Bikes Blues and Benchmark

Last Friday the 9th, was one of the best days of my life! I have the Praxis and State Testing behind me and it was the Bikes Blues and Benchmark Pep Rally to get 3-5 Grade ready for Benchmark Testing this week. It was AWESOME!! We based it off Bikes Blues and Benchmark with our theme being: Revving up for Success! Everyone at our school who knew someone who rode a motorcycle came out for our Motorcycle Parade and we had 2 riders who did all kinds of stunts and tricks! The best part was being able to do my aerial! :)



Yes...that's me!



FINISH STRONG!


My AWESOME Principal and Vice Principal!!


And here they are again...DANCING on the office table in a video they showed at the Pep Rally!


The Mayor showed up on his motorcycle to share some words of encouragement! Because of his appearance, Shaw Elementary made the KNWA 5:00 News! Yay!


Our school-wide BBQ Picnic


We had a live band come and kick off the dance party!


Getting ready for the Motorcycle Parade!


And finally...the highlight of the day!!




What an awesome day! Full of positive energy- Revving up for Success at Shaw Elementary!!

My 2nd Grade Classroom at Shaw

Well my Praxis III is FINALLY OVER!! What a HUGE RELIEF it is to be done! I'll be celebrating at school for the rest of the year!! It's nice to know that I will officially have my standard teaching license soon and be considered a "Real Teacher". My Praxis Assessor was wonderful!! She guided me through everything and made me feel very comfortable during the interview. My lesson was on Subtraction with Regrouping...which if you know anything about teaching...is a difficult concept to teach 2nd graders! I put a magnet strip on the back of 3 Musketeer Candy Bars to represent tens and peppermints to represent ones. The kids were totally intrigued by how the candy was magnetized to the white board. LOL. My assessor loved the idea of using candy in my lesson- I guess she doesn't see that very often which is strange to me because anytime I can- I use 'edible manipulatives' to teach because kids can relate to it better. Then I broke them into groups and had them work subtraction problems using a white board and place value mat. They used pretzel sticks and goldfish to represent the tens and ones in their groups and they had to pull problems out of a cup. It went really well! The Assessor is supposed to be really professional and not get personal at all, but at the end of my post-interview- "Great Job" slipped out of her mouth and she immediately said- "oops, I wasn't supposed to say that". She was very sweet and I feel confident based on our communication that I did well. I won't get my results until the end of May.

In other news, I am blessed to work at such a wonderful school with wonderful Christian teachers! I love going to work everyday because the environment at Shaw is always so positive and the school building itself is gorgeous and colorful. Grades K-1 have a bright yellow hallway. Grades 2-3 is the green hallway and 4-5 is the blue hallway. I am in love with my classroom this year and I love being in a green room because it's such a fresh color. Also, the room is mainly carpeted and all the furniture and cabinets are a mahogany wood which I fell in love with when I first stepped into the room. I'll stop blabbing now and let you enjoy the pictures!



One of the teachers at Shaw made this for me when I got married. I love it!


What you see when you first enter the room.


The view of my classroom from the door.


My cabinets and word wall.


My computer area.


My guided reading table. This is my favorite part of the room.


My beautiful white board LOL


The library area.


Carpet area


My messy desk.


This is the writing table and white board I used for my Praxis III.


This is a writing activity we did where my students had to write about things that were closest to their heart that they cared about to help jog their memory when they started writing stories.


This is how I check for absentees and lunch count. Every childs name is on a star since we're the Shaw Stars.


Here is our daily schedule and questions we answer as we learn every day.


Reading Station Rotation Chart- kids chose their group name


This is my behavior chart and they pay me in pretend dollar bills if they move their pin down for their behavior. If they do something above or beyond I move them up to the Royal Stars and I give them a dollar to reward them.


Every week we have a new shining star who is my helper for the week and runs errands.


When I arrived at school the day of my Praxis I had flowers on my desk from my principal and vice principal wishing me good luck! I have the best school leaders ever!