Appy Hour!

Are you lucky enough to have a class set of iPads?  Me neither.  HA - but boy do I wish I did.  I do have one of my own that I stupidly bravely share with my class.  So far so good. {Quick, knock on something!}

Our awesome Media Specialist has hosted three Appy Hours at our school and they always prove to be worthwhile.  It's super easy to do.  She sends out a district-wide invitation via email.  Provides drinks {Diet Coke & water, people!} and chocolate {a must} and then we share, share, share!

We spend an hour and some change just sharing with one another the cool educational {and not-so-educational}apps we've been using in our classroom.  I found some good ones tonight and thought I'd pass them along to you!

Gives you free apps of the day - many are teacher/kid-friendly!

Scholastic eBooks - you get five free when you sign up!

 

 

Great way for kids to share their thinking/learning on a specific topic - can draw {using fingers on screen} and talk {record}.

 

There are pop-up ads, but only when you first open the app {each time} - simple timer, and when you've reached your goal a cute & colorful "Well Done" pops up on the screen with Ta-Da'ish music!

Monitors classroom noise level - can set the sensitivity

 

If you have a projector in your classroom this is a must-have ... I don't have one yet, but I'm heading out to grab one...



It's a VGA Adapter which allows you to hook your iPad up to your projector! 
Hook some speakers up and you're good to go!

So there you have it - our own virtual Appy Hour!  Share some of your favorites in a comment below so we can all stock up!!!

Linking up With Love *Valentine's Day Freebie*

It is crazy hard to believe that February is right around the corner..I mean, that Groundhog is going to be peaking out to let us know just how many more weeks of winter we will have.  That always makes me think spring is right around the corner, which makes me think of the end of the school year - yikes...put on the brakes!  I love this group wayyyyyy too much to say good bye so soon.

Okay - it's really only February...the month of looooooove.

I'm linking up with Tessa over at Tales From Outside the Classoom to share some of those things that rank right up there in my life.

I have so many awesome people in my world....what a blessing to be surrounded by people who remember what you drink at Starbucks and who listen to your moans, groans and celebrations.  Whether it be my family or friends {both bloggy and "real life"} I'm one blessed chicky.  My sister-slash-photographer took this picture of {some} the cousins...



Ham 1 & Ham 2 are my boys! Those boys the loves of my life...they keep me on my toes, are so darn smart, and make me smile EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.   Poor Aunt Lisa did not have agreeable subjects that day - but can't you just see the love in that picture?!?

Right now I am completely in love with using my reusable cup from Starbucks!!!!!

It only cost a dollar and I get 10 cents off my Chai Tea Latte each time I fill'er up!!!!

 

I love teaching, blogging, creating and talking about teaching, blogging and creating!  HA!  If you are reading this and have ever wondered if you should start a blog or maybe start creating things for TpT I think you should give it a go!!!!  No stinkin' thinkin'.  I mean, c'mon...look at my first post...it was no great shakes, but on that day - with that first comment I fell in LOVE!!!!!! {With my profession all over again!}  I've made so many friends in blogland and while you might have 3, 4 or 5 people on your team...I have more than I can count! 

I love fiddling around on the computer - but never, ever, never did I think I would take my ideas and share them with the world!!!!! {I've received emails from AUSTRALIA}  My latest creation that is chock full of LOVE is my Valentine's Day pack...



Click {here} to head over to TpT

I would love, love, love to give it away to three of you...comment below with something YOU love!!!  I'll randomly choose three people later tonight!

 

Thanks for sharing all of your LOVE!

The winners, chosen by my fifth grader, are...

Here's a freebie...because I know you LOVE those!!!!!

Happy weekend!!!

MLK Day *Freebie*

Hey Everybody,

So, do you work on Monday?  We have the day off so we spent some time this week learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.

I did this activity for the first time this year, and I tell you, I had goosebumps when I cracked the eggs and heard my kiddos reactions.  It took all those moments when we read books about "being yourself" {Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon} and "it's what's on the inside not the outside that counts" {Elmer}and combined it with two eggs, simply cracked, to get it - I mean, really get it.  I heard oohh's and ahhs....



I'm not exactly sure where this idea originated - but I found it on Pinterest

Source: kidsactivitiesblog.com via Brittnie on Pinterest

We made doves, signs of peace, to display ways that we thought we could work at keeping our classroom a peaceful place...

