Mrs. Lamb is hosting a linky party! How fun! Here are my responses:
I am going to have fun reading what other people have to say. I gotta say...#3 sends shivers up my spine.
assess me! week 1
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Mrs. Lamb is hosting a linky party! How fun! Here are my responses:
I am going to have fun reading what other people have to say. I gotta say...#3 sends shivers up my spine.
visual plans for the first week of school
Saturday, July 25, 2015
I thought I would blog today a little bit about what I plan to do with my firsties the first week of school! The other day I mentioned that I planned out the first week (due to NOT being able to get into my classroom-yikes!). The document I created is a detailed daily plan in a Word document, but today I saw some visual plans posted over at Swimming into Second and I thought it might be fun to put together my own! Here's what I came up with:
It looks so...manageable...in chart format! Haha! You'll notice that the first day is jam packed. That is DELIBERATE. We don't usually have specials the first day of school and I do NOT want to run out of stuff to do. (Going into year 9 and it hasn't happened yet!) Usually I get to just a teeny tiny fraction of what I intend to do the first day and so I move some things around to make room. It usually works out because in week 2 I will suddenly discover I have oodles of TIME because the routines that took approximately a thousand minutes to accomplish in the first week suddenly begin to run like clockwork.
During the first week we tend to not start with "The Curriculum" right away because we have all of that fuuun baseline testing to get out of the way AND kids keep trickling in for hours and days after the bell on the first day! (There was one year when I had a student sitting in second grade all morning before they realized she as actually supposed to be in first-ooops!) But we can't just sit around twiddling our thumbs and playing games all day (although we will have fun). I do like to introduce some comprehension strategies and begin with story elements very early, plus spend oodles of time on rituals and routines. I also start launching the math workshop in week 1. I want them to get used to working in groups pretty quickly and that first week is fun with math tubs of manipulatives to explore.
If you want your own copy of the plans, click on the pictures and they are yours! I made the pictures in the plans clickable if the activity relates to something I've gotten off of the Internet or TpT. One of my files is in there on several days. Feel free to hop on over to TpT and take a peek, it's brand new!
Please leave me a comment if this was helpful for you-I might do a week 2! ;)
It looks so...manageable...in chart format! Haha! You'll notice that the first day is jam packed. That is DELIBERATE. We don't usually have specials the first day of school and I do NOT want to run out of stuff to do. (Going into year 9 and it hasn't happened yet!) Usually I get to just a teeny tiny fraction of what I intend to do the first day and so I move some things around to make room. It usually works out because in week 2 I will suddenly discover I have oodles of TIME because the routines that took approximately a thousand minutes to accomplish in the first week suddenly begin to run like clockwork.
During the first week we tend to not start with "The Curriculum" right away because we have all of that fuuun baseline testing to get out of the way AND kids keep trickling in for hours and days after the bell on the first day! (There was one year when I had a student sitting in second grade all morning before they realized she as actually supposed to be in first-ooops!) But we can't just sit around twiddling our thumbs and playing games all day (although we will have fun). I do like to introduce some comprehension strategies and begin with story elements very early, plus spend oodles of time on rituals and routines. I also start launching the math workshop in week 1. I want them to get used to working in groups pretty quickly and that first week is fun with math tubs of manipulatives to explore.
If you want your own copy of the plans, click on the pictures and they are yours! I made the pictures in the plans clickable if the activity relates to something I've gotten off of the Internet or TpT. One of my files is in there on several days. Feel free to hop on over to TpT and take a peek, it's brand new!
Please leave me a comment if this was helpful for you-I might do a week 2! ;)
back to school planning and why I DON'T stress over copies anymore
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
I'm back from St. Louis. I realized this morning that this is the first time in WEEKS that I did not have somewhere to be at ALL today. Amazing! I WISH I could go up to the school to work on my classroom, but alas...not only is there no air conditioning at the present but this is my classroom's current situation:
It looks baaaddd. NO ceiling. Floors haven't been done. I'm trying not freak out because there's no point. But-we go back to work next Tuesday and there will be kids in this room in a week and a half.
YIKES. (On the plus side...even if I do minimal decorating it can only get better from here!)
