Bloggin' Meet Up: Week 5

Hey, y'all!  Another week of summer has come and gone!  How sad it is that summer time is flying by so fast!  On the bright side, here's another week of Summer Bloggin' posts.  This week, we are to write about three things we are thankful for.  Honestly, it is VERY difficult to only choose three!  I am so thankful for every thing God has done for me and my family!

First of all, I am so thankful to be a God-fearing woman of God!  With God, all things are possible and I don't know where I would be without his mercy and grace!  I don't usually share personal things on this blog, but I hope that my story may help someone who is in a similar situation.  I honestly believe that we go through things as Christians to help others and to let God's love show through our actions.  Six years ago, I lost my 2 month old baby girl.  We were co-sleeping and found her facedown in our bed.  It was a devastating time in my life and my healing was not possible without God's grace.  Sometimes in our lives, we feel like nothing will ever the be the same and often times ask why without any understanding.  Whatever you may be going through, I am here to tell you that it is possible to live again!  We must trust in God's plan that he has set forth in out lives.  Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work towards the good of his purpose.  We have to hold strong to that faith!  If you are going through something similar and would like someone to talk to, please email me at terri.renee09@gmail.com.  

How grateful I am for my family!  I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband who helps me around the house and two sweet boys!  It is challenging to be a parent because you often wonder if what you are doing is the right thing.  I pray daily for guidance as the mother of these two sweet boys!

Like I said for my third, I am SOOO thankful to have a job that I love coming to every day.  Sure, times get pretty rough at times and I wonder.... Can I do this for twenty more years?  I am so thankful to change the lives of children each day!

Go link up The Teaching Tribune!

Editing Help Needed!

Please go like me on Facebook and comment on my most recent post for a chance to edit my newest 5th grade CC product and get the corrected version for FREE!  I will choose two this evening!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Favorite Pins Friday: Week 4

Hi!  I'm back again with some of my favorite pins from this week.  I tell you what.... I just LOVE Pinterest!  Please remember that the links are in the pictures.

Oh My!  I just love the simplicity of these nails.  They are classy and clean.  I am so going to have these for back to school!  I'm not sure about the heart, although it is {VERY} cute!  

 Is this real?  Is there a teacher's desk that looks this organized?  I just love how much workspace this teacher has and how neat and tidy everything is.  Are you a cleaner?  I need to have my desk cleared and neat before I leave each day.  You can tell what kind of day I have had by the way my desk looks!

 This is an excellent example of what text mapping looks like with nonfiction text.  I am so loving all the text marking and close reading pins I am finding.  Last year, I introduced close reading to myself (ha!) and to my students.  It is definitely something I am wanting to go deeper with this year.

Isn't this the cutest little guided reading toolbox ever?  I'm not sure if I would use all these things in this toolbox with 5th graders, but this picture sure makes me want one!  I usually do all my guided reading work at my table since I do a lot of close reading activities with my students, but I do spend Mondays and Fridays going around to listen to my students read.  

 This video is a must watch!  This is an excellent example of how to conduct a close reading lesson as a whole group.  I mostly conduct my close reading activities in small group, but this video made be see that it is possible to do it with a large group of students.

If you would like to follow me, you may do so by clicking below.

Happy Pinning :)

Kindergarten Common Core Standards & Standards Checklist

Hi!  I'm stopping by to give you a little preview of some things I am working on.  I am making these to use with A Teacher's Planner, but you can use them as a stand-alone.  I am planning on completing all grades, K-5.  My next grade will be 5th.  I don't teach K, but I wanted to provide everyone a chance to grab these cute printables.  I left the picture below for a preview size, but you can click my TpT button below to find them in my store.

You may be wondering... How am I going to use these?  Well, I plan on using both the standards and the standards checklist with my lesson planner.  These will make planning so much easier.  No more going to find my standards and no more wondering what I've taught, when I taught it, and how many times I have taught it.  

I am planning on writing the dates of explicit teaching beside each standard, and I am going to try to explicitly teach each standard at least 3 times within the school year.  

What do I mean by explicitly teaching?  ELA is unique because you can teach a lot of standards in one lesson.  To me, explicit teaching is having a central focus on a standard.  Most of the time, I have a focus standard and other standards that are supporting standards.  So, if a standard was just a supporting standard, then I wouldn't place a date beside that standard.

What's best about this product?  They are so stinkin' cute and can be used as a way to help the teacher organize and a way to help the students assess their learning.  I just soooo love these!  

I am also planning on having my students use these in their literacy binders.  The standards will be just a resource to have, but I plan on using the standards checklist to have them self assess based on the standards we are working on.  I am thinking of having them date and rate the standards after we have a lesson on it.  There are 5 columns so they will have 5 chances/exposures to have a rate of 3.  

