Gerry Brooks.

Have you heard of this man? He makes me laugh right. out. loud. 

He is a principal in Lexington, Kentucky, and he makes short YouTube videos I think ALL teachers can relate to. 

I first stumbled onto him when a colleague shared a video. 

THIS video is one of my all time favorites, and it goes out to all the kindergarten teachers out there!

I also love this one about faculty meetings.

I hope these videos make you laugh as much as they make me laugh.

Thank you, Gerry, for reminding us that the struggle IS real, and that we are not alone! Don't get caught T-U-T-T-ing! ;)

Cheers friends!

Updates :)

What a week! Tuesday was Election Day, and we had a district-wide professional development day, while the students were off. It was a productive day, and not having to plan lessons was a nice break. 

While we did not speak about the results of the election in my classroom, we did watch President Obama address the nation live. The kids loved watching and being part of history. They especially loved when he addressed the "young folk." I explained to them that this is really the first election of their lives that they will remember, and went on to explain how historic and important it was. I am not sure they *quite* grasped it, but if a woman running for president is their new norm, then great! 

Today is Thursday and tomorrow is Veteran's Day, so we have no school. I have a jam-packed day filled with a(nother) doctor's appointment and then a 4+ hour drive north to Syracuse for a wedding Friday night. So today is our Friday, which is nice! My poor kiddos have been sitting through assessment after assessment today though. Seems like all of our subjects hit at once, and they're being tested in math/spelling/science all in one day! (They'll survive!)

We had a bus safety drill today - does your district do those?


I've picked up a two tutoring jobs this week, which is great (especially right in time for the holidays - extra spending money!). 

I leave you with this <3 


Thank you to our Veterans, and happy long weekend friends! 

Election 2016!

Our fifth graders are very excited for the election. While I have avoided talking about the personal political opinions of my students, we have discussed how elections work, the background of the candidates, and what the election means for our country. 


Earlier in the year, we read a story called "Elizabeth Started All the Trouble" by Doreen Rappaport who visited our school. We learned all about women's suffrage. I came across this short video clip about women putting "I Voted" stickers on Susan B. Anthony's grave. My class loved watching it. Here is the link: I Voted

We were able to also have a "mock" election to reinforce the importance of voting. The class got a kick out of it.

Did you discuss the election in your classroom? How did you do it? How did it go?

Science.

I do NOT like science. I didn't enjoy it as a child, and I don't enjoy it as a teacher. I don't like the subject matter, and I don't like hands-on activities in the lab. Science is an area of weakness for me as a teacher. 

In my experience, science and social studies unfortunately take back seats to subjects like ELA and math. And also in my experience, because of this, science and social studies curriculums are often pieced together and not every user friendly. I have had to create, unpack, and organize science and SS curriculums in the past.

The district I am in currently thankfully has established science and social studies curriculum. We alternate teaching science and SS for weeks at at time. Unfortunately for me, we started the year off with science (I enjoy SS!). We dove head first into a world of microorganisms (my nightmare) and different types of cells. Luckily for me, I have all the lessons and materials I would need. It really makes such a difference teaching when you have an established curriculum than when you're scrambling to find materials for a subject you're note even comfortable teaching in the first place.

We are nearing the end of our microworlds unit, which means I can start teaching SS soon. As an end project, the students will be given an assessment, but at home, they have been required to create 3-D models of either a plant or an animal cell. Being 5th graders, they are very excited for this. 

Here is a sample of one of the models that has come in early:

Do you teach science and social studies? What curriculum do you use? Do the students enjoy it?

New Student! + Chip and Joanna Gaines

Today is the 9th week of school, and our class welcomed an adorable new girl this morning. Her and her family just moved to our district this past weekend from NYC. She visited on Friday and said she was nervous and sad to be leaving her old school, but she seems to be getting adjusted just fine this morning.

I am so proud of the girls in my class. All on their own, they have taken our new student under their wing and made her feel just like one of them. If you walked into my room you would never know it was her first day. I have 18 of the cutest, sweetest fifth graders. They make my heart melt on a daily basis. It is amazing how adaptable children are. 

Having a new student start today was a great way to refresh my original students about our rules and routines. We spent about 15 minutes before our first lesson going over our rules and the way things work in our room. 

Does this happen at your school? New students register after the start of the school year? How do you get them acclimated? 

In other news, my husband and I dressed up as Chip and Joanna Gaines last night to pass out candy. Do you watch "Fixer Upper?" It's a show on HGTV that we enjoy. My husband reminds me very much of Chip, and Joanna is very likable. How do you think we did?

