...but.....

Happy {Five for} Friday!

Today was one crazy day.  Ever wake up and you just know you have WAY too much planned and going on for one day?  That was today. I took on WAY too much...

Will you have a pity party for me?  Just for a second?  Today was Chai Tea Friday and I didn't have time to stop for one.  A moment of silence please.

Okay...it's party time, Friday Five style...

 

I love my class this year - I really, really do.  My boys can be silly.  You're shocked, right?  I have been putting off adding this word ALL year.  We can't even read it in a story without giggles.  How was I going to highlight this word, do word wall aerobics with this word, and have them spell and say this word countless times?  I can't put it off any longer. I have to bite the bullet next week.  Wish me luck.  It's in the plans...{I planned my whole week today...crazy, huh?}

We were reviewing sentences this week in guided reading.  I was giving examples of the various sentences...when I started a sentence, "Mrs. W's hair is...." I paused just a bit too long, I guess, because a little cutie pie decided to finish my sentence for me ..."sorta grey".  Is it time to wash that grey right outta my hair?

Yesterday's magic word left me with a hankerin' for some sweets by the end of the day.  We had an unusually energetic one after three days of indoor recess...I used this word often.

 

 We made story grammar cubes!  I don't know where I found these...I could make some one day to offer you, except I'm pretty sure the geometry behind that madness might just be more than I can handle.  You should have seen us putting them together.  It wasn't pretty.

I picked mine up from Lesson Plans SOS {freebie}

We're getting hot and heavy into Common Core.  I'm dabbling in stating our learning goal {target}.  I'm taking small steps.  I have always told the kids what we were going to learn in each lesson - but stating the learning goal explicitly and having it on display and referring to it throughout the lesson kept us all on track.  I think I like it!

And I will leave you with this...I got the biggest chuckle out of it.  Let me say, if my own little guys saw this on t.v., I don't think I'd be all that thrilled.  But...{there's that word} you've got to admit, it's pretty cleverly done... {Hope this doesn't offend you!!!!}



Happy weekend!!!!

Learning Goals - Common Core - Freebie

Hey You Guys!!!!

Anybody busy out there?  Assessments, report cards and holidays...oh my!  If it weren't for this...

My newest vice...

I'd have lost my cool by now!!!  I'm not really a tea drinker...but this stuff is cozy, yummy and calms me right down.  Give it a try...it might make that twitch go away!

We're undertaking the daunting task of adopting the Common Core.  It's going okay but I do find myself feeling like a first year teacher all over again.  How many times have I thought "Geez, I've been at this for 13 years and I STILL feel like a new teacher"?! 

I love keeping up with current & best practice - but every now and then, I'd like to stick with something for more than a couple of years.  I do like the depth that The Core provides...I just can't wait for it to become second nature.

I've had focus walls in the past where I posted what we were currently working on - but they were in my own words and weren't necessarily directly connected to any one standard.  With the new CCSS I am attempting to display the standards that our class is currently working on.  Making the kids explicitly aware is pretty cool too.  My hope is that if you were to pull one of my kiddos aside - they'd be able to tell you in "kid-language" what standards we are focusing on in each curricular area. 

Have you seen Mrs. Wheeler's "I Can" statements?  Head on over to her store and check them out...

Click the picture to head over to her store!

Print, laminate and display...

Click above to pick yours up for free!

Post your Learning Goals header somewhere in your room and the CCSS you're currently working on directly underneath.  Nice and small to conserve space {Just be sure to put them at your kiddos eye level so they can easily see them} which is super important if your classroom is as itty bitty as mine!

Happy Learning!