Wahoo and goodbye to Week 15! Only one more week until Winter Break – can you stand it? Everyone is so excited! We just have to keep it together for 5 MORE DAYS! Below are the highlights from Week 15:

1. Fakebook assignment – For the past couple of years, I have used this Fakebook Template I purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers as a 2nd Quarter Independent Reading project. The students read either a novel or a biography, and they create the Fakebook Page based on a main character or figure. They have to do quite a bit of reflecting and inferring – identifying the character’s friends, hobbies/interests, personality traits (WITH evidence!), important events, and finally explain a statement the character made and what they may have meant by that statement. Clearly, the students put a lot of work into this and enjoy it as well. We hang them up in the library to share and encourage others to read. They turned out so wonderful this year, I just had to share!

2. Midwest Weather – As you may have seen on the news, or experienced first hand if you live here, it’s been…. interesting weather in Wisconsin for the past week. I won’t even re-hash all the details, because High Five For Friday is about celebrating what’s going well! I will share with you this picture of the view from my ‘office’ (aka classroom). I know I am extremely blessed to have this job, and this view is just another cherry on the sundae. It’s easy for the students and myself to stare out the window and become lost in nature. I love it!

3. My Resilient Talented Niece – Resiliency is such a powerful skill that we must teach our children. I had the privilege of attending my niece’s figure skating competition this weekend. She took second place, and was disappointed, but I couldn’t have been more proud if she had taken first place. Let me tell you the strength of character that my niece demonstrated. During her routine, she tripped and fell flat on her stomach – a thud reverberated across the rink, and her parents, my husband and myself all caught our breath in our throats. “Oh dear! We must run to her, scoop her up, cuddle her and wipe away her tears!” NO. Not at all – we must resist this urge to intervene. Instead, I watched what happened next in wonder. My niece’s coach helped her up, dusted her off, gave her a 3-second pep talk and a few high-tens, and off she went, back on the ice to finish her routine. WOW! Would other children have given up and quit? What was it about my niece that got her back on the ice? Resiliency. What a powerful lesson she learned that day. And to be honest, I learned an important lesson, too – let our students fall and pick THEMSELVES back up. Such a proud aunt am I!

4. Prank Wars! Oh, it’s ON! So I have this student – a rare student you are blessed with only one in a while – who is quite the hilarious jokester. He has been pulling pranks on other students for a while, and I gotta admit – they’re pretty funny (and also harmless). I love students like this, because they keep class interesting (in a good-natured way) and keep me on my toes.  Well, now it is my turn – I am the victim! On Tuesday, I was sitting at my desk grading papers during study hall, and the room was completely silent as my little cherubs were busy at work. Suddenly, I look up and see a fork dancing on the edge of my desk. How did he get there? Well my jokester had army crawled across the room and was lying on the floor in front my desk, puppeteering the goofy creation. Oh how I laughed! Then, the next day, the student hid a ‘dollar’ where he thought I wound find it and pick it up. A very tempting prank, indeed. The ‘dollar,’ however, is only 49% of a dollar – this student knows that the remaining 51% is actually still redeemable for value, while the 49% is essentially trash. So there the dollar sits, teasing all passersby who glance at my pencil sharpener. What a stinker this kid is! Well I need to get him back, and boy am I racking my brain to drum up a few ideas. Let me know in the comments below if you can think of anything!

5. 100 Followers – Wahoo, I can’t believe it! I reached 100 wonderful, awesome, amazing followers on Teachers Pay Teachers! It was an exciting milestone to reach, and I am proud of my little shop, and so very grateful for all of my wonderful followers and customers.

So… how was your week? Are you all set for the holiday break?