A Perfect Classroom...

If you're like me, you long for that picture perfect classroom.  You know, the ones in the books?  The ones that are perfectly color coordinated.  All pencils have a pin point tip.  Books neatly organized in the library. Bright, clean carpet.  All papers organized and easy to find.  Psssshhhht.. we all know those pictures were taken the day BEFORE the kids enter the classroom.  Our days are crazy, unpredictable, and full of organized chaos.  So, while I'm on intersession (I teach at a year round school), I decided to beautify my room.  I took all of my Reader's Workshop hand written, mess of charts and posters and typed them up, printed them on colored paper, and replaced those messy ones.  So I decided to share with y'all in case you long for that picture perfect room like me.

This freebie includes:

IPICK Good Fit Books - In my county, we use the Readers and Writers workshop approach to literacy.  I love it because the kids are much more willing and excited to read.  We use PICK to help them get a general idea of if a book will be a good fit for them.

 

Retelling a Story

Our first quarter together, one thing we focused on is students ability to retell a story using Who, When, Where, What, Why, and How.  Students used this poster to remember what each question entails.

3 ways to read  a book!

And... 

Ways to determine whether a book is easy, too hard, or just right

In my room, we use a Stoplight.  

Red means "STOP! This book is too hard for you.  You are not quite ready to read this book yet, but if you keep reading just-right books, you'll be able to read this one in no time!"

Yellow means "Slow down!  These books are too easy for you.  If you ready too many of these, you won't become a better reader because you are not using your strategies. Read some, but not too many!"

Green means "Go Go Go!! These books are just right for you.  Keep reading these and thinking about your reading to become a better reader!"

Click Here to download all of these freebies. (I'm still working on learning how to link images etc, so bare with me).  And as always, suggestions are welcome and appreciated :)

Until Next Time

Ashley

New Adventures

"That's the whole point of an adventure. You do what you want. What you decide to do is like a mystery. It cant be planned."

Education is exactly that; an adventure.  Nobody enters the field of education without that passion for adventure.   I mean , lets face it.. How many times do your days go as planned?  Our kids are always perfect little angels, right?  We never have to answer the question "Is it lunchtime?" during a lesson.   And kids never get those invisible cuts that need a band-aid just to make it feel better.  Our lessons go exactly as planned, every single day.   At least, that's what those who didn't get the calling think...  Teacher's embark on a new adventure everyday; from the moment that alarm rings in the morning, until the time we close our eyes at night.  We might have a plan, you know those lesson plans, the ones that you spent all weekend perfecting?  Well, they look really great on that paper in your binder, but we all know it rarely ever works out like that. Did you even look at them this week? This is the joy and adventure in teaching.

With that said, I've decided to embark on a new adventure.  I'm venturing into the world of blogging.  I'm not sure where this adventure will take me, but that's the beauty of it.  As a first year teacher, I think I probably have much more adventure than one person can take in a day, but as a teacher, I love adventure.  After all, that's why we became teachers right?  So I hope you'll become a follower and can share in my adventures, and myself in yours.

 Until next time

Oh, and here's a link to my TPT store.  It's just beginning to bloom so bare with me...

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mr-Z-In-Nc

One last thing... If you are a intermediate teacher, you might like to follow my fiancee's blog.. (We share the same TPT store, but he has a blog of his own- and it's pretty awesome, so don't miss out on it!  Really great ideas- linking with CCSS!!)

http://teacherhoodadventures.blogspot.com/