A Quick Update!

I feel so bad for my long neglected blog. Hard to believe that it has been two weeks since I last posted! These first few weeks of school have been completely crazy. Crazier than normal for me because I've been working my usual long teaching days, and then coming home and working for another 4 hours or so on finishing up construction and cleaning so that we will have the house ready for our home study. The home study is on October 3rd! It seems like there is so much to do in so little time! 

We've been up to a whole lot at school too!

We started the year off again with a variation on the Me Bag. I kind of hate the Me Bag... Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE learning about my kiddos. What I don't love is the time it takes for 20+ kids to share their artifacts one at a time. So when I learned about the Me Museum idea a few years ago I was sold. The kids set up their artifacts on their desks with note cards explaining them. You set a timer and the kids rotate around looking at the exhibits. Love it! In 20 minutes everyone has happily shared their things, and we can move on with our lives!

We've started strong with our Math Workshop this year. I've been really excited about our latest Project Based Learning project in math, and I think the kids are too. I'll share more once we've made some more progress. We've been playing lots of math games too of course! The kids have loved all of the card games that I found in Jivey's Math Aces product. I laminated the instructions, and put out a bin full of decks of cards, and it has kept my game center going for a couple weeks! I teach the gifted/fast paced math group...and it can be really hard to keep my math games relevant because they learn things so quickly. 

In science we've been doing a ton of hands-on experiments with our first unit of study...Healthy Habits! I had the kids test whether different foods were healthy choices by having them rub the food onto a paper bag. If the food contained fat, then it made the brown paper translucent. my favorite thing was when a kid said, "Yuck! I'm never eating mayo again, it's pure fat!" 

Of course, I did find myself stuffing the rest of my donut down the other morning when I realized I hadn't finished eating it and the kids were about to come in. I already feel like the world's biggest hypocrite after skipping lunch, then sitting there drinking my third cup of coffee while talking to them about healthy eating and healthy vs. non-healthy drugs. Haha.

Now that we're into the year about a month I think it's safe to say that we're off to a good start. It's great to have my workshops launched, and the routine in place. I have a feeling this year is going to fly by!

A forever freebie to celebrate a 3 day weekend!

I made this poster to hang in my classroom for when I introduced the concept of stamina to my kids. We talk about having stamina for both read to self, and for writing during writer's workshop, so I wanted a constant visual reminder for the kids. I've put it up in my TpT store as a freebie. I hope some of you can use it in your classrooms! The graph below it is also a freebie that you can grab from the freebies tab right here on my blog! 

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Busy First Week Back!

You know it's been a busy week when you start a Five for Friday post on one Friday and end up actually posting it the following Friday...

1.

Last week was full of meetings and room prep...and meetings. Is everyone else's pre-planning like that? A lot of the meetings were worthwhile this year though, and for the first time in a while I actually didn't have to worry about changing rooms or redecorating at all. It was nice to walk in and only have to put my chairs down and do a few other prep things before getting right to the planning. 

2.

The planning this year is bound to be one of my biggest challenges. I'm looping with a little more than half of my class, so most of the things I did last year in class need to be done a little differently this year so that I can keep it fresh. That means finding all new read-alouds, and doing some different community building activities than before. 

So, I came up with a few new activities that I thought went really well! I went ahead and added them to my store. Check 'em out!

These Back-to-School Classroom Procedures Task Cards were perfect for reviewing my classroom procedures of course, but also handy in teaching my kids how we use task cards! I know we'll be using them all year long, so it's great for the kids to get practice with this routine now.

We also played this fun get to know you activity I came up with. My kids played "The School Supply Headband Game" with these school supply cards I made. Kids picked a card, and held it to their forehead. They broke into partners, and they gave each other clues about their picture until they could guess what was on their card. To add a little challenge, I had a rule that each clue could only be one word. When kids guessed their card, they got a new card and switched partners. The kids loved it!

