France and Spain Here I Come

I know...I know....I am breaking the "one post a day" rule, but I have some exciting news!!!!!

I booked my plane tickets for my trip to Europe! I'm just so excited about this trip even if I am walking 500 miles while I'm gone. I am even taking off the last week of school in order to go! Crazy, I know!

Here is a link to my blog about the El Camino/The Way (you may have seen the movie with Martin Sheen):

 

From Teacher to Pilgrim

 



If you decide to follow my "traveling" blog then you just might get a "play by play" about the trip when I am gone.

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.

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. 

Wacky Wednesday Harlem Shake

Did you all do anything for "Wacky Wednesday"? Well, my school did and it turned out to be a great day! My principal gave all of the teachers a "wacky schedule" to follow instead of our normal schedules. This meant many specials and PE classes were held at TOTALLY different types for each grade level. Everyone came to school dressed a little wacky. Except for my lovely 3rd grade team....we went all out because we are the "fab 5" (the reason for the "F5" on our shirts), ha ha ha!

Our day wasn't going to be complete without a little wacky fun. We decided to have our students do the Harlem Shake. Oh my....it was so much fun--not to mention hilarious to watch on video. Now I know that I can't just tell y'all about it, I have to show you. So, here is our version of the Harlem Shake:

Anchor Chart Overload!

My teaching neighbor believes that I have an anchor chart problem. Ha ha ha! Can a teacher really have too many anchor charts?!?! I believe that they can, because I was starting to run out of room with all of my reading, math, and writing charts. They were taking over everything...I was running out of room to put them, so I was stacking them on my white board!! Finally had to part with some of my "things that come in groups" charts from my multiplication unit in order to put others up to have room to write on my board. Just telling you isn't enough....I just have to show you.

I just realized that I still have my "Merry Christmas" and Christmas tree written on my desk. LOL.I think that I might need to fix that sometime before parents come into my classroom.

There isn't a wall that isn't covered with anchor charts. Is there a support group for my problem?? Ha ha ha.

Follower Gadget Problem Solved!

For a little while now, I have been wondering why my blog hasn't been growing like it once was then a friend told me that my follower gadget wasn't working right. So, I immediately set out to see what was wrong. Well, the header was there, but none of my blogging friends. How sad?!?!

After a couple of days of searching around on Google (I don't know what I would do without Google, ha ha) and found my answer. I found a sweet blogger at A Gathering Place that gave me the perfect solution! For those of you that are having the same problem, here you go!!

~HERE'S WHAT YOU DO~

1. Go to the SETTINGS TAB on your Dashboard

2. Make a teensy tiny change to your blog domain name, enter the security words and hit save.
(my blog domain name is

Rebecca-gatheryeroses.blogspot.com

and all I did was place an extra "a" after Rebecca {Rebeccaa} to keep the change simple!)

3. Enter your new address in your search bar (your old links won't work yet) and check to see if the faces of all your fabulous, gorgeous, beautiful peeps are back!

(They should be!)

4. Log out.

5. Now...go back and LOG ON again. Go into the SETTINGS TAB a second time on your dashboard and change your blogger domain name BACK to it's original name!

6. Go check your blog again. Everything SHOULD be back to normal!

YEAH!!!

Gingerbread Mania and Surprises

First of all, my heart goes out to those at Sandy Hook Elementary!

Wow, it's been a while since I have posted anything here! Now that I am done with my classes for the semester, I think that it's time to share what I have been doing in my classroom. First thing is that I have the most wonderful 3rd grade team!! They secretly went around the school to campaign for me for "The Teacher of the Year". My principal gave me the papers saying that I won the award without saying a word. I asked him if it was a joke then tried to give him the papers back, ha ha. He said that it wasn't a joke. I was floored!! My team told me what they did and I just about cried. They are the sweetest bunch of ladies that I have ever had the opportunity to work with!!

My principal has finally decided to allow my team to use REAL BOOKS for reading instruction instead of our awful basal!! Yay!!! We started with  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. It's been a long time since I have seen children enjoy reading class. It warmed my heart to see my students having such lively discussions about what was happening and actually paying attention to instruction. We still had reading tests and assignments, but they were more meaningful to my students. The kiddos were able to make real life connections to the characters and what was happening during the Christmas pageant.

The first thing that I did was have my students look at the copy right date in the front of the book. We began comparing the cost of living in 1972 to today. We also talked about what was going on in the world and the types of things that were popular at that time. They LOVED it!!

As we read each chapter, I had my students name each chapter to help them start thinking about main ideas. Some of the names were: "Meet the bad Herdmans", "Herdmans Go to Church", and "The Evil is Stealing the Show". If I forgot to let them name the chapter, they were quick to remind me.

There was a lot of character comparisons being made along the book. Also we analyzed how some of the characters changed throughout the book. That was neat to see them pick up on those things even before we started talking about it.

Every Friday was our "FUNctional Friday". This was where we took a piece of functional text and looked at the components. The last piece that we did was directions to making a gingerbread house. Yes, we actually made the houses using graham crackers. It was SO much fun. I think that this will be what the kids remember the most. Doesn't the "Teacher of the Year" have to come up with awesome activities??? I think so!!! Ha ha ha!!
Here are some pictures from our wonderful day.....

It's Been a Wild Ride

Oh it's been so long since I have been able to write! I haven't forgotten about my precious baby, aka-this blog. There has been SO much going to on with getting settled with a new school year and math program, trying to get my foot underway with new graduate classes, and try to take care of my family. It's been a wild past few months! Hopefully, I will be able to get back into the swing of blogging soon.

I don't have any pictures for you all this time. There's been NO time to take any. I haven't even taken any of my kiddos!! Now that's busy. I can tell you that I am working on a writing and reading unit surrounding The Hundred Dresses. They are reading the book and having book discussions about each chapter. This leads to them journaling about their discussion and personal feelings about the questions. It has been going to pretty good so far. There has been some deep discussions happening. We are taking some of the author's craft to connect it our personal narratives.

In the story one of the man characters tells a memory of when the bullying of another little girl started. This little sequence is a GREAT way to show how someone tells a personal narrative. So, as we are writing, I am referring them to how Eleanor Estes (the author) wrote this sequence to help them shape their narrative. We haven't gotten very far. Hopefully this will work out well.

I hope that I won't have to wait so long to make a new post and make sure that I get you all some pictures and links to accompany the next posts.