Currently November

I think I might be the only Michigander who loves the coziness of it getting dark earlier.  I love a moon-lit walk with my family and doggy, a fire in the fireplace, and candles lit.  That extra hour today was such a gift!  I felt like I was able to "sleep in" but also got a TON done!

I'm linking up with Farley for her November Currently.  Nosy Nelly that I am, I love seeing what everybody is up to...just call me Agnes {hubby does}.

I love my husband bunches and bunches - but man, that guy loves his cereal...I try really hard not to fixate on it.  I mean, he's allowed to eat - right?  I swear I don't chomp and slurp like he does.  I can't, right?  Maybe I do.  I doubt it. 

I woke up this morning feeling really overwhelmed. I had a lot to accomplish and wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it all. That extra hour was a true gift.  I went into school and got a TON done!  My house presentable...not great, but at least the crumbs are off the floor.

Go vote!!!!

I really hate shopping.  A LOT.  I guess if I was rolling in the dough I would mind it less - but I really can't stand the mall, hate waiting in lines, bahumbug.  I just wish I could blink my holiday shopping done.  That's why I try to take care of it all early...before the crowds get so awful that I get all grouchy.

I have a few teachers coming in to observe reader's and writer's workshop on the 15th.  I'd like to knock the socks off their feet.  Okay, honestly - I'd just like to not look like a fool. At first they were going to video tape me - which, seemed like the better option.  Then I remembered the camera adds ten pounds and I opted to have the people actually come in.  That makes me sooooo nervous though.  Blah.

I play music all the time in my classroom.  We transition to music and often times we work to music.  My two current favorites are:

Hunk-ta, Bunk-ta Boo by Katherine Dines has a folk-y flair {which I'm not usually into - but I love it and so do the kids}.  It's fun and I use it mostly during transitions.  One of my favorites is "Read a Book" which I play before reader's workshop.

Lavender Skies by Gary Lamb is beautifully played piano music. We use this during quiet work time - usually during writer's workshop.  Soothing.

There ya be!

So what did you do with your extra hour?

Have a great week!

Appy Hour and More...

Happy November!

Sheesh...can hardly believe it's turkey time!

I just wanted to share a little app that a friend of mine told me about that I just LOVE!  Are you a stick picker?  I didn't used to be.  I always try to alternate when I call on my kiddos...boy, girl, boy, girl...I still do that sometimes, but I try to play it fair and pick sticks.  I have three cups of sticks scattered around the room. Of course, I can never find a cup when I need it.

This is one helpful little app..

Click the picture to check it out for yourself - it's only $2.99...not too shabby...

 

I like the question stems too...you can customize them based on your students' abilities - a great way to differentiate.

 

Another great app that is really growing on me is the Confer app.  I've been playing around with it and really started to like it today.  It's a simple way to organize your conferring notes during workshop.  You can set up different groups so you can easily organize your notes for whatever subject areas you might want.  So far, I've been keeping notes during reader's and writer's workshop.  The app has a lot of features that I haven't had the time to play with - but it has so many capabilities.  It was 10 bucks...but honestly SOOOOO worth it.  I've tried so many different ways to keep track of my conferring notes and I really think this one is going to be "it"!

 



We had a slow start this year with writer's workshop. Building our writing stamina has proven to be tricky business.  They'd start off strong and then peter out after about 10 minutes.  FINALLY, it seems that we have picked up steam.  Lightbulbs are going on left and right!

Today, the day after Halloween, I was just getting started with my mini-lesson. I looked out at the crowd and they were all crashing hard from their sugar buzz's...HA!  My lesson about staying close-in when ending your story was going to go over like a fart in church.  I knew I had to think fast on my feet....

My bin of stuffed buddies caught my eye.  I grabbed the frog {he jumps} and frantically grabbed a cute pink flamingo.  They stand on one leg and stay put for long periods of time...right?  I think so. I didn't do my research beforehand, it was on a whim...remember?

Do you remember this post/book about using concrete objects to solidify concepts? I've been all about that this year and have come up with some good ones on my own.  We've used rubber bands to remind ourselves to s t r e t c h out words when we write - listening for and writing down all of those sounds we hear.  We've used magnifying glasses to help us ZOOM in on one small moment ...writing all those details we remember to help us stretch out our stories.  And today....

When I described that frog endings JUMP away from the topic...like "...and then I went home", I threw the frog to the other side of the classroom.  That woke them up!  I took the leg of the flamingo and sort of pulled it up and had him stand there, still as a statue on that one leg.  He stayed put. Just like our flamingo endings should...close-in. 

