Currently: Gone to the Dogs

I have linked up with Farley for my June currently! Been a while since I have done one of these and glad to be back at it. Hoping our warm weather comes back, it has been down right chilly last few days around here!

Until Next Time,

Miss. B

Summer Break is among us!

Summer Break has finally arrived! It brings with it rest, relaxation and the realization that I have survived my first year as a teacher! I can't tell you how much I have learned about myself after this first year in the classroom. I can tell you however that I have so much to learn and so much more to bring to the table for future classes.

 I feel bad for this first group of kiddos to come through my classroom as they didn't get me at my best. They got me at the tip of my ability and I feel that I had so much more to give them that I haven't figured out how to give yet.

To the wonderful parents in my classroom this year. Thank you for hanging with me and being so amazing. Your patience and belief in me made this year so much smoother than it could have been. Without this wonderful group of parents I am not sure we would have fared as well as we did.

As I enter the summer I plan to work a lot of my weakness and try to turn them into strengths. I am going to read lots of books and blogs  on everything education, going to attend every Professional Development class I can find and finally going to pin everything I can find to improve me as a teacher.

Hard to believe that my first year is over and in 2 short months I will begin my second year as a teacher. When the time comes to go back I know this time I will be more prepared than the first go round.

Until next time,

Miss. B

A Martin Luther King Jr. kind of week!

This week my students and I really dug deep into the life and death of Martin Luther King Jr. We used the subject of Martin Luther King to cover both Language Arts, Social Studies and Art. For Language Arts I used a poem from the Panicked-Teacher TPT store. It was such a wonderful resource to find and use, because I was just telling a colleague earlier this week how we needed to have more interaction with poems. While my students didn't dig into the poem and break it apart as much as I would have liked them to, they did ask more questions than what I am accustom to with this group. They usually read through and then when I ask for comments and questions, I hear crickets in the background. However, with this poem they had questions about words they didn't understand and about Martin Luther King himself. It was extremely refreshing to see them really asking good questions and having a good dialogue with each other.

On Tuesday I introduced something in art that the students told me they had never done before. Although it took us a while to get going and really explain what I wanted them to do. Once they got the hang of it they loved it. I stole this idea from The Polka Dot Desk and it was truly a hit with my kids. Many of them kept going back to it throughout the week and adding things to it as they learned more about King. They asked at the end of the week if we could do more art projects just like this.

On Thursday we completed another fun Martin Luther King Jr. art project. I found this fold-able idea at Classroom-Creations-By-Melissa TPT store. This one was not quite as messy as the last one. I loved this one because it allowed the students to tell about what they thought about King, and if they had a dream what it would be. Some of my students really put a lot of work into theirs and it showed. While they completed this fold-able I walked around and asked them why they chose a certain quote from King and what they thought about King. The answers they gave showed me that what we had been talking about had stuck with them!

Finally on Friday we brought all our Martin Luther King knowledge together and worked on some compare and contrast with another civil rights activist Rosa Parks. I found this awesome item at Kalena-Baker TPT store. It was Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks trading cards and questions to go along with them. While my students didn't particular enjoy having to create a timeline, do the Venn Diagram or answer questions. They loved the last item in the packet, it was a two facts and a fib game. Basically you write down two facts about Martin Luther King and two about Rosa Parks. You then write down one fib for both of them, finally exchange with a partner and see if they can find the fib you created. Some of my students put a lot of thought into them and were able to stump or at least throw their classmates off a bit. Others were not as creative and their fibs were detected easily. Students again asked if this was something we could do with other stories. Makes this teachers heart feel good when you find not one but two projects that your students truly enjoy.


It was a busy and exciting week in fourth grade and I hope my students left with more knowledge on what was a truly amazing man in Martin Luther King Jr. I hope that I can continue to find activities and work in the classroom that my students truly enjoy and want to complete. Sometime we have to do things our students don't enjoy, but it makes teaching so much easier and more fun when your students are enjoying what you are asking them to do. I also feel you are going to get better work overall when your students want to complete that work, because they want to put their best work down.

Miss. B

Five For Friday!

