How I get my kiddos to grow...

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is for my students and their families to have a safe, wonderful holiday. I would love for them to read together and study math facts as they drink hot chocolate, enjoying their time with each other all day long. It would be fantastic if you could spark their love for reading and make them want to learn more every single day. Also Santa... if it is not too much to ask could you make me the best teacher ever so my kids become life- long learners forever and always. I promise I will listen to my mommy and daddy, doing whatever they tell me- especially keeping my room clean. I will be nice to my sister, brother, husband, and kids- not playing any tricks on them at all. I will be the best kid ever!
Thank you,
Jillian Wesney
P.S.- The giant plate of cookies and milk will be in the same place they are every year!

Veteran's Day Salute!

I would like to take a moment to extend a sincere thank you to all my veterans.  Many of us do not take the time to realize all we have because of the men and women who have risked their lives for our freedom.  I feel very blessed to be in a country where we have such great opportunities.

I found some really great stuff and I just wanna.....

Share!!!  
One night I decided to look up the best schools in the country and see what we need to do to be more like them.  The top schools have a focus.  The #1 school was a STEM based school.  So.... I searched what needs to be done to make our school efficient in this manner.  This website was a great resource.  It was a blog called .  I love the title don't you?  
It led me to some lessons at a PBS website which gave some great ideas, everything was there that I needed to implement into our day!
I also ran across some interesting information about technology in the classroom, pairing it with the creative writing.
I just want our kiddos to be able to compete in the upcoming industry of whatever they want to be!

Thinking Maps

I was visiting a school website that has a great resource for curriculum maps, for all grade levels and subjects.  We decided at our 3rd grade level meeting that it was a good place to start.  The school website is Higley Unified School District.  Now we would love to see their assessments and resources but they have those available only to username and password "knowers".  However, they did have a link to a web page about Thinking Maps.  This was what I saw when I went to their site:

Thinking Maps are eight specific visual patterns

Visualizing our thinking allows us to have a concrete image of our abstract thoughts. Visual representations enhance the brain's natural ability to detect and construct meaningful patterns. Thinking Maps reduce anxiety by providing familiar visual patterns for thinking and working with complex ideas and situations.

Research: "Although thinking is innate and spontaneous, skillful thinking must be cultivated." -Art Costa, The Thought-Filled Curriculum

It is definitely worth looking into.... I loved their visuals and how they explained the data. Thinking Maps

Working smarter not harder.... how??

Glogster Link

My 3/4 TBT talk about this all the time.  We want to work smarter not harder, yet we do not know what direction to take.  As a group, we know our main focus is our students and helping them grow in their learning.  However, the problem becomes time- I know this is every teacher's nemesis.  My colleagues and I generally do not take a lunch, have meetings every morning, have lunch/recess/bus duties, and if we have a planning period- try to utilize it to the best of our ability.  This is not to complain, we love our jobs and students- yet it is a harsh reality.  We are coming in earlier and leaving later but still feel like we are not just treading water, but drowning.  I stumbled upon this link, hoping it might help us find our way.  For the tutorial, click the link below the picture.  Most of us know how to use Google drive, so why not use it to make our lives more efficient, less complicated... I will let you know how it works out.

I am still working on my game plan... Erase, erase, erase- run a different play.

First day of school...What is YOUR game plan?

Wow!  What a wonderful day!  I woke up, took my oldest son and dropped him off for his first day of high school. :-( Then I made my way to the best school to work in the world, Conesville Elementary!  I met my student teacher in the parking lot a little before 8.  There were so many things I wanted to get done before the kids got in the building, yet nothing seemed to come together the way I envisioned.  I guess that is what I need to let go.  Nothing ever happens the way I think it should, but everything happens for a reason.  My game plan for this year is to make sure I make an impact on every person I come into contact with- from sharing a smile to helping a student learn to read.  My colleagues and I have such a passion for our students!  Seeing all the students' faces today just made me realize, we are part of their game plan and are essential in choices they make in the future.
I made sure to ask my kids what they felt was the best part of their first day of school .  Jake said he couldn't decide but Ms. Hartsock was pretty cool.  Gabriella said she really liked that she didn't have to stand on the fence at recess.  Hudson said the fact that I was in his class!  How great is that!
I am looking forward to tomorrow!

And now it's July.... Really

My family and I have been so busy this summer.  Not vacationing, but Dr.'s appointments and sports.  Jake traveled with his AAU and high school basketball team, then with his season and all-star baseball team.  He tore his meniscus, so that has been an experience.  Hudson continues to play baseball and travels some with that.  Luckily, he is staying healthy.  Gabriella continues to do gymnastics and loves going to the swimming pool, I swear she is part fish.  Rorey is coaching Hudson's travel team and he is getting back into the music scene.  I just took my praxis for the reading endorsement and have been trying to get our (Ms. Wright, Mrs. Woodmansee and myself) room ready....  Still so much to do and school starts in less than a month.  I miss the structure, but do not know how I have a full time job with everything else my family and I do!

Summer Time....

I cannot believe summer is already here.  The kids have learned so much and are growing so quickly!  Please be sure to read, read, read this summer and practice those math facts!  Don't forget to play outside a bunch and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I will see you out and about I am sure. 

