Hogwarts Bound

I recently accepted a job teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!  I decided to go and start setting up my new classroom this weekend... Wouldn't that be awesome if it were true?! 

I did not go into school to work this weekend.  Instead, I went to Universal Studios for a day of fun!  It was a perfect day!  The lines were relatively short (when available I go in the single rider line, they usually get my best friend and I on together anyway!)  Here are some pictures of Hogwarts castle and Hogsmead in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  

The clouds rolling in reminded me of snow clouds,
 perfect for the theme of the land!

My Math classes finished Chapter 1 and we tested on Friday.  I am so proud of all my students, they did amazingly well!  The lowest grade was a B!!  So we started chapter 2 today.  Again, we worked in pairs to find the definitions of the new vocabulary.  I created a template for showing different ways to solve multiplication problems.  I'll share that later this week after we use it!

Here are some more pictures of Figurative Language anchor charts we made last week.

This is the way I am organizing my multiplication quizzes this year.  Since I have 2 classes, I am keeping track of their progress with the Monster charts.  Each section of the quizzes has 1/2 sheets and full sheets of problems.  They start with 3 minutes to complete the 1/2 sheets.  After they complete all the 1/2 sheets they will move onto the full sheets.  We quiz on Tuesday and Thursday.  These quizzes are compliments of one of my amazing 4th grade team members!  I have full sheets from last year, but I did not previously have 1/2 sheets. 

This year, my school provided all of the teachers with binders to keep our sub plans, lesson plans and other information organized and uniform among all the classes.  We need to keep our lesson plans open and on our desk at all times so admin can come in and see them if they choose.  A 3" binder takes up a lot of room on a desk so I wanted a way to free up some desk space.  I found this adorable apple cook book stand on Ebay!  I keep it on the corner of my desk and set my lesson plans up on it.  I am able to have my plan book open and ready without having it take up precious space.  

Have a great week!  

-Tara