Back to School Goals Linky

I am linking up with Jess at I heart Recess for the Back to School Goals Linky. I have about two more weeks of summer break and three more until school starts so it is definitely time for me to start getting things in gear.

Last year reflection...



Well looking at last year's goals I did not do so well with my goals. Last year was a tough year and honestly all I could focus on was maintaining sanity.

This year's goals I tried to keep simple so they are easier to attain and possibly surpass. Here are my goals for the 2014-2015 school year.

{Personal} I have done much better about exercising and eating better in the past several months. I joined a challenge which caused me to lose 7 lbs. and work out daily. My goal is to begin adding a morning work at least once per week which is going to be tooooough. Totally an anti-waking-before-I-have-to type person. But I was able to accomplish this once and it felt great! Slowly but surely.

Meal prep is also key. You've heard the saying abs are made in the kitchen and I'm trying to get at least a 2 pack. HA HA. If you guys ever check the #mealprepmondays hashtag on instagram you will see how the pros do it. I'm working to get to that point.

{Organization} Last year I was more organized than ever before but this year I am taking it to another level. I'll be honest and admit I'm like a 75% organized person. There are some things I need meticulously placed and others I put by the wayside. Through inventive storage and labeling I am hoping to reach 100%.

{Planning} I think writing will be the easiest subject to stay ahead. We use Thinking Maps:Write from the Beginning at our school which is a writing program based on Thinking Maps which makes planning easy because there's steps for mini-lessons, practice etc. 2 weeks ahead on writing will give me a chance to focus on reading and math plans.

{Professional} I have the pleasure of working with some truly awesome people that are truly stuck in their ways and oppose change. lol. I am hoping that through presenting some of my strategies I can help them embrace change. Here's hoping....

{Students} After a summer of awesome conferences, [WBT & ISTE] it is my goal to use what I've learned to get my students more involved in their own learning. I can't wait to use TEACH-OKAY, technology and notebooks with my firsties.

{Motto} An oldie but goodie but absolutely what I am going by this year. I am hoping that through maintaining organization, planning ahead, and making my students more accountable I will surely be working smarter!

Thanks for reading my goals. Link up to share yours!

Monday Meet Up and Monday Made It- 6/23

I just love linky parties! Great opportunity to find new blogs and network with awesome teachers.

First I am linking up for the first time with the Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Up. Everyone is sharing little random facts....join in and share!

Three random facts about me....

When deciding what to name me my aunt came up with the brilliant idea to name me after my grandmothers. It's funny because those two ladies are the reason I'm the woman I am today. 

I'm slightly picky when it comes to food. There are several foods I won't eat because I can't stand the texture. I'm weird about tomatoes too, I can eat them on hamburgers but not on a salad because I can feel the texture. Weird..ha!

Charmed is one of my favorite shows! I watch the re-runs that come on in the morning even I own the whole box set. Love it!

Now on to my link up with Tara for Monday Made It. 

I made whisper phones! Since I am moving to first, I wanted to make whisper phones to help those little firsties with fluency! Of course this pinspired project was all over the place and seemed easy enough so I went for it!

On a scale of 1-super crafty I'm like a 6 depending on the complexity of the task. These were super easy, and cheap {my favorite}. I thought about spray painting but decided to keep it simple with washi tape. They came out great!

Easy Whisper Phones

You need: 10 ft. long 3/4 in pvc cut into 3 1/2 in. pieces, 3/4 in. elbow pvc pipe (2 for each phone) and washi tape or duct tape

So as I blogged about last week I went to the WBT national conference. I've used elements of WBT for the past two years but this year I'm going full force. I made rule posters last year but modified them a bit. I've decided to add the official WBT rules and included them all together as a free download. Click the picture for your WBT rules freebie!

That's it for me! Off to work out and get started on this week's projects!

Five for Friday-June 20th!

It's Friday and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday linky. For me this week has been amazing....be sure you link and share your week!

On Sunday I drove 9 hours from Atlanta to Alexandria, LA for the Whole Brain Teaching Conference! I left really late because I bartended the night before and had to get everything ready. It was a long drive and during the drive I asked "Why did I do this to myself?", however I found out the why once I reached Louisiana! 

 The Whole Brain Teaching Conference was nothing short of amazing! Day 2 was definitely my favorite day because (clapper) we learned about oral writing. Coach B broke down the lesson sketch in morning session and Farrah Shipley broke it down even further for the teachers of firsties!

