State Floats

New post coming soon....I just could not wait to share these!!! I am so super proud of these kiddos! They blew this project away!!

Alabama                                                                        California

 Colorado                                                      Hawaii

 

 Illinois                                                          Massachusetts

 

 Oklahoma                                                    Oregon

 

 Rhode Island                                                South Carolina

 

 Tennessee                                                     Virginia

 

Wax Museum and Leader In Me

Ok this has to be my new favorite project!! We had SO SO SO much fun working on the project and then the night of the Wax Museum was the BEST. We combined our Wax Museum with our Leader In Me Night and it was perfect. I'm so proud of all of my 5th grade babies! The project is on TPT if you are interested :)

Getting Ready to sing our Leader In Me Song

The back sign of our Wax Museum

Babe Ruth

                                                        

JFK

Elizabeth Blackwell

Betsy Ross 

                                                         

Elvis "The King" 

About half the group that was left at the end of the night.
These kids have my heart!!!

                               

Mother Teresa

Laura Ingalls Wilder

                      

#Goals

Is it just me or did 2016 fly by! We are off to a great start of 2017 with lots of fun things coming up! We have our Wax Museum on Feb. 16th along with our Leader In Me night! This is my first year to do a wax museum (except when I was in 3rd grade) and I am so pumped to see how it turns out! I just uploaded the project to TPT so if you are interested you can find it there!

We have been focusing on setting goals for ourselves for the rest of the school year. Yet again I was blown away by my kiddos! They make me so proud. I have added some of the awesome goals that they created. To make it even better is was a free download! Check it out herehttps://www.teacherspayteachers.com/FreeDownload/-goals-Student-Created-Goal-Setting-Sheet-2899674

We just added a #GOAL bulletin board outside of our classroom! It is awesome! I catch the kiddos rereading their goals as we walk past it, it helps to keep us all accountable to what we want to accomplish!

We are also focusing on kindness! We have started a challenge to complete 100 random acts of kindness between our 100th day of school and Valentines day! I can't wait to see how our classrooms transform as our kiddos focus on kindness!! They get a little heart to fill out each time they complete a kindness act, this is the before picture! I am so excited to see the after!!

Here are our kiddos working hard on Fact and Opinion, we changed up the scoot a little! We had so much fun checking out each others chins haha! 

Quick Update!!

Wow!! I will write a post soon I just wanted to update some of our pictures and show you what happened before break since things were nuts and I didn't get to post them!

Our Field Trip to the Perot Museum! 

We got to dissect cow eyes!!

Just love these kiddos!!

So cool!!

Our Chalkboard classroom door for winter, 

Character Selfies!! This project was so fun!! Find it on TPT!

Whew!! What a start!!

Holy Moly time is flying!! I can't believe we are 6 weeks in already! I have had so much fun so far getting to know all of my students. They are AMAZING and I already feel incredibly blessed to be their teacher! Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to so far!

 Our Door for Fall

 Crazy Classroom!! 

 Crazy Classroom!

 Crazy Classroom!

 Crazy Classroom!

 Our 5th Grade Mission Statement :)

The Lost Colony of Roanoke Project

We have been working hard at getting to know each other and work on a TON of reading basics. These kiddos are super hard workers and I am so proud of the work that they are accomplishing! 

These last days....

I can not believe there are only 5 1/2 days left with my precious 5th graders. I was blessed to have most of this group while they were 3rd graders and was so excited to get to have them again this year. I have gotten to see them grow and change throughout this year. As I pack up my classroom and get ready to shut things down for the year I catch myself looking at their sweet faces ( I still see that baby 3rd grade face on most of them) and wondering who they will grow to be, hoping that I have given them as much as I can before they enter the scary world of Jr. High. I think that this is one of my favorite parts about being a teacher... it is so cool to see kids turn into little adults and start to grow into who they are. We get to watch them begin to form their own opinions and express them (even if we do not always agree with them), we get to see them interact with their peers and see the kindness within them shine through, we get to see them rise up to an opportunity to share what they believe in, we get to see the light bulb moments when something that they have been struggling with clicks. It is AWESOME!! I am always excited at the end of a year to see how far they have come but so sad to see them go. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer time but, it is hard not to see my 5th grade kiddos on a daily basis and know that when I see them again they will be in Jr. High! I am so proud of this group and I know that the BEST IS YET TO COME from them!

A STAAR letter to my students

My 5th graders will take the STAAR test this week. Math on Tuesday and Reading on Monday! I wanted to be sure that they knew some things before they tested. Here is the letter I sent home on Monday.

My precious 5^th graders,

Here are some things that I want you to know before you take your STAAR test. I know that we have put a lot of emphasis on the importance of this test (and it is SUPER important) but, there are some other important things you need to know!

1. You are Amazing! Pass or fail you have done AMAZING things this year! Don’t let the test tell you that you are not! It took amazing students to jump into reading the way that you have this year!

2. This one day does not determine how smart you are! Think of all the stuff you have learned this year! Think of all that you have added to your brain! One test on one day is not going to determine how much you have taken away.

3. You have awesome character! Not only has your brain grown this year but so has your heart! There is no way a test could measure the

love, joy, friendship, humor  and 7 habit traits that you have displayed in 5^th grade. I got to see firsthand and you have blown me away with your precious spirits. Not to mention all of the laughing that has occurred!

4. There is only 1 you- it is totally true! You have a heart, talent and future that no one else in this world has! This test can’t define that!

5.  Pass or Fail I am incredibly proud of you! You have worked hard and I am honored to call you my student! I know the amount of work we did with inferencing, summary (BME), authors purpose, main idea, plot, and this list could fill the page, and I also know that you ROCKED it! I have no doubt that you will rock it on STAAR.

I know that you will take something away by taking the STARR test and that there is a value with the test but more importantly there is an incredible value in you! And nothing not even a test can define that!

                                                          Love:                                                               Mrs. Manes