Five for Friday!

First week of summer and I have been a busy bee!! I had Monday off, but Tuesday started my summer job as a county trainer for our newly adopted reading series, Journeys.  I enjoy working with teachers (though they can be a tough group sometimes!) and sharing what I do in my classroom (obviously right?? that's why I'm here blogging!).  My training partner is a teacher on my team, which makes it extra fun and my BFF is also a trainer. We get to meet for lunch everyday. For Five for Friday linky with Doodle Bugs, I want to share some of my summer training.

The focus of this training is not so much on the new textbook, but more on what the literacy block should look like. My county wants teachers to move from a 90 minute reading block to a 180 block. This block should include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language arts, but we also need to start thinking about how science and social studies might fit, too. Over the last several years, my county has provided teachers with an Instructional Focus Calendar for each subject. This was nothing short of lesson plans. Many schools demanded that teachers follow these plans day by day, minute by minute. So many teachers have had their hands tied for so long and now they are getting their creative freedom back! I can tell that some are super excited about this change while others are unsure, and still others almost DON'T want it. It's hard to teach an

The Gradual Release Model is another focus of the training.

We are asking teachers to look at their reading instruction in this way. I really like this model and how it releases the responsibility of learning onto the students.

Daily 5 is another model we want teachers to consider. My county is moving towards this and I'm thrilled. I've already been organizing my reading time using it and it makes me happy to see so many teachers willing to consider it. Daily 5 takes you from traditional centers to much more meaningful literacy time with virtually NO prep! If you do not already use it or have not really investigated it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Teachers in my county have to look at writing differently, too. Gone are the days of prompt writing. AMEN!! I thought this day would never come! We have one more year of the dreaded writing test. ALL teachers, not just grades 4, 8, and 10 will be responsible for writing. Shouldn't that be how it should have always been? Not so much here!

Is your day set up to teach integrated units? Do you use Daily 5 and/or CAFE? How is your literacy time structured? I would love to have some ideas to share at my trainings!

Mentor Text Linky & a Little Dancing!

It's my first Sunday of summer break and I am being LAAAAZY!

Last night was my daughter's dance recital. Let me tell you it was so beautiful! One of the best I've been to. (She was in 11 dances with 6 costume changes.) The theme was Broadway and there were several dances that actually brought tears to my eyes. Well, most of the time that I watch Lily dance I get teary. (In fact, she told me after that during one song she knew I would be crying!) When I watch my little girl dancing, I know she is doing what she LOVES the most and that makes me really happy!!

Here is my cutie in one of her costumes.

(I had to learn French braid and smoky eyes for this recital, quite a challenge for me. Both came out really nice though.)

Here is an attempt at a "nice" family photo after the recital. Came out cute, but my son wasn't in it.

Did you just see that "serious" photo? Well if you were to look through my photos and scrapbooks you would see very few pictures like that one. Here is what you would see: 

I had no idea they were all making these faces, but this is a completely natural shot! Cracks me up because it's SO us!

After the recital, we headed to a local pizza place with the studio owners/teachers (we go to a nice family owned studio). One of the dance instructors happens to be good friends with a young man, Shane, who was just in the audition show for So You Think You Can Dance.  If you don't watch or missed this particular audition, check it out HERE. Shane is an amazing dancer and very kind person. (He made it to Las Vegas, but I'm not sure what happened there.) It was quite a thrill for Lily to hang out and have pizza with him.

Now on to the MATH Mentor Text Linky with Collaboration Cuties.

I love all of the books by David Schwartz and I use them each year when introducing certain math concepts.
This first one is perfect for place value and helping kids understand larger numbers.

Here are some pages from the book.

Another book I use often is all about measurement.

Kids think that our customary units have been around "forever", but this book helps them understand why and how today's units came to be. I like how it teaches the history of measurement.

Since I don't have my classroom library here at home, LOL, I'm going to "cheat" a little this summer with the Mentor Text Linky. I brought home this wonderful resource book, Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum by Lester Laminack. It is basically an anthology of picture books for all areas of the curriculum. I do refer to it if I need a book for a specific concept and sometimes I find a book in it that I already own.

Here is sample of the Table of Contents:

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Freebie and Five for Friday!

Summertime! It's finally here! This is where I want to be right now!

