Fun Friday, Conferences, and Rubric Linky

Have you had a chance to check out some of the rubrics people have been linking up to? I'd love for you to add a rubric you use in your classroom. Link up for two chances to win a $25 git card to Amazon!! You can get in on the action down below.

Did you have part of the week off this week? I know Minnesota had MEA, and some other places had a little time off for conferences. What did you do? Anything fun? Anything inspirational? Anything teaching related that is absolutely burning you up with excitement?

We had conferences this week. What is your schedule? We used to always have conferences on Thursday evening and Friday morning, then have Friday afternoon off in lieu of working 4 (+) hours the night before. It was nice; you'd get into the conference zone and stay there until you fell exhausted onto the couch Friday at 1 pm for a nap. This year we had conferences on Tuesday night, taught all day Wednesday, then had conferences Thursday morning, professional development meetings straight through that afternoon, more meetings on Friday morning....until we fell onto the couch and into a deep exhausted slumber at 1 pm Friday afternoon.

Can I just say now what a big bag of SUCK that was?

I may have written this before, maybe a year ago....forgive me if I'm repeating myself. I LOVE conferences. L-u-u-u-u-u-r-r-r-r-v-v-v-v-e them. Love. Them. To be able to connect with parents about their children is amazing and heartwarming. I love to have other people tell me how much they enjoy my kids, and I love to be able to pay that forward to other parents. We get to see a whole of these kids that their parents usually don't, and I love being able to provide them with a little window to peek into our world. Amazing stuff.

Share how your conferences are going!

Don't forget to link up your fab rubric!!

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All Duct Tape is not created equal

Sorry 3M. I know you have been good to the citizens of the Twin Cities Metro Area with your jobs and opportunities. I do love your post-its. I truly could not get through one single day without a 3M post-it.
But.....

You duct tape sucks.

It hurts my heart to say so. Your duct tape is so pretty. So funky. So bright and cheerful. So quirky.

But it doesn't stick to painted cement walls. I know that a permanent adhesion is probably not what most people are looking for when they purchase your designer duct tape. After all, they are making neck ties and wallets and flowers for the ends of pens.  Not me. I need a rubbery stickyness that I can have complete confidence in. Every Monday I walk around my room rescuing poor anchor charts that are lying slumped on the floor.

My poor, poor beloved anchor charts.

*sigh*

And 3M duct tape is so cute, too.

No, if you want duct tape that works you have to get Duck Brand. I know it may drive you crazy that they call their company Duck when they are talking about Duct, but you have to look past that. 

My anchor charts never peel off when I use Duck tape. 

But hey, 3M? If you decided that you wanted me to try out a big pack of your duct tape in an effort to change my opinion, I am fully open to that. I mean, I'm not going to turn down a big box of designer duct tape. I know I could write a bitchin' review if  I were to come into a 3M duct tape windfall. 

If you haven't yet, please bop back a few posts and get in on the $25 Amazon gift card giveaway action. It's all about rubrics and linkys and fun. 

Anchor Chart of the Week

This week's anchor chart is brought to you by Hindsight. 

Ahhhh, that good old hindsight. Where would we be without ya, Hindsight?

I was reading through our Reader's Notebooks (singular, not plural like Readers' Workshop. We don't all use the same notebook) when I noticed that kids weren't doing all of their due diligence when they finished with a book. They would do parts of what they were supposed to, but not a one did it all.

Looking back, I see the error in my ways.

Since the lovely and omnipotent CCSS came to town, we are fully aware of the writing that our students are expected to be able to do. I'm all over it. It's a field day teaching the Fab 4's to write, and I love reading it all.  Because I love to read it and love to teach writing it follows that I would have the Fabs do a lot of it. We write a lot.

One of my favorite things to have them do are book reviews. If you read my post about it, you'll get where I'm coming from. It's all about the non-fiction and persuasive writing this year.

If you read even further back, you can read this post about our book recommendation anchor chart.

While I was spending my Sunday afternoon doing one of my favorite things - reviewing last week's work and prepping for next week - I made this poster here to help us all remember what steps we need to take when we finish a book.

(Do you see the duct tape? I just restocked!)

For fun, look what I found on my iPad while looking for the chart photo.

I love my Baileyboo!

How Pinteresting ... Smarty Pants!

You know that idea you saw on Pinterest that you just have to do? That was me and Smarty Pants. Babbling Abby from the Inspired Apple posted this last February. I stumbled upon it (ok, I admit I was obsessively looking for cute ideas; stumbling doesn't happen when you are compulsively searching for cuteness) and the rest is history.

