Carpets? Pillows? Squares?

If you have spent any time in the elementary classroom you are well aware of the problem that arises when you consider how kids will sit on the floor. Do you have pillows for all of their precious bottoms? Or maybe you spent millions to buy a huge classroom carpet. Maybe you are like me and you have carpet squares. This has always been a hassle for me. I want something that is easy to clean and move around. I had this for a while. I was given industry grade sample squares that I pieced together to make one large rug. But, now my kids have picked it apart and ruined it. So, now comes the current problem, what do I do now? Do you have any ideas? What do you have your kids sit on?

Book Whisperer Resources

I don't know if you are like me, but, after I read The Book Whisperer I was dreaming of sitting down with Donalyn for my own personal Q&A. I still had so many questions. Is that you? Well, I have some suggests for you.

 First, I'm sure most of you know about TeachingBlogAddicts' Book Club, where we as readers have been able to ask and receive answers regarding what we've read.

Second, follow her on twitter. I've found many different book suggestions for BookaDay that way too!

Last, check out her power point presentations on SlideShare. I found the one on how she breaks up her workshops to be very informative.

Do you have Book Whisperer resources to share? If so, please do!!

Google News for Reading

If you are like me you are weary of allowing your kids to just hop on the computer and search stuff on Google. Admit it. Even if you are watching them, you are also watching their classmates which means that the computer search does not have your undivided attention. You've probably taught them proper search procedures and you're praying they have not only heard those but implement them as well. I have good news for you though. Google has now added reading level to their advanced search options.

Say I have an intermediate student who needs to search. I can now limit that search here. So, try it out! Go Google yourself with new advanced search criteria that is safe for our little ones.

Graffiti Splash

   A good friend of mine who is a reading coach, soon to go back into the classroom,  and I have been brainstorming ways to increase student ability to discuss what they are reading. I stumbled upon a graffiti tool from Read, Write, Think. For high school age students this interactive is called a Literary Graffiti interactive. For elementary students the same thing is called a Doodle Splash.  The student draws within the box to depict something from the book--something they learned, something they think, a connection they made. There are also summary and explanation and significance boxes to assist in explaining the student graffiti work. This handout gives you examples of the possibilities in the classroom How else could you use this in the classroom?

10 Things About Me Linky Party

Mrs Owen's over at Go Fourth! With Mrs Owen's is having a give away to to read 100 followers and will be giving away a 31 Gifts All in One Organizer. You can get to the give away here.

She is also hosting a Top 10 Things Linky Party. Here is a Top 10 list about me...

10. I drink Coke Zero the way some people drink Coffee.

 9. I should own stock in Amazon, especially since I started using AmazonPrime.  

 8. My Kindle is a permanent item in my purse.

 7. I live 15 minutes from the beach

6. So, for two months out of the year I only wear flipflops.

5. I graduated from UF this past April with my Master's Degree

4. I have been sky diving.

3. I love spending quality time with others.

2. I love teaching intermediate grades.

1. I am a follower of Jesus and love spending time at church and doing things for Him!

Please, join the linky party and tell me about yourself!!

Tweet!!

With the increasing amounts of technology it easy to become obsessed with all of the social networking capabilities at our fingertips. From facebook to blogging to Instagram the possibilities are endless. As teachers we are always trying to find ways to learn more and utilize new tools of the trade in the classroom. I am not a newbie to the world of Twitter, but please if you don't have a Twitter account I beg you, please get one!     I started using twitter specifically in the classroom two years ago when I created an account for our room.

1. I had the students summarize what they were learning in 1 tweet (correct grammar, puctuation, etc)
2. I posted homework reminders, projects etc
3. Because the account was secure I posted pics from school activities and field trips
4. We have asked experts in a variety of fields questions and received many answers.

Later, I created an account for myself. While I follow friends and famous people of personal interest to me, a major benefit is that countless teaching professionals use twitter to tweet about professional development, tools they are using, and neat projects they are trying. this has been a life saver and eye opener on more occasions than I can count. 

Do use Twitter in your classroom? If so, how do you utilize this amazing tool?

How to organize so many books...

I have about 16 bins full of chapter books. For most of my teaching career my books have been organized by AR book level. then two years ago our school started utilizing Lexile levels as well so, that is how I organized my library. But, after reading the The Book Whisperer I realized I needed to once again reorganize my library. And this time I want catalog my books so I will know what I have and where the holes in my collection are so that I can increase the quality of my collection. For this reason, I am excited to start using GuruLib. Yes, I already have a Goodreads account for my home collection. But, I have found that GuruLib is kid friendly. I have the students log onto our classroom catalog when needed. And, they can look at our catalog from anywhere they have internet access, in case they want to look for a book at night before returning to school each day. You can check out a teacher's sample here.

