Oh Boy It's Farley: October 2014

Halloween Week… full of thanks and themes

do you ever have an idea pop into your head and
you just hope and pray it doesn't leave you…
this is how these tags came about…
I have had this idea swirling in my head for a few weeks now and
after our carnival… I had to do it…
we often overlook our custodians during the busy days at school…
they have to put in extra work on our party days, festivals, and any other school function that produces extra trash and clean-ups
but before I show you what I came up with...

first let's talk about our carnival…
we are a very tiny school
about 3 teachers to a grade
some have 4
but when it comes to carnival time…
it takes all of our efforts to try and throw something fun for the kids…
most of us… take on our own booth…
the more the merrier RIGHT!!!
my booth was
Meet and Greet with the
TMNT

It was a blast to have the
TMNTs at our school…
the kiddos LOVED it!!!
Our carnival is our number one
fundraiser and the TURTLES
helped get 4th grade's funds filled up!!!
CoWaBunGa DuDe!!!
anywho…
it takes a lot to set up and even more
to tear down…
most of it we, the teachers, do ourselves…
BUT when it comes to moving tables before and after
and cleaning up spills and the aftermath mess
of hundreds of festival goers…
our night shift custodians do that…

don't get me wrong…
the teachers did what we could to help clean up and tear down…
but there are some things we can't do
like use their really cool floor mopping machine…
which I am sure is not so cool to them after a carnival

anywho… here is what I did

the options are
a delicious treat… what if you don't want to give an edible treat
a little treat…. maybe you want to give a gift card
and then there is keeping our school neat… instead of room neat…
anyways… they are all available to you :)

I put the Mummy Tag in its own freebie pack
find the links at the bottom...

ALRIGHTY….

that is it in a nutshell!!!

So here is what you are waiting for…

the links to the freebies…

click on the pic to take you there...

***PLEASE NOTE***
these will be free… until November 1st…
then they will only be available in my TAGS BUNDLE!!!

***** while I am self promoting my products…
let me show you what I am doing this Halloween Week in my classroom!!!

ARGHGHHHHH
the stupid link thingy is NOT working on these…
so I am SO SO SO sorry!!!
I will try to come back and see if I can get them to link up…
AHHHHH
anyways
all of these are available in my store…
I don't get it… why can I link the above… and NOT THESE!!!
anywho… here they are
I LOVE doing a themed week with my kiddos!!!

challenge your students with these word problems

full of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and some fun themed word problems

this is always a good review..

naming and ordering decimals

PILE IT ONs are always good for a fun math review…

there is an extra special Halloween Currently in this pack

so you can do an October one and a Halloween one

Five for Friday

What a week I have had…

it always seems like I am having a cray week…

and this week didn't let me down!!!

I was contacted by ThermoWorks to try out their TimeSticks…
of course I said yes…
LOVE them…
they made my week way less hectic!!!
I will have a special BLOG POST on these awesome timers very SOON and the great peeps from ThermoWorks are going to partner up with me for a GIVE AWAY!!!! what what

If you can say your numbers for 0-100 with no mistakes… you make the 100s Club
If you can identify all of your letters… upper and lower… you make the A to Z Club!!!
We are so proud of him!!!

I am home today with Bub…
Hubs and I are tag teaming to stay home with him…
He is not itchy anymore and probably has only about 10% coverage
where Tuesday and Wednesday he was more like 80%
so after 3 meds… and 3 dr visits we have some progress…
his vitals have always been GREAT and he never ran a fever… so it is a mystery!!!
They think it could be a virus or a reaction…
I just want him to be better… bless his heart!!!

It never fails… as soon as I pass out the test

and believe me I have gone over the directions…

and I have asked… are there any questions???

and I answer those (yeah right there are never any questions after that question)

and then I go to my small group table to do oral admin to some kiddos

and no sooner is my toosh on my cush…

I have hands up in the air or a line of kiddos

wanting to ask A QUESTION!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!!

so here is my solution…

I bought a big ole bag of plastic bugs…

(ignore the fact that my jar has lizards…

Dollar Spot had reptiles in the bug bag… last time I checked… they are not BUGS but hey it was a BUCK...)

so make sure you have BUGS and enough bugs for everyone

so right after I ask… are there anymore questions…

I pass out a BUG to every single kid…

I explain…

they are allowed to BUG me once…

they can use their BUG to come up to me and ask A question

once they ask a question they must turn in their BUG and they will have to continue the test without being able to ask any more questions

I encourage them to skip questions or problems that are stumping them… and then come back to them

after they have finished the test… go back and try the ones they skipped

and then use the BUG on the one question or problem that BUGS them the most!!!

