What's Your ONE Thing???

Well, hello there, strangers!

  

I know it has been a long time. I know. But something happens to me when I have free time. I write. I write about my two passions—the Lord (working on my 2nd Bible study) and teaching. 

Why do I have free time?  

Two reasons. 

1. I do not coach a spring sport.  

2. I have a few weeks off from my master’s classes (which I will finish this summer—If you could see me, you’d know I’m doing the happy dance about that!!!!) 
3. 
   

So...my passion for teaching has prompted me to hop back on here and write a little something for the blog.

  

Every year that I have been teaching, I choose one thing that I want to work on over the summer. One thing that I want to improve in my teaching.  

Why? 

I’m the type of person that always wants to improve, to continue to learn and grow, to be the best that I can be. By choosing just one thing, it makes it a manageable goal that doesn’t eat away at my summer vacation and it also makes it easy to focus on implementing in the new school year. I know in the past, I’ve blogged about “too many great ideas syndrome.” You know...when you see so many wonderful things and you try to implement them all and you don’t end up executing any of them well. 

My “one thing” has been writing...enter Writing Workshop which completely transformed my writing instruction and gave my littles the confidence to be authors! 

My “one thing” has been small group instruction...enter Daily 5 which allowed me to structure my literacy block in a way to meet the needs of all learners, engage my students who were not in my group in authentic reading and writing tasks, and prompted me to make time for one-on-one conferencing. 

My “one thing” has been small group math...enter math rotations which involved a whole group mini-lesson followed by small groups with targeted instruction and meaningful activities to review, practice, and extend math. 

My “one thing” has been Whole Brain Teaching...that actually took two summers! First, I added attention getters and teaching strategies. Then, I added the Super Improver wall. 

I could go on...but those are some big things that I researched and studied to implement in my classroom. Self-directed professional development really is the best kind! 

This year in my role as the reading specialist, my “one thing” is to create a stream-lined process for gathering information and diagnostic testing of students who are referred to me, progress monitoring, and communicating that information to teachers and parents. I’ve got a few ideas...I just need to do some research, see how things are done in other schools, and form a plan that works for me. 

What’s your “one thing”? 

Beginning of the Year!!

It is hard to believe that I have already been in school with kids for 13 days now.  Wow-it has gone by fast already.  I thought I'd share a little bit of what we have been working on in class these last 13 days (besides all the routines and rules).

1. Daily 5-I love doing daily 5, so we have already started to build our stamina in Read to Self and have been working on Read to Someone as well.  The kids are starting to get the hang of it!  :-)

2.  The kids were so excited to see the solar eclipse. Our PTO purchased glasses for all the students and teachers so we could go out and look at it.  We did an eclipse art project and enjoyed a treat for the eclipse as well!

3.  In math, we have worked on tally marks and did sidewalk tally marks and used a pool noodle to do human tally marks.  The kids were also excited to practice writing tally marks on their desks.  They had a lot of fun with these activities.  

We also worked on 2D shapes and drew a picture with shapes and labeled the shapes.

4.  We started working on our vowel sounds in reading and have introduced them to some of our connect four games that we have on TPT to practice these skills.  The kids are asking me daily if they get to play them again.  

  

5.  Finally, you know that the first weeks are a lot of going over routines and rules.  I was so excited when the class lined up like this, I had to take a picture and every now and then I pull it up to show them and remind them of what an awesome line they have!  :-)

I hope that all of you back to school are having a great year so far!  If you are back to school, I know that you are probably as tired as I am.........

I'm thinking, I'm on my second week and still feeling like this little kitten.  

Have a great day!

Five for Friday - Precipitation, New Student, and Daily 5!

Hi there! 

It's been awhile since you heard from me. 

Mostly because when it was my turn to blog, I was having computer/internet problems. I think I've got that all sorted out now. 

And more recently I've been a little consumed with getting my online presence started for my book. Things are really falling into place fast now! Eeek!

Linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs!

Now for a random peek into the last couple of weeks:

1

We've been learning about the water cycle in science, so I was looking for some quick and easy experiments we could do. I even took some pictures, but when I went to put them in here... I must have deleted off my phone. :-(

Anyway, here's the pin (and pic) that inspired our experiment and the kids thought it was pretty cool. I loved how many times I heard the word 'precipitation.' Ha!

2

If you do not have new student bags, you need them. I found out late last Friday that I would have a new student on Monday (odd for a new student to start on a two-day week, but hey...). My new student bag was a LIFESAVER (old pic). 

3

Since we only had two days this week AND a new student, we spent some time reviewing and practicing our Daily 5 procedures. I miss using my PowerPoint (I don't give "choice" until 2nd semester).

My technology problems have not just been at home, but also at school. We have had internet problems--still can't connect our iPads. :-(  

I've also been without my projector for about a month. I realize I am SUPER spoiled, but I miss it. A LOT. We are "this close" to me having a working projector again. Cross your fingers? Say a prayer for me? ;-)

4

My son (17 years old) first started asking to take piano lessons when he was 4 years old. I put him off for three years because I did not want to have to make him practice. He has played the piano for ten years now and I have never had to make him practice!

In fact, his desire to practice far exceeds my desire to listen! Please understand, I love to hear him play, but the piano is in the living room. We have only one television in the house, so we are constantly running him off the piano when we are ready to relax. In fairness to him, I know he plays the piano TO relax so I had a crazy idea...buy him a keyboard to have upstairs in his room.

It took some trial and error, but we found one he likes at an affordable price. 

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to him! 

He is thrilled. 

We are thrilled. 

Everyone is thrilled. :-)

5

Last, but certainly not least.