How do you keep track of the books in your library??

Folding Laundry

We all have chores we don't like to do, even at school. This is the way I discuss the fact that there will be topics and things the kids need to learn that they don't want to. Now, hear me out, I'm all about finding ways to motivate students to learn, but sometimes it comes down to students accepting that they need to complete an assignment whether they want to or not. I created a document that meats kids right where they are when it comes to this topic. I call it my learning agreement. As always, feel free to use it and please let me know what you think!!        

Trying something new

 You've all been there. You take part in a professional development opportunity and come away with an activity or two that you want to try. Recently, I found out about a new tool to use when teaching vocabulary. I'm sure a lot of you have read the book Donavan's Word Jar. Well, Cinda Findlin, of Slippery Rock Univirsity (PA), suggests creating personal word collections with your students to increase vocabulary. She says that by allowing students to increase their vocabulary by learning about words they come in contact with in the real world, students will have a larger working vocabulary.

I really want to put this practice into action next school year. But, I'm quite overwhelmed with finding the appropriate "jars" for my students to use. I need them to be easy for my fifth grade students to access and store. I kind of was thinking about these jars below What do you think? What would you use? Does this look like a practical way to increase vocabulary?

Book Whisperer Linky Party

Mrs Lyons over at Thinking of Teaching will be hosting a read along with TBA bloggers of Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer. To assist everyone in getting excited about the read along, Mrs Lyons interviewed Mrs. Miller. You can check them out over at Thinking of Teaching. Then after reading them feel free to answer the questions yourself and join the linky party. Here are my answers....

1) What is your favourite book (or series) from childhood? 

My favorite book from childhood is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I love it!

2) What is your favourite book (or series) now? 

My favorite Adult series now would be The Trouble with Tulip  Series By Mindy Starns Clark. It's fast paced, clean and not predictable like a lot of christian friction out there today. My favorite chapter book series for kids would be Shadow Children  series by Margaret Petterson Haddix. It is still one of my most favorite read alouds.

3) What is your opinion of e-readers? 

I own a Kindle.I love it because I can easily carry 46 books with me that's the size of a normal size of 1 paperback. I like how quickly i can download books. Within seconds, a book can be in my hands without ever leaving my home or blogging station :). I enjoy the free books offered. And, now you can "borrow" books which makes me enjoy it even more. But, nothing can take the place of having a book in your hands. 

4) Finish this sentence: "On Sundays I like to..." 

On Sundays, I go to church, eat lunch with friends and attempt to enjoy some free time. I'm a quality time kind of girl so, spending time with my 12th grade Sunday school girls and others makes for great kinds of days.

5) Describe yourself in 5 words! 

Christ-follower. learner. people person.

6) Hardcover or paperback? Why? 

Can I say both or is that cheating? I guess because Mrs Miller did, I will. In the classroom I prefer paperback because they are cheaper and easily fit into backpacks. But, for long books or my favorites that I will read again and again, hardcover is the only way to go.

7) Coffee or Tea? 

Coffee. I actually prefer Diet Coke but, I'm a social coffee drinker and can't stand tea unless I'm sick with a sore throat. 

What are your answers? I'd love to learn more about you!

Out with the Old..

PowerPoint it widely used by teachers to present information. While it is a valuable software, it is now somewhat limited in what it can do and can get boring quickly. Think about it. You are sitting in a meeting and the presenter is droning on and on. Often they don't even know the etiquette of not simply reading every single item on each slide. But, regardless, the slides tick by and you are begging for the end. I found that especially with the students, they need more movement. Prezi (on online based presentation software) gives movement and much more. While I'm still thinking about the last post regarding Open House and my need to redo that presentation, I have posted for you a Prezi I created about myself. Simply click here to check it out or watch the intro video about Prezi below. I think you'll find that the program is easy to use and fun to interact with. It has endless uses. And, you guessed it, it's free for teachers. All you need is a email address  from an educational based website. Hope you start using it soon! I know my kids enjoy it.

Butterflies in my stomach

I don't know about you but every time I step in front of a large group of adults to speak I get nervous. Give me a group of a thousand kids and, I'd keep them busy all day with never a fear entering my brain. There is just something about the opinions of adults that sets my nerves on edge.