When a teacher-friend came into my classroom at the end of workshop I asked the kiddos to explain "frog endings" and "flamingo endings" to her and I tell you...I have never seen so many kids raise their hands.  It really was mighty cool.  Now to see them apply what they learned.  We'll get there...

Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween! Monster Poem Freebies...

Happy Halloweenie!

Did you live?  Do you still have your sanity intact?  Are you twitching yet? 

We had our Halloween party on Monday...good idea since it was a half day of school.  Well, at the time it seemed like a good idea...then today happened. Today. Halloween.  Kids still in party mode.  Yikes.

Good thing I sorta anticipated this and rolled with it.  Just went with it. Embraced the crazies.

We've been talking about words and spelling patterns.  We've been rounding up rhymes and all that jazz.  This morning I read this poem {I found it somewhere on the internet eons ago...if it's yours, let me know - I'd love to give credit!!!} to my kiddos...

Font: Hello Literacy Clipart: Scrappin' Doodles
Frame: Teaching in a Small Town

Okay, so that's itty bitty.  You can click on the image to download yours for free...but here's a bit of it so you get an idea...

Let's Build a Monster

When you draw a monster, it is said,

You always begin with his head.

 

He'll be able to see when he flies,

If we draw to bright eyes.

 

To tell which way the cold wind blows,

Our monster will need a nose.

 

Look to the north and look to the south,

Now we can give our monster a mouth.

 

Etc.

 

It's a super fun poem and it's great for exercising those listening skills {Yikes, on Halloween!?!?  It was great because I told them if they worked really hard on their monsters, worked really quietly so they could hear "Monster Mash" playing in the background...that we'd have a Monster Parade with our pictures}. 

 

Oh, and they put up "blockers" {folders} so others couldn't see their work.  This lead into a great discussion about schema.  Why, after hearing the same exact poem, did our monsters end up looking different from one anothers?!?  Sooooo cool!

 

They drew their monsters on this paper...

 

Click on the picture to download yours for free...



Once we finished each table paraded around the room, showing off their monsters to the tune of The Monster Mash.  Pretty fun.  Here are some pictures.

I copied the poem on the back so the parents could see what we did...

 The rest of the morning was business as usual.  Daily 5 and the whole shebang...

In the afternoon we did Abby's Candy Corn Bandit...

Oh my gosh you guys - if you haven't done this with your kids you'll want to do it next year.  Holy moly...I haven't seen this kind of excitment since the Leprechaun visited our classroom last year.  The kids were making predictions, sequencing using ordinal numbers, making inferences...it was pretty cool and FUN!!!!!

Hope you had a great Halloween...now go to bed!

Giveaway Winner!

I'm typing with one eye open...it's conference time and I think I may just keel over right this very second.

Before I do....

I wanted to annouce the winner of my bloggy birthday bash giveaway....

Congrats Sarah!  I've sent you an email and will get with all my wonderful bloggy friends.  You've got lots of goodies headed your way!  Woo hoo!!!!!

I'm off to close the other eye...

Zzzzzzzzz

Happy Bloggy Birthday Bash!!!!!! *I "Smell" a GIVEAWAY!*

This is crazy on so many levels.  I missed my bloggy birthday...crazy.  I've been blogging for an entire year....crazy.  In that year I've gained almost 1,000 followers...crazy.  I've made some really great friends on this journey....crazy-cool!

Some very special blogettes are helping me celebrate...

Is offering any one item from her store! Click {HERE} to see the cool stuff there!

 

Jen is offering her inclusive Progress Monitoring Assessments for Foundational Literacy pack.
Read more about it {HERE} 

 

 

 

Three customized activities the winner can choose the skill and theme - how cool is that!?!?
Click her button to visit her blog!

Is giving a cute ghostly math activity pack!

 

Click the picture to visit her store!

 


Is giving the most darling spider week pack!

Click the picture to visit her store!

Is giving away her totally awesome reading comprehension flippy books!

 



Click the picture to visit her store!

Is giving away this way cute homphone pack!

 

Click the preview to visit her store!

And I'm offering...  

PLUS...  

Win THREE holiday Scentos markers!

   

I was contacted by Scentos to try out their new holiday markers - If you remember I'm a HUGE fan of these markers {and so are my students!!!!!!}.  Click {here} to pick up my "Spell It, Smell It" freebie.  These new markers are absolutely adorable!  See for yourself...

 

Do you see Frankenstein!!?!  CUTE or WHAT!?!?

