December Break

OMG? The weather in December has got to GO!

What has the weather been like where you live? 

As for school and work this December was smack full of all kinds of adventures for my students and I! We had a blast learning about story elements using my unit on Gingerbread.

                               

The door to my classroom turned out super cute! I will post a picture soon.

We even made Gingerbread ornaments to take home an hang on our Christmas trees. 

Have you ever made them? They are so easy to make and they last forever! All you need are these supplies pictured below:

I usually start with a half of jar of a Apple Sauce and then I mix in the Cinnamon do get a dough mixture. Next, let the dough sit for a few days in a gallon Ziplock bag. Take it to school use extra Cinnamon as flour so that the dough will not stick to the table. Have your students use a Gingerbread Man cookie cutter to create their creation in the dough. Using a straw poke a hole at the top of the ornaments head (to use for ribbon later to hang the ornament).

Make sure each student has a piece of wax paper with their name written on it have the students sit their ornament creation on it to dry for 2-3 days. After it has dried, have the students decorate it using white Puff paint. Allow it to dry at least 2 days before putting the ribbon through the hole at the top.

 

Instead of having Polar Express, we have adopted Frozen Day instead, same concept; however, we just watch Frozen instead!

I love hearing them sing the lyrics to the songs!! This year the loudest one singing is a boy, I adore it and him! Check it out! 

We also made Jack Skellington ornaments! You know I JUST had to!!!

We even had Tacky Christmas Sweater Day!


Wow! This year has been so jam packed! What have you done in December that was fun with your students? I would love for anyone to share!

For Christmas this year I bought fleece at the local Hancock Fabrics, for the girls I bought Disney princess fleece theme and for the boys I bought Superhero fleece. I got it all on sale and with my teacher's discount it only cost me about $20.00. Nice, right? I then cut the scarves on the fabric at about 5-6 inches a piece. I had 24 scarves total made. Then I cut the ends of the scarves about 1-2 inches up. My third graders last year put pony beads on the ends and we knotted them off. However, with first graders I would be knotting them all, lol, not what one wants to do on the Friday before the winter break! This year I have an AMAZING mom in my room who is the QUEEN of putting vinyl on anything. So this year she hooked my students up! Check out the pictures below:



On the last day of school before winter break we also had Grinch Day! We all wore our red and green and had Grinch festivities! Of course we read the book, so many were amazed that in the book the Grinch was white and not GREEN. We talked watched the original (We did not have time for the newer movie, even though I do LOVE it!) We did Grinch math word problems, sequenced the story, and made Grinch mask to wear to the Holiday Sing-a-Long! Along with the scarves,  I also made them Grinch popcorn! It wasn't that hard to make, it was a lot like making Rice Krispy treats. The popcorn is just substituted as the Rice Krispies. I used stove popped popcorn, marshmallows, green food coloring, red M&Ms, and sprinkles for extra sparkle.



Check out the FREEBIE Grinch Tags I made to go along with my students Grinch popcorn.

This December break has been the most refreshing break of all the breaks we have had this year.
Christopher does MMA, we are all into the UFC events, if you didn't know that already. Christopher trains MMA at a gym in called, RUSH. Well, he went and tested for his green belt and got it! (I have started taking Kick Boxing, can I tell you that I am so NOT athletic in any kind of way.)
 I was so excited for him.

While we were in Atlanta, we went to Sublime Donuts! Can you say YUM??? They have the BEST donuts ever! They use fresh fruit and homemade cream to put in their donuts. They are delicious. If you are ever near them in Atlanta, you have to check them out!
Don't they look delicious! They taste even better!



We got to see the NEW STAR WARS, it was fabulous!!If you haven't seen it, it is a MUST.

I have had a teacherspayteachers.com product to post for a Star Wars Classroom Theme for over 2 years now and I haven't had a moment to finish it. Well seeing the movie sparked me to completing it and posting it. I can't wait to change my theme next year. EEKKK, my inner NERD is screaming with excitement!!!

Every winter break we try to watch all of the Harry Potter movies. During this time we also make our own Gingerbread House. Great memories, I have loved making them all this year.

 I have loved spending every moment with the LOVE of my life! 

Here is our year in review:

 

2015 has been oh, so grand we can't wait to see what is in store for 2016!
Since it is the NEW YEAR, enjoy this FREEBIE too!!

Happy New Year!

Who is ready for the TPT CYBER SALE????? 

Load your carts up and get ready for some super sales!!!

November Reflection Post

Oh, wow how this break has been so amazing to have! This year has been incredibly busy and it is just Thanksgiving. The month of November has been a busy one for my school, my class, and me. 