Would the Grinch not be so jealous of my walls?

I break out Smarty Pants no more than once a week. I like to save it for Fun Friday, although I have been known to take it away if Fun Friday becomes Grumpy Friday. Whenever a kid gives an answer I yell out "Smarty Pants!" and they get to come up and get a Smarty out of the pants.

Funnest. Idea. Ever.
(I believe in the word "funnest" and therefore I make it a real word. Contest me. Go ahead. Erin Mckean says it's so.)

By the end of the day, everyone and their grandma has been a Smarty Pants.

By the way, did you know that my Fab 4s told me that one of my jobs is to bribe them? And then they actually accused me of telling them that was one of my jobs! I call Shenanigans. I do not bribe. I reward. On Fridays.

Don't forget to link up for the Rubric Party! Check out yesterday's post to find out how you can win a $25 gift card to Amazon!

As a closing thought, look at the #2 search word reference for Peacocks & Penguins. Seriously?

Sammies, anyone?

Who can resist a PB&J? Not me. I bet not you. Unless you are allergic to peanuts. Then you are respectfully excused.

I had gotten a request to create more Sandwich Math kits. I am working on intervention kits for common core state standard math, for first grade and kindergarten. I know it seems awfully funny for a fourth grade teacher to be creating stuff for primary, but that is really my area of expertise. I'm hoping that my intermediate knowledge bank will continue to grow as I dig further into fourth grade.

These sammie kits are perfect for nailing those skills that involve numbers and operations and place value.
You can get them as individual sets or as a whole kit.

Now get yourself a tall glass of milk and go check them out.

Sunday Funday Grading and Rubric Linky Party (with a sweet giveaway)!

I love rubrics. L-u-u-u-u-r-r-r-v-v-v-v-e them.

Love. Them.

There is something about their parameters, their expectations all laid out, secrecy-denied savviness that makes me happy. I love the way I always knew exactly what my late-in-life-college-student-self needed to get that 4.0. Always. There was no mystery, no guessing.

I love it the same way for assessing. I know exactly what each student needs to have to get a +, -, 1, 2, 3, 4,  check, S, whatever. I don't have to second guess myself and go back through writing or math to make sure I was fair to all.

I know that not everyone loves them. Not everyone needs the parameters. Not everyone wants to follow a table of laid out expectations. There is less room for gut feelings, justified or no.

Yeah. My opinion = rubrics rock.

This afternoon I started pouring through the Fab 4's Ice Age/Glacial Wisconsin portfolios and decided that I couldn't do it without a rubric. I went to my favorite rubric making site, Rubistar. I will admit that I find rubistar to be a little hard to work in, a little clumsy, but I put up because of how easy it makes creating rubrics. Do you have a favorite site? Will you share?

I started with the items I was assessing. Then I brainstormed the criteria that made or broke the assignments, and defined what it would like if it met, exceeded or did not meet expectations.

Once I had some parameters it was much easier to assign a grade. 

I also wanted the parents to know why their child may have gotten a +, or what was it about their work that dropped a minus. Now they can see what I was looking for. 

Do you use rubrics? How do you use them? How do you make them? 

Link up and share! Then come back and vote on your favorite! Cutest Rubric gets a $25 Amazon gift card! Sign up for the rafflecopter and you could win the other $25 Amazon gift card! That's right, two $25 Amazon gift cards. 

"Save as" and use this on your blog to show you're a part of the linky! 

Make you sure you link back here so folks can vote!

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Cootie Catchers for Learning (and you just thought they were annoying nuisances)

Cootie Catchers. Fortune Tellers. Little paper foldable weapons of attention destruction.

Or maybe not.

Have you ever thought about harnessing the power of Cootie Catcher? Maybe something like this....?

Here is what they look like flat, when they are first printed:

Trim the edges, do a few folds...

And you end up with a tool that can be used individually or with a partner....

These Cootie Catchers are being used to practice math fact fluency. The player not holding the Cootie Catcher chooses a math fact on the outside, and the holder moves the Cootie Catcher the number that equals the answer. This continues on with choosing facts from the inside, until the fourth turn when the player not holding the Catcher chooses a fact on the inside and the other player opens the flap. They ask the other player for the answer to the fact hidden inside. 

Cootie Catchers are quite simple to make, but if you don't remember how to fold them from when you were a kid, you can grab these printable instructions. 

Or you can get the whole kit here, that comes complete with full color math fact Cootie Catchers for numbers 1-9. Included are instructions for play and folding, and a black and white set for easier copying and more affordable printing.

Your students will put your on a dais and sing praises of your abilities to make learning fun.