Five for Friday- February 20th!

      This has been one CRAZY week!  We had a professional development day last Friday, then Monday we had off for President's Day, we went to school Tuesday and Wednesday, and then had yesterday and today off due to below ZERO temps!  Yikes! Not to mention we have PARCC testing next week.  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share a little bit of my last week. 

1. This past weekend we went skiing on Valentine's Day!  We went down to Winterplace, West Virginia!  It was FREEZING, but the snow was beautiful and we had about 5-6 inches of new powder that fell throughout the day. 

2. Google Docs and Chrome Books-  When I moved back to Ohio one of the biggest changes was the lack of technology in my new school compared to my old one.  My old school had iPad carts, 2 computer labs, multiple computers per classroom, etc.  My new school has very minimal technology.  However, our school just got additional Chrome Books and my kiddos have begun publishing their writing on Google Docs.  What a success it has been!  They are loving it!

3. More computer fun- We are learning about Immigrants and how Immigrants have created the diverse community in which we live today.  We have used the Virtual Field Trip on Scholastic.com to go through the different stops for Immigrants as they entered Through Ellis Island.  They had a blast going through each stop and searching for information on their web quest.

4. This was from a few weeks ago, but since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would share.  Our school had our FIRST Multicultural Night.  It was an amazing hit!  We had over 14 countries represented.  There was a TON of delicious food, fun dancing, games, and more. I was on the committee for developing the night and we weren't sure what the turnout would be. We were thrilled and excited when we realized that about over half of our student population attended the event!

5. I posted about the book Notice and Note in January.  I have continued using these Signposts as a way to help my students gain deeper understandings of the characters and texts which they read.  I just had to share this with you again!  SO, if you haven't read the book or tried the Signposts in your classroom, I STRONGLY encourage you to check it out! 

      Also, I am admitting to be a nerd when I share this part with you, but there is a Facebook page for the book.  It is GREAT.  Here you will find other teacher's ideas, successes, failures, questions, and more.  There have been Google Docs created with books and the signposts within those books.  Click HERE to access one of those Google Docs!  If you aren't sure about the book itself, first go checkout the Facebook page first and see what you think.  Click HERE to head to the Facebook page for Notice and Note.  Click on my picture below to go back to my previous posting about the Signposts!

Happy Friday!  If you are off today like me, enjoy your long weekend!