April Currently

It's that time of the month!  Time to link up with Farley over @ Oh' Boy 4th Grade!  So without further ado..

 



I don't even know why I'm up right now.  I'm still on break and should be sleeping in!  I'm watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  This show is so heartwarming.  I helped out during one of these builds in my home town, it was a lot of fun!  Got to hang out with Paige and watch her do her stuff!

Anyway, I am loving have 1 more week of break.  I'm just not ready to go back yet.  Plus I'm being sparred the 2nd grade versions of April Fools tricks!  Little do they know, I will get them when we get back, April 1st or not!!

I really need to get planning so I don't have much to worry about.  Fourth quarter always brings lots of craziness.  We have a super fun Non-fiction reading & writing unit that goes along with our Life Cycles unit.  My kiddos are going to be doing a big research project about any animal of choice & creating a powerpoint, so I've got a lot of putting together to do for this project. It's going to be so much fun!!

Need to clean.. nuff said :)

I've always been a believer in "Positive thoughts bring Positive outcomes!"  I even taught myself how to avoid getting sick *FLU sick*  I know it sounds kind of ridiculous, but I am totally not even joking.  I haven't been sick since 6th grade!  Boom!

OH, by the way.  Have you heard of this new site, Educents?? It's launching tomorrow and if you head on over today, you can take advantage of a $10 coupon for your first purchase.  Click here to sign up!  They're going to be offering what they say to be some pretty sweet deals on stuff for all of us lovely educators!

If you haven't already, head on over to Farley's blog to link up!

Writing Workshop: Writer's Notebooks

Can I just start by saying I L.O.V.E. workshop.  Workshop everything.  Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies.  Everything in my classroom is workshop! Why, you ask?  It allows me to give a quick lesson for introduction (how long can second graders sit and pay attention anyway?), provide intervention for those kiddos who need a little extra time, and enrichment for the little ones who already get it!  Then we get to come back together at the end to do a quick share/review.  If you don't use workshop, I highly suggest it.  With that being said, I'm here today to tell you a little bit about my Writer's Notebooks. 

 

I'm so excited for this weekly linky about different components of Writing Workshop, hosted by Growing Firsties so I can read about everyone else's fabulous ideas! (Click on the picture above to join in or read other posts about Writer's Notebooks)

 

So, first things first.  I always send home a "Summer Assignment" with my school supply list.  The assignment is easy; think of things that are important to you, and find pictures to represent them.  Look through magazines, your families pictures, on the internet, or anywhere.  The pictures should come to school in a ziploc bag labelled with the kiddos name on the first day!  We use these pictures/cut outs to personalize notebooks and make it represent ourselves!  My kiddos just love this - and it makes it really easy to find their own notebook.

 

 

How do we use them?

 

-Writing Homework!  Starting about halfway through the 1st quarter, after we've already had lots of practice with our writer's notebooks, students have nightly writing homework.  Usually, it's just 10 minutes of "free write" time.  They can write songs, poems, fiction, non fiction, shopping lists, anything they set their little hearts on.  On occasion, students might have to finish a writing assignment they didn't finish at school, or I might give them a writing assignment for the night.  For those little ones who have difficulty generating ideas, I will typically send home a list of writing prompts and they can choose one of those if they are stuck.  This is the first year we've done writing homework in 2nd grade and the kids have shown tremendous growth in their writing stamina, their ability to generate ideas on their own, creativity, and just plain ole' willingness to write!  Students put their notebooks on their desk each morning open to the last nights writing for me to check.

 

-Reflections!  Maybe we went on a field trip or a school assembly.  Maybe we had a visitor come & share some expert knowledge.  First thing we do when we get back into the classroom is pull out our notebooks & reflect.  What did we learn?  What did we like?  What didn't we like?  What else are we wondering?  Fabulous for review writing!

 

-Idea Lists!  The first few pages of our writing notebooks are reserved for ideas.  Whenever we get an idea for something to write about, we just add it to our running list of topic ideas.  We have lists arranged by writing genre : Personal Narrative, Review, All About, How to, etc.  They also have a list that may not fit into any of the writing genres we studied.

 

Where do you keep them?

 

Well- I recently recieved seat sacks from a lovely grandmother of one of my students, so after we get back from break, they'll stay in their seak sacks! Can I get a Hallelujah?!? 

 

 

 

Before, we had a dedicated spot for EVERYTHING in our room.  Since I have tables, they had no desk storage space, so we kept our Writing notebooks at the Writing Center, Reading Journals in our BOBs, Math Journals at the Math Center, etc.  Basically, a huge pain because of the time you have to spend with kids getting & putting away materials.  Not anymore!!

