Five for Friday: Here Comes the Big Switch!

How do you fix a broken Jack-O-Lantern?

(Get to the end of this post to find out!)

Fridays in our class are known as Joke Friday. It's a riot to hear some of the kids’ jokes and riddles, especially when a brave kiddo attempts to make up their own joke.

Question: Why did the turkey go to space?
Punch line: Because it was November.
bu-dum ching!

On to Five for Friday....

Like usual, I am linking up with Doodle Bug Teaching!

Somehow this day completely snuck up on me. Today was the last day of my student teaching internship in the third grade. Starting Monday I will be entering the resource room to student teach for the remaining eight weeks of the semester.

Even though I know I will be just next door and still get to see my third graders every day, it was hard saying good bye to them as their teacher. I have gotten to know them so well in all their wonderful weirdness. My mentor teacher ended the day with a compliment circle and it was really touching to hear what meaningful things they had to say.

As a going away gift, I made each of them a laminated book mark. One side had their name and a cute reading graphics from Scrappin' Doodles. I colored each one using their favorite colors. On the reverse side, I wrote them each a personalized short note from me about their strengths in school that I have seen and reminding them of how much potential they have to achieve great things in their future. I truly believe each of my students has so much potential to do wonderful things. I have already seen what they can do in eight short weeks, I have high hope for their future, especially in the hand of the teachers I have seen in our school.

So now I get to come in Monday and start anew in the resource room. I haven't got much of a clue yet what I am going to be doing or who I will be working with so I'm a wee bit nervous. I at least know I will get to see two of my third graders who happen to be two of the most kind hearted kids I have ever worked with. They make my heart happy.

Another event that snuck up on me too quickly was my final Praxis exam I will be taking next Saturday. I actually completed and passed my Praxis exams over a year ago but because of a misunderstanding on my adviser's part, I was instructed to take the wrong exams. I won't get into the details of why the situation occurred because it's rather frustrating. In the end, one of the exams I took no longer qualifies me as an "exceptional" level teacher in the state of Idaho, so next week I have to take (and pay for) a third, different test. Lucky for me this test is on content knowledge and having student taught now for eight weeks I've gotten some first-hand experience with content knowledge. But I prefer to be over prepared so I will spend the next week cramming for this test every minute I am not in the classroom or at work. I don't need to sleep or eat right?

We have been getting craft in the third grade lately. This first one may not be a new thing to experienced teachers; by we just wrapped up our bones unit with a little skeleton craft. They are proudly displayed outside our classroom with some of the lyrics from our bones song my mentor teacher taught the kids.

We have been also working on a ceramic craft inspired by the fall leaves. Student started by picking out leaves from around campus or bringing them from home.

Each student received a chunk of clay that they rolled out and then pressed the leaf into to create a reverse image. They then cut them out and formed them into bowls using paper food carriers. We are lucky to have a kiln at our school and finished firing the leave this week. Next week the students will get to paint them and then take them home in two weeks or so. This is my first time using ceramic clay so of course I am making one as well!

I've decided to take on my first donors choice project. I should probably clarify that I will not be the one submitting the project because student teachers do not qualify. I'm going to aide our school's third grade team in writing the material for the project as well as organizing the social media advertising. (Yep, that means you should expect some blog posts about our project in the near future!)

While considering whether or not to try DonorsChoose, I came across a number of helpful blog posts that gave me better insight into how it works and what to expect. Here are just a few share-worth ones:

Stephanie over at 3rd Grade Thoughts has a great post she calls 10 Tips to Get You Started on DonorsChoose.org.

 Stephanie (a different one!) over at Teaching in Room 6 has had 23 projects funded so far! She has a list of tips as well from a few years ago that I came across and liked. Find it here: 7 Tips for Getting Funded on Donors Choose.

 Lastly, if you are like me and have never used DonorsChoose.org, then check out this Donors Choose 101 post by Kelly over at Thirsty Firsties.

  

If you do a quick Google search, you will find there are a ton of other helpful posts on how to get the most out of your project and hopefully get it fully funded. That is all I will say on the topic for now, I don't want to jump the gun.

Here is the punch line to my cute little joke to go along with the Halloween time. Also a fun little graphic I fell in love with on TPT. You can download this mustached little fella here for free from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.

So, how do you fix a broken Jack-O-Lantern?

With a pumpkin patch!