Rocking the OAA!

We had such an amazing pep assembly on Friday, April 19! First of all, it was rock star day for spirit day and who doesn't like to dress up like a rock star. As the students entered Ms. Burris played some rockin' music. Next, Mr. Moore showed an OAA rock video composed by a group of students from the Logan area- which was excellent! Finally, all the teachers and staff shared their favorite test-taking skill or inspirational quote. I have been inspired by these young ones all week. They make my job great! In return, I hope we make your learning great! If you have pics, I would love to post them...LOL!
(4th grade, what type of text structure is my paragraph in?  Candy to anyone who comes to me with the answer!)

For practice this week the 4th graders did the OAA hospital.  It was totally awesome~  We had a great time and we were practicing OAA questions, who would have ever thought it could be done.. Christie Ireland!  She is probably one of the most amazing teachers I know!  Mrs. Ireland found it on Pinterest last year!  The kids and the staff involved could not get enough, Thank you Mrs. Bigrigg, Ms. Rothenstine, Mr. Moore, and Mrs. Lawrence for all being involved with the fun that day!

3rd grade will be having some fun this upcoming week with Sports Day... Looking forward to it!
Good Luck to all of those testing this week!

OAA -- very cute!

Source: positivelypt.com via Bess on Pinterest

March just BLEW by...

I cannot believe the month of March is just about over.  It does not seem like it should be the last nine weeks, yet I know it is.  Along with the last nine weeks comes the always feared OAA.  However, it does not need to be scary for anyone.  It is a test where we want them to show their best work.  They definitely need to take it serious because we want them to pour out all that 'stuff' we have taught them throughout this school year.  It has been a great year so far and I do not expect anything less than their hard work to shine through... by the way where is the sun?  Shouldn't it be shining through as well?
If you need any practice for the OAA, go to my school website- I have some links there.
Happy Easter everyone!

Mermaid....

Bailey, Chris, Jeremy, and Zachary wrote this summary of what they think this song is about.  They sang two times through for fluency and then checked comprehension...

Here comes the sun... maybe?

In 3rd grade LA we are working on problem and solution... They are doing a great job of understanding the conflict and how it was resolved or fixed.  This is an important skill to have when reading.
In math, we have been working on fractions and measurement.  The kids like fractions but they can be difficult at first.  There are a lot of fun fraction activities you can do at home with candy, buttons, and any other items you have laying around the house.  These items can represent parts of a whole or groups of a number.
In 4th grade language arts we are finishing up theme.  This is what the author wants the reader to learn or understand from their piece of work.  Sometimes the theme is stated, they tell us, or it is implied- we have to figure it out.  You can ask them questions about their favorite books, t.v. shows, movies, songs, etc.
In math we are finishing up Perimeter, Area, and Volume.  It is a life skill for our kiddos, especially carpenters or those going into science professions.  Perimeter is the fence- add all sides together, Area is like the rug inside a room- length x width, and volume is what we fill it up with (length x width x height).... these are just some reminders for the kids to help them recall which one is which.
Keep practicing those math facts!!!

Learning Everyday!

Even with all the snow, we have really been able to get a lot accomplished.  Our 3rd graders are working on main idea and details.  We have also practiced a lot on homophones, words that sound the same.  In math, 3rd graders are doing geometry and also working on those multiplication facts everyday... I tell them we are math-magicians.
In 4th grade we are working on main idea and details as well.  We also started book clubs, which I think I love just as much as the kids do.  We will be doing a book creator project with Mrs. Ireland next week.  In math, we took our division test.  The kids have had a lot of fun with division: our songs, dancing and games.
They will definitely use all of these skills in the real world so just keep practicing them at home!
Have a great weekend!

SNOW!

With all of this snow it has been hard for the kids to maintain focus.  We are working on many new and exciting indicators!
In 3rd grade we are working on contractions, homonyms and how to identify those.  In math we continue to work on multiplication in different ways.
In 4th grade we are working on prefixes and suffixes... shifting into summary with main idea and details.  In math we are starting division....
The kids are doing great!  We had great results on our STAR screeners.  Our kiddos are really growing.  Just keep on reading with them and practicing their math facts.  With these important foundation pieces they can do anything!  Have a great weekend and stay safe!

Reading Class

Taking a really cool class with Ms. Sue Peyton through Muskingum University.  She emphasizes on the importance of making kids love reading!  It makes so much sense... We were also told how blessed we were to have such good administration to do the things we do at our school.  I agree!  Thank you to Mr. Joel Moore and RVLSD for letting us TEACH!

A new way to look at things....

How our kiddos learn is so much different than it use to be... therefore, how we teach needs to be a little different than it use to be....
http://edudemic.com/2012/12/30-surprising-and-controversial-ways-students-learn/

We are back.....

The Christmas break was really nice but it is always refreshing to get back to school!  We have had an odd week back but we are getting into the swing of things.  Our kiddos are going to have some assessments to get ready for.  We will take our STAR winter screener, our 2nd 9 weeks assessment, and a teacher made assessment to check for learning across the span of the year.  I hope all of you had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!