I am planning on the numbers representing:

3: I understand; I could teach someone else.

2: I am emerging in my understanding; I still need a little more practice.

1: I am novice in my understanding; I need remediation.

I have never used anything like this with my kids, so I am anxious to see how it goes. 

How are you planning to use them?

A Teacher's Planner: 2014-2015

Oh My!  I have been working on this beauty for a few days now.  It's so much detail that I thought I was NEVER going to finish!  Well, it is here and it is ready for you!  I can't wait to get mine printed and bound together.  I am still debating on whether or not to go with a spiral bound or binder system. I used a binder last year, but this year I am thinking about using both!  I am thinking of binding my lesson plans, standards, and maps in spiral and doing my curriculum type things in a binder.  Although I love my binder, that thing sure does get heavy!

Here's a video preview just for you!

 

 This is a 240+ page file that contains:

Printable File

Editable File for Personalization

6 Cover Designs to Choose From

Birthday Tracker

Daily Schedule

Student Info. Tracker

Technology Information Tracker/Record

Parent Contacts Form

Absent Student Form

Record Keeping Spreadsheet

Grade Book Spreadsheet

Year-At-A-Glance Yearly Planner

Weekly Planning w/ Notes

1st-4th Quarter Planning {all subjects}

2-Page Monthly Calendar with Dates {Aug. - July}

2-Page Weekly Calendar with Dates {Aug. - July}

Weekly To-Do Form {Copy, Plan, Email, Meet, Create} w/ Notes

2-3-4-5-6 Subject Monthly Curriculum Maps

Guided Reading Lesson Plan Template

Guided Math Lesson Plan Template

Various Formats of Lesson Plan Templates

**I will be adding Common Core Standards and Common Core Standard Checklists for grade K-5 in both reading and math in my store in the upcoming weeks.  These will be a design that can be used in your planner, but they will not be part of it.  These will need to be purchased separately. 

So... here she is!

Make sure you go and check it out in my store!

Summer Bloggin' Week 4

I'm back again this week for week 4 of the Teaching Trubune's Summer Bloggin' link up.  This Monday, we are blogging about ourselves again this week :)  What FUN!  Don't forget to stop by the blog to link up and read all about other bloggers!  

Here are my three interesting facts about me.

I am a person of change.  I just love changing things in my classroom, at home, and on my blog {hence my new design that I just love!}.  My poor kiddos at school get use to me changing things.  They actually enjoy it.  They look forward to what new things I do in the classroom.  My poor husband puts up with it at home.  

The second thing not many know about me is that I was a trouble teenager.  I didn't do so well in school (although I was very smart) and barely graduated high school.  That would be more motivational than academically.  Even though I had to go to summer school (I know... so horrible) I still graduated with a decent GPA.  It wasn't until I was in college when I decided I wanted to be a teacher.  I've loved it ever since!

I.AM.A.SHOPAHOLIC!  

There... I said it!  My poor husband is so generous to put up with my craziness.  I could so drop thousands of dollars on a daily basis.  Right now, I can rattle off at least 10 things I 'need.'

See...

#1: New Camera Lens

#2: Maxi Skirts

#3: Binder for my Lesson Plans

#4: Palazzos Pants

#5: North Face Book Bag (for the toddler.. okay, for me)

#6: Pottery Barn Book Bag (really for the toddler who starts K3 in the fall)

#7: Windows Laptop to use Acrobat for TpT Products

#8: Backyard Deck

#9: Patio Set

#10: Chart Paper Markers

That's to name a few.  Call me crazy, but I love to buy just about anything.

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow to see which two products I will host as 50% for the day!  It's going to be good :) I may have a new product available.

BTW- Does anyone know how to get rid of the gray photo bucket icon?  I can't find the html code that it belongs to :(  It's crowding up my space!

Daily 5-ish Update: What Worked..What Didn't

So, I've been thinking about this post for a while now.  I'm just now getting a chance to put my thoughts down and reflect on how I want to change things for next year.  I remember this post on instagram from last year.

I was Sooo excited to jump into the Daily 5 and get it started in my classroom.  The entire concept of how it all works and flows together is remarkable.  The first couple of weeks, I did everything just as the book stated.  I took my time and introduced a few things at a time.  I absolutely loved it!  Best of all, my kiddos did too!  MOST of the time I would give them choice of what to do.  They had a calendar they kept in their binders that had guideline on them.  For example, they would need to use one of their rotations every day for read to self.  For Word Work, they needed to complete this no more than two times a week.  I had to go weekly rather than daily because there simply was not enough time to get it all done.  Instead of Daily 5, I quickly changed it to "Our Dailies."  We had daily things to do, and it was up to the students to ensure those daily requirements were fulfilled.