I'm actually making permanent headbands in case we play with other cards
later in the year! The kids loved it and asked to play again later.

3.

I didn't think up all new things and make up all of my own materials, of course! There were still some tried and true activities that I'd learned about on blogs that I hadn't had a chance to try last year. I saw the activity "Saving Fred" on Ideas by Jivey last year and though I'd give it a try. It turned out great! 

In the end, 4 out of 5 of my groups were able to save Fred in the 15 minute time limit I gave them! The kids had a blast, built up some teamwork skills, and everyone enjoyed a gummy worm in the end! 

4.

I was also able to use an activity I first learned about and tried a couple years ago that I thought went really well. I started by talking with my kids about how the things we say and do can have lasting effects. Then we read the book Mr. Peabody's Apples (by...Madonna). Afterwards I gave each kid a tissue paper heart and had them crumple it up. I told them that the wrinkles in the paper were like hurtful words being said. I asked them to apologize by smoothing out the heart. They quickly realized that it was impossible to completely smooth out the paper, kind of like how it can be really difficult to completely erase the hurt we cause other people's hearts when we say or do hurtful things. I think it made a big impact on them, and I'm hoping they'll remember this activity all year long.

5.

I started launching my reader's workshop early in the week, and read The Name Jar the first couple days of reading. The kids really enjoyed this book. And it was perfect because I really think that my student who moved here from Korea just days before school started really believed that I picked it out just for her! If you haven't read this one yet, check it out! And be sure to grab up this book packet from the Collaboration Cuties to go along with it.

I started The Year of Billy Miller on Thursday. This is a pretty good book to start off the year for a few reasons. Billy is starting a school year for one. It has a great message. And it doesn't hurt that it is kind of short. So we'll be ready to start a new book right around the time we're done launching our reader's workshop and in the swing of things. 

All in all we're off to a great start! I'm really excited about the possibilities for this year! It's great to have one of the smallest classes I've had in years (just 20 kids!), and I'm excited to be teaching just 4th grade this year because it means that for the next two years I'll be doing a 3rd then 4th loop. That means I'll be able to pull all of the best parts of the past two years and tweak them rather than reinventing the wheel completely!

How has your first week gone? Check in with Doodle Bugs Teaching to see some more Five for Friday posts!

Summer's End and What Did We Miss Linky

Have you heard the good news? TpT is having a second chance sale on the 20th! This is great because when the last sale hit I wasn't really ready to be thinking about back to school yet! But now the month has dwindled away and it's time for me to get ready for school again! I start inservice tomorrow, and the kids return the following week.

I have been CRAZY busy doing paperwork and making preparations for our adoption. It's amazing how many forms there are, and other steps that have to be taken just to get to the point where we're eligible to be matched! I've also been trying to wrap up the construction on our house...which means that I have not had the usual time to go up to the school and get ahead of the game by setting up my room before school starts. I have a feeling this first week will be full of long nights!

So check out my bought, wishlisted, and must have for the sale!

Diane from Fifth in the Middle has put together this great set of ELA centers to help out during Reader's Workshop throughout the year. The activities included cover skills like alphabetizing practice, determining synonyms and antonyms, parts of speech, and vocabulary. Each of the individual products included are perfect to help you plan out one of your centers for at least a week, and with 6 products currently included, that's a lot of help! The best part? Buy it now on the cheap and when Diane adds another product to it and raises the price...you'll be able to re-download it for free and get the new pack!

Coming up with meaningful morning work can be such a struggle. But it doesn't have to be! Why struggle when someone else has done all the work for you?! This pack from Pinkadots Elementary covers a ton of those English Language Arts grammar and usage type skills that sometimes kids just need to practice a bunch to get a firm grip on them. You know, stuff like "Its and It's" and comma usage. I really like how the Friday page is an assessment for the week! I think it's crazy not to grab this up while the sale is going on...a year's worth of leveled ELA morning work at what comes out to under 70 cents a week? Yes, please! My time saved is worth way more than that!

