 Today is Monday, April 29th, and I am just getting to work here. I just made myself a bowl of oatmeal, and I stopped at Starbucks just to get coffee. I was very disciplined, and I did not get anything to eat. So the oatmeal that I'm having are these Better Oats steel cut, and they're the maple brown sugar ones. I don't mind these. I'm not really a huge oatmeal fan. I just don't really like the texture. I'm also not really a sweets fan, so I think the mixture of the two has never really suited my fancy, if you know what I'm saying. But I needed something for breakfast, and I'm really tired of stopping and getting breakfast from other places when I have plenty of food here in the classroom or at home that I can take to work. I have everything pretty much planned for this week. We are beginning our novel study on Charlotte's Web. Super duper excited. We have two days for three chapters, so I'm thinking that maybe on day one we will start with just looking over vocabulary. Then we will start reading. We'll read through the first and second day, and then on the second day, the kids will do the comprehension portion of the lit study. I think that's a good way to do it. And then my aid is doing literature circles with my students, and I actually need to go and copy all of those things this morning. But the reason why I haven't run and done copies yet is because I don't have anything planned for math. And so I'm trying to just kind of find something to put together right now for the week. I would really like to do a review. Obviously, we're at the end of the school year. We have taught every standard, but I would really like to do something fun and engaging. So I found a lot of things on Instagram that have inspired me, a lot of things on YouTube that have inspired me. So I think I'm going to kind of try to roll with that, but my students have been extra naughty. So I do need to come up with some way of managing their behavior in a way that's like inspiring them to do well. So I am gonna start doing for the rest of the school year STEM Fridays. So the kids who are working hard all week who don't give me any problems will get to participate in STEM Fridays and students who are not showing that they know how to make good choices will have to go to another room when we do our STEM Friday. Unfortunately, that's just how it's happening right now. So I have a few emails that I need to read through, one from my principal. It's the like weekly newsletter that he sends out. So I need to just make sure that I read that and update my calendar on my iPad so that I have all of my events and things written down, throw my pencil somewhere. So I don't know if you guys know this, but I use a digital planner. I was using my Aaron Kondren life planner, which I really did love that, but I like that I can take this everywhere with me and everything is kind of here. However, I do sort of sometimes miss writing things down. So I think I might get another Aaron Kondren planner for next year or maybe in the summertime, but I really do enjoy planning on my digital planner. So I just use the one from Jessie at the social speechy. I forget her exact, Jessie Massey Macy. I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but Hustle Sainley and stuff, that's her shop. But I use her digital planner. So I'm just gonna go through my Cougar connection is what we call it. And I'm going to just write down all of the events that are taking place. And that way I am up to date here with what's going on at school. And then I will try to figure out what I'm gonna do for math. Everything else is good to go. I just need to change the schedule, change the date, and then we're good. It is only 7.30, I don't have any duties this morning, so I have plenty of time. Hey guys, it is the end of the day. I've got about 15 minutes until I can leave for the day. So I am just kind of cleaning up around my desk and then I'm gonna go get on out of here because I can. Today was pretty good, kids were pretty good. But overall I think I was a little bit more strict than normal, so I think that that's probably why the day went a little bit better than normal. But yeah, I'm gonna get out of here and see you guys either tonight or tomorrow. Okay guys, I just walked in the door. Oops, I just dropped. I brought this little gift for one of our first grade teachers is having a little boy. And we just had a baby shower for her last week and she got a ton of little hungry caterpillar things. And I had this for cash for his newborn pictures. We didn't use it for his newborn pictures. We did take one picture of him in it, but I thought it would be so cute to give her because it's totally teacher-esque. Okay, so a couple things I wanna talk about this morning. First thing, outfit of the day. Okay, so I'm wearing a lipstick and littles tee and this says, this classroom is run on essential oils and kind words. I love this one. And then I always pair my teacher tees because I feel like in the summertime especially, like it's really hard for me to wear pants because it gets really hot here, obviously. So okay, so I'm wearing the lipstick and littles tee shirt and then I have one of