Teacher Tuesday (on Wednesday)!

Two posts in one day?  I must be crazy, right?  I'm actually just letting Carson nap while we wait for Nick to get home because we're going to church tonight to get information on Carson's baptism!

I realize this link-up is a day late, but I figured I'd do it anyway since my blog has been lacking in the education department lately!!   For those of you that don't know, I've accepted a new position for next school year.  Drumroll please......

I will no longer be a traveling teacher!  Wahoo!  This takes so much stress off!  I'm going to be working back in the building where I taught during the 2010/2011 school year and I'm SO excited because I'll be working with a great team!  I'll no longer be teaching kindergarten and reading intervention, I'll now be FIRST GRADE!  I'm really sad to leave my old positions and especially sad to leave my kindergarten team but I'm very excited at the same time!  I have a lot of work to do this summer to prepare for the new adventure but I feel so blessed and excited!


I'm linking up with Teaching in High Heels. If you haven't checked out her blog, do it NOW! She has tons of great ideas :)

 

 

I have a lot of teaching goals for this summer.  I figure if I write them down, maybe I'll hold myself more accountable :)

• Pack up my TWO classrooms from last year and move it all to my NEW classroom for next year!  (This will be time consuming seeing that Carson will be with me, but I need to get it done)!
• Start deciding how I want to set up/decorate my classroom.  This is always fun for me and it will be fun to decorate a new space. 
• Start pinning some 1st grade ideas.  Since I'm moving into a new grade level this year, I'll be teaching a whole new curriculum.  This is fun and scary at the same time, but I'm excited to get new ideas put into place!

I'm keeping my goal list fairly short b/c I know the things on my list will take a while and even when I'm done, I'll have 8 more things on the list.  That's just the way I am! 

If you have ANY ideas for a first grade classroom, send them my way!  I'm excited to start a new journey for next year.  :)

 

 

 

For all the Teachers...

I usually don't like forward emails, but I got this at work the other day and it made me laugh...especially after testing week!  I hope you all enjoy!

The following questions were set in last year's GED examination.  These are genuine answers (from 16 year olds)............OH DEAR!

Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar

Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink
A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large  pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists

Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire

Q. What causes the tides in the oceans?
A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election

Q. What are steroids?
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.  

Q. What happens to your body as you age?
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.  

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes
A. Premature death

Q. What is artificial insemination?
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour?
A. Keep it in the cow                 

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorized? (e.g. The abdomen)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U..                                                                 

Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie

Q. What does 'varicose' mean?
A. Nearby

Q. What is the most common form of birth control?
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium   

Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome

Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor.      

Q. What is a terminal illness?
A. When you are sick at the airport.   

Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight  

Here are a few of my favs...hahaha....

• If you want to buy a house, you must be well endowed (you can always tell a fibula though)!  
• If you don't want to get a girl pregnant, wear a condominium.
• If your carpet isn't staying on the stairs, get some steroids.

Spring has Sprung in Room 24!

The month of March has been pretty busy for us in Kindergarten.  I've been procrastinating spending my time trying to think of a good idea for a hall display.  Initially I wanted to do something with shamrocks but decided that wouldn't last very long.  I went with a spring theme. 

We read a couple books about spring to spark interest and start our discussion:

My kiddos LOVE to write lately.  Their confidence is growing and I love it!  We decided to write about what we are GOING to do in spring, what we CAN do in spring, or what we LIKE to do in spring.  I like giving my students a prompt for writing but this allowed them to have some options still.  Here is the final product for our hallway!

"In the Spring we like to..."

"In the spring I like to play with my sistr"

The close-up is from one of my lowest writers, I'm so proud!!!  Check out those lowercase letters, finger spaces and word wall words!

Also, while doing assessments, I got this from one of my first graders.  The paper is supposed to say "The boy is riding his bike.  He can go very fast on it."  Too funny!

New Literacy Centers!

Lately, I've been bored with my centers.  I have quite a few in my rotation, but I really wanted to mix it up more.  After making some new purchases thanks to PTO money, I was more motivated to actually come up with something!

The first center is definitely not something I created....all I had to do was order it!  I plan on integrating something else into the center later, but for now, my kiddos are just getting used to taking care of these plastic pieces!

I also purchased a pocket chart with my PTO money.  I had one pocket chart but it was being used as my center work board.  A while ago, I inherited a free pocket chart stand so I don't know why I waited so long to actually buy a pocket chart!  Each week, I put in a new song for our letter of the week.  My kids LOVE singing.  At pocket chart center, my kiddos get to use these "star pointers" and sing the song!  This helps build fluency.

This last center was inspired by some free ABC stencils that my mother-in-law gave me.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to use them so I decided to create a center.  I made a worksheet with 3 columns: word wall word, stencil, magnet letters.  My students pick a word wall word card out of our ABC pockets (interactive word wall) and record the word.  Next, they "write" the word with the ABC stencils.  Last, they build the word with magnetic letters.  The kids love the multiple steps and manipulatives! 

A Pinterest Inspired School Project!