We watched this short video clip on Scholastic News...

Click the picture to head over to Scholastic News - it gives just the right amount of information.

And worked our way through some other activities in my MLK Day Mini-Pack...

If you are lucky enough to work on Monday <wink, wink> and are a Last Minute Lucy you can pick up my pack to help you muddle through the day!

Click the preview to get to my TpT store!

Here's a freebie from the pack - I tried my hand at writing poetry {That took a lot of mental brainpower}.  Just print and have your kids illustrate.

Click the picture to download...
Clipart: Creative Clips

Have a great weekend!!!!

Any big plans?

We're celebrating my "baby's" 8th birthday...where has the time gone!?!

Did You Forget to Share?

I had my last cohort meeting this week and took so much from it.  My favorite part was visiting my dear friend and teaching pal, Barb's, classroom.  We talk teaching nonstop but this is the first time we've had the chance to really see each other in action {she came to my room this week too}.  She has the neatest way of engaging her kiddos with crazy facial expressions, whispers...then suddenly louder, and enthusiasm.  Her kids were absolutely riveted...I was jealous! Ha, ha!!

Our cohort group, which consists of three other teachers and a literacy coach, read portions from this book...

This book wasn't a big a-ha in terms of knowing how important it is to share, even the types of sharing and the fact that choosing who shares should be purposeful, wasn't much of an a-ha to me either...but it definitely was a good reminder that I should make more of an effort just because the benefits from it are pretty powerful. It's a great way to reinforce your mini-lesson or provides a great spring-board/connector for tomorrow's lesson.

I start each lesson with the intent of getting some awesomely meaningful conferring done and then I'll find those two or three thinkers who I want to spotlight and then life happens...

Somebody throws up...
The phone rings...
Somebody's computer won't turn on...
Somebody's computer won't turn up...
Somebody's computer won't turn down...
There's an ant on the floor...
There's a spider on a desk...
There's phone call...
There's a wiggle worm here...
...or a wiggle worm there...
There's that blue eyed cutie who has stolen your heart that keeps sharing their thinking...
There's a brown-eyed dumpling...who can't wait to share his thinking too....
Neither one of them are thinking what you're hoping they'll be thinking...
Somebody loses their tooth...
The phone rings...

But that doesn't stop me and it shouldn't stop you...some days our efforts are thwarted, but we must rally on!!!!!!!

So, I had a group of teachers come and visit my classroom - my kiddos were sooooooo awesome and the morning went swimmingly.  I knew that I should include sharing because that's what teachers do.  My nerves got the better of me, so I chose my sharers randomly.

That'll teach me...

"Boys and girls does anybody have a text-to-self connection they made while reading today that they would like to share with the class?"

Sweet one had read this book...

Hmmm....

It reminded her of her visits to her uncle's farm, where she ate popcorn.  

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have an uncle who has a farm.

Quick thinker that I am, I'm able to twist things around and help her find a more meaningful {and truthful} connection...but it was a stretch.  A big one...seeing as she's not a pig and she's never been kicked off a farm.

Another professional goal {one of many} I've set for myself is to remember to allow time for sharing both in reader's workshop and writer's workshop AND make sure I'm more purposeful; thinking of the different types of sharing:

*Craft Share {where students share a technique they have tried in their writing}

*Process Share {teacher poses a question that pertains to the writing process, i.e. what do you do when you don't know how to spell a word?}

*Progress Share {students share where they are in their learning or their writing} 

Sooooo, with that....

Do you forget to share?

Observing Other Teachers

Hi Guys!

I hope you had a terrific vacation - if you were lucky enough to have this whole past week off, are you ready to get back at it on Monday?  We went back on Thursday - while I didn't really feel ready to give up my spot on the couch, in front of the fire, it was nice to come back to a two day week.  I swear my students grew two inches when they were gone...we hardly fit on the carpet!!!!

By far, my favorite professional development is observing other teachers at work.  I love looking at their classrooms, listening to their instruction and just absorbing it all.  This coming week I'm hosting a group of teachers in my classroom during Daily 5 and the next day I get to observe my pal, Barb, in action.  Let's just say I'm a little more excited about being the observer than the observed.

I could think of something wild and crazy and wow-ful but I decided to go with business as usual.  That just feels more natural and I think we'll all get more out of the experience if that's the way I approach this little slice of fun...

