My Why.....

If you are a teacher..... Y'all..... Please watch this video and get your tissues ready!  

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18804102/arthur-dog-completes-2014-adventure-racing-world-championship-find-family

This time of year it is easy to lose sight of our why?  Why did we become a teacher?  Why won't these kids behave?  Why won't they just do their best?  I said today to my husband and coworker...
I'm over this school year.  

We probably all have students in our class that remind us of Arthur.  The kid who nobody loves, nobody looks after, they kid who gets left behind.  But then, you come along and he latches onto you.  You love him, nurture him, discipline him, and refuse to leave him behind.  

When I saw this today, it gave me encouragement to finish strong with my group of students and to make this last month the best month of the school year.  

Chicago Baby!

I am so excited to be traveling to Chicago this summer for the Badge Summit!  The event will take place June 23, 2018 at Columbia College Chicago.  I will be traveling with a team of 5 people from SCS to Chicago to tell others about my experience with Epic Academy and to meet other folks who are using a badge type system in their district.  I am very excited about this professional opportunity, but I'm also very nervous about traveling and being away from my family.  I am looking forward the the experience and I will be posting about our trip here on my blog!  Stay tuned! 

Survival Mode

Does anyone else fee like this right now, or is it just me?



We have one week left, actually 4 days until students and staff are out of school for spring break!  How can it be?  It seems to have gone by even faster this year than ever now that I have my own little one in kindergarten.  Anyway, ready or not, we we get back from spring break it will be time to hit the road running as we prepare for the end of grade testing.  Yes, like it or not, they will have to take EOG's.  So, how do you keep your kids motivated to learning during those weeks?  I used to be the drill and kill type and just practice question after question from eog type practice tests, but I quickly got burned out and bored as a teacher.  Can you imagine how the students feel if this is what they do every day?  If you are looking for fun motivational ways to keep your students engaged while at the same time practicing for their EOG's here are a few things I have tried in my room that are student and teacher approved!

5th Grade ELA Review