Welcome back 2014-2015

To say that I have been gone from blogging is indeed an understatement.  The end of last year was a continuous cycle of activity and growth for me.  I am so excited to start this year with a brand new class.  My munchkins this year are absolutely adorable and I am going to have no problem growing with them for ten months.  I decorated my room with some bargains I found after taking the advice of another teacher.  I must say I am flattered she requested me to teach her son who is obsessed with Sharknado..not sure about the spelling.  He is adorable as are the rest of my children.  I am the ESE class this year and have one who functions at a very low level.  I have two that speak don't speak English yet...shocking I know.  I am super busy and always running.  This is the last year of my Master's in Educational Leadership and am doing my Internship with my inspiring Assistant Principal Libby.  We took a few minutes to celebrate 911 on Thursday.  Here are some pictures of my classroom this year and of my magical munchkins who love the US!  Welcome Back!

Totally Terrific Thanksgiving Traditions

Today was a whirlwind of activities!!  Our school hosted a Turkey Trot where all the grade levels run together and the first three winners from each sex win a turkey!  Two of the girls from my class won turkeys!!  We also made acorn cookies, fact family turkeys and read lots of exciting books about Thanksgiving!  My favorite was Fancy Nancy's Thanksgiving.....I was her for one year and I love her!!

Veteran's Day 2013

This year Veteran's Day was a whirl wind of activities!!  I've just found time to post the work my kiddos did for the Veterans!  They were really awed with the idea of Veterans and I am so proud of their work.  I downloaded so many good ideas from TpT to use I can't remember who's Veteran's Day Writing Day Packet our class used.... but if she recognizes it thank you because I loved it and so did my little monsters!!  Happy Veteran's Day!!

Holiday Happenings

The Holiday Season is here!!!!  I have been a multi tasking maniac for the past few weeks.  Between taking time to travel, writing papers and presentations for grad school and watching FSU football I am all worn out!  I have recently discovered a new app on my very old phone called Tinder that is so entertaining.  Who would have thought the world was full of so many successful gentleman!!  Our district gives us Veterans Day off so I have Monday off!  YES!!  After that I have two weeks to Thanksgiving Break and it will be time to think about turning 31 and Christmas (baby Jesus's birthday).  I have a very low class this year and LAZY doesn't even begin to describe some of my first grade boys!  The demographics of our school have shifted and the word migrant is being thrown around a lot.  This is also the first year I have a student with an incarcerated parent so I am full of new ideas on how to bridge the gap here!  If you have any I will gladly take them!  The Common Core is really challenging for my students but they are growing!  Whole brain teaching is an idea I have started using to motivate my students and they love it!!

The first nine weeks!!

The first nine weeks is almost over!  My class this year is challenging.  They are wonderful but not as special as last year's. I can't wait to finish decorating my room for Halloween and complete my Halloween centers.  Hopefully I will have time to post them this year!!  I'm happy it is so sunny in Florida but I miss Michigan and the atmosphere up north!  One of the things I'm doing this year in my room this year is portions of the daily five and it is working fabulously!  My munchkins are excited I pay such close attention to their writing.  They love to share their work with the class.  We just finished swimming and it was exceptional!  All of my munchkins this year swam!

 

Classroom pics 2013-14

My classroom is finally complete!  It took forever to put together this year because I had to move classrooms which meant I had to unpack and organize everything!  I'm so excited about the way it looks!  I was able to snag some really nifty things while I was up north in Michigan!  It's so nice to be back in Florida and in my classroom.  I was able to find and use the things I printed from other teacher's blogs to decorate my room.  I absolutely love the colorful pictures and signs I had laminated!  I still need to buy baskets and ribbon for my library but it will be a job for next weekend!  This year we can share lesson plans which means a lot more time for extra planning and awesome creative ideas during the school day!  I put tissue boxes on every desk just in case there are tears tomorrow.  I think I'm ready for the first day of school.  I am using a Monster Goes to School which I got free online at Teachers Pay Teachers and I'm really excited!

 

 

 

 

the daily 5

I just finished the daily 5, my first summer read so far and it is filled with fascinating, fun filled ideas for Language Arts.  I'm going to post a quick outline if anyone is interested in using it as a point of reference.  The daily 5 builds stamina through building deep muscle during read to self, read to someone, work on writing, listening to reading and word work.  The Anchor Charts are used as a resource created by both the students and the teacher.  The charts build on ideas daily and are used at the beginning of the lesson.  There is a breakdown of information for presentation purposes to the students. 

Work on Writing

For example, the teacher models independence during work on writing.  She models a short narrative story where she doesn't stop to ask the teacher for help with spelling words.  Instead she underlines the words and finishes her story independently. 

Read to Self

During Read to Self the teacher has the students practice reading for three minutes to build stamina.  This is my favorite part of the book. 

Read to Someone

There are really good bookmarks on TpT that have the three ways to read to someone written on them for what I used to call partner reading.

Listen to Reading

The part I found most interesting during this section was the way the teacher models and has the students practice the correct way to clean up.

Word Work

This part of Language Arts is for vocabulary and spelling.  The teacher gives her students plenty of time to play with their supplies before they begin making words.

 I also found the book boxes really cute and creative!  I plan on using this in my classroom next year.  Everything the authors suggest you model is very important for classroom management.  The books a really good outline and is short!  It's definitely a suggested read!