So, since there won't be any setting up the classroom anytime soon, I've been working from home on lesson plans. I have the first week planned out (yay!) and I'm really excited to use some new things I've made as well as some of my old favorites. I had the presence of mind to go ahead and order extra toner when I had a little bit of school money to spend back at the end of the school year, so I've gone ahead and started printing my stuff for that first week, too. That way I won't have to hang out in the copy room with the rest of the staff praying that there's not too much ceiling tile dust kinking up the copier or risograph! Here's what I've done so far:
I have a few more things to print but mostly I just need to make some flipbooks now and do some tracing to get a few craftivities ready! Since I have several days before I can get in the building, I should have everything all prepped. This is totally not how I usually operate, but this year I guess I'm doing it backwards.
In case you're curious, I do have an amazing laser printer that I bought last year. Here it is:
It's a Brother wireless laser printer and I love this printer so, so, so much. Anyone else but a teacher would probably think it's a little weird to have such intense feelings for an office electronic but this sweet little printer has changed my life. It can run copies crazy fast and the generic toner is dirt cheap...it runs about $11 on Amazon and one of those cartridges goes for about 3,000 copies. That's a lot of class sets. I've only purchased 3 toner cartridges since I bought it last summer and I've run lots and lots of class sets (and coupons, which is what I originally bought it for!) on this baby. Now, some people may say that it's ridiculous that I am running this stuff at home and not at school where copies are "free." I can see where those people are coming from, but the reality is...there is one copier and one risograph at my school. We're not supposed to use the riso for less than 30 copies, which means I can only use it for grade level stuff. The other copier is pretty decent BUT it is very tempermental. It seems to know when I need something ASAP and that's when it decides to jam up-isn't that always the case?! So the system I came up with last year is to gather as much stuff as I can on Thursday for the following week. I run what I can during my (limited) planning time and in a few minutes after school. Everything that doesn't get run on Thursday gets printed at home (which is actually faster since I don't have to baby-sit my printer the way I do the copier). This year I am truly going to try to work smarter, not harder, and I consider $11 every few months to be more than worth the time saving aspect!
Now, this printer ONLY does black and white copies, so it's not my only printer. I could do a whole separate post about my new color printer that I am equally obsessed with...maybe another day. If you are also searching for a printer and are interested, here is a link to a similar one on Amazon. Right now it's $120 and that's a little more than I paid for mine. I checked a price history site and it looks like it jumps around a good bit, probably to match sales at stores like Staples and Office Depot. So, if you're also in the market for an awesome b&w printer you might want to keep an eye on the sales ads over the next few weeks.
I'm off now to go take a nap and to NOT think about the fact that my poor classroom looks like a construction zone! LOL!
PS: I don't work for Brother and I don't get anything from hyping their awesome printer-although maybe I should because I've gotten several other teachers at work to buy one due to mine's awesomeness! Haha! I just really like this printer and figured other teachers might, too.
It looks baaaddd. NO ceiling. Floors haven't been done. I'm trying not freak out because there's no point. But-we go back to work next Tuesday and there will be kids in this room in a week and a half.
YIKES. (On the plus side...even if I do minimal decorating it can only get better from here!)
So, since there won't be any setting up the classroom anytime soon, I've been working from home on lesson plans. I have the first week planned out (yay!) and I'm really excited to use some new things I've made as well as some of my old favorites. I had the presence of mind to go ahead and order extra toner when I had a little bit of school money to spend back at the end of the school year, so I've gone ahead and started printing my stuff for that first week, too. That way I won't have to hang out in the copy room with the rest of the staff praying that there's not too much ceiling tile dust kinking up the copier or risograph! Here's what I've done so far:
I have a few more things to print but mostly I just need to make some flipbooks now and do some tracing to get a few craftivities ready! Since I have several days before I can get in the building, I should have everything all prepped. This is totally not how I usually operate, but this year I guess I'm doing it backwards.
In case you're curious, I do have an amazing laser printer that I bought last year. Here it is:
It's a Brother wireless laser printer and I love this printer so, so, so much. Anyone else but a teacher would probably think it's a little weird to have such intense feelings for an office electronic but this sweet little printer has changed my life. It can run copies crazy fast and the generic toner is dirt cheap...it runs about $11 on Amazon and one of those cartridges goes for about 3,000 copies. That's a lot of class sets. I've only purchased 3 toner cartridges since I bought it last summer and I've run lots and lots of class sets (and coupons, which is what I originally bought it for!) on this baby. Now, some people may say that it's ridiculous that I am running this stuff at home and not at school where copies are "free." I can see where those people are coming from, but the reality is...there is one copier and one risograph at my school. We're not supposed to use the riso for less than 30 copies, which means I can only use it for grade level stuff. The other copier is pretty decent BUT it is very tempermental. It seems to know when I need something ASAP and that's when it decides to jam up-isn't that always the case?! So the system I came up with last year is to gather as much stuff as I can on Thursday for the following week. I run what I can during my (limited) planning time and in a few minutes after school. Everything that doesn't get run on Thursday gets printed at home (which is actually faster since I don't have to baby-sit my printer the way I do the copier). This year I am truly going to try to work smarter, not harder, and I consider $11 every few months to be more than worth the time saving aspect!
