Open House

Teacher work week is over, and Tuesday is the first day back for the kiddies!

We always have an "open house" during Friday's workday. Really it's for kindergarteners and new students, but we always have A TON of kids show up. I love it because I always have former students come by to see me!

Since I changed positions over the summer, my students left thinking I'd still be teaching 4th grade, so I was a little bummed that they would go to my old room and not find me. However, I had quite a few students that took the time to ask where I was and visit anyway! That helped my mood a lot. I still missed having my own students to greet, though. I won't have an official group until later in September.

My room is REALLY coming together, also. I ordered my rug that I blogged about here earlier this week, and I just got an email that it's waiting to be picked up at Walmart already!! They said it wouldn't be here until Sept 5 at the earliest. That's my big finishing touch, so I can post final pictures of the room next week!

Now it's time to enjoy my last weekend of summer. Anybody have big plans this weekend? I plan on sleeping in and maybe indulging in more yummy food than I have been.

Did I ever mention I've lost 20 pounds since February? (Sorry, I had to brag. I'm SUPER excited about it! I actually squealed when I got on the scale, and Steven was scared something had happened.) Only 6 more to go before I'm at pre-pregnancy weight!

Back to School, at least for the teachers

Today was our convocation and first day back for teacher work week. Boo! I know most of you are already back, but I was still in denial that the summer was ending. I'm in a very small school system, so we still have one big convocation (which we all attend in the HS auditorium since there's only one high school and four schools total). I've been pleasantly surprised with the keynote speakers they've had the past few years, and this year was no different. But the big exciting news was our next special guest - Darrell Green! For those who don't know (and I fell into that category, too, even though I like football), Darrell Green played for the Redskins, is an NFL Hall of Famer, and is still considered the fastest man in football (or, at least, that's what I heard). Anyway, he spoke about his program, WalkFit Health, which our school is going to be partnering with along with our new healthcare. They school system signed us all up, which also meant that we each got pedometers to wear, and then we were all invited to walk the track with Darrell. I didn't - didn't feel like packing an extra pair of shoes, and I wasn't going to walk in heels - but we all had to get our pedometers in the gym, so I did take the opportunity to get my picture with him!

I feel a little yucky in it, but oh well. Hopefully I'll be able to take some time in the room to work on leveling my books and finishing up my room. I did buy some pretty duct tape to hold up my "bulletin boards" since I don't have actual boards. I think it'll be cute!

Okay, time to relax with Keagan!

Technology Tip Tuesday

Day two of teacher week is all about technology tips!

I wanted to talk about a great website I've mentioned on here before: Class Dojo. This is my favorite behavior management tool, and its free (at least, for now)! Just to quickly explain, you enter your class list (or, if needed, multiple lists) and each child is linked to an avatar. Then you can personalize positive and negative behaviors you will want to award points for (i.e. following directions, disrupting others). You start the class and cam award points from the computer or even through your phone while working with other students!

I could say a lot more, but I already have a whole post here, so please check it out! I promise it will be worth your time. Most teachers at my school just use it for Daily 5/CAFE time, but it could also be used all day.

Okay, now go check out all the other tips. I'm headed over there now!

Must-haves Monday

Yay! It's the first day of Teacher Week over at Blog Hoppin', and it's all about Must-haves!

One of my new favorite must-haves is my amazing pencil sharpener. You've probably seen them around.

I got one at the end of the year and am so excited about it! I had a little trouble trying to figure it out last week, but then I realized I was just turning the handle the wrong way. Oops! It sharpens so quickly, and it just gets loose whenever the pencil is sharp. I love it! Click on the link below to check it out. They now come in green, blue, and red!

To keep me organized this year, I'm starting to use more binders. Around the end of the year, I started kind of switching to them because every time I'd take out my file folders or try to add a paper to them, they would get all messed up in the filing cabinet. I found these super-cute binder covers from Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts, and then I edited them so I have one for each grade level, one for graphic organizers, and another for the SOLs.

She also has really cute chevron binder covers! I actually threw out the ones I had made for my store to get these because I just loved them so much!

