Currently November

Happy November!!!!! Made it through conferences, Halloween and now we're moving on to the busy-ness of the holidays.  I love it though!  I'm DETERMINED to focus on being in the moment and really enjoying the holidays instead of getting caught up in the whirlwind of it all.  Let's keep each other grounded, okay? Deal? 

Thanks, Farley, for being the hostess with the mostess!

I love listening to my boys play with their friends.  Especially when they are getting along! HA!

I swear, you guys, I thought I had fallen off the wagon...I blame it on the Milk Duds!

We're celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary when the kids go to Granny Camp. Ahhhh....

I'm always late to the party - but seriously...

I'm having a hard time finishing this post - I just want to go watch Damon!!

SWOON!

Now that I have a middle schooler - I have to wait for him to catch the bus in the morning before I head off to work.  I cut getting to school on time pretty close - so my Friday chai tea lattes are a thing of the past.  TOMORROW for sure!!!!

I'm notorious for pinning and not doing.  I haven't actually tried these but don't they look scrumpdilicious!?!?! Healthy too!! 

Zucchini Chips {Pin Here}

Alrighty - you know where I'm headed...

toodles!

Conferences, etc. {and some freebies!}

We made it through the first round of conferences.  It was a long, long week - but we made it!  We had conferences two nights this week and then again on Friday afternoon.  Yes, Friday afternoon!  I don't know who thought up that nonsense - but I was one sad, sad teacher who didn't get to wake up a wee bit later {because of course Fridays aren't hair washin' days}and sport her jeans and tennies.

Aside from that, conferences went really, really well!  I have such a nice group of kiddos this year and their parents are just as nice. I don't mind one bit that the apples didn't fall far from those trees.  It was nice to have a number of conferences where I could say "Yup, your kiddo is awesome...and I could end this conference here and now".  

I always open up my conferences with asking the parents if they have any burning questions or something they'd like me to address before I go into my spiel.  Sometimes they do and sometimes their questions require me to do a little "research". I don't want to forget - so I jot them down {because Lord knows, I can forget something mere seconds after you've asked}.  

I also have my parents write a love note to their kiddos and then I do a "special delivery" the next day.  

You can pick these up {here}...

Feels good to have those under my belt...

I'm tired, though.  All that smilin', thinkin' and talkin' just plain tires me out.  My laundry is ALL out of control and my house...let's just say it's Halloween Ready with all the dang cobwebs.  Who wants to spend their weekend taking care of that business?  Not me!  It's times like this that I REALLY wish I had a cleaning lady.  

I am so happy for bloggy friends who have my back...I already know what I'm going to do next week thanks to Leigh over at The Applicious Teacher...have you seen her new "Not So Spooky" Halloween pack?  

I am just in love with the how-to's and the adorable pumpkin craft!!!!  If you are looking for some fun learning next week...you should go check it out!

Alrighty...time to watch some Vampire Diaries...my guilty pleasure!

Happy weekend!!!!

PLC, ABC, PLT, XYZ...

...oh the acronyms abound these days, don't they?

Our school district is using the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model. Luckily, we are not evaluated on all 41 indicators.  My understanding is that it was never the intent that any teacher would be evaluated on all 41. I'm still new to all of this - so I'm curious what your school district is doing.

I will say, my district has done an AWESOME job helping teachers navigate through this new evaluation process and have really put an emphasis on GROWTH, not "gotcha".  

Here are the 14 indicators that our district is focusing on:

I'll be honest, when I first heard about this model I freaked. I might have even shed a tear or two.  But when it all came out in the wash; I realized what I'm being evaluated on - I already do, it's who I am as a professional.  It's probably who you are too.

What I'm still a little nervous about is the amount of growth expected by my students and how my evaluation is growing increasingly more dependent on that.  I'm sure you've seen the parody essay No Dentist Left Behind.  When I read it, it just makes me go "yup, and that's MY reality".  This is what keeps me up at night. I do the absolute best job that I can do, but there are factors out of my control that impact the growth {and lack of} of my students.  

