August Currently

Hey there!  Can you believe it's August?

I know many of you are back to school or going back soon.  I still have one more month.  I'm really feeling better about my jealousy when everyone was posting in May about being on summer break when I was sweating it out for a month and a half longer.  Anyway, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy, Fourth Grade for her famous linky party- Currently.  

Listening:  I LOVE the kids Jeopardy tournament.  I try to forget that I am "competing" against ten year olds... and I am kicking their butts.  Regular Jeopardy just isn't as much fun (probably because it makes me feel a little dumb, LOL).  Plus, my boys were actually playing nicely. No one was throwing or destroying lego creations... no one was wrestling... no one was making fart noises... and no one was tattling.  Sometimes I wonder how I can control 20 first graders, yet my own two monsters drive me bananas!  

Loving: I love that I still have one more month left of summer and we have time to have more adventures... still up, two weeks in the Outer Banks of NC, more day trips to the Philadelphia Zoo and Sesame Place, and a camping trip in the Pocono Mountains. Yay!

Thinking: I really need to stop staying up so late.  My little guy (3) still tends to get up early.  He just doesn't get sleeping in on summer break and the lack of sleep is starting to take its toll.  

Wanting:  I'm only a few followers short of the first big bloggy milestone- 100 followers!  Tiffany from One Fab Teacher and I are planning a joint giveaway celebration.  If you aren't following my blog or Tiffany's, join up now with Bloglovin and help us celebrate.  I'm going to be going away in a few weeks and she's going back to work and we'd love to hit this milestone before everything gets crazy!

Needing: I need to continue to purge old toys and help organize my kids new playroom.  We converted  our attic into a great playroom.  I am reclaiming my living room and getting the toys in their own room. Yay!  No more stepping on Legos or Hot Wheels cars in the middle of the night.

Back to School Must Haves: 1) I love Flair pens.  They come in great colors and they write so smoothly!  2) You can never have enough Post-Its.  I'm sure you all agree.  3) Command hooks are my favorite decorating helper.  The hold up and come off cleanly.  I just wish I didn't have to take them all down every June.  It's hard to find just the adhesives.  But I did (at Target this year), Yay!

This week I was contacted by a potential customer at TPT asking about my word wall cards for the Journeys reading program.  She asked if I would customize a set for her theme of lime green and turquoise polka dots.  So this is what I came up with...

I love how they turned out.  If anyone else uses Journeys and would like a set, let me know.  I'd be happy to personalize something for the theme of your room.  Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School Goals! (A month early)

Hey there!  

I'm linking up with I {Heart} Recess to share my goals for Back to School.  I still have a month before I really need to think about this but, that's okay!  So here it is!  I'm hoping if I put them out there, I'll be more apt to follow through with them.  Fingers crossed...

Personal:  Running is cheap therapy.  It helps me de-stress and I come home a happier, more peaceful wife and mommy.  Plus, fall is perfect running weather.  But, it has been very difficult to fit it in lately.  I need to start putting myself first sometimes.  I need to sign up for my next race so I'll be more accountable.  Do I go for the 10K that I've done before and I'm comfortable or take the plunge and go for the half marathon?  Thirteen miles just seems SO long!

Organization: Since I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers over a year ago, I've accumulated so many great resources.  Now, I just need to find a way to organize them better.  

Planning:  I WILL get back to having my lesson plans done before Friday morning for the next week.  Planning is not my forte... I admit it.  But this year, I will be co-teaching part-time with an inclusion teacher so I need to be prepared in advance so modifications and accommodations can be made for our diverse learners.  I want to be able to leave on Friday knowing that I am ready to rock on Monday morning.  

Professional:  I'm probably not alone in this one... If there is a committee to work on at school, I'm usually volunteering to get on it.  I am our school's rep to our local union.  I also served on our contract negotiations team.  I've written curriculum, served on text book selection teams, joined book clubs, and helped out various special events committees.  I need to find balance between home and work and say "no"  (at least some of the time).  

