Getting to Know Me

10 things that you might not know about me!

1. I am a huge nerd! If it has to do with science, math, or literature, I am all about it. There are many times when my teacher friends just give me looks of confusion about things that I think are normal to know, ha ha. I was excited when I found my periodic element magnets at Target and my chemical name labels for my crayons. 

2. I love classic literature. When Barnes and Nobles runs a "buy 2, get one free" on their classic literature, I get super excited! How can someone not go into a bookstore without books anyway?? It's a mystery to me. Those free baskets at Second and Charles are frequently visited by me for those "how could you throw this away" books. 

3. Documentaries are awesome. Over half of my cue on Netflix is documentaries. I have watched everything from pieces about board games and diseases to historical events. It's amazing the amount of information that you can learn from one documentary. I did tell you that I'm a huge nerd. 

4. I love the smell of books. To walk into Second and Charles and take a deep breathe to smell the books is just wonderful. It just puts me in a good mood. One day, I hope that have a room filled with books to be able to capture that old book smell (well...maybe to read them too). Plus, just having a huge library like that is just plain impressive and cool. 

5. I love trying new dishes of food. I am all the time looking at sites for new recipes. There have been some failures, but there also has been a lot of successes too. 

6. I hate painting my toe nails. I know that it's completely random, but I absolutely hate doing it. After I pain those toes, you never know when the next time you'll see them again with color. Also, I don't take it off either. Meaning that there could possibly be a dot of color on my big toe from a year ago. My co-workers have tried to get me to pain them, but it doesn't happen. It's just a big pain in the hinny!!

7. After living in the South for 15 years (wow, I can't believe that it's been that long), I still say "pop". There are just some things that you can't take out of a northern girl. None of my students have ever questioned me the meaning of "pop"...

8. I am deeply involved at my home church. Being a part of the family of God is just so wonderful! 

9. I am NOT a morning person. When I get up, I don't want anyone talking to me or even looking at me. It takes me a good while to wake up in the mornings. Maybe this is why I get to work so early....so I don't have to be bothered by those pesky perky morning people. 

10. I am going to Spain for a month! I can't wait!!!!! I am going to be doing the El Camino de Santiago (aka, The Way) after school is out!

What Kind of Teacher Are You?

I wanted to show you this video of an incredible teacher today. Most of us teach elementary school, but that doesn't change the fact that we want to change children's lives. Here is an example of a teacher that lives this out. As we are getting ready to enter into a new school year, just keep this video in mind. Maybe it will inspire us to take the time to build those relationships with our students and do more than teach them academics. What kind of teacher are you going to be this year? I hope that I will be one that gives God glory every day in my classroom, showing the character of Christ to my students each day.

It's Been a While...

Boy, I feel like I have neglected my poor little blog this summer--with good reasons too. This was my last semester of grad school! Now that I am FINISHED, I have time to work in my classroom and blog a little more. Also, I took a summer job at the Boys and Girls Club to help with their summer learning program. Who doesn't like a little extra cash??

I was able to get into my classroom last week. YAY!! I want to start the year with a nice CLEAN room that is inviting to my kiddos. When I got into my room, I wasn't really prepared to see all my JUNK that I have been hoarding for years. Teachers are so bad about keeping things that they might use, which is really code for "I am just going to let this collect dust with my other piles of junk". Now I know that I am one of those people.

Number 1 mission--clean out all the junk. It took me all week to get tons and tons of stuff that I haven't used in years out of my room. There were even things I never knew that I had that were stuff all over the place. I didn't think about taking a "before" picture, but believe me it was really, really messy. I'm not ready to put my "after" picture up yet since I do have a lot of work to do still. Maybe by Friday I will have everything together.

Number 2 mission--decorate the room. This is not my strong suit, but I am going to try my best.

I do have to say that if feels good to be back, ready to rock-n-rock with a new school year without having to do my own school work!

Remind 101--FREE Service

I was perusing through my Pinterest account, and came across this text messaging service for teachers. It's called "Remind 101".

Do you mean that there is a way to send out a mass text message to my parents without giving them my cell phone number?!?! Yes there is!!!!

All you have to do is sign up and create a class name. Then you can have your parents sign up just like they would for texts from stores. There is a number to text and attach the tag line that connects to your account.

Anytime that you have a message for parents, just go to the site (or the app on your phone), type up the message, and then send! They do not know your phone number but are able to get those reminders that are on those newsletters that they never read. You know what I'm talking about....you spend all that time creating a cute newsletter then it never gets home or gets put directly into the trash can.