 

Writer's Notebook Rules:

 

• Don't write anything you wouldn't want someone else to read.  Be respectful & kind of other people and things.
• Put in your best effort.
• Start each new piece on a new page with the date on top!
• Write as neatly as you can, I would hate to not be able to read a wonderful piece of work you spent time writing because you wrote sloppy!

WOW! That was a lot of writing. Thanks for sticking with me.  Hope maybe you got some ideas for using a Writer's Notebook with your kiddos.  I think that's about it.  I'm probably forgetting something..as always :).  I would LOVE to hear how other people use their Writer's Notebooks in their classroom. Head on over to Growing Firsties to link up!

 

 

 



 

Let's get Acquainted... My Favorite Things

Last night while I was half sleeping, a post idea ran through my mind.  Something that we've been doing that I thought y'all might like to hear.  But wouldn't you know it, I didn't actually get up to write it down, so now I can't remember what it was!! Musta been a lie (or at least thats what my mom always said about the things I wanted to tell her that I all of a sudden, forgot,when I finally had the chance to tell her).  Hopefully it will come back to me.  Since I can't remember... 

 

Another week, another "getting to know you" linky! Latoya over at Flying into First Grade had a fabulous idea! Hop on over to be blog to join in on the fun! This week is your favorite things; a person, place, thing, and animal! So here goes..

My favorite people:

My Parents!! (Of Course)  My mom and dad are absolutely AMAZING people. I cannot even imagine where I would be if I didn't have them in my life.  The taught me to be responsible, respectful, independent, caring, and everything else that wonderful parents do for there kids.  They are the strongest people I know.  The both work ridiculously hard, my dad with 3 jobs.  He recently got hit by a car on the job and he refused to let that even stop him!  I think he spend a total of about 2 days on the couch and then got to exercising his leg so he could get back to work!  And my mom is one of the kindest, strongest people anyone would ever have the pleasure of knowing.  She thinks of herself last and always strives to make sure everyone is happy.  They taught me to be the woman I am today.  I could never thank them enough for everything they have ever done for me!

Favorite place:

The beach- I love the feel of sand beneath me feet and the waves crashing on the beach.  It is where I feel most at ease.   (Sound like any Kenny Chesney song you know?)

Favorite thing:

This is a tough one.  I don't think I have a favorite thing.  Maybe my blanket that I got years ago for Christmas.  When I'm at home, I'm always wrapped in it.  I'm always freezing.  But my blanket keeps me nice and warm.  I fear the few years down the road when I will have to replace it, it's already got some holes.. I'm not sure I'll found one as comfy and warm!  Pathetic, I know.

Favorite Animal/Pet(s):

I can't have just 1.  I have 2 favorite pets & 1 favorite wild animal!  My cat, Cali, was my first baby. 

And of course, my puppy, Kole.  He always knows how to make my day better.  He even lets me dress him up for the Oscars...

 

 

That's the "What the heck did you do me to, Mom?!" face

 

And for my favorite wild animal, Giraffes!

 

 

I'm not sure what it is about them, or why they are my favorite.  They just are! :)

 

Well there's my favorite things!  Don't forgot to hope on over to Latoya's blog & join in on the linky fun!

 

Tech it to the Max

My fiancee & new blogger, Justin, is going to have a new weekly feature called "Tech it to the Max" This weekly feature will give ideas for technology integration throughout your scool day.  Our district has already gone 1:1 with grades 6-12, and next year they roll out with the grades 4-5 1:1 initiative.  This week, he's looking for ideas.  What technology do you use in your classroom?  Head on over to his blog , Classroom Game Plan, to read a little more about Tech it to the Max! 

My Lie & New Unit!

This week I linked up with Latoya for her Lets Get Acquainted Linky.  I can't wait to see what next weeks has in store for us, but this week was 2 truths and a lie.  Nobody guessed my lie!

Yes- I did change my major 3 times.  I'm not one of those "Always knew I was gonna be a teacher" people, but I am definitely one of those "meant to be a teacher" people!

Yes- My coach told me she knew the hit was bad when she saw me cry.  I can't even count the number of times I got hit playing field hockey, ones that weren't so bad, and ones that were really bad and I NEVER cried... but this one particular hit just got me in the right place.  I think I was having a bad day to top it off- so, yeah, coach knew!