So, here's how it looked in my classroom.

Mondays: Whole Group Lesson (introduce standards for the week, review focus board, introduce weekly reading skill).  Sometime our weekly skill would be carried over from the previous week depending on how complex the skill was.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays: These are the days we complete our dailies.  During this time, we have a 10-15 minute mini-lesson then three rotations where I meet in small group with all students.  While I am meeting with groups, students are completing their dailies and filling in their calendar.

Fridays: This is our assessment day.  The students always took a 10-question weekly assessment that assessed the skill we worked on that week as well as some we have worked on in previous weeks.  I also spend this day meeting with students and conducting individual conferences.

What am I going to change?

I actually changed several things throughout the school year, but one of the big things I am going to change are going to be our weekly assessments.  I am still going to have some type of independent work to assess student learning, but it will not be in the form of an assessment every week.  By week 23, I felt like these were just becoming a routine for the students.  I am also going to try and incorporate more performance task and projects in the place of assessments.  Last year was my first year teaching 5th grade reading since the implementation of the Common Core, so I feel a lot more comfortable going into it this coming school year.

I also have more thoughts on CAFE and how it worked in my classroom but that's another post!

Favorite Pins Friday

Hey, Y'all!  I'm on vacation today!

 Ahhh... just what my soul needs!  Even though I'm on vacay and will not return until tomorrow, I have scheduled this post for you!  Instead of my favorite pins from this past week, these are some of my all-time favorite pins!

How clever is this idea and why haven't I thought of this?  This is a great way to keep yourself organized for all those new students you get at the beginning of the school year.  I could even have some student volunteers to put these together for me.  5th grade girlies always love helping!

Does anyone else have meet your teacher night?  We have it the night before school starts and it's usually on a Thursday.  Regardless of when we have it, it is nothing but C-R-A-Z-Y!!  Have you ever tried to talk to 30+ parents in a few hours?  A lot of times, it's all at once.  This is a great way to give the parents who are waiting to talk to you something to do.  I really wish we had open house later in the year so parents can come into the classrooms and actually see what their children have been doing.  In addition to stations, I will also be doing #3 below.

This is a great way for a no-excuse way to send good notes home.  All you have to do is write the letter and place a stamp on them.  It's a great way to also make sure that everyone gets a good note at least once.  Good-to-go!  

The famous words of teacher... only to find out they totally skipped over the entire last page!  How many of you ask your students to go back and check their work?  Have you ever watched to see what they do?  They literally go back, look over each question, see they have written SOMETHING down, then turn it back in. This is a short & sweet post that can definitely be put to good use.

Who doesn't like Lucy Calkins?  This is a WONDERFUL video of how a teacher incorporates close reading in a whole group lesson.  These lessons are great to introduce close reading to your classes.

Hope y'all have had a great week!  Keep pinning :)

Terri

Favorite Pins Friday!

Hey Y'all!

I'm back again with another Favorite Pins Friday.  Here are some of my favorite pins from this week!

Isn't this small group area just lovely?  I love how everything is neat and has a place.  I've been searching {and tried} for a TON of different ways to organize my small group materials.  I actually have a lot of the same things this classroom does.  For example, I have a leaf, those same stools, a similar pen/marker caddy, and bins for each small group.  Unfortunately, I have no idea where this picture came from since it links to a window and not a blog :(  If you can help find the source, please let me know as I would love to read more about what all she has on her shelves.

Oh.My.Goodness!  This has got to be one of the best guided math websites I have ever found.  Cobb County Schools in Georgia has got it going on.  This links to a 'blog' type of website that has all sorts of information about what guided math is and resources to use.  I don't teach math anymore, but if I did, this would be my go-to place!  I also have some pretty good 'stuff' myself!  You can read it here.

Isn't this the cutest idea... ever?  As my 5th graders are reading, I am always trying to get them to be mindful of figurative language.  This is an awesome way to have them be mindful, but I could also see this as getting out of hand.  Where would all those post-its go?  I teach two classes, and I'm not sure what we would do with them all.  Any suggestions?  I could type them up every Friday and pass out for their notebooks on the following Monday.  That would work and it would also give me a time to proof read them to make sure they are correct.  I am definitely using this idea this year, so look for my printable this summer!  {BTW- I also like the point club clip system for AR.}

I like this because it's just so cute!  This is something I have tried in the past, but I hasn't worked for me... yet!  There are a ton of ideas on this teacher's blog.

This is a good resource for all you writing teachers out there.  This homeschooling mama shares what she does for her 2nd grade son's writing notebook.  She also has several free resources you can download and print.  This isn't something I will use right now, but maybe later :)

Have Fun Pinning!