Now, this printer ONLY does black and white copies, so it's not my only printer. I could do a whole separate post about my new color printer that I am equally obsessed with...maybe another day. If you are also searching for a printer and are interested, here is a link to a similar one on Amazon. Right now it's $120 and that's a little more than I paid for mine. I checked a price history site and it looks like it jumps around a good bit, probably to match sales at stores like Staples and Office Depot. So, if you're also in the market for an awesome b&w printer you might want to keep an eye on the sales ads over the next few weeks.
I'm off now to go take a nap and to NOT think about the fact that my poor classroom looks like a construction zone! LOL!
PS: I don't work for Brother and I don't get anything from hyping their awesome printer-although maybe I should because I've gotten several other teachers at work to buy one due to mine's awesomeness! Haha! I just really like this printer and figured other teachers might, too.
ILA 2015 (when all the reading teachers took St. Louis by storm)
Monday, July 20, 2015
FIRST, a very important announcement! f you are here from Bibb's new teacher orientation....WELCOME! Have fun, poke around, and follow me here, on TpT, and on Pinterest (here is a link to my profile). So glad you found me and I hope you are PUMPED for the upcoming school year!
Now on to your regularly scheduled programming...:)
I am going to do a post-and-run today...I am in St. Louis for the last day of the International Literacy Association conference. It's been a whirlwind of a weekend (and yes, I know it's Monday)...but so much fun! Here are some of the highlights:
The first picture is of the gigantic (I mean gigantic) signs that are outside the presentation rooms...that first one on Saturday? Yeah, that was us! (SUCH a thrill to see something I wrote in the program!) Our presentation went well. It was fun to present and to make connections with other teachers and reading experts. I've had MORE fun, though, going to other presentations...there are lots of really smart people here and it's pretty cool to hear what they are working on.
St. Louis is not my favorite city (the nightly news is pretty scary) but it is neat to see The Arch! We ate last night practically underneath it.
And now...the best part. The FREE STUFF. This is the hottest freebie by far-everyone is sporting a new fancy Scholastic tote! I am kind of in love with the red and black (GOOO DAWGS!) and it's a nice size, too. The exhibitor's hall here is gigantic and every major publisher is here! I also got matching Pete the Cat t-shirts for Little Miss and me and a set of FREE books signed by the author. Also, more tote bags than one person could possibly need. If you know me, you know I have a little addiction with tote bags. Love'em, can't have enough...so it was pretty fun getting handed bag after bag after bag. Don't worry, though-I have a plan for them. I'm not keeping ALL of them. That's a post for another day, though. :)
Speaking of Little Miss...we have one more session to go to and then I am ready to get on a plane and head home! I won't get to see her until tomorrow because she is staying with her grandma, but I cannot wait to give her a big hug and a squeeze. I actually have to do work tomorrow-new teacher orientation!-so I'm not sure when I will get to recover from this trip. Maybe not at all, since I go back to work for real next week!
Now on to your regularly scheduled programming...:)
I am going to do a post-and-run today...I am in St. Louis for the last day of the International Literacy Association conference. It's been a whirlwind of a weekend (and yes, I know it's Monday)...but so much fun! Here are some of the highlights:
The first picture is of the gigantic (I mean gigantic) signs that are outside the presentation rooms...that first one on Saturday? Yeah, that was us! (SUCH a thrill to see something I wrote in the program!) Our presentation went well. It was fun to present and to make connections with other teachers and reading experts. I've had MORE fun, though, going to other presentations...there are lots of really smart people here and it's pretty cool to hear what they are working on.
St. Louis is not my favorite city (the nightly news is pretty scary) but it is neat to see The Arch! We ate last night practically underneath it.