Did I mention that you can attach this to your class blog?? You create a widget from the settings and place it anywhere on your blog. This way your parents not only get your text messages, but they are able to see the messages you send on the blog! 

I'm SUPER excited about this!! I can't wait to use it in my classroom next year. Most of my parents could care less about newsletters or blogs, but I know that they will check their phones. Whoot Whoot!!

Here's the link

This Teacher Needs Your Help

Over the past few days I have been attending the Mid-South Reading and Writing Conference/Institute. It has been a great experience learning more about how to make writing and reading (specifically vocabulary instruction) more meaningful and fit into the Common Core.

One of the discussions was about the lack of at home libraries of children from poverty or low-income homes. We all know that children in these circumstances have smaller vocabulary than children from higher social-economical homes. Some of this comes from the lack of reading at home. I know that there are other reasons too, but this is a problem that we can fix. The way that we can fix this is to build the child's at home library. We expect these children to read every night, but they don't have the books to do this. They might not have someone that can take them to the library; life is just about surviving, it's not about going to the library. So what can we do to build their libraries??? Well, we can get these books donated.

I have included 2 different representations showing the importance of having students read EVERYDAY for 20-30 minutes.

From Perry Public Schools

From The High-Tech Teacher

There is a point to all of this, I promise......

I would LOVE to be able to have those of you in the blogging world to help me out here. Many of my students (not all, but many) do not have the books at home to become successful, to build their language and vocabulary. My goal this year is to be able to give EVERY student at least one book every 2 months, but I do need your guys' help! This blog might not be the most popular, most read, but I do know that teachers know how to get the word out even for tiny little blogs like mine! So yes, I am begging you to please help build students' at home library by sending books that you think little 3rd graders would love to read!!

Just let leave me a comment with your email address if you are interested and I will get you the information that you need! I hope that you all will get the word out to help my little lovelies!!

Currently

It's been a busy time for me since school has been out! I've been having my nose to the grind trying to get finished with grad school, getting things ready for my summer job teaching reading/math, and helping out with my kid's camp. Oh, almost forgot....I have been trying to get my training for the El Camino de Santiago underway too (accomplished to hike 11.5 miles with a 15 pound pack!). Busy, busy, busy summer. It's only to get even busier.

I figured that I link up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade's June Currently...it's been awhile. Gives me a nice break from doing grad assignments and icing my wrist from tendonitis.

Listening to those critters and bugs.....I am one of those freaks that does not turn on the a/c until ABSOLUTELY necessary. That thing cost money! Plus there is an attic fan that I can turn on at night to cool the house down. It really does work!

Loving all of my goodies....Things have been coming in the mail left and right! For one thing, I won a $100 gift card from Oriental Trading for Teacher Appreciation Week!! I got all sorts of stuff for my classroom. Some of the things I have been wanting for a while, but was too cheap to buy myself. Plus, there were things I still REFUSED to buy because they were too expensive. See...I am cheap with free money, ha ha ha ha. Everything else has been books for grad school, teaching units, and personal use. Who doesn't like getting package??? LOL.

Thinking about all the kiddos at camp....The A/G in Alabama have summer camp every year for kids and teens. Well, right now it's the kid's turn. So, I have been going to help the lovelies get registered. I am thinking about them constantly; hoping that they are growing in their relationship with the Lord. 

Wanting to go on my trip....I know that I have a little less than a year before I take on the El Camino de Santiago, but I would love to just start now! While I wait, a friend of my did recommend a book that a classmate of his wrote a few years back to help me get ready. Maybe I will get some time to read it over the summer. 

Needing to stop being so lazy.....I was just telling my mother about how I have not moved from my little area in the living room today. Lazy hefer!!!!!! I know that I have been working away on some school assignments. But that is not excuse to stay in the same spot all day. I've got to get moving tomorrow!!!!

3 vacation essentials.....1) a book--I love to read. No vacation is complete without a good book to get lost in. That leads into #2, a comfy chair. Love reading a book in a big comfy chair, one that I can just fall asleep in if I want. 3) Have to have a good beverage. I prefer good ol' H2O. It's my trusty friend that will always quench my thirst. 

A New Reading Series

Okay guys, my school is adopting a new reading series and I would love some advice. We're going to be using McGraw-Hill's Reading Wonders. What do you all think about this series? What do you like or dislike about the series??

 From what I have seen of it, it seems really good. Although I am not liking shelving my "real books", there are some good things. One of my favorite things that I saw was the read aloud chapter books that come with each unit.

I would love to hear what y'all have to say!!