In addition to the rest of my store, I decided to go ahead and put all of my bundles on sale 20% as well! I'm really starting to feel the crunch from all the adoption fees... so maybe I can help you, and you can help me! This would be a great time to grab up my Back to School Bundle! It has six of my most popular back to school products included. During the sale it will be just $9! That's the cheapest these products will ever be! That's kind of like buy 2 get 4 free!

This would also be a great time to grab up two of my most popular Monster Math Battle Tournaments bundled together! The multiplication and division tournaments can be mixed together to have one big tournament! During the sale you could grab the bundle for $5.76! That's almost buy one get one free!

My whole store will be on sale for 20% off, and don't forget to put in your promo code to get your extra savings! I've got a lot of other great products that you could grab for cheap! People seem to love my novel units and my math games, and this is a great time to save on those. So, please check out my store!

PA Blog Hop - Tips and Tools for Back to School!

It's hard to believe that lots of my buddies have already gone back to school! I still have a couple of weeks until the kids return, but I'll be heading in this week (unpaid of course!) to set up my classroom. Some of my fellow PA bloggers and I have made this blog hop just in time for our back to school...hopefully it will benefit all of you too!

We're each sharing a tip and a tool for you to use as the new year begins!

Collaborate with Google Presentation!

It was really hard to pick just one thing to talk about here! I've had all of the back to school stuff swimming in my head for a couple weeks now...and honing in on one seemed impossible!

But in the end I figured I'd share about something I do that I think really helps me work better with my colleagues. It's all about Google Docs!  

I used to e-mail a copy of my lesson plans to a couple of my colleagues and all of the special educators, specialists, and paras that I work with. It just makes it easier this way. I don't have to worry about a para not knowing what is going on...and I don't have to worry about remembering to tell the special ed teacher that we've got a special project on a certain day.

One day this past year I was planning with my intern and we wondered if it'd be easier to do it as a google doc. Since then I've created my same weekly schedule in Google Presentation, and then shared all of my peeps on that file. 

Now each week I make a copy of my template slide, (pictured here on the left) then adjust it for any changes in the schedule for the week, then I fill it in with my plans (the basic version). I usually print the slide for myself and my intern as well to clip to a clipboard on my desk. 

Here's a plan in progress!

It's really handy to change the colors of the cells to represent different things. Like one color means "my intern is leading this lesson" and another means "Special Event/Field Trip." I also add notes about meetings I have before and after school. I usually have a few weeks in advance at various stages of being mapped out. And when things don't go as planned? It sure is easy to cut and paste the stuff inside one of the cells and move it down the line.

Why Google Presentation and not Docs? Well, in Presentation each week can be on it's own slide! AND you can merge cells in a table in Presentation, but not Docs! And did you know that you can change the size of the slide to be the same size as a piece of paper? You can! It's under "File" and then "Page Setup"

I've had a LOT of positive feedback from the paras and teachers that I share my plans with. I know a lot of people might be nervous about the idea of sharing your plans...but I think we should be proud of our plans, there's nothing to hide anyway, and it makes communication so easy! Think about trying it out!

EEKK Poster for Read to Someone

This is a handy poster for when you introduce the concept of "Read to Someone" to your kids. You take a picture of some of your kids (I would pick the ones that are LEAST likely to be well behaved during Read to Someone, so you can remind them later that they are the models for the class!) The rhyme on the poster is a great way for kids to remember how they should be sitting. This poster matches a lot of the other decor and Daily 5/CAFE items in my TpT store (most of which are free)!

If you're new around here, thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope that you enjoy the freebie I shared today. Be sure to stop by my Freebies tab at the top of my blog to check out about 20 more cool freebies! Like what you see? Become a follower!

 Don't stop reading here!  

We have more tips and tools for you.  

Next up is my bud Wendy over at Read with Me ABC!

