Muslim Woman in Amman

     My running shoes have been getting a little run down lately so I went to DSW for some new ones. I saw some New Balances that I was going to buy but on my way to the counter I found some awesome red pumas. Same price around 30 dollars, but I liked the pumas a whole lot more. Luckily I happen to have a lot of red clothes so making sure my shoes match isn't that hard.      Unfortunately I underestimated the reaction I would get about my new shoes. One of my students took one look at my shoes and promptly stepped on it. Which resulted in a small chase around the classroom to avoid the little feet that were trying to dirty my new shoes. I lost. I will admit though it was kind of fun, though I think the parents think we're crazy.

     It's Friday! I have a lot of things to share from this week and it is hard to limit to just five but I will try really hard. So, with out further ado my Five for Friday! First up Writer's Workshop. One of our lessons was about writing through a mask. I have been writing my own story while the kids wrote theirs. I use it to demonstrate new writing techniques. For writing through a mask I wrote two paragraphs that show the thoughts of two different characters besides the main one. In Math we were learning about quadrilaterals so I made a small activity for the kids to do. The purpose was to help them match up the shape to its description. For my current Art Orbit rotation I had the kids make these cute brown bag trees. I found them on a Pinterest pin about useless DIY projects . I on the other hand immediately thought that it would be a great art project. I thought they came out really well. Every year the school puts together an Eveni...

It has been a long time since I posted anything on my blog but life lately has been kind of hectic. Since coming back from break I have been working on report cards and unit planning and all the every day things that take up a teacher's time. While normally that should not effect my blog but I also have people visiting from Amman, Jordan. My aunt and her daughter are spending a few months here. With all the sight seeing and such my blog has suffered a bit. Hopefully I will be able to go back to steady blogging next month but right now I cannot drum up the energy. So Inshallah I will be back soon.

New year, new resolutions. This year I resolve to interact more with other teacher bloggers. So to that end I am joining the Pick 3 Link Party . Here we go! I love this idea about the growing door. I plan on starting something like this this semester. I usually have a thematic door that changes every unit, so I am thinking on the other side I could have the Graffiti Door . As for the books I have something similar going on next to the library but the book spines are much cuter so I am going to change my current look and go for the bookcase.   This next one I started doing the very next day. Though not exactly the same, I did start giving feedback on post-it notes. I also implemented a goal system for my kids. It has really helped get a better idea on what my students need work on. Sometimes with all my students it is hard to remember exactly who needs help with what, this way I know at a glance and can work with them better. I am teaching the America...

Last week I was talking with some of the other teachers at work and they were discussing a new way to teach Writer's Workshop to kindergarten and first grade. It was about using chickens to represent the steps of the writing process. MG, our ELA expert said she got the idea from ABC's of the Writing Process . I really liked the idea and decided to make my own chickens to represent the writing process. I named him Chuck the Chick.  I plan on using Chuck to review the process with my students next semester. Especially the planning stage, my students like to bypass that step. They end up with run on stories that have no ending. or they decide they do not like their story so they move on to another one and another one and none of them get finished. Hopefully Chuck will help them get back on track so we can finally get something into the publishing stage. Below is my WW stages with Chuck. Let me know what you think.

Time for another installment of Thankful Thursday. This week it was so great it is hard to limit my self to only three grateful gems but I did it. Do you have any Grateful Gems? Link up below ad share three things you are grateful for this week. The one thing I am grateful for above all this week is winter break. Having two whole weeks away from the hustle and bustle of school gives me a chance to destress and relax so I can be ready to start the new year running. One thing I have to mention is my dad. I have to be grateful to the guy who saved me from a flat tire on the freeway. Me and my mom were on the way to Pismo Beach for a day and my car got a flat tire 45 minutes in. My dad drove all the way down to us so he can change it for us. He is an awesome dad! I have mentioned before about my shipping sprees at Daiso Japan. So it only makes sense that they earn a place on my grateful list at least once. They have so much stuff that I can use in the class I never leave ...

It is Friday again and this Friday is better then most because it is the last Friday before winter vacation. I am so excited! But, before vacation begins it is time to share my Five for Friday over at Doodle Bugs Teaching Spot We had Career Day on Tuesday and some of our presenters were really cool. First we had an archaeologist who talked about how archaeologists excavated objects. Then she gave them a little cupcake filled with some kind of plaster like stuff that the kids had to dig into for a little present. Another cool presenter was the photographer. Her activity was to create a cardboard camera. What do you think? I hope he got by good side.  My kids took over the lesson for the day. Here they are reading our Co-operative Strip Paragraph. They went through the editing process on their own while I observed and laughed my head off when they came up with the title "Tr. Deena's Slaves' Paragraph About Heat." The sad thing is I am pretty...