Here's where you can follow along with me and my writing (hoping there will be more than one book someday):

Twitter

Facebook

Website/blog (not active yet, but getting there)

I attempted to use WordPress instead of Blogger based on several recommendations for authors. It has been a learning process! I think I'm almost there, but still a few tweaks to make. 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the extended break! 

Let's Catch Up (Five for Friday style)!

Hey there!

The last couple weeks have been absolutely CRAZY for me between teaching, coaching volleyball (Saturday tournaments every weekend), and this last week's parent teacher conferences. I actually just got home from our JV tournament, so I am about ready to CRASH.

So thankful to Kacey over at Doodlebugs for this linky!

First, my kids are loving these new books we got from Usborne Books. We had a book fair through them last Spring and got a lot of books for our library. Woohoo! These two are easy chapter books for my beginning 2nd graders who have been "dying" to check out chapter books!

Second, I love morning tubs! 

Who knew? 

The creativity and opportunity for socialization before we get down to business is perfect!

Third, when the HEAVY pillows someone gave you work like a weighted blanket for a student who really needs one...BONUS!

Fourth, we are rocking our Daily 5! 

There was one day this week, when I looked around and was just super impressed. 

The read-to-self kiddos were reading. 

The word-working kiddos were working with words. 

The work-on-writing kiddos were writing. 

I literally had to take a moment and soak it in. 

Then I gave them all Super Improver stickers because we have improved so much!

Fifth, we have been talking a lot about this kind of thing at school...teaching independence. 

This sums it up perfectly!

So parents and teachers...teach your kids to be independent! It may not be perfect when they are learning. They may make mistakes. But in the end they will be building confidence and gaining independence to prepare them for LIFE!

Happy weekend!

Five for Friday - Back to School Style!

WOW!

First week back to work complete.

I am exhausted!

How is it that an experienced teacher can never be completely prepared for the physical and emotional back-to-school demands?

I set up my room the first week in August. I lesson planned for the first weeks and have my year long plans done. I started waking up at 5:00 a.m. a week ahead of time. I was taking about 10,000 steps each day during my final weeks of summer.

And still, I came home from the community cookout and scrimmage last night feeling a lot like this:

I seriously limped to bed. :-(

Anyway, let me give you a peek at my week Five for Friday style!

Thanks Kacey for this weekly link-up!

1

The Christian Teachers Facebook Group leaders have put out a prayer journal for this school year (started Monday). It is based off of Psalm 119 and covers four verses a week. I'm accepting the challenge to memorize it! I love this app for practicing my memory verses. 

2

Monday morning it was back to work for inservice. It was plagued with technology issues. Ugh! I felt so bad for our administrators who had planned good things, but nothing was working correctly. One of the drawbacks of a small school...no full-time tech person. I did manage to score some goodies though! Can't wait to read this book!

3

No tech person means we have get to do a lot of techy stuff ourselves. I had an issue with my computer/projector connection all last year, so they promised me this Google Cast thingy would solve my problem. I was a bit skeptical, but happy to report that it did solve the problem after I spent an hour installing it and setting it up. I fear it will only work when our internet is working though. Can anyone confirm that?

4

Thursday was our first day of school, so of course, I had to make my kids get in a picture with me! He's a junior. She's a sophomore. Me...well, I'm a 2nd grader (year seven).

Also, from the first day of school, my students working/playing with their morning tubs. 

This is new for me this year, but so far I'm liking it. We have our morning meeting in the gym, students come to my room and do their lunch count, check their GO (getting organized) book, and then head to breakfast (if they choose to). The morning tubs keep the non-breakfast eaters busy and encourage the breakfast eaters to be quick! I rotate the tubs each day and as the year progresses, I'll add different activities. The first few weeks, we are sticking to Legos, Play-Doh, and Pattern Blocks.

5

Day two (yesterday) we started building our stamina for Daily 5. The students did 3 minutes really well, so they wanted to try 4. It really went better than I expected based on some of my littles this year!

We are also building our stamina for school right now. This bunch is doing pretty awesome in the morning. The afternoons are a little rougher, but we will get there I'm sure. So thankful that our administration agreed to a morning and afternoon recess PLUS our kiddos get PE every day. :-)

I even got things done during my PLAN time (if you've followed us long, then you may remember I did not have a plan time during the school day the last three years) so I do not have to go work at the school today! I think I'll go up for a few minutes just to make a video classroom tour for you though. We'll have to see the how the day goes. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Getting Back in the Swing of Things...

Good morning! 

Last week, we had staff development on Monday and school Tuesday--Friday. I am EXHAUSTED!

Monday morning…threw up, car wouldn't start, and then we find out they want to change our condensed calendar (which we all really like). It was not a happy welcome back. They are still working on it, though, and I'm sure we'll find something we can all agree on. 

That night KU played Oklahoma (if you aren't a BBall fan, KU is #1 and OU #2). That game went into TRIPLE overtime. So exciting! Glad my team came out on top, but I stayed up way to late.

Tuesday the kids were back, and I was a little surprised to find I had missed this rowdy little bunch. :-) We had an away basketball game that night so again I was up way too late. 

Needless to say, by Wednesday night I was already exhausted!

Anyway, I knew we would need to take it slow and review rules and procedures a lot--especially Daily 5. 

I don't start the year giving my kids "choice." All of their names are plugged into a PowerPoint that shows what they will be doing each round. Then about this time of year, I give them "freedom." It kind of brings new life to our reading block and gives them something to get excited about.

I told my class this and they are so excited! I explained that in order to have "freedom" (their word, not mine), we had to be very responsible and independent and they would need to show me that over the next two weeks. 

We reviewed our Daily 5 procedures and practiced all week. Next week, I'll use the PowerPoint one last time (assuming it goes well) which I know it will. Just look at these kids practicing:

Well, I'm off to recuperate with a lot of NOTHING going on. I love these days!

Have a great weekend!