And now...the best part. The FREE STUFF. This is the hottest freebie by far-everyone is sporting a new fancy Scholastic tote! I am kind of in love with the red and black (GOOO DAWGS!) and it's a nice size, too. The exhibitor's hall here is gigantic and every major publisher is here! I also got matching Pete the Cat t-shirts for Little Miss and me and a set of FREE books signed by the author. Also, more tote bags than one person could possibly need. If you know me, you know I have a little addiction with tote bags. Love'em, can't have enough...so it was pretty fun getting handed bag after bag after bag. Don't worry, though-I have a plan for them. I'm not keeping ALL of them. That's a post for another day, though. :)
Speaking of Little Miss...we have one more session to go to and then I am ready to get on a plane and head home! I won't get to see her until tomorrow because she is staying with her grandma, but I cannot wait to give her a big hug and a squeeze. I actually have to do work tomorrow-new teacher orientation!-so I'm not sure when I will get to recover from this trip. Maybe not at all, since I go back to work for real next week!
going bananas over GoNoodle...or, "how GoNoodle saved my sanity"
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Do YOU GoNoodle?
If you don't, you SHOULD. It's amazing.
GoNoodle is awesome. If you don't know what it is...basically, it's a site of exercise and brain break videos. It's SUPER fun. Here is a link for you to go check it out: GoNoodle!
My kids last year LOVED it. I mean, LOVED it. We did GoNoodle on days when it was too rainy, humid, or HOT to go ouside for recess. (Yes, "too hot" is a valid excuse here. The heat index can climb into the 90s and even the low 100s-not the best climate for little people to be running around.) I set it up on my laptop cart during lunch so that all we had to do when the kids came back from indoor recess was pick our recess playlist! (You can pick individual videos-but the recess playlists are my favorite. You can pick one that fits the time you have for your indoor recess period and it will play several videos in succession.)
But this summer...GoNoodle has been a lifechanger here at HOME. How, you may ask? Well, Little Miss is very...um...shall we say...active? She is prety good at entertaining herself for the MOST part. But everyday...around 4:00...she hits a whiny patch. I am positive it stems from the fact that she refuses to nap anymore, which is her own fault really, but yet it makes us BOTH miserable. Nothing suits her-she doesn't want to play with any of her toys, she's bored with everything on Netflix or Amazon Instant Video, and forget about laying down for a minute to rest her eyes. That's a big fat "NOPE." Combine that with the fact that my patience is worn down...and that I am usually about to start cooking dinner...well, it was not a fun time of day.
Until I realized I could pull up GoNoodle through the Internet Explorer browser on our XBox. LIFE CHANGER.
She is obsessed with GoNoodle. Obsessed! I am sure part of the magic is that she ONLY gets to do it at this time of day-but man, oh man. She loves it. Her favorite songs are Pop-See-Ko and Hey, Joe. She also likes to see the little monster avatar transform as she earns more credits. It's amazing and allows me to prepare dinner in peace-I call that a win win!
So if you don't GoNoodle at school...you should! And if you have kids or grandkids or work with kids in any capacity outside of school, you should also GoNoodle. It's amazing!
If you don't, you SHOULD. It's amazing.
GoNoodle is awesome. If you don't know what it is...basically, it's a site of exercise and brain break videos. It's SUPER fun. Here is a link for you to go check it out: GoNoodle!
My kids last year LOVED it. I mean, LOVED it. We did GoNoodle on days when it was too rainy, humid, or HOT to go ouside for recess. (Yes, "too hot" is a valid excuse here. The heat index can climb into the 90s and even the low 100s-not the best climate for little people to be running around.) I set it up on my laptop cart during lunch so that all we had to do when the kids came back from indoor recess was pick our recess playlist! (You can pick individual videos-but the recess playlists are my favorite. You can pick one that fits the time you have for your indoor recess period and it will play several videos in succession.)
But this summer...GoNoodle has been a lifechanger here at HOME. How, you may ask? Well, Little Miss is very...um...shall we say...active? She is prety good at entertaining herself for the MOST part. But everyday...around 4:00...she hits a whiny patch. I am positive it stems from the fact that she refuses to nap anymore, which is her own fault really, but yet it makes us BOTH miserable. Nothing suits her-she doesn't want to play with any of her toys, she's bored with everything on Netflix or Amazon Instant Video, and forget about laying down for a minute to rest her eyes. That's a big fat "NOPE." Combine that with the fact that my patience is worn down...and that I am usually about to start cooking dinner...well, it was not a fun time of day.
Until I realized I could pull up GoNoodle through the Internet Explorer browser on our XBox. LIFE CHANGER.
She is obsessed with GoNoodle. Obsessed! I am sure part of the magic is that she ONLY gets to do it at this time of day-but man, oh man. She loves it. Her favorite songs are Pop-See-Ko and Hey, Joe. She also likes to see the little monster avatar transform as she earns more credits. It's amazing and allows me to prepare dinner in peace-I call that a win win!