In my classroom we love making class books!  My kids love making them and they REALLY love reading them!  We've been mastering syllables lately so I combined 2 ideas from Pinterest to create a new class book!

Here is my inspiration:

Source: larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: emmi.co.uk via Emily on Pinterest

We have a binding machine at my school but the pages always fall out of our class books and it is SO tedius putting the pages back into those plastic spirals!  I decided to give this (free) option of binding a try!  All you need is a paperclip (or a few) and rubber bands!  It didn't work out as well as I would have hoped, but so far, it's holding up pretty nicely in our classroom library!

As you can see, I had to improvise and use small paperclips (I'm totally out of the jumbo right now)!  It still worked ok and we just had to talk about why it's important that we do NOT mess with the special binding! :)

A DIY Valentine's Day Treat!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!  As a lot of you know, I teach intervention (reading and kindergarten).  Because of this, I haven't planned any Valentine's "parties" since my students will already be exchanging cards and treats in their homerooms.  I still wanted to do something small for my kids so I decided to make a little Valentine treat!


I saw this idea a long time ago for teacher appreciation week and I loved it! Who doesn't love s'mores?!


Make Your Own S'more Goodie Bag (supplies are for ONE bag, multiply as needed)
2 graham cracker squares
1 jumbo marshmallow
1 miniature Hershey bar
1 gift bag
1 gift bag tag/label

All of my supplies cost $10 and I made 24 bags!  I found the Valentine's gift bags in the Target dollar spot.  (Where else?!)  I made my own labels on Word and it was super easy!  The front of the label says "We need S'more students like you!"  The back of the label has instructions on how to prepare the s'more:

"Place one graham cracker on a microwave safe plate, top with chocolate and a marshmallow.  Microwave on high for 12-15 seconds or until marshmallow doubles in size.  Top the marshmallow with the remaining graham cracker.  Press slightly to secure.  Enjoy your gooey chocolate treat!"

Here are my supplies all ready to be assembled:

 Folding the labels during parent-teacher conference night:

 The finished product:

Such a fun and easy treat for the students!  I also had a few extra supplies left over so I could make a s'more for myself, yum!

We're also reading some Valentine's books today/this week....

 

Teaching Character Traits

Some of my third grade reading intervention kiddos were having some difficulty with character traits.  They were having a hard time describing familiar characters (orally and in writing).  Since I only have 30 minutes a day with them, I came up with a few quick, small activities. 

First, we revisited a few Amelia Bedelia books we had read earlier in the year.  After revisiting the texts, we made two webs.  One web described what Amelia Bedelia IS and one described what she is NOT.

After this, we decided to conquer a chapter book.  (So exciting, but also difficult for my students!)  We chose a book with a familiar character, Arthur! 

Each day we got through about 1-2 chapters.  After each chapter, we did a brief summary of the important event that ocurred in that chapter using a simple chapter grid that I designed.  At the end of the book, we talked about Arthur.  We discussed how he was in this story compared to other stories, how he was in the beginning versus the end, etc.  After our discussion, we filled out individual character traits worksheets.  I used this worksheet from Scholastic because I liked how it gave a list of traits to choose from (my kids added their own as well).  The next day, we took turns adding character traits to a large web for Arthur.  Here are the webs we made for familiar characters:

Now that my students had the hang of describing familiar characters, I decided we should do something fun for Friday.  We made our own personal "character" trait webs!  The kids LOVED this and their traits cracked me up (handsome, moody...haha)!

My idea origianlly stemmed from this pin on Pinterest!

Source: adventuresofroom129.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

How do you teach character traits?

New Purchases!

Every year, our PTO is kind enough to give us money toward purchasing materials for our classroom.  You can see the desktop easel I purchased with my PTO money last year in this post.  This year since I work in two buildings, I was able to make two separate purchases.  For my morning school, I got $25 and I used it to purchase a magnetic word builder set from Lakeshore:

At my afternoon school, I was allotted $63.  I couldn't decide what I really needed besides a pocket chart, so I started checking out some catalogs that were in my school mailbox.  I decided to order from Learning Resources.  (The same company that makes the recording device I won!)  I only have one (standard size) pocket chart in my room and I'm currently using it for my center board.  I have small pocket charts, but they don't work well for center games.  Now I'll have another standard pocket chart (plus a free stand from school) so the kids can do a pocket chart center!  Please send any and all ideas my way! ;)  I also ordered a letter construction set.  I thought this would be good for an ABC center, early finishers, or even indoor recess.  I also picked the Creative Writing flip book.  It has pictures of Who, What, When, & Where to help with story ideas.  I plan on introducing this in interactive writing and then letting my kids use it as a tool in writer's workshop.  After all of this (with a coupon code), I still didn't qualify for free shipping so I had to throw in one more small item.  I decided on Phonemic Awareness reading rods.  I figured these could easily be integrated into centers somehow.  In the end, I got all of these goodies for $18 out of pocket.  Not too shabby!  Plus Learning Resources shipped me my order in 2 days!

What purchases have you made for your classroom lately?

Meet Lily (and an ABC Center Idea)!