It seems that kids these days {Did I just say that?  Does that mean I'm officially "old"?} come to us with video game trauma {i.e. teachers don't move as fast as a video game, so students can't focus on what they are saying], over-booked and over-cooked {football, soccer, travel ball, piano lessons...busy five nights a week}, hungry, unloved, angry, or tired. Not to mention that teaching children using the words subitizing, schema, viscous liquids and composing and decomposing numbers is WELL over their heads causing them to tune out....and if they don't show the expected growth...it's ALL on me.  

What happened to "it takes a village"?

But I digress...

I've put my faith in God on this one. I work my butt off and I'm always trying to do more and do better. That's all I can do. That's all any of us can do, right?

My to-do list today and every day....I hope it's yours too!

It seems that "data" is the new "developmentally appropriate" {Remember that concept? Yeah, I hardly do either} and we spend a good deal of our time talking about it.  I'm not saying data is all bad.  I just think it can be dangerous.  Dangerous to the point that we might forget that we're actually teaching little, sweet, kind and THINKING human beings.

I hope I never forget.

Anyhoo...what got me pondering this on a Friday night was the form I made for my team to keep track of our PLT's  {formerly known as PLC's}  Here it is if you want it!

Happy weekend friends!

My Week in {lots of} Pictures {Five or More for Friday}...

Hey Everybody!

How's your school year going?  Hanging in there?  Feeling on top of the world, or ready for a break?  If you remember, Michigan doesn't start until after Labor Day, so we're just finding our groove around these parts. And our groove we have found!

My 18 boys and 5 girls are really getting the hang of this first grade gig.  We've been taking a lot of brain breaks {which is good for everyone - myself included!!!!!  I've been known to cut a rug!}.  When I give my students a 5 minute brain break it buys me about 20 more minutes of learning time.  What a bargain!  I found this website that is FULL of great ones.

Here's our current fave:

Daily 5 is going very well!!!! We're up to 15 minutes Read to Self, 12 minutes Work on Writing and 10 minutes Word Work...can't wait to start our guided reading groups!  Almost!!!!

 Great Tower Challenge:  Using what we know about properties of solids to build towers!

Daily 5 book shopping

This was last year - remember how proud I was of those shelves?

This is today...I'm sad, sad, sad to say...

A student is bringing me one fruit each week - she even included a peppermint stick to help make the lemon sweeter...how cute is that!?!?

My little pumpkins weren't wanting to clean up after snack time - this snail race timer did the trick!

We go a little wild at our house....

If you make a "mummy line" he'll sing and dance for you!!!

Look what I came home to yesterday!!!!!

CraftProjectIdeas.com has been so good to me!!!!  The letter they sent said that "Christmas has come early this year" and that they "hope the package of goodies will tide you over for your 2013 holiday crafting season".  My first graders are going to be SO excited to use the fun stuff they sent....FREE!!!!  The quality of their products is awesome. I've purchased some craft materials in the past that were so flimsy and hard to create with that my kiddos would get so frustrated.  Their stuff rocks!!!!!  Go check them out on Facebook for some fun ideas!!!!

I hope you had a great week...what went well for you?  What do wish might have gone differently? Share your Stars and Wishes...

Happy weekend!!!!

Go check out Doodle Bugs for more classroom snapshots at her classroom Five For Friday {or in my case - a little more than that} linky party...

Toodles!!!!

Stability Balls in the Classroom *Freebie*

Hey Everybody!

So, I know stability balls in the classroom is nothing new.  I'm always late to the party.  Always.  I'm finally considering a pair of Uggs.  I just have to sit on some things before I jump on board. I've never been called a trendsetter.  

I blogged about alternative seating {here} I really thought I was going to do it, but I chickened out.  I couldn't envision my kiddos sitting in bean bags and on exercise balls that first day of school. My heart started to palpitate just thinking about it.  

