Get to Know you activity. So I created these fun little "iPad" looking templates, with four social media interfaces in them. There is the Instagram page, where I asked the kids to draw a picture of something they did over the summer that really told me about who they were.  This was to be something that wasn't mundane, like watching TV, but something that really got to the heart of their personality....like they went camping because that is how they bond with their family. The Pinterest page is all about the subjects they like and connect with at school.  The students were to draw a picture of four things they enjoy AT SCHOOL and then a brief description of that activity and why it is specia......

OK...so I have started this post about 5 times, only to erase the sentence and begin again.  It is the end of the year, and this year, with me leaving for maternity leave and all of the new requirements with CCSS, etc....it has just been one of those years that leave me mentally drained.  So, I know if I am feeling this way, my kids are too. They have done so well this year, giving it their all with the new standards and new expectations, that I wanted them to keep with the high level and quality of work, while still having a little time to relax.  So I created this little Math Mat Glyph for them to use. If you were around Room 6 last year, you probably read this post about the Math Mats I made for fractions and multiplication.  The kids followed a path of their choosing, solving math problems along the way, then drawing a scene with pictures corresponding to the answers to the problems.  But this year, I wanted them to have a little time to think about the......

I have been doing a form of Math Workshop (we call them rotations in my room) for a few years now.  It has worked just fine, but I felt that I wasn't really holding my students as accountable as I could.  I also wanted to work in a bit more small group time for myself and my aide, so I changed my "two rotation" system to a "three rotation" one.  Math instruction takes place in my room from 10:35 to 11:40am (with an added 20 minutes after lunch.)  I have a full hour and a half.  I know I am very lucky to have this time, so I use it.  :)  Here is what my Math time looks like: 10:40 - 11:00am    Rotation 1 11:00 - 11:20am    Rotation 2 11:20 - 11:40am    Rotation 3 Lunch 12:20 - 12:40am    Calendar Review/HW Review There are three stations that the students are rotating through each day: Mrs. Moorman (that is the teacher station) Problem Solving Calendar/Skill/Choice I have broken......

This week back was filled with so many new happenings, that I thought I would tell you a little bit about each of them, instead of lots of little blog posts about each of them.  Most of the week was spent getting back into the swing of things, relearning routines, and beginning some new ones.  So, what were we up to this week? Each January I like to start things off fresh and my room environment is no exception.  So I spent one afternoon and rearranged the furniture so that we have a better flow in the room.  Also, I was just tired of standing up at the ELMO in the front of the room.  I need to sit down some of the time!  :)  So now I have a little space to work, can still move around the room, and it all feels "new".  Do you ever just up and move your room around? I started organizing my students for Math Workshop.  I have added in a rotation, am working in my fabulous aide just a bit more, and allowing for more problem solving time......

Today is officially my last day of winter break (because the weekend doesn't really count, does it?? I mean, we would have it off anyway....but I digress)  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed my time off, but I am also really excited to get back into my classroom.  I really do love what I do, so while I am sad to be leaving my little ones, I am happy to get back to my big ones. I thought I would cap off this last day of vacation with a Five for Friday review from Doodlebugs .  I have been doing a whole heck of a lot of planning, trying to get ready for next week.  Looking through Notice and Note to prepare my first Signpost lesson.  I actually also bought a lesson plan book!  Yay me!  My daughter and I like to go on "Girls' Dates" where it is just her and I spending the day together.  This time, we went to Disneyland and California Adventure.  On a side note, did you know they have a nursing/pumping station at both parks??......