At the beginning of the year I knew I wanted to have classroom jobs.  I decided on the jobs before my kiddos started.  My jobs include: Line Leader, Door Holder, Caboose, Teacher's Helper, Messenger, Center Inspector, Scrap Monster, Supply Star, Librarian, and Gardener.

For the longest time, I didn't have a gardener because I was too lazy to get a plant!  I finally went to Kroger and bought a mini rose plant on sale.  I have a serious brown thumb and kill EVERY house plant I own.  I have much more luck with my gardens outside which is nice for my neighbors. :) 

Today I introduced the plant to my kinder friends and we brainstormed a list of names.  In the end, we decided on Lily.  Here are some of the other ideas my friends came up with.  Just for entertainment!
Rosie, Plant-Plant, R2D2, Beyblade, Plantie, and C3P0.  (Can you tell I have a lot of boys in my class?)  So without further ado, here is LILY!

Please cross your fingers for us that Lily survives and thrives in Room 24!

In other news, I've been trying to think of some multisensory center ideas and saw this pattern block activity on Pinterest. 

Source: makinglearningfun.com via Emily on Pinterest

I printed out the sheets and mounted on red construction paper.  I also added ABC flashcards that I printed free from ABCTeach.com.  My students will use pattern blocks to "build" the letters and then practice their phonics chant for each letter.  For example, "R, /r/, rabbit!"  Here is what I ended up with for this ABC center:

I'm sorry they are sideways.  I've tried a million (aka 4) times to rotate them and they are rotated everywhere except when uploaded to blogger!  As you can see, I have some cutting to do since I just laminated them.  Any volunteers?! ;)

I hope you like Papayas.....

Because according to the Bump, Baby Carson is going to be the size of a Papaya for the next 4 weeks!  That's no fun!  To be honest, I don't think I've ever tried a papaya.  They sound yummy and tropical, but this picture makes me not want to try one anytime soon!

 

 

How far along? 22 weeks!

Total weight gain: I would say 5-6lbs.  My belly really started to show this week and even my "big" pants are getting pretty tight! 

Maternity clothes? Not yet but in the VERY near future.  I scoped out some jeans at Target but I want to check around..... (scroll down for a new bump picture!)

Stretch marks? no

Sleep: Sleeping great still....just a bit cold thanks to this Ohio weather!

Best moment this week: Telling my kindergartners about the baby.  They're BEYOND excited!  (Scroll down to see details...)

Miss Anything? A few times this week I wished that I could go get a delicious HOT Starbucks drink.  I know I technically can, but I'm not going to.  Also could go for a dip in a hot tub right now.  (Starting to notice a pattern?!)

Movement: Carson used to move mostly in the evenings but now he moves all throughout the day.  This past Sunday, my mom and sister were able to feel him move!!!

Food cravings: At this VERY moment: salty snacks.  I think I might eat some Chex Mix. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Gender: Baby BOY Carson!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Nothing new.

Belly Button in or out? innie...hopefully forever....eek!

Wedding rings on or off? on still...very loose this week due to the COLD weather!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Super happy! I can't help but smile when I feel Carson moving around in there!Looking forward to: Getting started on the nursery.  I think we have finalized a paint color!

 

Does my shirt look psychodelic on your computer too?!

 

So this week I finally decided to tell my kindergartners why my belly is expanding.  Last week we read Our Teacher's Having a Baby and it went RIGHT over their head.  I honestly thought it would be loud and clear, but it wasn't so I had to come up with a plan B.  I got another book Biscuit and the Baby.  Before reading the new story to my kiddos, I wrote a special morning message.  I told them that I had big news for them and gave them one clue (a drawing of a baby).  Of course, they had NO idea what the baby was.  Guesses included snowman, toy in a stocking, clown, etc.  I never said I was the best artist, ok?!  After the failed guessing game, we read the book and I told them to think about what the clue might be.  They came up with the idea of a baby, but it took them quite a while longer to figure out what that meant.  When they finally got it, they were SO excited and had so many questions.  We practiced tally marks and made guesses on whether I am going to have a boy or a girl.  (Most voted boy so they'll be excited to find out they were right when I tell them tomorrow!)

Oh, How Pinteresting!

I'm linking up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple today!

It's been a while so here are some of my favorite pins as of late....

Teaching Pins

Awesome character traits activity!

Source: adventuresofroom129.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Good classroom management technique!

Source: firstgradeglitterandgiggles.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Good practice for CVC words!

Source: larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Fashion Pins

I might love this for a mommy suit :)

Source: Uploaded by user via Emily on Pinterest

Love the gray and love the gradual polka dots!

Source: primacreative.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

Buckeye colors...O-H!

Source: kristen-344.polyvore.com via Emily on Pinterest

Stuff That Makes Me Smile :)

Seriously, this is too cute!

Source: attackofthecute.com via Emily on Pinterest

Can I have one NOW?!

Source: weheartit.com via Emily on Pinterest

This will be my life VERY soon and I love it :)

Source: etsy.com via Emily on Pinterest