Five for Friday!

It's Friday, finally. I'm just back to school this week from a frigid and snowy spring break! And it's been one of those really long, really tiring weeks.  And not because of behaviors of anything like that, but because I've had a week to create my own schedule which included doing things at my leisure. I think we all know that that is not the pace of a classroom! So, with all that being said, I'm quite thankful to have made it to Friday this week! And on that note, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

Here's what's been happening this week...

 As I mentioned, we were coming back from Spring Break this week. And what better to do than a Spring Break writing to ease everybody back into their learning?

The kids were excited to be able to share about their Spring Break and the fact that it had a coloring component! Fourth graders love when they can bust out some crayons!

 We practiced fraction skills this week. Fractions are made so much better when they're hands-on and can be eaten when you're done! And so of course, we did this activity because it does both!

I blogged about it earlier this week and you can read about that here.

And here's all you need for a little s'more fraction fun.

 We were gifted with Chromebooks for our school, right before Spring Break. So we've been doing some research on them. I also have been using Google Classroom with my kids. If you haven't heard of this, or haven't tried it out, you should! And you can use any computer/tablet, Chromebook for it as it is web-based. My kids love that they can respond to a question I post and then read each peer's response and write them a reply too! We LOVE it. And I'm currently contemplating creating some google items to put in my store! Do you use Google Classroom; let me know below about how you use it, if you do!

 My classroom is a Hollywood theme. So I have a whole class incentive that goes along with it!

The kids can earn pieces of popcorn for the container when we earn a whole class compliment from an adult in our building. On the flip side of that, they can lose popcorn pieces when the entire class makes has an issue with behavior (this can be with a guest teacher, during a special, or at recess). We talk about how to earn or lose popcorn at the very beginning of the year and have reminder conversations throughout the year. The kids are really great about saying, "Wasn't that a compliment?" When they fill their bucket, they get a movie and popcorn party. We filled our bucket this week and had our party.

I'm thinking they may be able to fill it one more time before the end of the school year.  This is a great incentive for my kids to make good choices no matter which adult they may be with!

The weather is finally getting nice here. I had recess duty earlier this week and was able to bust out my Four Square skills. My kids were amazed, apparently they weren't sure that someone "so much older than them" could play Four Square! But they've been loving that I've given up my break time to come out and spend some time with them at recess where we can all have fun together. And truthfully, I've been enjoying it as well!

Have a fabulous weekend. I hope you can get out and enjoy the weather like I plan to do this weekend!!!