So if you don't GoNoodle at school...you should! And if you have kids or grandkids or work with kids in any capacity outside of school, you should also GoNoodle. It's amazing!
back to school shopping (or, "why teachers have no money in the summer")
Saturday, July 11, 2015
I feel like summer is flying by. :( I have two weeks left and then it's back to work! It's been a great summer, though. June was a super fun month with lake time, a beach trip, Vacation Bible School, a birthday, and an anniversary! July has been more businesslike...I'm workshopping it up to get an endorsement and next week I am going to St. Louis for the International Literacy Conference (where I'm PRESENTING! Yay!). Then...new teacher orientation and bam! time to set up a classroom. (A special note: I am very stressed about my classroom situation this year. I heard from a good source-okay, the principal-that the school is looking pretty gnarly right about now. There is no ceiling. No air. And dust and dirt EVERYWHERE. Yes, I am stressed about this! We are going back to work very soon and kids will be there soon after that and I NEED TO PUT UP MY CUTE NEW THINGS.)
Oh! Cute new things! So...one of my favorite things to do in the summer (besides sleep, and swim, and read, and work on TpT projects, and catch up on TV) is to shop for my classroom. Most people not in the teaching profession (such as my husband) think this lunacy. They are probably right. However, all of the teachers I know are like this, so at least we're crazy together, right? Haha! Now, this year I have show tremendous restraint. TREMENDOUS. Mostly because my classroom is pretty well equipped. Still, I have acquired a few things. Just a few!
Oh! Cute new things! So...one of my favorite things to do in the summer (besides sleep, and swim, and read, and work on TpT projects, and catch up on TV) is to shop for my classroom. Most people not in the teaching profession (such as my husband) think this lunacy. They are probably right. However, all of the teachers I know are like this, so at least we're crazy together, right? Haha! Now, this year I have show tremendous restraint. TREMENDOUS. Mostly because my classroom is pretty well equipped. Still, I have acquired a few things. Just a few!
First of all, the books. I have a confession to make-these aren't all the books I have purchased this summer. No, not by a long shot. I have a whole TUB of books waiting to go back to school. These are just the books I've acquired RECENTLY. One of our Goodwill stores here has a coffeeshop/bookstore and the children's section is marvelous. Those Dr. Seuss books were .99 apiece. A first grade teacher can never have enough Dr. Seuss books! I never know what I will find when I go in there-but I rarely leave empty-handed!
Next...these baskets. Oh, these baskets. I saw them at Target when we were on vacation and put them in the cart (sometimes I do that when I'm shopping-please tell me I'm not the only one-I say that "it needs to ride around in the cart for a little bit" and then I decide before I check out whether or not I should keep it), then took them out. And then I was in Target today and these were the last four. I had to get them. I am going back to tables this year after having desks last year and I am so excited about it. These will become table caddies for group supplies.
While we're on the topic of containers...here are some new book baskets I got at the Dollar Tree. They are actually dish pans, but let's face it-those neon colors were destined for a classroom. I bought 9 and I will probably go back for more. Some of the pretty baskets I bought last year are broken and I think these will hold up nicely.
These were also acquired in the Dollar Spot at Target. You might be thinking that I spotted them, knew instantly what I was going to use them for, and purchased them with a plan in mind. Nah. I bought enough for the class so I will probably store their Open House treats in them...but I haven't decided yet what I want to do this year! I did glowsticks and Tootsie Pops last year-not sure if I want to go that route this year. I'm still thinking.
Now. Disclaimer about this pocket chart. It was $2.99 at Target...but I have no idea where it came from. It was sitting on an endcap with a bunch of clearanced stuff. I scanned it with my phone and the price was right, but it told me it was "out of stock" at my store. Clearly that wasn't the case. I am going to use it to store important masters and paperwork that I shouldn't have to hunt for. Not sure how I feel about the file folders, but I do love those neon labels!
And that's it! All that I've purchased SO FAR anyway. I've done pretty well compared to years past! I will also say that I have purged some of my old teaching stuff this summer. A local teacher set up a Buy/Sell/Trade board for local teachers on facebook and I've unloaded some things I wasn't going to use anymore. (And I'm already thinking of a few things at school that I could probably part with for some money.) I think this is great-get rid of things I'm not using, then use that cash to fund new purchases!
What about you? Have you scored any great finds this summer?
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