And finally, since the school is moving toward using Daily 5 and CAFE, I just HAVE to have a cute CAFE board, and I chose to go with Kristen's at Ladybug's Teacher Files.

I used the lined paper to type all of the strategies, and I'm getting them laminated to use in my room with the board. Since my students will only be in the room occasionally with me pushing in more frequently and their teachers will be adding the strategies in mini-lessons, I'm going to go ahead and have a full CAFE board all year. That way they can use it and see all of the strategies when they're in my room. I promise to provide pictures when it's all up - hopefully by the end of the week!

Go link up and see what everyone else's must-haves are. Then remember to check it out tomorrow for some technology tips!

Keagan - 8 months

I can't believe my baby boy is already 3 quarters of a year old! It's crazy to think that in 4 months, I will have a 1 year old. It's been so wonderful being home with him all summer, and it's much harder to go back this time. I'm scared of all the firsts I may miss - crawling and talking will be any time now - and he's just been so much fun now that he's getting a little older. (Here's a secret: I'm not actually a huge fan of small babies. I love him, but I'm thrilled that he's getting a little older)

A few facts about Keagan now:

• He LOVES bath time! Now that he can sit up, he enjoys playing with his toys and would stay in there all day if I let him. He pitches a fit when I take him out!
• He has tried Cheerios, although we're still working on the concept of actually chewing them. 
• The boy has no fear of food. He has sucked on MANY table foods and rarely even makes a face. Pickles and lemons are no exceptions! That's from his daddy, not me!
• He may not be crawling, but we have a rolling pin! He is very adept at getting around by rolling and kicking.
• He LOVES his leapfrog toy, Scout. Have you seen these? You can program them to say your child's name, favorite color, food, and animal. Then you pick songs you want it to play. His face lights up when he sees Scout.
• Speaking of Scout, Keagan definitely is a dog person. John loves him. Rudy keeps his distance.
• His red hair is coming in strong!

And a few pictures:

I'm still here!

Sorry I've been a little MIA this past week. We started band camp, and I've been coming home completely beat. I've been reading your blogs when I can although I'm way behind. Remind me why I signed up to coach Colorguard - if it weren't for the girls and feeling like I'd let them down, I'd probably quit. We still have another week of camp, so I'm probably going to schedule all of these posts, but I wanted to make sure you all knew about the latest blog hop!

Oh, and my classroom is ALMOST done. I found out I get $100 to spend, so I'm hoping to get a few necessary things (like maybe a rug). Right now it looks about the same as my previous pictures. I've been working on stuff for our CAFE/Daily 5 workshop we're putting together for this week (Monday and Thursday). Have a great weekend!

Classroom Day 3 and a 1st birthday!

Before I begin, I want to make sure you all know about the amazing sale that's going to happen this Sunday and Monday. Many stores will have their items for 20% off, and then there's a code to get 10% off of that! I'm participating along with a ton of other bloggers, so grab the code, make your wishlist, and get ready to shop!

Photo courtesy of Ms. Jessica at A Turn to Learn

Steven and I went up to the school Monday with Keagan hoping to get some work done, but we barely accomplished anything. So I decided to try again yesterday. One of my friends has an 8-yr-old girl, so we decided to trade kids for the day. I brought Bailey to work with me so she could help me, and Jenny got to play with Keagan. I call it a win, win! Bailey was a huge help, and I was much more motivated. Plus I finally had a vision of the best way to place my furniture, etc. I was even able to start decorating a little! I only took 3 pictures (which is about all you need to see the entire room. It's small), but here's a glimpse of how it looks so far!

I remembered on my way home from picking up Keagan that I have one more bookshelf to fit into the room (it was misplaced), but I can move my CAFE board and fit it beside the rest of the books. I think I'm going to use that colorful organizer to make copies of multiple levels of the Fountis and Pinnell running records since that's what my school is switching to. I want the room to be very teacher-friendly so they are encouraged to come by and grab what they need. Unfortunately, I need a lot more space to do that well. For now, this will work.