If a kiddo finishes the test without using the bug… they get a couple of bonus points.

I have used this system for a few years now…

I like it because it forces my students to try and do it on their own.

It also teaches them good test taking skills to skip and go back.

You will still have the kiddos that immediately want to use their bugs… and I sometimes remind them they still have the whole test to do… and some still insist on BUGging me

usually they learn their lesson…

when later in the test they come to another question that is buggier than the first

and if you want to be really mean… you could take their bug away for asking to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water… that is a question… just sayin

I posted this on instagram …
I LOVE this…
we use this everyday as our math warm-up and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it
the kids love it too
we do 4 problems a day and then when we go over it… I project it on the dry erase board and the kiddos do the teaching… I interject if needed but for the most part… they are the teachers!!!
it comes with a weekly assessment…
so what we do is 4 problems a day… that means we are done with it on Thursday…
they take it home on Thursday to study it…
and on Friday they are tested on it!!!
I only grade the assessment!!!
click on the pic to go and get it…
I am a TEXAS teacher and we don't do Common Core…
BUT I still LOVE IT!!!
all the problems fit into our TEKS and if not (hasn't happened yet and I am going on wk 9)
it is still good for them to know...
Math is Math!!!

I am pretty excited about this…
I made TASK CARDS…
there are 20 cards in all
and I have an ink friendly version included… just in case :)
it also includes a picture prompt answer sheet that when copied correctly with the title page and conversion chart will turn into an answer booklet… kinda love that!!!

anyways… these are thought provoking… you have to THINK
my kiddos… well some of them… just want to rush in and answer…
UMMM NO… they don't really read what the questions asking…
these will help them practice reading and understanding the problem!!!
covers all operations and has one. two, and multi-step problems

TEXAS TEACHERS…
I modeled my questions off of the released Math STAAR Tests for 4th grade.
I used the same question stems and tricks…but I put a Farley and Halloween twist to them.

even though these are geared towards the STAAR test…
lots of non Texas teachers have bought this and love it…
problem solving is problem solving…
math is math

click on the pic to go check it out

I love doing the 5 for Friday and I think for the first time in a really long time… I am actually getting it done on FRIDAY!!!

thanks so much to Kacey for always hosting this fab linky!!!

OCTOBER CURRENTLY

Holla...
can you believe it is already OCTOBER...
OH my gosh...
I know retailers skip right over October and go from Back to School
straight to Christmas...
BUT NOT ME!!!
We celebrate all the months here...
so let's get it started!!!

thanks so much to this month's sponsor

I have to admit... I filled this out last night...

I knew I was going to be at my grandparent's house tonight and I wanted a little head start...

I LOVED the wedding on Little People... Oh MY GOSH

That was a perfect wedding... just my style!!!

I am also LOVING Bub's Fire Prevention Poster...

I LOVE that my kiddo now gets to participate in this HUGE tradition at our school

I teach in a small community school and it is in a small city... with a VERY SUPPORTIVE

Fire and Police Department...

every year they throw a Fire Prevention Poster Contest

this tradition is so old... I won it when I was in FIRST Grade there!!!

anywho... I am thrilled Bub gets to enter this year...

there are 1st-3rd place trophies in every grade k-5

and then there is a GRAND CHAMPION...

I think we might have a winner on our hands...

I might be biased... BUT you take a look...

this year's theme is Check Your Smoke Alarms...

I am BEAMING that my kiddo came up with this idea...

it did take some arm twisting to convince him GHOSTBUSTERS are not spokes people for

FIRE PREVENTION... they make fires...

BUT after that... his little wheels starting spinning...

He was watching a cartoon... I think Dora or something and they twisted the tune

to Old Mac Donald... and that was that...
he turned to me and said...
his little slogan!!!
we were at my mom's and mom and I were both... in awe!!!
mom even ran and got a notepad to write it down so we wouldn't forget
HA HA HA

BEAMING!!!

Like a true teacher's kid... I made him do a rough draft... and we watched videos on how to draw a barn, cow, flames, and water!!!

The only thing I did on the poster was a drew straight lines for his words...

THAT'S IT I SWEAR!!!!

I think that is why I am soooo proud of him...

I will admit to HOVERING... and telling him continuously to take his time or color in one direction or pay attention... or DON'T GET SHARPIE ON MY TABLE!!!
BUT it is 100% HIS...
BEAMING... ok maybe 99% his because I did draw the guide lines...
BUT those got erased after the sharpie...
so we are back to 100%.... right!!!!

BUT come on... look at his cow...