Last day of school was on Thursday. Planning day and luncheon today, so the beach has to wait a few more days!

It's Five for Friday time and we were busy this week!

The last week of school was full of chaotic fun! Monday started the week with Autograph Day and Park Day. As a grade level, we meet outside and the kids run around getting friends and teachers to  sign shirts, yearbooks, or notebooks. Later, we were supposed to head over to the park next to our school, but the weather did not permit. We stayed at school and the kids brought out their towels, games, drawing materials, snacks, and hung out with their friends. The weather cleared up and it was a good morning.

Tuesday was our class celebration. A Sunshine Party. (Click HERE to read more details about this theme.) This year I decided to have a breakfast. Something a little different. My parents rocked the house!  I had one dad cooking up the waffles and French toast (homemade batter by the way). Check out the fancy pancakes shaped like suns!! A mom and dad whipped those beauties up! They had aprons on and cooked together. So cute! They used those ketchup bottles for the batter and "drew" out the sun shapes.  How fantastic was that?? Other parents donated toppings like whipped cream, chocolate chips, syrup, and fruit. It was a yummy morning!

The kids had a blast. Enjoyed their breakfast and moved on to Game Day! Some brought board games. Some brought electronics. They enjoyed the time hanging with their friends and just being kids.

Wednesday was Movie Day. Each teacher on my team chooses a movie. We meet again as a whole group. Each teacher holds up our movies and say GO! The kids run to the movie they want and we hand them a ticket (24 per teacher). Room moms send in popcorn, too! I showed The Muppets...love that movie!

Thursday was the LAST DAY!!  Noon dismissal. (I find half days feel longer full days!) My kiddies were cute. They made a conga line to specials. We had a dance party. I handed out report cards and awards and these simple little goody bags. (tried to stay in line with the sunshine theme.) Lemonade Kool-Aid, lemon drop candies, Life Savers, and gumdrops shaped like orange slices. Then the bell rang at noon. Tears flowed. Hugs all around. And we said good-bye.

The bag toppers are my FRIDAY FREEBIE. Click HERE to get yours.  (They fit perfectly on a  Ziploc bag.)

All in all I had a fantastic school year. I was SO fortunate to have a class of motivated well-behaved students. I was truly sad to see them go. I'm looking forward to a restful summer, in between working for the county as a reading trainer. I hope you are enjoying a must deserved break or getting ready to start!

Release the Bag!

I am not a teacher that pulls a cart full of work back and forth from home to school. I love me a cute tote, but dragging a bag full of papers home every night is not something I enjoy. (Who does right?)  After kids came into my life 12 years ago, my goal was to "release the bag", giving up on lugging the teacher tote or pulling the Home Depot cart behind me loaded down with "stuff" to do at home, that, quite honestly, NEVER got done! Who was I kidding anyway? I decided that I had to use my work hours as efficiently as possible. Changes had to be made! Curbing my "social time" was #1. Hard to do because I'm a social butterfly. I love to chat. I love to know what's going on around campus. I'd take chatting over working anytime! Procrastination is my middle name. Through some discipline, I changed my wicked ways and started to use my time more wisely, getting the vast majority of work done during the hours I've been given.

Another change I made in order to "release the bag" was to take a long, hard, honest look at the kind of work I was giving that created all these stacks that needed nightly attention.  Was what I was grading really valuable and meaningful? I had to be honest with myself and say no! It seemed to be more busy work, not to mention a waste of paper!  Over the years, I've made a lot of changes in this area. I've reduced the amount of copies I make by a significant amount. I really consider the value of a worksheet before I print it. If the kids can copy or recreate the activity in notebook, I use it that way. I give a grade on only what I consider assessment. I don't collect every little practice page the kids complete. We grade a lot of work as a whole class, the kids get immediate feedback, and I can move around the room and quickly see right then who needs extra help. I also assess in a variety of ways that don't require a copied worksheet.  Since implementing the Daily 5 in the last 4 years, I use even less paper or what might be considered busy work. My class is virtually "worksheet free".

