A Blog Award! YAY!!

I know...I know...I am breaking the blogging rules with 2 posts in one day, but......

I am SO excited and grateful that I have been given a blog award! Thank you Stacey at 3rd Grade Times for this lovely Versatile Blog Award. 

The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you

2. Include a link to their site

3. Include the award image in your post

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award

6. When nominating, include a link to their site

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated

Sense I am suppose to give 7 random facts about myself....here it goes....

1. My favorite song to play on my flute is The Super Mario Brothers Theme Song

2. I am gluten intolerant

3. I can't help getting to work at 5:30 AM to get work done...it's so quite at the school ;)

4. Almost done with grad school (YAY!!! Can't wait!!!)

5. I am a horrible speller

6. Moving in with my mother soon to save money for a house

7. In 2 years I am going to walk the Camino Santigo (A  LONG pilgrimage through France and Spain)

Now those that I am giving the award to (these are just few for right now)....

Mrs. Parker at Learning with Mrs. Parker

Katie at Dirty Hands and Lesson Plans

The Down Under Teacher

Hope at 2nd Grade Shenanigans

School's Coming Back

Well, I have spent my summer doing absolutely nothing!! There was the occasional reading of professional development books and planning for the next year, but I really did nothing. This makes me SO glad that I am able to get back into my classroom to start setting up for next year!! Wahoo!!

The first order of business was to set up the desks. With our new math program it is essential that my students are able to work in pairs or in groups from the moment they walk into my door. Usually I have my kids in rows and slowly move them into groups once they have the procedures down pact. However, I am going to start off in pairs. This seems like the best way to have control but allow the kiddos their group math time.

The next project was/is the biggest of all....my classroom library. I am always trying the think of ways to organize my library and have a good checkout system that would prevent the "misplacement" of books over the year. After lots of blog stalking, I found a great solution. It's a internet based library catalog system. The kiddos checkout their books from the website anytime they find the perfect book for themselves. The best part is, I get to control the number of books they checkout and how long they can keep them! It gives email notifications when books are overdue. Now, I will ALWAYS know who has what and am able to write notes home for those little ones that are forgetful. (You all need to check it out....www.classroom.booksource.com) It took me 3 days to get all my books in the system (732 books to be exact, what?!?!), but I got it done and I know that it's going to be worth it.

Now the only thing left to do is to categorize these books into genre basics and label the books themselves. This might take a while, but I am hoping to get it done in a couple of days (This might mean a little help from friends and family, hehehe). I will post a picture once I am done.

These projects are only the beginning of what I have to do to be ready for my students. You all know. Putting things up in the classroom, going to MANY stores to get what I need, finishing the class blog, and LOTS of planning. This means lots of late hours at the school to be ready. Thankfully I work with a great team when it comes to planning and being ready with the math curriculum.

 I am very excited about the new group of students that I am going to get. I can't wait to find out who they are!! I am ready to put to use all those great things that I have about to better impact my students and to give them a better education. Nothing is better when I am able to see growth in a student (well rounded growth to be precise).

I would love to know what the first thing you are going to do to get ready for this coming school year!

Journaling Expectations and Newsletters

It's the middle of my summer and I have to tell ya, that I am READY to go back to work!! To most people that have lives, it sounds crazy. But I am one of those people that doesn't have a life and gets bored after a few days of vacation. I have been trying to do some recreational reading; however, it doesn't sooth the thoughts of all the things that I have to do before school starts. Even though I have a huge list of things still yet to do, it doesn't replace my desire to go back to work to teach some kiddos.

I figured that I would share with you some of the things that I worked on yesterday. I am a journalling freak! My kids need to have a journal for everything. Last year, we talked about our expectations for each on, but it they didn't always abide by those. Therefore, I came up with a new plan to glue the expectations inside their journals. Maybe this will help them remember what kind of work they are supposed to do.

(The pictures will take you to the files)

Morning Journal Expectations

Each morning we have RTI time and the kiddos are working at stations (mainly reading stations)

Writing Journals Expectations

My kiddos use a journal to go through the stages of writing until they get to their final drafts. They write their final drafts on pieces of loose leaf paper.