Have fun hopping!

Graphics and fonts used in this post were courtesy of I'm Lovin' Lit, Melonheadz, and KG Fonts.  Check them out!

Back to School Goals - Planning for 2014-15

Howdy all! As promised, I'm linking up again with I {heart} Recess for the Back to School Goals linky! Last time I reflected on last year's goals. This time I'm looking ahead!

My goals for the 2014-15 school year:

Killer B is my lovely wife, btw!

Personal: I'm definitely guilty of being one of those 24/7/365 teacher types. Killer B and I have no kids of our own, so I end up putting a lot of myself into my school kids. Oftentimes too much. Not to get all sappy but, I really need to learn how to shut down teacher-mode and take more time for myself. It's tough because I'm filling up that hole in my life (all those hours most people my age are spending with their kids) with teachery things. Still waiting to figure out what Killer B and I are going to do about that... But on a lighter note... I also want to be sure that I keep my blog up to date and relevant with handy tips and useful activities!

Organization: My desk is sometimes a wreck, and sometimes it's super clean and organized! The problem? When it is super clean it is usually because I've stacked up all the random stuff and papers and stuck them in a drawer! Then at the end of the year I have this drawer full of papers that need to be filed... I really just need to clean off my desk and file the stuff right away. I need to turn my hideaway drawer into something useful!

Planning: Since I teach a 3rd/4th grade looping multi-age, half of my kiddos will be coming back to me next year. So the unique challenge I face is that my new 4th graders have already seen all my tricks when they were my 3rd graders. This means I need all new read-alouds, all new word work activities, all new writing mini-lessons, all new math projects and games, all new mentor sentences, all new science and SS units, and so on. Keeping it fresh means planning this year almost as if it were my first year teaching... and I can't use some of my tried and true favorites! Aaagh!

I was even in their promotional video!

Professional: Penn State has an amazing PDS program. The interns (student teachers) we get from PSU spend the entire year with us, from before the first planning day all the way til the last day of school. They work the same hours I work. They end up getting an amazing pre-service teaching experience that prepares them for teaching better than any other system I've seen. I've been mentoring interns and working with the program for 4 years, and this will be my 5th! I am trying to become more involved with the program, and would love to be a professional development associate for them in the future.  

One way I try to motivate them is by using
read beads and brag tags!

Students: I feel like I do a good job of challenging my kiddos, but I want them to have more intrinsic motivation to challenge themselves. I want them to try and read challenging books, and write more interesting stories for the sake of the challenge and not just because they are supposed to do it!

Motto: The good news is that after I survive this year, the following year should be much easier because I'll be able to go back to "Year 1" and use some of the materials I've made and procured instead of having to reinvent the wheel AGAIN for every single subject, every single day...

Wish me luck this year! What are your goals for the year?

Back to School Goals - Reflection

I'm linking up with my BBB I {heart} Recess for her Back to School Goals linky! I love the idea of reflecting on last year's goals, so I'm going to start with that! I'll be back in a couple days with my new goals for this year!

Here were my goals for the 2013-14 school year:

Personal: I have to admit, Killer B and I started off really strong with this one...then it petered out. As the school year went by we'd come home tired and just feel like vegging out sometimes, or I'd have too much schoolwork to do. Before you knew it, it was a Tuesday and we really just wanted to relax in front of the TV...and then BAM...once you break a rule once it's easy to break it again.

Organization: I think I set up a pretty nice classroom this year! I was moving classrooms and took it as an opportunity to totally change my colors, theme, all the posters, etc. I think it turned out really well. I'll make a few changes this year, but not too many!

Planning: Since I was also totally new to the 3rd/4th multi-age I kind of had no choice BUT to plan like a pirate! I put a lot of effort into making several Math project-based learning simulations, and I really worked hard at making my Writer's Workshop interesting. 

I made this bookmark for myself to use while planning. Grab one up for yourself for free!