Instead, I decided to ease into it.  Our awesome PTA purchased 6 stability balls for my classroom and I can't wait to start using them.  I had to decide what rules I was going to have to keep everybody safe.  {My current palpitator perpetrator is somebody falling off and bonking their head}.  I'll introduce the rules on Monday and hope for the best!  As you know, I've got a lot of boys this year, so I'm really hoping this helps productively contain their wiggles.

Click the picture to pick up a copy free...

Once Daily 5 is up and running and I've opened up our Book Nooks I think I'll let my students work using these special areas/seats at other times during the day. Slow and steady...

If you use stability balls in your classroom, do you have any tips or tricks you'd like to share?  If you are a teacher who would never considering using them, share your thinking too. I'm curious!

Happy weekend!

Toodles...

Saturday Smorgasbord in Pictures

Hey Everybody!

Well, we made it through our first FULL week and we made it through with flying colors.  That first "week" {my firsties informed me four days does not equal a school week - smart cookies} about did me in.  If you remember, I have a lot of boys this year.  The current stats are:  18 boys and 5 girls.  I might have a boy-heavy room, but that doesn't mean I won't have a class of respectful, kind, {energetic} and responsible learners.  

When you are as tired as I am, a blog full of randomness is about all you can dig up...

Most of these are from Instagram...so sorry you might have seen them already.

Knowing that both boys and girls are into the video game Minecraft - I used this as my quiet signal on Friday.

Worked like a charm.  A little mining here, a little mining there, and my kiddos {especially my boys} were putty in my hands!

After that long first FULL week...I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Nothing that a visit to Target couldn't fix...

Are those shoes not the cutest?  And that candle?  Oh the sweet smells of fall!

Have I told you yet how much I'm loving Planbook.com?  I tried it out this summer and blogged about it here.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.  Seriously, friends - it makes life SOOOOOOO easy.  The best part?  They now have an app for your iPad!!!!!!

I am so happy to report that my weight-loss efforts are now complete!!!!!!

Now I have to focus on maintaining.  This has always been {yup, I've done this before} the hardest part for me.  I think this is why I'm not all that excited about my accomplishment.  Being a teacher is so dang stressful and stress always makes me turn to food.  Conferences, report cards, struggling kiddos...all make me reach for a bag of M & M's.  A fully stocked teachers' lounge doesn't help either!!!!  So here's hoping I can keep it off this time.  If you have any tips or tricks, I'd love to hear 'em!!!

Happy weekend friends...they go too fast!

Nineteen Boys & Four Girls...Classroom Pictures too! {And some other this and that's}

Hey Friends,

We are on our way to the first day of a new school year!  The classroom is all put together, I've meeted {not a word, I know - but it's cute, right?} and greeted, and now I'm ready and rarin' to go!

I do have an unusual breakdown this year of 19 boys and 4 girls.  No lie and no joke.  I'm a wee bit concerned - but an even bigger part of me is excited.  I have two boys of my own and I do seem to "get" them.  I almost wish they had put those four girls in the other classes and left me with all boys.  That would have been really interesting... {maybe even cool?}

One thing I do know is we'll be incorporating a lot of movement into our day {which is good for everyone}.  I have a Brain Break document that I created last year and shared {here}. We'll be doing a lot of dancin' and a movin' and a groovin' throughout the day!  Maybe I'll take off some extra LB's that way! HA!

Here are some pictures of my 2013-2014 classroom...

I also wanted to let you know about a neat opportunity over at Mardel.com  for ONE DAY ONLY. Online customers who purchase one 12-count set of their exclusive "Renewing Minds Collection" file folders - Mardel will donate a duplicate set to a school affected by the May 20th tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.  This offer is only valid until midnight tonight {September 1st} and can be found online {here}.

Aren't they cute?

I hope you'll consider purchasing some cute file folders - it may seem small, but little glimmers of happiness can make a teacher's day - especially after such devastation.  

Tuesday's the day!!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!!

Toodles!