My "desk area". I went to Target after finishing and saw one of those drawer units for $10. I'm just going to get one of those to stick under the table. I think it will actually work perfect. As for the clear hanging things, I'm keeping one, but I haven't decided if I'm going to move the others or what. And all those books on the wall are my personal books that I had to pull out of my old classroom library. I wasn't able to fit them all. Bailey said I had too many books. I disagree!

Can anybody spot what's wrong in this picture? When I was in the classroom, I didn't say anything, but the first kid to notice what was wrong got to replace one test grade with a 100. I still need to find a home for this CD player, maybe. I want to get iPods and iPads to start a listening area. Maybe I'll start a Donor's Choose wishlist. The cart is full of things that are more useful for K-2, so I need to label them well and then send them to the K-2 Title I teacher. It will be nice to have all of them out of the room and next door so I can borrow when I need them. Oh, and I really hope they dump out my trash. It hasn't been dumped since I came in my room last week.

I'm pretty proud of how everything looks!! Even if I don't end up doing a specific theme this year, it's starting to come together and feel nice. I do need to get a rug and found one online today that I'm in love with! This one's only $39 at Walmart, and I could keep it to take wherever I go. So cute! I think I may be heartbroken if Steven says no (I just talked to him and he said we'll see after paychecks next week!)

Okay, I wanted to link where I got some of my cute resources!

CAFE headers - Ladybudy's Teacher Files (the link I gave goes to her CAFE, CRAFT, and VOICES headers)

 I also downloaded the lined paper to make my strategy cards, but I messed up and need to redo them. Besides, those won't go up until we get to each one.

The Essential 15 - Link from Blog Hoppin', courtesy of Hope King, Second Grade Shenanigans.

These are above my desk and on one of my storage cabinets.

And one last picture to leave you with:

Last night, we visited with Maggie (Keagan's girlfriend) and family to celebrate her 1st birthday! These are most of the kids from our small group (and to think only two were with us at the beginning!) Ages range from 4 years - 6 months. Here they're in order from oldest to youngest. Keagan's next in this line-up, although we have one more in between! I can't believe how quickly they're all growing up. I remember each of these kids being born!

Teacher Fashion Linky

When I saw this linky, I had to go check it out and link up!

Here are the questions and my answers:

1. Tell me your favorite store(s) that you like to get your "teacher's fashion". 

I love The Limited, especially now that I know they do teacher discounts AND free hemming if you have a Limited card! 

But I'm also a fan of:

(How funny that all four of those logos are white)

Oh, and all of those stores also have teacher discounts. Yay!

What are some of your favorite accessories?

I LOVE necklaces, especially my turquoise one here.

 

And I have these adorable fish earrings that have pearl and blue. Steven got them for me for Christmas a few years ago, and I lost one (of course, only one) of them last fall. Fortunately I decided to hold on to the other just in case. Guess what I found hooked to the very bottom of my laundry basket earlier this summer! Sorry, no pics. I searched.

What type of shoes do you teach in? (i.e. heels, flats, wedges, etc.)

Usually flats ("nice" flip flops - as in not rubber - until it gets cooler). I want to get a pair of the Tom's ballet flats! Aren't they so cute?

 

Do you have a "go-to" item in your closet? (i.e. sweater you wear weekly, shoes you wear daily, etc.)

Umm...I probably wear the same things over and over, especially right now while I'm still trying to fit into my old clothes. I do have a little white cardigan that really gets worn a lot. Otherwise, it was always my basic khaki pants, but they don't fit yet.

Have you ever had a fashion "uh-oh" at school? (i.e. heel broke, button popped off of blouse)

Haha! Let's see...I spilled white-out on on my navy pants and lost them :-(, but that's nothing compared to what I did while student teaching!

I'm a clicker - meaning I will click pens, and I will also pop tops on and off if the pens don't click. Well, I was using the overhead and a RED transparency pen when one of my students yelled out, "Ms. Rogers (pre-marriage), you're BLEEDING!!" Okay, I get nauseous at the sight of blood, but I couldn't think what would have caused bleeding, so I inspected. I had popped the top TOO many times on my pen, and it was bleeding ALL over my hand and everything I touched - of which included my face and pants! Thank God it all came out, but it was SO embarrassing! I still click pens, but I'm a little more cautious now.

