"I'm engaged to my book!"

Last week, I used Laurie's idea (from Chickadee Jubilee) and taught her lesson on the three types of readers.

 

Pretender

Dutiful

Engaged

 

It was perfect! My kiddos were so excited to tell me how they were engaged in their books the rest of the week--although it was cute to hear some of them say, "I'm engaged to my book because..." I did explain that we were not talking about being "engaged" to be married, but many of them stuck with that idea. Ha!

 

I'm also linking up with Angela from:

 

 

 And Jean from:

 

 

 

For:

 

 

 

I love the entire idea behind this linky! Click on over to one of their blogs to read more about it.

 

Here's two of my quick tips this week.

 

Checklist!!!

 

 

If you've been following our blog very long, you may have heard of this little time-saver before. I have my list of things I need to do every day slipped inside a page protector. As I accomplish things on the list, I cross it off and when the week is done I can use it all over again. The best thing is that it keeps me focused! PROVEN - I leave SO much earlier each night when I actually USE the checklist. Love it!

 

Dojo Prizes Simplified!!!

 

 

I have been using Dojo a lot this year. I found this awesome prize book from Mrs. Goodwin at ilive2learn ilove2grow (I changed it up a little). I was struggling with the "choosing" part. It was taking up my entire "Fun Friday" time which I usually like to use for accomplishing things on my Friday checklist. It took me long enough...but I came up with this idea. Slipped the pages into page protectors. Now the kiddos sign up during Fun Friday and I don't have to walk around asking them what prize they want, waiting for them to decide, and finally recording what prize they want. Last week I walked them through it because it was new, but this Friday I will be free to work while they are having some FUN!

 

Hope you're having a great week! Head on over and link up your quick tips!

 





First Field Trip of the Year!

Let me start by saying that I am not one that gets really excited about field trips, in fact I am quite the opposite.  I STRESS out about them!  I worry about all of it from making sure it was set up right to how will the kids do while we are on the field trip.

 

This past week, we were learning about communities and decided that it would be fun to go to the fire station to tour it for our extra fun thing that we do on the last day of the week.  They just finished building a fire station that is less than a block from our school.  So, we thought it would be a perfect little field trip....no need for a bus and it could be a fairly quick field trip.

 

We went on Friday and I was so impressed with my kiddos!  They did an outstanding job and set a great example on our field trip.  Throughout the week, we discussed the field trip and how to behave.  We also wrote about what would be good manners to have on the field trip.  In the end, I should have thought more about my quote on Wisdom for Wednesday because I worried about nothing!  It was a fun field trip and like I said, I was very impressed with how my kiddos behaved.  The other exciting thing about it was I also learned some neat stuff from the firemen that I didn't know about!  LOL!  The firemen that did the tour did an outstanding job with talking with the kids and giving them information about their jobs.   Check out the pictures below. 

 

I hope all of you have a great week!

 

 

 

 

Wisdom for Wednesday-Worry

Thanks so much for joining us for another week of:

 

 

 

I am one of those people that worries about things all the time.  It may be something very little that I really probably shouldn't be worried about or could be something that is a bigger issue.  Unfortunately, I can let things get to me and worry about it for the longest time.  I found this quote and thought that it was just perfect for me.  I need to remember this quote every time I begin to worry about something.  It is so true-I can worry for days and nothing is going to happen OR I could take it to God and give it to him and let it go and know that it will be taken care of for me. 

 

Psalms 55:22 - Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

 

 

 

 

D5 Update and Some Funnies!

Last week we started our Daily 5 rounds. It went good....a little bumpy the first couple of days, but by Friday the kiddos were doing pretty well. You may remember that I was using my projector and a PowerPoint presentation as a rotation chart...well, on Thursday my projector stopped working! Ugh! We went on to Plan B and I printed out the slides. Thankfully, it was a minor issue and my projector is up and running again!