those like flowy old Navy dresses and it's just like the tank ones. And I always just put it underneath my tee shirt. And then I put a little like rubber elastic around the back and then I just tuck it in. And then I have like, it looks like I'm wearing a black skirt but I'm not. And then these shoes are super old from old Navy as well. I like them because they wrap around my ankle because I have chubby legs. Oh, good morning you. And then I'm wearing some glasses from I Buy Direct. These are the black chilling floral frames and they are linked down below. And then my earrings are from Target or from the clearance section. I don't really know if I like them yet. I've only worn them today. They're kind of heavy and I don't like the way the clasp works because I feel like it's gonna fall out. Oh well. I straightened my hair for the first time in forever today and I really like it and it has me second guessing if I wanna cut my hair but I think I still wanna cut my hair. Okay. Thing one that I wanna talk about, done. Second thing that I wanted to talk about. I know I mentioned Fun Fridays yesterday and I found that I had this resource. I think it's on teachers pay teachers. I don't know. I should probably look. But I was given this by a teammate of mine and it is a Charlotte's Web STEM Engineering Challenge Pack which I'm super pumped about because I spoke about doing, hold on, I'm gonna close the store. I spoke about doing some Fun Friday things with my kids and I wanted to do STEM activities because I think that it's really fun for them to build and it obviously has its perks. But this has five STEM challenges in it. So if I wanted to do a STEM challenge every Friday for the rest of the school year, I have enough to do them. So I'm totally gonna use this and then I need to find a way to see if maybe my teammate had purchased this on TPT and see if she can send me the file. That way I can have it forever if I lose this. But that would be awesome. Okay. Last thing that I want to share with you guys or talk about. So I was watching one of Darren's recent videos and if you guys don't follow Darren Nakaki Hara on YouTube or Instagram, you need to do it right now. Pause my video, go look for Darren Nakaki Hara and subscribe to his channel, follow him on Instagram. He is an amazing fourth grade teacher from California and he has so many awesome ideas. And his Instagram is edtechbydaren and there's a reason why it's edtech because he is all about technology. And so I implemented this new Starbucks mode thing and everybody's doing it, it's super trendy. But what I have done with it is so the kids come in the, in the big, okay, let me sit down so I can talk to you without being like everywhere. Starbucks mode. So when the kids come in first thing in the morning, I have two students that are the breakfast bunch and I changed the job name to Barista's. So what they do is they come in and they actually serve all of the students their breakfast. So the breakfast comes into like ice chest tubs but they come in these two ice tubs and there's always one tub for food and one tub for like milk and a fruit or whatever it is that they're serving that day. So I have one student serving food, one student serving beverages and they just walk around and they put everything on the tray of the, or the top of the ice chest and they just serve it to everyone. So this eliminates a bunch of kids getting up and moving around the room, getting their own breakfast. It's only two kids walking around with breakfast. If they don't want something, they say, no, thank you. And then they move on. So all the kids are getting served. Meanwhile, the rest of the students are coming in quietly. They're grabbing their Lenovo's and they, I have this slide up on the board. So when my kids come in the door, they see this slide on the board and it says, please grab a computer, log into Google Classroom and begin taking the survey that has been posted. Sit quietly in Starbucks mode to earn some extra grabbers. Read your library book when you're finished. So we have already talked about what Starbucks mode is and my kids know that Starbucks mode is when they are sitting quietly, they're on task, whatever task I gave them, they're listening to the soft music to help them focus and they're not talking to strangers. So I have a slide for that too, but I don't show it first thing in the morning only because the other slide is showing but it looks like this. And it basically has like all the stuff on it that they would, all their directions. And then what I've been having my kids doing and I totally got this idea from Darren. So thank you, Darren, I know you're watching. So I have created a Google form for my students to have a survey every morning. And so the Google form is just a way to have them like take the survey. This is how I figured out how to do it. And if there's another way, please let me know. But so what they do is they log on to Google Classroom and then I have posted a survey. So it's a Google form and in the survey, and I know Darren has shared this before, but I'll share mine, basically I have like two or three random questions just for the