Professional: I've gone totally digital with my lesson planning now, and I think it has been great. I made a block planning sheet in Google Presentations that I can duplicate each week and then type into to plan. The bonus? I can SHARE my plans easily with my intern, and all of the special educators and paras I work with. No more, "I didn't know you were doing such and such at this time!" I've talked to other colleagues about this and they can't believe that I share my plans like that...I say, "Why not?!" I'm proud of my plans, I've got nothing to hide...I plan awesome stuff.

Just a fun throwback picture. We took these fun
photo booth pics at the beginning of the year. You
can get the props in my TpT store for $1.50!

Students: I worked really hard for this one too. I had a particular kiddo this year that usually hated school, and I feel like I made him like school. I think I succeeded at this one!

Motto: This past year was great! The move to 3/4 was definitely a good one for me! I am still loving what I do!

See you soon for my new goals!

Trying to get ahead...check out last week!

This part of my post needed some color, so here's my glyph
from the beginning of the year! I hung them in front of the
room's windows (from my washi tape clothespins) and I
think they look great! Follow me on instagram to see more
pics like this one!

So, this school year is still off to a great start! I am so excited to be teaching 3rd and 4th grade, and I have a great bunch of kids that are making the days go by even faster than they usually do. That being said, changing grade levels is a LOT of work. And changing from one grade to TWO seems like twice the work! 

So far this school year I think I've worked at least a 10 hour day every single day. Sometimes it's more like a 14 hour day (like on Back to School Night!), and I've been working weekends too... I'm really looking forward to getting into our classroom routine and having some time to get ahead of the game. 

I FINALLY started to feel that way tonight when I looked at my plans and realized that almost the entire week is prepped, and that I've started putting some things in place that are prepped for the year that up til now I've been prepping week to week. My reward for being ahead is that I'm letting myself sit down and finally write a new blog post!

I figured I'd share some of my recent classroom activities!

One fun and smart activity this year was one of our first get to know you activities of the year. I know every experienced teacher has done the "Me Bag" at some point in their careers. Well, this year I did a "Me Museum" instead! I really loved how it went. 

The students brought in three items with information notecards pre-written for each item, and set them up on their desks. Then the students had time to walk around and look at the items and read the cards. So much less time consuming than finding time for each child to present their items one at a time. I actually think the kids really liked this method better too, and we had some great items brought in!

As usual, I've used a ton of mentor texts lately! 

Recently I used these two great books to model the CAFE strategy "Voracious Reading." 

Knuffle Bunny and KB Too were great examples of writing a whole story about one small event. While not truly small moment stories like some of the others we've read and written, these books are fun and do show how you can write a story about just one little thing.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers was our read-aloud for the week of 9/11. Of course we used it to do our Mentor Sentence activities this week as well!

This past week I focused on the CAFE strategy, "Ask questions throughout the reading process." The Stranger is a perfect fit for this strategy, and with it beginning to change from summer to fall here in central PA it made a great fit. The kids really loved it, and I loved the fact that even the kids who had the story got a lot out of it because they were applying the ask questions strategy! A Bad Case of Stripes is a favorite as well, and was great for asking questions before, during, and after reading!

I went simple with my VOICES strategy this week! I wanted to introduce the "Uses proper end punctuation" strategy so that I could refer to it throughout the year, and we were editing our first round of "small moments" stories a la Lucy Calkins...so these two books were a good fit for our mini-lessons.

I wanted to link up with the Collaboration Cuties today, but I just didn't use a good Science mentor text this week. We're studying Biomes and Ecosystems right in Science and I just don't know many great books for that! Any suggestions?!

I also got my Math Workshop and Reading Response Journals up and running full swing this past week! Wish me luck, this week I introduce Words Their Way as the main component of our Daily 5 Word Work! Then I'll intro Listen to Reading on the computers and we'll have the D5 up and running finally! I can see routine just around the corner!