 

Our secretary stopped in to snap some pictures for the school newsletter one day last week... Here's one of the first shots she got:

You might not be able to tell, but the cubes on the bottom right desk say, "dr__unk." Wonderful! Then she snapped another picture...another little sweetie had written on the top of her page "crap." Now I did know that the cubes had potential for these questionable words, but my kiddos last year would have notified me that they rolled a bad word. Then I told them not to write it down. I didn't want to start the activity by telling them that...well, you know then some would have tried for the bad word. Anyway, the secretary promised not to include those parts in the newsletter! Ha!

 

Maybe I should rethink those cubes for next year...

 

Here's a picture of my kiddos in music. We pulled out the bells this particular day. Anytime I pull out the instruments, I am a "rockstar teacher." LOL! Instruments even work on Kindergartners (who are making progress, by the way). 

 

Here's another funny...

A first grader in music, " Are we having a program?"

"Well, of course we are," I said.

First graders cheer as if I had just done something amazing.

 

Then I thought...hey, it will be amazing if I can get these kiddos ready for a program. And then I wondered...were they thinking the same thing? Ha! ;-)

NEED ORGANIZATION AND TIME MANAGEMENT HELP! PLEASE!

Do you ever just feel like you will never catch up?  Well, I am there right now.  Seems like I have been spinning my wheels these last couple of weeks and barely keeping up.  Last night, I was at school until 7:30 just trying to get caught up.....key word....caught up, not get ahead LOL!  Anyways, not only am I not keeping up at school, but you should see my house....ugghhhh.  :-)

 

So, I'm asking if you have had any of those AH.....HA moments where you were like......why didn't I think of that before...I could have saved a lot of time.  I know that I have had a few of those moments, but I think I need more of them LOL!  I would like to know if you have found little ways to help with being more organized at school and at home that has helped you save time.....please share those with me. 

 

My other questions is not school related but does have to do with organization at home and that is closets.  My husband and I have 1 closet for both of our stuff and it is crammed.  I dread even opening it up because it is so unorganized (I like my stuff to be in order and if it isn't I get very frazzled)....any ideas on helping to organize it and make a little more room in it???? 

 

I hope all of you have had a great week!  I am looking forward to hearing from you and getting more organized as the year goes on!  Thanks!  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom for Wednesday - Faith Untried...

Hi there. Welcome back for...

 

I love this reminder when I am going through a difficult time. Spurgeon* goes on to say, "Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation."

 

May it be an encouragement to you today...or a coming day when you feel like you are being tried and tested.

 

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

2 Peter 1:7

 

*Strengthen My Spirit by Charles Spurgeon, page 55

Daily 5 Launch!

Today was the big day! We officially launched our Daily 5 rounds today. Hooray!

 

It was not without some hiccups, but for my 2nd graders first experience with the rounds I think we did pretty good. They did some similar literacy centers in 1st grade so that helped a little. The big difference is that in 1st grade, the groups rotated to each station together. My kiddos had to check the board each round to see where they were headed (haven't tried the power of choice yet).

 

My rotation chart last year took up so much space that I just don't have this year. I decided to try using my whiteboard. This is what gave me the idea...

 

Sandy from Soaring Through Second Grade has this freebie.

 

I like Sandy's and may convert to using it later on. Last night as I remembered I needed to have the rotation chart ready [yes, Mrs. Organized (Kristi would say) is still scrambling...hope I get a routine going soon], I couldn't get to Pinterest (it's blocked HUGE :-() so I just made one Powerpoint slide for each round. At the end of the round, I just clicked to the next round and it told the kiddos where to go. I really liked it!

 

I'm also loving this Pinterest find...

Meet "Mr. Check In" courtesy of Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts. We've even pulled this guy out of our book boxes during Writer's Workshop to discuss how we can add details to our stories. Another freebie!

 

Another new thing I tried this year that I really think I'm going to like is not doing the rounds on Mondays. I found when working with a basal, there is so much to introduce it was hard to fit it all in my small groups. I can't remember which blog gave me the idea, but I really like it...

 

Math is another story... Any Saxon users out there? How do you handle the pages? Do you do the guided practice (side A) every day as a whole class? Do you ever give any independent work? I like the extra fact practice that Everyday Math didn't have, but I'm trying to find a way to make the pages more manageable--for the kiddos and me (on grading)! I also don't give math homework every night, so... Suggestions welcome!

 

Have a great evening!