Go link up!

CAFE vs. SOLs Freebie

It's finally finished! I mentioned this a while back, but I haven't been able to sit down and finish it until today. Okay, let me back up and explain myself...

I live in Virginia, which is one of the few states that is NOT participating in the Common Core Standards. Something about us thinking our standards are better...I don't know. Neither here nor there. As a teacher, it's a little frustrating because it seems like everybody else is able to share all these great resources while we have to be different.

This year, my school is implementing Daily 5 and CAFE as their main reading instruction. Since I'll be the reading specialist for grades 3-5, I wanted to help my coworkers by matching these strategies with the SOLs (Standards of Learning - yes, I know, funny) they already have to follow. Click on the picture to go to my store and download!

August Currently

Okay, I've been away from the computer all weekend while Steven finished his work for grad school, so I'm WAY behind in reading posts. May not actually catch up, but I'll try my best. I did, however, see that the new currently was up and HAD to participate!

I've been getting more videos of Keagan because he's doing lots of funny things now. He loves his dogs and pets them all the time (and occasionally grabs their lip a little too hard where they wimper - well, once). He actually screams when John leaves him! Today I got a video of him playing the piano at his Grammy and Papaw's house. He wasn't too bad if I may say so myself! I can't believe this is the last week I have with him for the summer. It's going to be hard to go back to school and only see him in the evenings...

I'm hoping to get into my classroom at least once this week because it's in desperate need of some ME organization. I like to have things exactly the way I want them so I know where everything is, so that means I need to go through everything and figure it out. It's also in major need of some decor. It kind of depresses me right now because there's NOTHING on the walls. We just bought more ink for the printer, so I'll be looking for cute, colorful things to add!

As for books, I just started (and am over halfway finished) with Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes.

Have you read it? I was told it was better than House Rules, but I didn't believe it was possible. OMG! Warning: It's about a school shooting (you figure that out in the first chapter), so it's not a light read by any means. None of her books are, but she has definitely become one of my favorites.

As for Keagan needing a sitter, we have one week left. Eeek! I really shouldn't procrastinate so much.

The three must needs are kind of self-explanatory. I got one of those new pencil sharpeners that everyone's talking about from Classroom Friendly Supplies at the very end of the school year, and I can't wait to use it!

They're sold out right now, but I did see that they're going to have a new Firehouse Red as well as this green and their blue one. I will have a blog review about this once the school year starts.

I didn't buy a brand new outfit specifically for school this year, but I will have to go through my wardrobe and pick something I got this summer to wear. Then I will have to download all of my new fun fonts onto my new school computer (and try to figure out how to get them to temporarily take off deep freeze so they stay).

Right now I have a hubby who wants to spend time with me (he's so sweet!), so I need to exit blogging world. Go link up with Farley!

First classroom pics, decor woes, and band camp?

As I've mentioned a few times before, I'm changing positions at my school this year. After teaching 4th grade in the same room for the past five years, I packed up what was mine and prepared to move into my new room in the middle of the school. I've been nervous about getting in because, unlike my old room where I had it down to a science and could pretty much finish in a day, I have to go through what's already there and figure out my own system of organization. Yesterday was the first time I was able to get in (I believe they actually just finished cleaning my room Tuesday), and my focus was getting the furniture in place. I got there around 10 and didn't leave until close to 4 (there was a nice lunch break thrown in and a little bit of socializing with my former team who was there meeting, but I was working for a good 3 hours at least).

I've got a lot of decorating and organizing left, which still scares me because I only have one more week of summer left. EEEK! It was supposed to be 3 (with a few days already spoken for), but I signed on to coach colorguard at the high school. That means band camp. And apparently they do 2 WEEKS of band camp! Other than that, I'm really excited. I did colorguard in high school (Sorry, no pictures here. That was over 10 years ago. Maybe I can find some next time I go to my parents and scan them in.), and it's something I really enjoyed. Coaching will be a great excuse for me to play with a flag without my neighbors thinking I'm a weirdo. I'll have 6 girls, AND I get to go to football games for free!