If you are like me, then you may not enjoy those random moments at the beginning of Open House where students are showing their parents the classroom. You may feel as if each parent is checking to see what you're made of. While I haven't conquered the entire fear of speaking at Open House, I have found the perfect start. The parents love it and it helps to settle my nerves just a bit.What do I do? I create a digital story for the parents to watch as they come in.

First things first, I take about 60 pictures in the weeks leading up to Open House. I have pictures of everything from students walking into the room, lining up, and doing activities throughout the day. Then, I've found that  PhotoStory 3 (a free digital storytelling software) is the perfect software to use for this project. Simply upload the pictures to the program, add captions and voice overs if desired then add music that fits the pictures you have taken. Tada! You are finished! I simply show the "story" on repeat as parents walk in. They are so excited to see their children in action that they forget all about me until I need to present. This makes me a very happy camper. And, I've found it's an excellent way for parents to see what a "day in the life of their child" is like without all the work.

Blog Stalking Linky Party

I know I'm the new (maybe even newest) kid of the teacher blogging block. But, I've been personally blogging for a long time and blog stalking even before that. So, when I found out  Clutter Free Classroom was hosting a stalker's dream come true (a linky party to see who you stalk) I knew I needed to take part.

So, who do I stalk most? Since I don't want to overwhelm you, I'll list a Top 5. In no particular order...
http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/ --- My most favorite to find many blogs in one place
http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/ --Everything from book labels to blogging how to help
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ ---Technology Treasures for all
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/ ---The book Whisperer,  LOVE her (and her tweets)
http://teachfactory.com/ ---Tons of Creative Classroom Ideas


Join the linky party!! I'm always looking for new blogs to stalk.

Obsessed!

I may be slightly obsessed with books. Well, I've always been I think. I have been able to read anything almost anywhere. But, I have recently seen the value of reading and deeply understanding children's literature. It helps students see that you value what they read. It assists them in discussing books with us as teachers and with each other. Students who are able to converse with others about what they are reading truly display a depth of understanding about the books they read. These books come alive in their hands.

In the past I have read quite a bit of Children's lit but, I have a long way to go before I'm an expert. Here is my current Amazon wish list of books for the classroom. I'm posting it here because it makes for easy reference on books I need to read and/or purchase. Hopefully this will give you another list to assist you in choosing good books to add to your collection.
 

Comic Books

Kids are drawn to comic books, whether it's the pictures or the pure visual nature that assists the reader in connecting the words to what's actual taking place on the page or in the story line. When I was growing up there was no way teachers would allow students to use graphica type literature to learn. However, that is exactly what many teachers are beginning to use to teach everything from comprehension to how writing takes place. Check out this neat site ComicLife which allows students to create their own comic books/stories. The possibilities are endless!

Book A Day

I posted this on Facebook but decided to post it again on here. I'm taking the "Book a Day" challenge this summer (mostly kid lit) and loving it. Will you make a goal to read this summer and join me? How else can I convince my kids that reading is worth it? By the way my goal is 62 books. Check out my GoodReads shelf (on the right hand side of my blog) to find out what I've read. I tweet after finishing a book as well. So do many others with the tag #bookaday. So, if you need ideas, I say start there. Rebecca Rojas of Mrs. Rojas Teaches has committed a whole tab to her list if you need more suggestions. Hope you catch book reading fever....

What's in a theme??

A friend and myself have been doing some curriculum mapping and came up with the theme I will use next year in the classroom. Want a sneak peak?? Here you go!

Don't Miss Out

I'm sure anyone who looks at my site has seen Teaching Blog Addict site before. But I beg you, if you haven't seen it yet, please check it out...especially if you teach primary! There are way too many good ideas that are shared that I get to use and thousands (of primary) ones I can't use. I promise you'll thank me. Well, until you too become addicted :)

Smarts Posters

After reading a blog post on teachfactory I decided to try my hand at some posters. I realized I needed new posters for Gardner's Smarts. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and let me know if you come up with any suggestions. 

Oh the places you'll go...

No one could have convinced me that I would ever start a teaching blog. A classroom blog? Sure. A personal blog? Absolutely. But, what do I have to offer that is anywhere near as good quality and as exciting as those around me? But, a few people have mentioned that I should so, here I go. I'm sure at first I'll just be sharing things others are doing that you should check out. Plus, maybe I'll be joining a linky party or a book read along. And maybe eventually I'll get the courage to share with you some of the ideas and activities that work for well for my classroom. Please bear with me in the journey. :)