Not to say I do NOTHING at home for my job. Quite the contrary. I do a great deal in fact. During the summer, I spend time planning, reading professional books, and creating materials for the new school year. This gets me re energized for the new year. I come into school prior to preplanning week to prepare my room (I'm sure many of you do, too) for the new year, so that preplanning week can be for just that...planning! School is on my mind constantly, as well.  With my hubby, sister, and best friends all being teachers, we can't help but talk about it when we're together!

The bigger the tote or the later we stay at school, is not what makes us great teachers! (No offense to anyone that does those things. I know teachers have their various reasons. Just my opinion! ☺) Professional reading, collaborating, attending conferences or PLCs outside of school time are a much better use of my time.

Don't get me wrong on this whole post. Of course, there are occasions that I have to carry something to and from school. I have a very nice tote that I use as a computer bag and now I have this little cart that I just have to share with you!  How did I get this gem? My big sis (a teacher, too) was shopping at Lowe's and only needed a few items. Instead of a big cart to push around, they have these little pull carts. Well, she fell in love with it. She called Lowe's headquarters and asked where she could purchase this handy dandy cart. As it turned out, they are not sold individually, but Loews was willing to sell her 4 of them for $15 each.  Let me tell you that this cart is super nice. It's light, easy to pull, and very spacious! It even has a large handle for carrying.

I loaded it with chapter books from home that my kids have out grown and brought them to school. In the summer, I always accumulate a collection of things that have to come to school in the fall and this cart will come in handy for storing my collection. It can be used for so much more than school, too! Bring it to the beach or on a picnic. I walk to the supermarket sometimes and it's perfect for holding my groceries for the walk home. Use it to carry bags from your car to the house. Have your kids load up it with laundry for easy carrying to the laundry room! (that's my favorite one!) The cart is called a Shop and Roll. Click HERE to check out their site. I'm not getting any credit for endorsing this product, I just really like it. If you do too, give Lowe's a call and see about ordering your own.

Let's discuss: Have you "released the bag"? If so, how did you do it? Do you want to release it? How do you use the time given to you during the work day to get the most done? I would love to hear from you!!

JUNE CURRENTLY & Mentor Text Linky

JUNE?! Really? I just can't believe it, can you???  I feel like it was just the first day of school. We have lots of fun events going on in 3rd grade this week....movie day, autograph day, spelling and multiplication bee, games, and our class celebration. I will miss this group a lot! They are sweet, smart, and motivated! I've been so lucky!

Now on to the linky with Oh Boy 4th Grade and the  JUNE (still can't believe it) Currently.

Middle school finals UGGHH!! My son is in 6th and has to actually study for the first time in his life! I've been quizzing him all weekend. I'm still not sure he knows what it means to really study. We've struggled with it all year. He's made straight As, but by the skin of his teeth! It seems that tests are his downfall. Let's keep our fingers crossed on these!

3.5 days left!! WHOO HOO!!

I have SO much left to do this week. I haven't done report cards yet and I haven't packed up my room. I know I'll get it done, but it's still hanging over my head.

I want an iPad (stamping my feet)!!  I've said it a million times this year! It seems that something always comes up that we need more. Maybe this summer (I hope).

I need to lose some weight. (I hate even saying it!)The older I get the harder it is to do! I joined Weight Watchers online, but I'm having a hard time sticking to it lately. I just need to put my mind to it and get busy! Any words of advice out there??

Three vacay essentials for me are a  bathing suit (which is another reason I must lose weight), two great books (usually one for pleasure and one professional), and I MUST get myself to the beach, alone or with the kids (hubby doesn't like the beach much).


Today I'm doing a double linky! Besides Currently,  Collaboration Cuties' Mentor Text Linky is going on!
Language Arts is the subject area and I choose this book about homophones, Dear Deer by Gene Barretta

Here is a peek inside:

This makes a perfect read aloud and introduction to this topic. The pictures are fun and certainly do an excellent job of illustrating the meanings of the words. After I read the book through once, then we return to it for a closer look.  I like to have the kids discuss the meanings of the homophone pairs by studying the pictures with a partner, then we share out the definitions they came up with. Click HERE for a list of homophones you can share with your students. Let them create their own stories and drawings using several of these word pairs.

Now I'm off to do a little house cleaning, get my daughter ready for her acting debut AND a singing solo (she's been taking some classes and today is the showcase), and, of course, get some school work done! Can I do it all? I'm going to try!