Five for...Saturday!

Hey there! I hope you're enjoying this beautiful Saturday...it is a wonderful 52 degrees and climbing here. I love it! I am definitely a warm weather and sunshine girl.

Here's some TOTAL randomness from my week for Doodlebugs Five for Friday linky.

1

Sunshine, sunshine! I took off Tuesday for a follow-up on my shoulder injury (since September). I'm afraid surgery is in my future. :-(

 

Photo while I waited...what can I say? I was excited about seeing the SUN!

Being the teacher I am, I went ahead and scheduled as many appointments as I could that day. It was a beautiful day to be out running errands. 

2

I left these notes on the board for my absence--which turned into two days because I had a funeral on Wednesday. 

It didn't work. My notes from the subs were not all that flattering toward my class. They are quite a group!

3

I still love that our STAR homework turns into a math exercise at the end of the week. The kids are getting AWESOME at spotting friendly numbers and adding all our stars together.

4

February! Really?

 

 5

I've been worked up over this all week...

I don't want to bore you with Kansas politics, but basically this map represents a proposal to force consolidation onto the schools of Kansas--absorbing small districts (like mine) into nearby larger districts--with the idea of saving money. I have a lot to say about how ridiculous this plan is, but I'll spare you!

Have a great weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Mountain Top Experiences

Good morning! I'm late with this post and I have absolutely no excuse. I was even off work yesterday (for a funeral), had the post mostly finished, and just completely forgot. So…here's some wisdom for us (a day late)!

I'll admit I would love for my life to be full of mountain top experiences, but it simply doesn't work that way. Some times, I'm in the valley. And most times, I'm just walking on the plains (so to speak). 

The mountain top experiences may be rare, but they are meant for God's purpose. Those experiences encourage me to keep pressing on as I trudge across the plains or seek to climb out of the valleys of life.

Mountain top experience? 

Enjoy it, remember it, and never take it for granted!

Reader's Theater Scripts

It is that time of year when I usually start introducing my first graders to reader's theater.  They are always so excited about doing it.  At this point, they have become better readers and now we are working a little more on their expression.  Reader's theater seems to really help with the expression.  

This year, I found a new reader's theater resource:  Reading A-Z.  I have always loved this site.  You do have to subscribe and pay for this site but I think it is worth it.  There are a ton of decodable readers on it and now I found reader's theaters that are leveled.  There are a lot of great reading resources on this site.  So, if you are looking for some decodable readers/books or reader's theater scrips then you might check here.  

Have a great day!

My Para's Name is Jackie

I have to tell you a funny story about my para (HER NAME IS JACKIE) this evening before I jump in to my post about student data.  

I'm really not used to people I work with following my blog, Instagram, Twitter, etc. but this year I have a new (to my room) para. Jackie (and my principal--eek!) has been doing just that. Yesterday, I posted this picture saying something like...

"My para and I got in on the art fun today..."

 

Later that night, I saw Jackie at our basketball game. She jokingly said, "Hey, Crystal! Does your para have a name?"

I explained that I didn't know if she wanted me to share her name, so here it is...now you know, my para's name is Jackie.

And Jackie and my principal were both bothered that I didn't explain the sunflowers were not yet finished, so here you go:

 

Speaking of that game, it was LATE! We were scheduled to play at 8:30 in the league semifinals at a college 1 1/2 hours away. We played at 9:00...got home at 12:45 a.m. This was my face this morning when I got to school:

Thankfully, we won! We play in the championship tomorrow--pretty exciting for a team who didn't even make it into the tournament two years ago! Our boys play in the semifinals tonight, so we'll see where they end up...

Okay, moving on to data. Monday at our inservice, I went to a session about students charting their own data and creating a data notebook. One of the things the presenter included in her data notebooks was a Hot Read/Cold Read graph. The same one that I use in a fluency folder. I've shared it before, but I thought I'd give you a flashback to that post in case you missed it.  

***From March 17, 2014***

Hi there! I'm still enjoying my spring break...headed to visit friends today. :-)

I thought I'd pop in to share something that has really sparked some fire in my readers.

Several weeks ago, I wanted to find a way for my kiddos to chart their own WCPM. I usually entered their data in an Excel spreadsheet which created a bar graph, but I knew the kids would benefit from seeing their chart more. I found this handy FREEBIE from A Peach for the Teach. It is a cold read/hot read fluency graph.

With the help of my awesome para, we have created a system that works wonderfully. Each kiddo has a folder with their name. The cold read/hot read graph is stapled on one side of the folder. For my struggling readers, I also included the sight word checklists from our Super Sight Word Packs on the other side of the folder. My para pulls the kiddos on Thursday or Friday of each week. They review the sight words (if needed) and then read their hot read (the one they have been practicing for the week) and the new cold read. The kids are practically crawling over the table to see how they have improved! Yippee!

***Me again--present day!***

Next year, I plan to expand this into a data notebook. I know it motivates the kids and can see the benefits of them charting their own data. If you haven't given it a try, these folders are an easy start!

Have a great weekend! Wish us luck at the tournament!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Every Day

Welcome to:

This is something that I have tried to do more often.  It is hard for me to do at times, but I have found that it has helped me out a lot.  Whenever, I feel overwhelmed over things or something that is happening in my daily life, I have started to stop and think about what could be good about it.  When I have stopped and done this, I have found that I am able to find something good about everything even when I feel like it seems like there wouldn't be anything good about it.  Doing this, has helped me to not stress as much over silly things and I've let go of some of the worry (not that I don't worry anymore-I am a worrier, but this has helped me).

Have a great day!

Sick day, Subtraction with Regrouping, and Interesting Art...

Hey there!

My Friday blog post is later than usual...this explains it:

I actually did call in sick on Thursday. I like the idea of all those emergency sub plans that I see on TPT, but I hate to get off schedule. My sick day started with about two hours of getting things laid out, grading, and contacting parents to rearrange tutor times, etc. It was needed though because I could barely get off the couch the rest of the day! Ugh! I've laid low all weekend and still don't feel great. :-/

I did have a few things to share though, so...

These three came in all excited to be triplets, so I had to snap a picture. 

We have been working very hard on subtraction with regrouping. It was fun to hear my kids repeating parts of this chant as they worked. One little guy kept saying the part about "going next door" and was impressed with how fast his brain was working! Ha! Chants and songs are so helpful to students. I need to be better about using them and revisiting them!

 

 

 

Okay, this next part just cracks me up...

This is what happens when you leave an art project for a sub.

Or maybe not...at least a few of the students got the idea. :-)

 

 

 This catching snowflakes idea came from here. 

Last, but not least...we are still cooking our way through my updated cookbook.

Copycat P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps and General Tso's Chicken...success!

Tomorrow is an inservice day for me. 

Hope you have a great week!

 

Wisdom for Wednesday - Obedience

Good morning! 

Thanks for stopping by for:

This week's quote is easy for us to see in our students and children...

…but what about us?

It reminds me of my daughter when she was little…about 3 or 4. She was always easily distracted. I would send her to do something, and she would come back several minutes later having not even started on the assigned task.

One specific example…she had been told to pick up her room. Several minutes later when I got onto her, she said, "How can I possibly clean my room when I can't find my shoes?"

Obviously, I explained that she didn't need her shoes in order to pick up her room and sent her back to work on it.

That day the Lord brought to mind how my excuses sound to Him when I don't obey His Word and His leading. Much the same as my daughter's silly excuse for not cleaning her room, I'm sure.

"Obey right away," became a common phrase in our house. 

We later added, "…and with a right heart."

Two simple things we teach children, but what an impact they can have when applied to our own spiritual lives!

Have a blessed day!