Halloween! 

I've always loved Halloween, both as a child and an adult. My childhood memories are filled with memories of cold trick or treating nights with best friends, candy counting and trading with my little sister, and my mom and her best friends getting into fabulous costumes to take us out in the neighborhood. As I got older and "too cool" to dress up, my Halloween nights became full of shaving creaming each other, silly stringing, and watching Thriller in a friend's basement. It never got old. My husband and I got into the spirit last year, had a Halloween party, and dressed up as Fred and Wilma. 

I find it so very fun to be able to relive Halloween through the eyes of children every year at school. When I first started out working in a special education department as a teaching assistant, I organized twenty staff members into  "Where's Waldo" themed costumes. I always try to get my grade level team members to get into the spirit. Where's Waldo has come in quite handy in school. This year, our entire faculty is dressing as different EMOJIs! The fifth grade team decided to be the smiling one with heart-eyes. Here I am before the kids arrived:

We managed to get through all of the lessons I wanted to get through this morning (we have a LONG morning), and so we were able to get a little festive and have some fun. I threw on some favorite Halloween music and we got to work making masks:

We also had a party - how adorable are these treats the parents provided? I can't get enough of them!

Of course I also had a reading comprehension and math activity Halloween-themed packet ready to go for the entire class. 

The afternoon is our Halloween sing-a-long and then parade.

How'd you celebrate with your class?

Wow! It's been over a year since I last posted here. And A LOT has changed!

For starters, I finished my 1-year leave replacement in the district I worked in last year. The building and district could not place me anywhere else, so I was forced to go back on the job interview circuit.

After a grueling 4-month interview process, I landed my dream job in my dream district, teaching my dream grade level.

Not a lot has changed for us personally, we've been settling into life in the suburbs and are looking forward to our second Christmas in our house. Some friends have bought houses close to us, and it's fun "adulting" along with them.

I'm currently brainstorming a way to make this blog be more interactive with my students. I haven't told them about it just yet, but I would like to use it with them. Yes, I can make it  a place for the parents to reference for announcements and to see what we're up to in our classroom, but that doesn't make it interactive. I would love any ideas or feedback from anyone who has done this before! It is unchartered territory for me, but I think it is something my school would embrace and enjoy. I would love it to be an accomplishment I can bring to them and show off!

Anyway, a little bit about my class. I teach 18 adorable 5th graders in a general education setting. They are little rockstars. They have great strengths and work hard through their weaknesses. Every day they teach me something new. We have fun during every lesson, and it is such a joy watching their little minds at work.

I survived my first back to school night in the new school, and the parental support is amazing. The entire fifth grade created their own "selfie profiles" - they included some personal information information as well as goals for the year. They were so sweet to read and the kids loved them!

We're about to begin a reading unit on fiction. We're currently in the middle of our memoir unit in writing, and they are going to be deciding on a memoir to begin the writing process with this week! They are loving it. We've read some really great mentor texts throughout the unit. You can get a glimpse of them here:

The Dot has always been, and will forever be a special book to me. It is my go-to book for demonstration lessons, and has helped me land my last two jobs. It also happens to be an awesome read to help explain and support lessons about growth mindset. If you haven't read Mindset by Carol Dweck, stop everything and do so now. It is amazing what making a few small changes in your thinking and vocabulary can do for your classroom.

In math we reviewed multiplication and division, and have moved on to our unit about fractions. I love teaching fractions and I think the kids can see that. There are so many ways to get them up and excited. We started the unit by thinking about all the things in our lives that need fractions. We made a bulletin board full of them. Here are some samples: Fractions!

We're wrapping up our microscope unit in science, after having studied all about the history of microscopes, how to use them, and then all about cells. The kids loved labeling plant and animal cells and figuring out how they are alike and different.

As for our read aloud, we just met Albie in Absolutely Almost. This is my third year reading this book and it is always very well received. I love it as much as the kids love it.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and our entire faculty is dressing up as different emojis. The fifth grade team is doing the emoji with the eyes as hearts. I can't wait to see us all dressed up. Hopefully I'll get around to posting some pictures. Here's a sneak peek:

I am going to try really really really hard to keep this blog more up to date, and continue to brainstorm ways to use it with my class. Please comment below if you have any suggestions.

Don't forget to check out my Instagram page: MrsFranksClassroom to see what else we've been up to in fifth grade!MrsFranksClassroom

Happy Halloween all!