Students: I want to find more ways for my students to use technology on a daily basis.  We don't have iPads at my school, but we are going to have 4 Chromebooks in each classroom.  I'm still working on coming up with ways to utilize these besides just going to websites.  The apps are not as great for elementary school kids as the ones on iPads.  I'm hoping that I will get some great ideas, though.  

My Motto:  Start each day with a smile and make every day a great learning experience.  This is kind of a "duh"  but I do think a great attitude is half the battle.  We all know when we're in a bad mood, we are less patient and our lessons are more inclined to not be as effective.  

Thanks for stopping by!

First Day Picture Book (FREEBIE)

Hey there!  I posted a few weeks ago about how excited I was to use the Pete the Cat books for this year's back to school theme.  If you want to read my previous post, click here.  (It had a bunch of cool freebies!)

So I'm linking up with The Teacher's Chair to share my idea for Back to School read alouds.

Anyway, I'm excited to share this little baby.  I have used a much less cute version for years as a first day of school writing activity.  

So, what I have done in the past is make an anchor chart of how students (and teachers) feel on the first day of school.  Then, I model filling in the blanks with the student's name, he or she, and his/her feelings about the first day. Next, the students complete it (mostly) independently.  

When I used it after reading The Kissing Hand, I left the frame part empty and put each child's hand print in it.  Then, I took each child's picture and cut it into a heart shape.  Then I glued the picture onto the hand print.  I wish I had a picture,  but it's not an original idea.  (I got it back in the day, pre-pinterest, pre-blogger explosion, from some one's website.)  I laminated the pages and bound them as our first class book.  It's always a hit on Back to School Night!

For this year though, I'm going to take each child's picture holding my little stuffed Pete the Cat (bought it at Barnes and Noble).  I made the frame a little larger than 4x6 so our first day picture should fit nicely.  If you could use this for the first day, click here to download it for free.  There is a version for kindergarten and second grade, too.  It really could go with so many beginning of the year favorites.  

Don't forget that Tiffany (from One Fab Teacher) and I are planning an awesome celebration (some well-known and AWESOME bloggers are participating) for reaching our first big milestone.  Help us reach 100 followers by following both of us with Bloglovin'.  If you already have, thanks!  This has been an incredible ride!  Thanks for stopping by!

New Reader Motivation (FREEBIE) and Something Really Exciting!!!

Hey there!  I just want to start off this post by saying when I started this adventure a few months ago I never imagined that I'd be able to reach so many teachers out there.  So, if you stick with this post until the end... I'll let you know about something special coming up.

First grade is the most rewarding grade, in my opinion (no offense to anyone who disagrees) because there is such a range of readers and the kids make such dramatic progress every year.  One of the most motivating things I have done in my class is put chapter books "off limits" unless... students earn a Chapter Book License.

There's something about the allure of a book with lots of pages, few pictures, and the exciting break down of a story into chapters that makes students very motivated to become stronger and stronger readers.  Most of the beginner chapter books in my classroom library are Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, Cam Jansen, etc. type books.  They tend to be at about L-N in guided reading levels (which is what my school uses to assess reading levels).  So, when students are independent on level J they earn their coveted Chapter Book License... meaning they can choose a chapter book to put in their independent book bag for Read to Self.

In the past years (before I discovered fancy fonts and cute clip arts), I simply cut a piece of construction paper and wrote Chapter Book License on the front and their name on the back.  The kids didn't have a problem with it but... it was BORING!!  So this summer I created a new and improved Chapter Book License.  Just print, write the child's name, and laminate.  You have an adorable reading incentive!   Check it out.  Just click on the image below to get it.  I've made several different prints so there's one for everyone.

So onto the exciting stuff!  This little blog has begun to really take off and I am SO appreciative of all of my followers.  Only one or two of you, I actually know in the real world, so it's quite an honor that I feel like so many of you are friends.  

So it's a tradition in Bloggyland that when your blog hits milestones, you throw a celebration (which tend to include giveaways and prizes).  Who doesn't love getting gifts as a part of someone else's celebration??   I'm nearing the milestone of 100 followers and so is my good friend Tiffany at One Fab Teacher.  Look for something exciting coming soon as that number approaches!!!  The sooner we get there, the sooner the celebration happens so don't forget to follow this little blog on Bloglovin' and check out One Fab Teacher and follow Tiffany if you haven't already.  If any other blogger is interested in donating to our celebration, please let us know!  Thanks for stopping by!