Anyway, here is what it looks like so far. Keagan had to come with me (see him peeking around his stroller?), and he was SO good. Well, minus his little breakdown in the Rose & Crown. Oops! I always feel bad whenever he does that in a restaurant...or anywhere in public. I don't want to be "those people" with the baby that make everyone cringe. Sorry, squirrel! Moving on.

 I need to figure out if there's a missing key to that cabinet. One side is locked, but it's open. That will drive me crazy if I can't actually shut it. But I need that storage. Oh, and I have to figure out what to do with those boxes of books. They're all 5th grade level books (as in T-Z), and I work with low 3rd-5th graders. Not the best for me, but they were bought with Title I money, so I can't just give them away.

 I have a bigger, newer Promethean board! I was going to try and store all of the beanbags under it, but they didn't exactly fit. We'll figure something else out. How do you store beanbags?

My "desk area" - I may have to get a cute little desk chair. And I wish I had time to repaint that bookshelf and rolling cabinet. They both need it (and there's a cute little bookshelf I inherited that could use it, too), but it's just going to have to wait until next year. I can't do that with Keagan. Next summer, Steven will be home with me (did I mention he'll be TEACHING next door to me? We get to be one of those teacher couples that have the whole summer together! So excited!), and I'll have all kinds of time! Oh, and I tore down the word wall. I've pretty much decided that each student will have their own portable word wall, and I think I'll have a master word wall to display on the Promethean board when needed.
I kind of want to do a carnival theme like this one from Schoolgirl Style. LOVE her stuff! 
Once again, I don't know how much I'll be able to do with the time constraints I have. I could technically go in after band camp, but it ends at 5 every day, and I'm going to be worn out and ready to spend time with my family. I don't and won't sacrifice family time for the perfect room. Can't do it. Maybe I can have my dream room next year...
Also, I just found a new 3rd grade blog that is celebrating their 100 followers with a giveaway. Go check it out!

Magical Product Swap

I'm so excited to be participating in Mrs. Stanford's first ever product swap! When Jessica told me that I would be paired with Mandy at Cooperative Learning 365, I couldn't have been more thrilled. 

I was like a kid in a candy store looking through her TpT store. In the end, I finally decided on her Test Prep Strategies pack. This will be so useful in my class as I work with lower readers on how to prepare for benchmarks and SOLs (VA's end of the year assessment). 

I know you may think, "Test prep?! School's just starting! I don't want to think about that yet!" However, I feel like if I teach them how to check their work early on, these strategies will be second nature by the end of the year. Plus the strategies can be used for ANY test and are much more interesting than most test practice. 

Please excuse the blurry picture...

To begin, you will need card sets to practice strategies. You could use this with cards you already have (just make sure you have a way to give students the answer to check), have kids come up with questions/answers on index cards, or even cut up released test questions to use. That's what I plan on doing! Mandy includes 2 pages of general tips for success. Please refer to them for more help!

There are 13 different strategies with idea sheets and colorful posters to go with each strategy. Here are just a few of the posters. This is even with my printer running low on ink! I want to reprint some of them from the end that were too faded from my stupid printer. Go figure it would happen tonight...

The idea sheets (as I will refer to them) are for the teacher. They begin with the strategy steps which are very specific. Then you are given some ideas for test prep. I love that she gives ideas for math and language arts for some of the strategies. Each sheet them has additional tips for general management - such as stressing to students the importance of not leaving anyone out, etc. Finally, Mandy provides a box for you to write ideas for your own class! This is a picture of one idea sheet.

 The last pages of the pack include answer sheets for "Find a Buddy Who" and card templates if you want to create your own. (These should be black - last pages, low ink, this is what you get). Anyway, if you can't tell, there's space for students to write their answer. Then there's a small box in each space for the other student to initial after they check the answer.

These card templates are perfect if you want to make your own. I would recommend printing these on regular paper and gluing them to index cards or cardstock (question on one side, answer on the other). Then laminate.

And that's it! I can't wait to use these with my kids! Go check out Mandy's blog (she's reviewing one of my products) and TpT store. This is only one of MANY great things. She also has a ton of "I Have, Who Has" cards that I may have to go back and get!