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

Reading Fair Projects!

This was our first year to do a reading fair and our projects turned out GREAT!! I think this is one of my new favorite projects! The kids had fun doing them and I am having fun grading them! I have uploaded the rubric to my Teachers Pay Teachers store if anyone is interested!

The Lemonade War

By: Jaqueline Davies 

Goosebumps: Stay Out of the Basement

By: R.L. Stine

Time for Andrew

By: Mary Downing Hahn

Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Long Haul

By: Jeff Kinney 

Flora and Ulysses

By: Kate DiCamillo

These students did a FANTASTIC job! I am super proud of their hard work!

State Parade Floats

We have been covering states and capitols in Social Studies and did a states parade! It was so much fun and the students did amazing work!! Each students drew a states name out of a bucket and had a list of criteria that had to be included on their float.

Wisconsin

Illinois

Hawaii, Alabama & Connecticut

 

Nebraska

Georgia

So proud of my kiddos for working so hard!! We have had a great time learning about all of our States and Capitols! 

I Stand Amazed!!

As I sit here with my students writing attentively I am overwhelmed by who they are becoming as young men and women.  I was lucky enough to have many of these students in 3^rd grade and have gotten to see them grow not only educationally, but also see their personalities blossom.

The assignment was to write a letter thanking an adult on our campus. My instructions were simple…why are you thankful for this person and what would you want to tell them if you had the opportunity. As a teacher I shamefully admit that I thought this assignment would be sloughed off by the students seeing as it is the week before Christmas break. To my surprise and delight they have proven me very wrong.

Each one of them thoughtfully considered who they would write their letter to. They brain stormed their ideas (many filling a page with a bubble map of ideas and reasons they were thankful). Then they set to writing. Usually in my classroom there is a low dull noise of talking…not this time. It was silent! They were working fiercely and thoughtfully. The sweet writing that came from their hearts had me in tears after they went to P.E.

Each letter had been filled with genuine reasons of thanks! I was so proud of my 5^th grade babies, not only for their technical skills but also the way that they wrote from their growing little hearts.

Teaching is a difficult profession with daily challenges, but after reading those letters I am reminded of how precious an opportunity I am blessed with everyday, growing the minds and hearts of our future adults. Thank you Lord for this honor you have given me! 

NEW YEAR NEW GRADE!!!

Woo Hoo!!! It is time to head back to school and this teacher could NOT be more excited! I will be teaching 5th grade ELAR and Social Studies. We kick off with meet the teacher on Tuesday night 5:30-7:30- this is the perfect time to drop off your supplies and come meet my smiling face! Our FIRST DAY is Wednesday the 19th!

We have an amazing team this year and we are so excited and honored to be teaching your kiddos! I will be posting contact information and classroom pictures soon!! Stay tuned for more on this aMANESing year!!

Our Disguised Turkey's

This year our kiddos got to disguise turkeys from the holiday eaters! They also wrote letters that explained to the hungry families why they should not be eaten.

Our top answers were
- My babies will miss me
-It would ruin my trip to Disney Land
- My boss expects me at work the next day
-Christmas is my favorite holiday and I DONT want to miss it!

The kids worked very hard on their turkey's and they turned out AWESOME!!

WOW NOVEMBER!!!

So obviously I have not done a fantastic job keeping up on my blog! It has been a crazy year this far! My 6 weeks of maternity leave flew by and I have been busy getting to know and falling in love with my new second grade kiddos! I must admit it was quite an adjustment going from 3rd to 2nd, but I am loving it more and more everyday!!

We have been busy working on addition and subtraction and those dreaded WORD problems!! These have been tough! I wanted to share some awesome sites that can help with math...

www.abcya.com- This is good for math, reading and spelling

www.turtlediary.com

If you have access to an Iphone or an Ipad there are also Apps. that will help. Simply search second grade math and multiple will pop up. There are some that cost however there are some that are also free. If we can make it fun and add some competition it helps with their excitement in math learning.

There are also games that you can print and play at home. Email me if you are interested and I will send them to you. amy.manes@advantageisd.org


Hopefully I will update again soon!!!