 Reading Journal Expectations

During our reading block the kids go stations so I can pull small groups

Math Journal Expectations

 During our math block the kiddos have math workshop time

Last year I put all of the newsletters on the class blog, but I don't think as many parents visited the blog to get the newsletter as I had hoped. To try to keep that from happening again, I created an introduction newsletter that shows the parents what to expect on the newsletter and where they can find it. Also, I tried to make it clear that they can request a hard copy since I know not all homes have internet. 

If you want the DOC file, just leave your email address. Otherwise, the picture is to a PDF.

My list continues to get smaller, but it still a long one. I have other things that I will share latter, but I figured this could be a start. I really need to slow down my pace since we don't go back until middle of August. 

Little Pig Webquest

As I am currently revamping some of my school items, thinking of things that I need to do for the kiddos, and reading my books; I remembered a webquest that I created for on of my graduate classes. It's a literature and science webquest using the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.

After reading the book, the students must determine if Mr. Wolf is guilty or innocent. He makes a very convincing argument. The students have to first research characteristics of real wolves. Creating a newsletter, they will tell their decision. To add some extra fun, everyone participates in a courtroom trial, using the information they found to help them create a real courtroom experience.

Click below for this awesome webquest

Students are Gone But Class is Still in Session

I'm officially free from students and my teacher workdays are over. We all know what that means.....SCHOOL'S OUT!! Each year, I am always glad to see the year end, but it doesn't mean that work is over for me :) This is the time where I feel free to explore changes that I want to make for next year in order to become a better teacher and meet the needs of my new little lovelies. Most people go on their vacations, spend time with their families, or just relax for a few weeks first; however, I am more of "lets keep the ball rolling while I'm still in school mode".

Here are a few of my goals that I want to accomplish during my summer break:

• Become more familiar with my students' mindset--In a previous post (Gearing up for Next Year) I mentioned three books that I purchased that focused on teaching students in poverty. I have been finding myself wanting to know why my students act the way they do and since a lot of them are in poverty, so these books are to help me know what I can do for them. Already started reading Eric Jensen's Teaching with Poverty in Mind and I am excited about what I am reading!

• Change behavioral/homework plans--I just felt that my behavior management could be better; therefore, I am changing to the Clip Chart system. This way my students  can be rewarded for their behavior as well as having appropriate consequences for misbehaviors. For homework, I am going to use Homeworkopoly. I know that a lot of teachers are using this in order to get students to do their homework, and my students need as much help as possible.

• Revamp reading stations--I just feel that my station time could be better. The feeling of disorganization during this time had been STRESSFUL! So, I am going to make a plan that more suits my students and my personality. 

• Math in general because of BIG changes--This is the biggest change of all since our whole district is changing over to Math Investigations. The change is VERY exciting since I teach using the Investigations methods anyway; however, I have not followed the curriculum. So, I have some scheduling things to work out, how I want to organize all the materials that I am getting from the AMSTI people, and how I want to communicate to the parents the changes. I was thinking about posting some math lessons on YouTube as well as having days for the parents to visit my room. What do ya'll think? This also means that I have to make sure that I use math journals (I'm pretty stoked about this)

Join the linking party at Primary Inspired to tell about your goals for next year

End of the Year Mementos

This year has flown by! It's hard to believe that in just a few days I will be saying my good-byes to my students. We turned in our textbooks today, I will be posting my grades tomorrow morning, and field day and class parties are on Friday--it's officially over. I have been trying to think of some things that I could do with my students that they could take home with them that would hold some memories down the road. From the help of my co-workers, I was able to come up with 2 ideas that we big hits!!

Idea #1--Write letters for the next school year. I had my students write letters to themselves about things that might want to know or be reminded of on the first day of school when going into the 4th grade. These students really blew my away with some of the things they came up with. We put the letters into envelopes and decorated them. They will be able to open them the first of the following school year.

Idea #2--An alphabet memory book. My students are in the middle of creating an alphabet book that contains information that we have learned correlating with the letter it begins with (A=addition, c=clouds).

Amazon Gift Card

I know that I have been slacking on the teaching idea front; however, I have been crazy busy with end of the year junk! It's only 7 days away! EEKKKK!!!! I have been trying to get my act together for the summer so I can better my teaching style for next year. In order for me to do that I entered this amazing giveaway for a gift card to Amazon. I guess I will be nice and share with all of you ;) Who wouldn't love free $25?? Hop on over to Creating Bookworms for your chance.