More than Five for Friday! ;-)

Hey there!

When I sat down to start my Five for Friday post, I couldn't believe all the pictures that I had to share. We had a great first FULL week back after Christmas break, and I just have some fun things to show you--including two success stories that are making my teacher heart happy!

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This year I implemented the Whole Brain Teaching Super Improver Wall. I was a little nervous to move away from the things I had used before, but I have been very happy with it. The best part is the kids are LOVING it! They get so excited when someone moves to another level.

Notice the white paper behind the yellow name cards.

When a student gets to yellow, they take a picture with two friends. I let them choose a silly or smiley picture. Then I print it and we put it on the board. They don't get to see the picture until they reach the next level. :-) Then we turn it around and post it in the classroom for all to see. This brings me to my first success story...

This little guy right here...he is my little autistic friend. He is absolutely brilliant, but as you might expect, struggles with social skills and appropriate behavior. He has been doing wonderfully! One day after another day of smileys on his behavior chart, he said, "I have never been this good before at any school!" Insert heart emoji right here. ;-)

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This is another one of my special friends. When I saw her  so focused on her fluency passage during read to self, I just had to snap a picture!

She has made amazing strides since Kindergarten! Really I can't even begin to explain her whole story, but she has improved so much. It has been so neat to watch her gain confidence and grow academically and socially this year. Insert another heart emoji here.

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It was nice to get back into our routines this week! The kids especially love Daily 5 on Fridays because during "Time with Teacher" we play games. These are the Connect 4 and I Have...Who Has...? games that we made to go with Wonders.

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This is why I love MobyMax!

This little smartie pants is practicing 4-digit addition while in class, we have only been working on 2-digit addition. I do my whole group lesson as usual and then use MobyMax during our math rotations.

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Our stories in reading this week all had to do with music and instruments, so I challenged the kids to make an instrument at home and bring it to school on Friday.

These six students took the challenge. The creativity was impressive!

I wish you could see their faces..I really think I'll ask parents to sign a picture release next year.

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I narrowed it down from 9, so you can thank me later. Ha!

My Bible study, There's a Fly in my Tea!, is now available directly from me! It is also available for pre-order at Amazon here. If you would like an autographed copy from me, I'm selling them for $10 each (retail price is $13.95) plus shipping. Just hop over to my website and use the contact form so we can work out the details.

I've been selling copies at my church, and  I came to services on Wednesday to find this REAL fly on my poster. My pastor is such a prankster! LOL! 

 Have a great weekend! 

Stay safe if you are in the icy areas...guess it is coming for us!

Five for Friday - Operation Classroom Setup Style!

Well, the last week of July has come and gone...this is typically the week when I get my classroom all setup so I can relax a bit for the coming weeks (you know...the calm before the storm). 

And honestly, I tried. 

I spent four days there.

And I have made progress. 

Some progress.

But I am far from done.

I seem to be moving slower than usual.

I blame the shoulder surgery recovery. :(

Anyway, that means I do have some fun pictures for you this week.

So let's get started!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs again!

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Dear Mr. Maintenance Man...thank you for the new ceiling tiles. They look awesome, however, this is what I call a half-job in my house and/or classroom. :-( 

I have no idea what all these cords and wires are, but I guess I get to figure it out. #Annoyed

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So my slow progress also had to do with our new reading curriculum. It took me a whole day to purge my old files and organize my new materials. I was so excited the big, awkward cards actually fit in my filing system though! 

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If you follow us on Facebook, you know I shared this post from Kristen with Easy Teaching Tools. It inspired me to make these copy clips. #Genius #SaveTheStickyNotes

I'll makes some with numbers needed after final enrollment, but for the most part this is done. #TeacherTimeSaver

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 Remember the post about my teaching failures? Some of my mistakes were due to jumping into things. 
 
Well, Whole Brain Teaching is something that I have eased into and feel pretty confident that it fits my teaching style. I have incorporated parts of WBT into my teaching for the last few years.

This year, I'm using the Super Improver Wall for the very first time. Here's how it turned out:

Yes, right now I'm only planning on 14 students. With one class per grade level, my class sizes fluctuate from year to year. The most I've had is 23. If I don't get any new kiddos, this will be my smallest class. It is nice, but makes me worried for our little K-2 building... Remember if you want the editable name cards free, you can grab them in our TPT store.

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WBT Power Pix Grids

Speaking of WBT, my most engaging lessons are ones where I have an action for the concept I'm teaching, but I struggled to always come up with an action. 

As I browsed the WBT website for more information on the Super Improver Wall and Genius Ladder (the two things I knew I wanted to add this year), I stumbled onto Power Pix. 

If you are a WBTer, you're probably thinking, "Duh!" 
I had no idea! 
WBT has done all the work of coming up with actions for you. Seriously.

Check out their website if you are interested.

Now, I'm trying to convince myself that I do NOT need to go to the classroom on a Saturday in the summer.

I do NOT need to go.

I do NOT need to go.

:-)

Five for Friday - ON FRIDAY!

Wow! 

This has to be some kind of record. 

Me posting my Five for Friday (thanks Doodlebugs!) post ON Friday. ;-)

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This just happened. YIKES! 

If you've followed our blog long enough, you know that I wrote a Bible study and have been seeking publication. This last school year, I came very close...asked to make revisions and resubmit, etc. It is always a long process. In the end, they had just put a contract on something similar and had to pass on mine. Anyway, I had been dragging my feet to submit to publishers again. But I did. And now we wait--and pray!

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I have discovered hashtag shopping on TPT. 

This could be dangerous! Ha! 

I picked up five fantastic resources this week for $1 each. 

Yep! 

That is right! 

$1 each!

Here's what you do: 

Go to TPT and type the specified hashtag (today it is #freshsqueezedfriday) in the search box and watch the $1 items appear.  

The Primary Punchbowl invites others to join in their sale, so I marked down Connect Four Short Vowels Mega Pack to $1. ONE DOLLAR!

 

Now if you don't follow me on Instagram, you should because that is where I would have given you the heads up on Tuesday! The Big Heartland Bloggers have teamed up and on Tuesday we offered $1 deals with the hashtag: #bhbdollardeals. Kristi and I had one of our new Wonders packs marked down to $1! We're planning to do it every Tuesday (at least for now).

 

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Call me a dork if you want, but here I am with my arm in the air! Whoop! Whoop!

Therapy has been a killer, but I have made AMAZING progress in just four days since being allowed to actively use my shoulder.
 

I'm even capable of doing a weird, little, side pony-tail unassisted! LOL!

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What do you do when you go to the school--which contains the town's tornado shelter--after the sirens go off? 

Work, of course.

These are some of the new books for our library. I helped unpack while we waited until it was safe to go home. No tornado touched down here, but other towns were hit. :(

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Pre-tornado siren, I was feeling very motivated to pull a late night diving into my Wonders curriculum. The new colored gel pens and sticky notes helped. Ha!

Post-tornado siren, I came home and went to bed!

That's five! 

Hope you have a great weekend!