day, like today is if you could be one superhero, who would you be? Because the Avengers movie just came out and they're all pumped about it. Then I have a question that says explain, okay. So on a scale from one to 10, how happy are you today? One being not very happy, 10 being I'm so happy. And what's nice about Google forms is that it has a way for them to actually rate on a scale how happy they are or not happy. And then I have an explain why you are so unhappy or happy, so they just type like why they think they're happy today. Then I have some questions about like what we've been doing in class, like this one, how many milliliters are in one liter? That's a multiple choice question. I'm actually going to, oh, hello. So I'm actually gonna go in and edit this real quick and add a couple more questions because we're studying the regions of Arizona and I just want to see what they remember. So this is also used as a quick assessment. Guys, all of what I'm telling you right now is exactly what Darren shared in his video. I don't remember if he shared it on Instagram or YouTube, but Darren, if you shared it on Instagram, please share it again on YouTube so that everyone can see what amazing things you're doing with your kids in the mornings. So I'm also using this as a quick assessment to see what they remember from what we learned yesterday and what we're talking about currently in class. So it's really awesome. It's a great way to get them in Starbucks mode because if you think about it, when you go to Starbucks you're either sitting there working on your computer or you're reading a book or you're doing some type of assignment, some type of writing activity. So the kids come in, they get their computers, they take the survey and then they read their books quietly. Next year, what I would like to do is implement a journal writing section in the morning and I found a few journal resources on TBT. I haven't purchased them yet because I still want to look through them and make sure. But like Misfits daily journal, daily writing prompts, I think that would be so much fun to do. Like have the kids get their computer and then take their journal out and it's a great way to keep the kids quiet in the morning for the first 20 minutes while you're doing attendance, while you're doing breakfast, while you're dealing with kids' questions and it's been working out really well for my kiddos. They really have been enjoying it and they're like, is there a survey today? Is there a survey today? I'm like, oh yeah, check out the board. So it's been really fun and since I have my room set up kind of like cafe style with my tables, it's been really fun. Next year, I have green aprons and round serving trays that I'm gonna have my baristas using and I'll put the little Starbucks emblem on them. But anyways, okay, I've been rambling way too long. This is 10 minutes but I'm super excited about all this stuff going on in here. So I'm gonna update my survey for the day, get my schedule and my date updated on the board and I have duty in about 25 minutes. So I'm gonna let you guys go but I will hopefully see you later. Hey guys, so I have two minutes before I have to go get the kids. Well, I should be going right now but I wanted to share with you guys. I bought this last year. These cute little May the 4th be with you things. They're from Happy, Happy Elementary, I'm not positive but since May 4th is on Saturday, I thought it would be fun to do that little craft tomorrow when we don't have a special. So, so far the day has been great. No big behavior problems, so that is positive. But yeah, just wanted to check in, show you guys that cute little art thing the kids are gonna do. And, oh, I did get three fourth graders because one of our fourth grade teachers is gone, excuse me, and there's no subs. So I have three extra babies today but that's okay, they're easy. Okay, I'm gonna go, bye. Hi you guys, it is the end of the day, the kids just left and I feel so exhausted. My feet hurt so bad, I'm throwing these shoes away as soon as I get home today. Oh my gosh, no, these shoes are no good. I forgot how much they hurt my feet. Things are going pretty good in here. I'm gonna show you guys the animal habitat progress right now as far as today. So this is the progress of the habitat so far. Look at this one, this one's like almost done. This is a coyote. And then we have the African sunset coming. This one, one is supposed to be a black bear so I don't really understand the purpose of the gnome. Although they did make some cool mountains and a campsite. It's kind of cool. I'm so glad that tomorrow is Wednesday and it's early release, I'm so tired. I think I'm gonna create a mystery rewards board for upfront and my friend made one in her classroom here at school so I think I'm gonna do it. Just looks like this and basically like if the classroom floor is cleaned up you pull one off and then once they uncover the reward with all of the things they did then they get a prize. So I'm gonna call it a day for the day and I'm gonna go to the grocery store today and the gym. So I'm gonna try and clean up and get ready to leave right at 3.30.