I Need a Pintervention!!

Hey there!  I'm going to make this short and sweet!  I think I am in need of a Pintervention (that is... a Pinterest intervention)!  I've been on Pinterest for over a year but, it's only recently become a problem.  But the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?  

Anyway, if you haven't checked out my Pinterest boards, please do.  And, if you have Pinterest boards that you'd like to share with me, put a link in the comments and I'll check yours out, too!

Also... I'm throwing my first sale on Teachers Pay Teachers.  From now until Sunday, everything in my store is 10% off.  Now's the time to get those items on your wish list!  And don't forget to follow me on TPT so you'll never miss a sale.  Thanks for stopping by and stay cool!

Throwback Thursday (Journeys) and a sale!

Hey everyone!  I'm getting used to the new header, not sure if it's going to stay or not.  I do LOVE the graphics from Melonheadz, The 3AM Teacher, and Ms. Fultz, though!  At least I was able to fix my mess up fairly quickly, whew!  Anyway, we've had a busy week trying to stay cool in our latest heat wave.  So, I'm linking up with Cara Carroll at The First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday.  I'm going to repost my most viewed post about Houghton Mifflin Journeys.  It seems like this is one of the most popular basal programs being adopted across the country and it took a lot of getting used to for this teacher/ reading specialist who didn't want to give up the Reading and Writing Workshop format.  But two years later, here we are and I've found some ways to make it work.

********** Originally posted May 7, 2013 ***************

  I've been asked a lot lately about the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Journeys program.  It seems to be one of the most popular basal reading programs on the market right now.  I'm not going to go back into how I felt two years ago when we began to transition to it from Reading and Writing Workshop.  (click here to read my previous post)  But after fumbling through it for a year, I discovered the wonderful work of Ms. Amy Schwab on Teachers Pay Teachers.   Amy has taken each week's lesson and made a huge SmartBoard file of interactive activities, including videos, sorts, and other learning activities.  If you teach in a district that uses Journeys or is going to, you need to check out her work.  She has completed activities for grades K, 1, & 2.  

Click here to download the Lesson 1 activities for FREE.  You can also get the first lesson of grades K and 2 for FREE.  

I hope this can help anyone else who is feeling like I was...overwhelmed and drowning in Journeys.  I'm throwing you a life preserver!

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Another resource I LOVE and have purchased  (They are worth every penny)  are Dawn Hilburn's resource packets for each lesson in Journeys.  Click here to visit Dawn of First Grade Shenanigan's TPT store.  Her materials are a great resource for centers, classwork, writing projects, and homework.  My kids LOVE them!!

(Did you know that TPT now accepts purchase orders from your school?  I convinced my principal to approve orders for Amy's Smart Board files.  Using the purchase order was really quick and easy, too)

When we adopted the Journeys Program, I really wished I had cute word wall cards.  So I finally made them myself.  There are so many cute word wall sets out there using dolch lists, but Journeys has words that are specific to their program.  So if you are going to be using Journeys, check out these packs.  Just print and laminate and you are ready to go!  Coordinating headers are also available as a separate purchase.  Just click on the caption to check them out in my TPT store.

  Funky Chalkboard Word Wall Materials

Colorful Chevron Word Wall Materials

These word walls will be on sale through Sunday.  Don't forget to provide feedback if you pick anything up from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Not only does it help you to get credits toward future purchases, but sellers love to here what you think.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ugh!! Construction Mess

UGH!!! What did I do?  Please don't judge this blog by it's header.  I tried adding a little flair to my blog by changing my header but, I failed horribly!!  I think this my project for tomorrow!  In the meantime, if this is your first visit to this blog of mine, please don't let it's appearance turn you off.  

I guess this is what I get for trying to teach myself the ins and outs of blog design.  I could just pay someone to design it for me (and sometime I might) but let's face it most of you are probably in the same boat as me... no work in the summer = penny pinching teacher.  Hopefully, by the next time you stop back, my blog will be new and improved!