The week before we got out of school was crazy for me. I was out Monday at a Aspiring Leaders Institute in Atlanta and Tuesday at my school I was out for a FIP planning day. (I will explain in more detail later in this post.) That left only Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for us to do all of our Thanksgiving stuff and festivities! I was super bummed  Tuesday when I found out that we would be having Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I had no time to prepare my students and get their costumes ready. However, I was going to make time that Wednesday morning before we went to Thanksgiving lunch at 11:00 am. So here is what we did:

I asked the students as they all came in what they wanted to be a Native American Indian or a Pilgrim. I had a lot of them choose to be Native American Indians. However, I have to say the pilgrim outfits for the boys were so stinking' cute. (Can I remind you that I did all this on a whim. My best work comes from those pressure moments when I am grasping at the seams to stay a float. This is what happened with those Pilgrim outfits for the boys!) 

Monday's Workshop and what I learned:

So, I am in an Aspiring Leaders Program through the county I work in and their partnership with the Principal Center at Georgia State College in Atlanta. This course is very similar to the Teacher Leader Course taught by MGRESA. However, it looks at everything from the perspective of an instructional coach or AP. (Which is something I am interested in doing in the future real soon.) During this meeting we talked about our school's SMART goals. So many schools have way more than 3 goals, making all of the goals impossible to attain. However, I do have to give props to my administration because they know exactly what they are doing as leaders. We have 3 goals that we are working on as a school: attendance, raising our school climate score, and our CCRPI score. Each grade level does have a reading and a math goal as well.
   While in this meeting we had to pick one of our goals and tell how we are working towards increasing it. Great conversations were started due to what each school has as their goals. We had a conversation with the instructor and she asked me, "What are you doing to increase your student's reading fluency?" I was caught off guard a little, but remember I think fast on my feet when I am under pressure. I told her, "Well, we have reading buddies with the 5th graders once a week (If you teach a lower grade and do not have this set up in your classroom, DO IT! It will help you primary students and elementary students tremendously!), we also do running records weekly for each student, and stress AR." She looked at me and she said, "You GOT IT! Your scores will increase, because of what you are doing to help your students!"

What do you do to help your students reach their own personal goals?

Tuesday's Workshop: FIP and what I learned:

During this workshop we discussed standards based classrooms. What do you think standards based classrooms look like?

Here are some examples of what we are doing in K-5 to make sure we all have standards based classrooms:

FIP:
I don't know if you noticed the Learning Target posters (They have the target on them.) We use those to have the students tell us where they are in their learning after we have taught them something. I don't like the learning targets as much as I like using Plickers. Check out the link. It is fabulous for formative/summative assessments! LOVE it! (I am planning on doing a blog post on this soon too. I have so much to share with you all!)

During this workshop, we also looked at assessments and making sure we are giving students quality assessments that involve more than the students circling a, b, or c for every question asked on the assessment. I encourage everyone to rematch the FIP Module 3 video on the GADOE website. It makes you second guess the kind of assessments your students are getting.
What do your assessments look like?

OMG!!! I have to say a big 

to HoneyBunchDesigns! She was so amazing when it came to designing my blog and helping me to dive deeper into the world of blogging. You should check her out for any of your blogging needs: http://honeybunchblogdesign.blogspot.com.

Not to mention a 1,000 followers in my Teachers Pay Teachers aka TPT store:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Bethany-Ray! 

I am so thankful for each and everyone of you who have followed me on my journey as a teacher!

So, in celebrating of a FACELIFT on my blog and 1, 000 followers. I have created a special file just for you all!

Check out my TPT store or click HERE for your special gift! Enjoy and.....

#TPTVegas15

Omg!!! Only a few more days till I go to Vegas! So excited! Today I say down and "nerded out" for a bit! I organized all of the presentations I am going to and turned them into cute little books! So can't wait!!

What are some things that make you "nerd out"?

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! I spent the day with food, drinks, and friends as we celebrated our sparkling fun! I haven't told you all about my best friend for life. But here he is

We have been best friends since we were in church youth group together. He was 18 and I was 20. Yes, he is younger, does that that make me a "puma"? lol. 

Anyways, when were younger we were off and on; however, as we got older we became like 

peas and carrots!

Melonheadz Illustrating

        If you know anything about me or my products you have to know that I love all things Melonheadz! If you have never seen her stuff you have to check out her cute clipart at one of her stores! Here is the link to her blog and all things cuteness: http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com

        I admit I have a problem, I am truly addicted to her work! So much so that I had to have her create me as a Melonheadz! She just finished it, check it out below! Be JEALOUS, lol, or go get your own!!

EEkk! Don't you just LOVE her!!!!! I am truly in love with it! Thanks again Melonheadz Illustrating for your amazing work!!!