Dry erase marker - my only wish?  That it looked more different from the other smelly markers so I wouldn't accidentally use a smelly one on my dry erase board.  STILL cute though!!!!!!! And smells deeeeeelish! We use tissues for "erasers"...work wonders!

Smelly glitter glue!  So thick and easy to work with!

It's still wet but doesn't "run"...very cool!

And smelly highlighters!!!!

You can find the holiday Scentos at Walmart and the dry erase markers and highlighters will be available at Michael's and Walmart in early 2013!  Click {here} to visit the new Scentos website.

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!!!!!!!!

Boo!

Click the picture to go visit Cynthia's blog over at 2nd Grade Pad - she's the gal who started the fun!!!!

My separated-at-birth-blog-buddy, Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun, boo'd me! 

 

 

 

Kimberly and I met at our Michigan blog meet-up  - both of our husbands are teachers and she might just be the only other person I've met who appreciates all things Amish!!! Thanks for thinking of me - and this BOO is much easier on the 'ol ticker than the one I received last night from some neighbors. 

 

I'm having just as hard a time with choosing who to boo as I do with who to ding-dong-ditch...I'm not sitting here with the same uncontrollable giggles and heart palpitations though...

 

 

 

 

 

Susan is a TOP teacher in my book!  You should go check out her blog to read about narrative writing! She's also a real sweet gal who I know you'll love to visit!!!!

 

 If you need a good laugh you've got to head over to Miss Squirrel's blog.  Not only will she keep you smilin', she's also crafty and clever to boot.  She's one of my BBF {Best Bloggy Friends} who will probably kill me for boo'ing her...HA!

 

Cheryl has a heart of gold and has been there for me since I started this blogging adventure.  She's super supportive and FULL of great ideas.  Go check out her blog and enter her Skippyjon Jones giveaway!

 

 

Now, I have to decide who I'm going to ding-dong-ditch...it's fun and all that, but let's just say I almost always "out" us with my giggles & screams.  Skulking around people's houses in the dark just isn't a strong suit of mine...

October Currently - {Better late than never...}& A Freebie!!!!!

October - love it!  Coffee, fires, candles & football games...sweatshirts and jeans make me happy too.

Ahhhhhh....October and its colors.  Michigan's landscape is so gorgeous right now.  I can't drive anywhere without noticing its beauty and feeling so blessed to be surrounded by it. 

This is what I see when I look out my window....ahhhh

Farley is celebrating October over at her blog with her Currently October.  Head on over to see what your favorite bloggers are up to!

Here's what's going on in my neck of the woods....

We have these chipmunks that come right up to our door, sit on the lawn furniture and just torment my doggy girl.  She goes from doorwall to doorwall from our family room to our kitchen just in a twit and a tither....just when she decides to call it quits, take a little rest on the couch she hears their chattering and just HAS to play their game. 

Who doesn't love fall decorations?  For some reason, I can't light a candle in the heat of the summer, but once the cooler weather approaches I have them burning every single day...along with a fire in the fireplace...I'm in Fall heaven!!!

Newsletter....yup, I got nothin' to say about that except...UGH.

I've been totally addicted to watching Brothers and Sisters under my blankets with my iPad these days on Netflix.  I'm still on the first season so I've got a ways to go.  I can't even stand thinking about it right now...I just want to close up the computer and get back to watching the next episode!!!!!

Isn't folding and putting away laundry for the birds?  My husband thinks he's helping me when he "does laundry".  Mind you, he only puts load after load into the washer...and then piles the clean stuff in baskets for me to fold and put away.  {I can't complain too much - he does all the cooking and grocery shopping....hey, stop throwing things at me...I know, I know - I'm really lucky that way!!!!!!} I didn't stay on top of the laundry last week so now I have MOUNTAINS to contend with today. 

I have SOOOOOO many Halloween favorites when it comes to books.....

Gotta love the groove and the beat of this one!!!!

And the rhyming in this one!!!!!

With Room on the Broom we do something called "Rounding up the Rhymes".  I walk into my closet as myself and come out of the closet as my alter ego "Country Mrs. W."...southern accent and all.  With my cowboy hat on, lasso {jump rope} in hand, ready to round up some of them there rhymes.

I record them on chart paper and they record them on their own sheet...I don't worry about rounding up every rhyme {there are a lot} but just enough to notice spelling patterns, that some words may rhyme and have the same spelling pattern, while others rhyme but the spelling pattern isn't the same.

Click on the picture below to pick up your freebie!

It's in black and white too!

Alrighty, ya'll - never you mind that I started this here post a whole darn week ago and just now posted it!  When will I feel on top of things? 

Toodles for now!