5th Grade Math Common Core Assessments

Our newest product is up on our store. 5th grade math common core assessments. These cover all 26 standards. It's exactly what's on the core. 
No more. No less. 

They are easy to give and quick to correct. All answers are included. Plus there's a bubble sheet for students to use. 

Here's just one idea of how we use these bubble sheets for our 4th grade math assessments. We copy the bubble sheet onto cardstock at the beginning of the year. We write each student's name on the bubble sheet and then laminate it. The students use their whiteboard markers to take the test and fill in the bubbles. They wipe it off and reuse it again all year. Works great. 

Head on over to our TPT store if you're interested in these wonderful assessments.

A Fun Descriptive Writing Assignment

I was inspired by my shampoo to give my students an at home assignment for descriptive writing. Here's my current bottle of shampoo. And the fabulous description which made me buy it.

A precious blend of Moroccan aragan oil which instantly penetrates the hair shaft restoring shine and softness while streghtening. Derived from the southwest region of Morocco, argan oil protects from styling heat and UV damage while creating soft, seductive, silky perfection. 

Wow! Who doesn't want seductive perfection from Morocco for their hair? 

I assigned the students to go home and find an example of descriptive

writing on a product from their house. It could be longer like my example, or just a phrase, or a sentence.  

They had to write down the description and the name of the product. And yes, they could do more than one because they liked hunting for descriptions. 

We shared and discussed them. We took out the descriptive words and read it to compare how it didn't sound as great as it did with the words. Would you rather eat just "flakes, granola clusters, and honey" or "crispy flakes, crunchy granola clusters, and a touch of sweet honey." 

We displayed them and let students write some of their favorites in their writer's notebook. 

Good times! 

Liebster Award!

So honored that we were nominated by Live, Love, Learn in Fourth Grade for this award. That means someone actually visited our blog. Yipee! Thank you very much Allison. Hop on over and see her cute blog! Love it!

Rules to accept the award:

*Link back to the blog that nominated you
*Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
*Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
*Share 11 random facts about yourself
*Create 11 questions for your nominees
*Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

Blogs I am Nominating:

Okay, I have spent an hour trying to find teaching blogs that don't have more than 200 followers. They either have more than that, or I can't find how many followers they have. Others were just barely nominated for the award. Ugh! So for right now I am going to nominate the one blog I did find that currently has under 200 followers. I will add others if I find them in the next little while.

I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher!



Allison's Questions:

1. If you had to describe yourself using only three adjectives, what would they be and why? Obedient (because I always wear my seatbelt), funny, responsible 
2. What is your favorite stress reliever during the school year? Besides chocolate and Pepsi, sleeping in on the weekends. 
3. Do you use reading workshops in your classroom. If so, what do you think about it? Yes, and I like it because (like everything else I do) I tweak it so it is simple and works for me and my students.
4. If you could go back and relive one teaching experience you've had what would it be? Positive or Negative. My whole first year of teaching. Even though the parents and students liked me, I can't help thinking of all the things I did wrong or so different than I do now.
5. What are your hobbies? Reading, cooking, fishing, ATVing
6. What is your all time favorite lesson? That's too hard of a question :) I love when we decorate our writer's notebooks, teach reading strategies, and make fossils.
7. What is your all time favorite recipe? Another totally hard question. Probably my mom's English Toffee recipe. Lot's of memories there.
8. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? New York or the Caribbean
9. If you had unlimited money, what would you buy for your classroom? Laptops for all my students.
10. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting a blog? Try and post as often as possible and comment on as many blogs as you can.
11. Are you an animal lover? Yes, as long as we are not counting snakes and mice.

11 Random Facts About Us:

1. Zzzquil helps us sleep well
2. Our children are 21, 19, and 10
3. We love Mexican food
4. Soccer is our favorite sport
5. Hubby has taught our three children in fourth grade
6. Our fridge currently has 13 photos on it 
7. We love to vacation at the beach
8. My favorite drink is Pepsi, husband's is Dr. Pepper
9. We freeze every winter
10. Our favorite children's books we have read this past year were The False Prince and The Runaway King (the first two books in the trilogy, can't wait for number 3 this fall)
11. We have a wiener dog named Ginger

11 Questions for my Nominees:

1. What's a funny thing a student said to you this past school year?
2. What's one of your favorite books?
3. If you were given one thousand dollars right now and had one hour to spend it, what would you buy?
4. Where is your happy place?
5. What is the cutest decoration you have in your classroom? 
6. What's the best advice you would give a fellow teacher?
7. What's one of your favorite professional books?
8. If a parent brought you lunch from anywhere, what would it be?
9. What is one of your pet peeves?
10. What do you do in the summer to relax?
11. Have you ever won anything? What?

Back to School Free Printable

Last year for our open house, which at my school is the first time I meet my students and their parents, I had one of these on each desk. 

Hershey candy bar + colored wrapper = cuteness! 

The students loved them and it was quick and easy for me. Head over HERE to get the free download. Comes in Green or Multi-colored (pictured above.)

Scratch Off Tickets for Students

I've seen these fun scratch off tickets on Pinterest before. Cute idea that I will do one day. Okay, that's pretty much what I think about all my pins. Cute. Love it. Will do it one day. 

A teacher on summer break actually does have extra time to try those fun things. Some of them. Not all of them. 

I saw this idea again presented on the blog Young Teacher Love. I decided to give it a try. 

You can follow any directions you find, but I will give you my tips of what worked well and what didn't. I now know what to do next time to make these easier. There will be a next time because they are cute and fun. I made some extras for the family to scratch off. It was cool!

My Tips!

*Instead of copying the tickets off onto regular paper and then gluing them onto cardstock, just copy them onto cardstock in the first place.

*Instead of covering the ticket in the scratch box area with contact paper, you can use packaging tape. Works great! 

*Make sure your silver paint is really silvery looking. My family thought mine looked goldish instead. 

*You can use any dish soap, however if you use green apple scent (like I first tired) it will slightly tint your silver paint. I later used some dish soap I have that's almost clear looking. 

*Okay, this is huge. It took me five coats of paint before I couldn't see what was under the scratch off area. Five coats! What I discovered was that if I used a font that was really light looking in the scratch off area then I probably would have only needed two coats of paint. It's okay to have a thick and darker font up top on the ticket, but I would suggest doing a super light one in the scratch off area so that it covers with less coats of paint.

Our school theme this upcoming year is WE DELIVER...When students are caught doing that this year in my class, they will have a chance to pick a ticket and scratch it off to see what they have won. Just one chance/ticket during the year. My husband is doing Happy Birthday ones and letting his students pick one out on their birthday. Here are some of the things we put for them to win.

*A Soda
*Sit in the teacher's chair for the day (that would be at their own desk, not at my desk)
*Take your shoes off today (they have to put them back on each time they leave the classroom)
*Pick Two Treats
*You and a friend get to eat lunch in the classroom

The list could be endless for whatever your kids would really love. Extra recess? Free homework pass? Write with a pen for the day? You can also call it whatever you want and use it however you'd like. Fun and easy to personalize for your students.

Use your summer to create. Enjoy!