No- I am not a crazy crafter.  I WISH I was a crazy crafter but can never seem to manage the time or getting the materials to do all the cute things I find.  One day!

Onto my newest unit...

My district uses Words Their Way for our word study program.  I can't really quite figure out how to get it to work the way I want it to.  Basically, it's just driving me crazy!  When I was thinking about my inability struggle to teach using Words their Way (Hey we all have an "area" right?) , and my struggling spellers, I knew I could not let them fall even farther behind.  I talked to a few people and one handed me a list of the most common Rhyme patterns and suggested using "Keywords" to help students recognize, read, and spell many other words.  I thought the idea was brilliant but didn't want to lose sight of the "sort" theory so I made my own program for them.  Therefore, comes the creation of Word Work for your Struggling Spellers!

The basic idea is to study short and long vowel sounds made by working with the Rhymes.  I've split it up into studying short, then studying long- but you could do it anyway that best fit you

In this unit, you will find:

• 19 weeks worth of word study
• An Introduction Letter to families explaining the program & homework

• Homework Activities
• A general teacher plan
• Student weekly plan poster
• Sorts for each week (2 keywords per week)

• Spelling Dictionary using rhyme patterns

This year, I chose to use this spelling dictionary organized by Short/Long vowel sounds for each vowel and alphabetically.  Next year, I think I'll try using my "regular" Spelling dictionary that my other kiddos use so that they can put their high frequency words in there, and can practice using a dictionary. All in All, our studies are going well and my kiddos are definitely growing.  I don't just focus on the Rhyme pattern, but the vowel sound in relation to magic e, dipthongs, etc.  I also incorporate blends into our discussions.  

Well- if you'd like this unit, you can pick it up from my TPT store.. here

I'm off to IKEA- One of the coolest places known to man to do furniture shopping! Yippee!

P.S. Can somebody help me?  I want custom Pinterest & TPT Buttons that match my blog instead of those ugly generic plain ones.  But I cannot figure out how to do it! Anybody know of any tutorials?  I can't even figure out how to make a circle from part of a box.  Rawr.

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for my first...

 

 

What?! Yep, my first Friday Five.  And guess what? NONE of it has anything to do with school.  Wanna know why?  Spring Break! Yahoo.  Our last day was Tuesday (Monday student day, Tuesday teacher workday) and I don't have to go back until the 2nd week in April.  Can I get a halleljuah?? Here's what I've been up to this week..

 

 

 

I continued working on my "Sustainable town" unit & it is almost complete!  It's just getting looked over by a few lovely people, getting a few add ons and it will be ready to go!

 

 

I finished this unit that I use with my struggling spellers.  This one is NOW available in my TPT store! I'm feeling pretty accomplished so far in my 3 full days off.

 

 

I was brave enough to bring my pup to school yesterday so I could get some work done in my room.  Catching up on my Clutter Free Classroom Projects & what not.  I SO thought that those shots he got at the vet before we went would tired him out, well, I was SO wrong.

 

 

 

I've been sweating all week, waiting to hear on our *hopeful* big purchase!  Tranferred all utilities into my name/Justins name & supposed to close on the 28th.  Ahhh, fingers crossed!  Thinking positive!

 

 

And last, I read an amazing story about a little miracle baby over at Beg, Borrow Steal- Click on the button to take you to her site and read all about Baby Easton.  Donations are being accepted to help the family pay their medical bills as well!

 

Well, thats it! That's my week! Come back tomorrow to learn my lie from the linky & learn about my new word work unit! 

Later Y'all!

 

 



2 Truths and A Lie

Latoya over at Flying into First is hosting a weekly linky party that looks like SO much fun, so I decided to join in!  It's a great way to get to know some of your new bloggy buds!

This week is 2 Truths and A Lie.  Tell 3 things about yourself, but one has to be a lie.  Of course, be sure to be creative, otherwise people will be able to guess it right away!  Don't give it away, have your bloggy buds guess in your comments & tell at the end of the week.  Ok, well I'm a little late joining this linky, so I'll probably post again on Saturday and tell you my lie!

Here are my 3:

1.) I changed my major 3 times, from Veterinary Medicine, to Music, to Education.

2.) After getting hit with a ball in the knee during a field hockey game, my coach told me she knew it must've been bad because she had never seen me cry before.

3.) I'm a crazy crafter and am always looking for fun things to make for my house or classroom.

So can you take a stab at my lie?  Leave me a comment below with your guess!  From all the correct guesses, I'll choose 1 person to win a product of their choice from my TPT store.  Don't forget to go link up with Latoya!