We're working on using our schema to make connections - right now we're focusing on text-to-self connections.  If you're using the common core standards you may be thinking "Hmm, nowhere in the core does it mention text-to-self connections, or nowhere does it talk about activating prior knowledge" - I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this news.  I can't imagine teaching reading comprehension without activating prior knowledge and cannot imagine leaving out how using your schema as you read helps you relate to and understand the story better - so if you'd like to chime in below in my comments with your opinion or understanding of this I would LOVE to hear from you...I'm open, but currently standing firm{ish}...

So, my students know what schema is and have just started learning about using it to make text-to-self connections. They've put little sticky notes on their pages to notate where they've made a connection and have even taken the plunge and shared their thinking with their reading partners during read-to-someone and during our sharing after workshop. 

We made an anchor chart that explained how they'll know they've made a text-to-self connection - I wish I had a picture of it.  Essentially we noticed that when you make a t-t-s connection you usually say or think the words "It reminds ME of" or "I remember a time when" or "One time I..." the key words being "I" or "Me". 

My next step {Early next week} is from Debbie Miller's book Reading With Meaning where we will  read a story, make connections, jot them down on chart paper and then go through each one and discuss which ones are helpful to us as readers...helpful connections help us understand the story better and typically they help us understand the feelings of a character. They also take us back into the text rather than away from it. 

I found this anchor chart on Pinterest that I just love...

Source: joyin6th.blogspot.ca via H on Pinterest

This happens to be from one of my bloggy friends, Kim, over at Joy in 6th - LOVE!

So, when  my teaching pals come visit on Thursday we'll be ready to talk about this anchor chart by connecting it with our thinking the day before {where we decided which connections help us to comprehend the story better}.

I can't wait to see how ready my kids are to understand this BIG thinking...I have faith in their big, busy brains!

What I love about how our literacy coach organizes these observations is that she has the teacher who is being observed meet with the teachers who will be in her classroom before the observation - we talk about the lesson and the observed teacher can share with the others what they would like the others to cue into.  I'm thinking I'm going to want them to walk around and talk with the kids about their connections and whether or not they feel the connections they've made have helped them understand the story better and HOW.  That's some big thinkin'!

After the lesson, we get a chance to debrief, which I love too!!!!  I get feedback from the teachers and find myself growing the most during these conversations...

I'm curious if other districts afford their teachers the opportunity to observe their colleagues...please share!!!!

On a different note, my friend Megan, over at Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade is hosting a great giveaway in celebration of her birthday...head over and enter!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!

Currently January

Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy 2013!!!!

I'm linking up with Farley for this month's currently...

 

Let's delve into this Currently...

 

 I could be a hoarder - I mean, not really- but I do like to hold onto things and it's mostly because they remind me of a moment in time or something lovely.  Luckily, my hubby is the opposite of a hoarder. He's a pitcher...in a BIG way.  We may or may not have gotten into an argument or two {or three....} over stuffed animals, books, coffee mugs...but usually I see the light of day and concede.  Usually.  So, I'm not a hoarder...I  may not be as organized as I'd like to be - but I'm still doin' okay and this show definitely makes me feel non-hoarderish.

No regrets - I might have some shortcomings..{Agnes} but regretting things isn't one of them.  This year went by in a flash and it was a good one. Okay, I take that back...I do regret that I haven't found that magic spell that can slow down time a bit.  I take a look at my boys and sometimes wish I could freeze time because they are just so cool right now!  But no regrets.

The treddy is calling my name...I can sorta hear it through the dust.  It's a little muffled under my laundry but it is calling my name.  I *will* get on that thing today.  Even if it's just to walk.  Walking is better than what I've been doing {Did I mention I got an electric blanket for my birthday from my boys?}...

Have any of you had a personal trainer?  I think I might want one, but the thought of somebody not giving into my trickery...scares me...

..and the hair...I haven't had my ears lowered in a LONG time.  My hair is looking mighty scraggly, but I just put it up in a pony and call it a day.  I need to channel my inner-sass...because I've had some cute do's. 

EMBRACE - I like how open that word can be.  Embrace change, embrace challenge, embrace happiness, embrace a deeper relationship with God, embrace a new friend, embrace...loving that word.  It shall be my new OLW.

I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and wish you many a good day in this new year...