Once again I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! I tell you for only teaching three days this week I am exhausted! I was sure the week was never going to end.

I never realized until this week just how hard it is to plan for a sub. I now understand why so many teachers always say it is easier to come to work sick than to mess with sub plans. I spent over 3 hours just planning for one day, and it was our early out day.

Went to a writing conference and we did a lot of work on PARCC. I can tell you that as a brand new teacher I truly feel that I am setting students up to fail this PARCC test. I know they say everyone is in the same boat, but I feel that I am not going to have them fully prepared to take on this test and that really bothers me. However, they did say at the conference that students will not be graded down on their lack of ability in building paragraphs and using correct spelling or punctuation. That is a weight off my shoulders. Are your students completing the PARCC test on computer or are they writing theirs out?

One of the Martin Luther King Jr. projects that I stole from Funky in Fourth and The Polka Dotted Desk, was this Martin Luther King Jr, silhouette collage. My students have never done a project like this before, and while it took them a bit to get going. Once they got going they LOVED IT. They have actually been adding things to them all week! Even asking me if we could do something like this again. 

I will was feeling very artsy this week and found this cute little fold-able on Classroom Creations-By-Melissa TPT store. I loved this, it was simple and the students loved it. It was defiantly my kind of art project. I have many in my class who love art and I am not an artsy person. So when I find something easy and the kids love it, it is defiantly a win-win!

Finally, on Thursday night I made some potato soup in the crock pot. It was the perfect end to what turned out to be a very chilly day. I finished up softball practice and was able to come home to a nice warm meal and all I had to do was clean the dishes. 

Miss. B

Did You Know???

Last week I introduced my ticket at the door idea! I'm still so blown away at how much my kids enjoy the ticket out the door and how much they're learning. While I have trouble reaching some, it is extremely worthwhile to me how much some of my students especially those who were struggling at the beginning of the year are it getting now.

This week I'm going to introduce you to the idea of my did you know questions. I have an app called DailyBrain that every day sends me weird, interesting, little facts. I myself love to get these and I thought over Christmas break man wouldn't it be cool if I could do this with my students? What I thought would be a small little thing where we would talk about it and move on,  slowly became a teachable moment. When a question arises or some thing  comes up that they don't understand they like to ask questions, they like to inject things they know about the topic. What I thought was going to be 2 to 3 minute discussion has turned into a 10-15 minute lesson where they're asking questions, answering each other, coming up with other great facts that they know about the topic. Some of them are silly facts that make the students laugh and its a nice little brain break for them, while other times the facts present moments that allow for discussions and teachable moments. We teachers love teachable moments. 

What may make me the happiest is when something comes up they don't understand they're not afraid to ask questions. Sometimes in class when we're doing math, language or social studies I have students who are afraid to ask questions. They don't want to say something that might be wrong and feel embarrassed. However, during this time it's almost like they're free to ask whatever they want. They are not afraid to say something that might be wrong, because nobody in the class really knows much about what we're talking about and it's okay. Getting some students to step out of their shell and share what they are thinking is tough. These moments where they feel safe is a great way to see just what they know and give them great feedback and encouragement, so maybe over time that fear of being wrong goes away.

What also makes this teacher smile is that they remember some of the did you facts through the whole week. They will even write them down on their what we learned this week. Some students even go home and bring me back more facts they learned or my favorite they go home and tell their parents about it. While this is something they won't be tested on, it is important to take time out during the day to do something that they don't see as work. They don't realize they are learning and they are having fun doing it. It Is a win-win. 

So did you know that Nike was named after the goodness of victory? Or did you know 49% of KFC's total revenue comes from China? If you didn't you do now.

Thank for stopping by!

Miss. B

First time blogger

Hello My name is Ashley Bolton and I am a brand new 4th grade teacher! I also happen to be a first time blogger. I follow many blogger on Bloglovin and decided to give it a whirl. I am excited to share the ups and downs of what goes on in my classroom on a daily basis. As I said being brand new, I am sure I am not going to be very good at this thing. Any help would be appreciated by my fellow bloggers.