Mrs. Shipley breaking down the oral writing diagram! I just love her! I was extremely excited to learn from her, talk to her and got some great advice for how to work WBT with Class Dojo! You rock Mrs. Shipley!

On the last day, I finally got some pictures in! I was so engaged in the conference, didn't take a ton of pics! I happen to believe I got thee best pictures with Coach B! If you follow me on instagram you might've seen them!

 Before I left, I had to get some authentic cajun food. I looked up the best take out Cajun restaurant in Alexandria and Debarge's was the go to place! Man on man was it! The cashier was super sweet and let me try their cacklins and boudin balls free of charge! Talk about yums! {I'll be working that off in the gym  next week}

On my way back I made a pit stop in Natchez, MS to go to the riverfront! It was gorgeous!

In addition.......

Before I left for the conference I put together my whisper phones {$16 project}. Now that I'm back this weekend I will be spray painting and adding washi tape! I've also been working on a QR code station and have lots of things to make for my WBT journey!

Happy Friday y'all!

Monday Made It 7/22 and Atlanta Blogger Meet Up!

Today's very late post discusses my Monday Made-Its and the Atlanta Blogger meet up from this past Saturday.

I have been a busy, busy girl trying to do deep cleaning around the apartment, projects, and beginning
to plan classroom set up. I have a mere 6 days before my official start day but plan to get in my room as soon as they are done waxing floors *major eye roll*! On to made its...

(1) No Questions Touch Light

I'm sure you all have seen these....

Loved the idea.....and definitely have experienced the constant interruptions soooo here's my version. You can find the lights at the dollar tree! I used BIC markers to decorate.

(2) Birthday Bunch

I cannot remember exactly where the birthday bunch balloons came from but I believe they were a freebie on TPT. If you are the creator please let me know so I can give credit....they're lovely. :) Dollar tree silly straws, balloons, lamination, tape and voila! I think I will add student names and birthdays too.

I have a birthday box to keep them in....

but it is currently being used by glow sticks that I originally planned to use for the birthday bunch. I decided against that because the glow sticks cannot be left exposed or they won't glow. Which leads me to my next made it...

(3) Glow Stick Student Gift Tags

I decided to give the glow stick bracelets I have as beginning of the year gifts for my 3rd graders and so I created these cute little tags to attach to the bracelets. I can't actually make them until school starts to preserve the "glow". Here are the tags....

The first 5 people to comment on this post can get these labels for free customized with your name and grade(leave your email)! I will be adding them to my TPT store this week!

Now to discuss the Atlanta Blogger Meet up! I had a great time with the 8 other ladies that went to Swan Coach House for lunch on Saturday. The food, the conversation, and the trip to IKEA were loads of fun. It was great to meet some of the bloggers whose blogs I've been reading, and being exposed to new ones. We also discussed how empowering and positive the blogging community is and how much we enjoy the camaraderie! Here are some pictures from the meet up!

Amanda, Jessica (Jivey), Brandee, Me, Liz, Stacia, Amanda, Alison, Elizabeth

Cute placemats made by Amanda from Collaboration Cuties and goodie jar by Jivey

Super cute To Do List created by Elizabeth and Brandee

Needless to repeat....loved meeting up with these ladies and look forward to more meet ups. Welp....although it is late these are the hours I keep during the summer being a night owl and all. Oh wait.....my summer is dwindling, I should probably fix that soon. Pfffffffff!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Made It and Other Stuff

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! Last Tuesday I embarked on the verrrrry long road trip from Georgia to Ohio to see my family! I'm still in Ohio and it's been a crazy week thus far.

Major trip events.....so far

-I spent all of Wednesday with my stepdad, his girlfriend and my brother and sister at Cedar Point. If you don't know Cedar Point it is only the best amusement park in world....no seriously it ranks every year and international parks try their best to compete! I had a great time...and got a little tan! The Millennium Force was awesome!! Here are some fun pics of the park and my lovely family....

Family <3

Newest ride- The Gatekeeper

View from the Sky Ride

Looking out at Lake Erie

-On a very sad note during this trip I also learned that a classmate of mine passed away the same day I drove up to Ohio. Needless to say I was totally shocked, we're so young and our class was extremely close so it hit hard. She was a beautiful girl and will truly be missed. Attending her memorial on Saturday was hard but I had to show my condolences. Just a note....be careful while driving and always tell the ones you love how much you care.

-My baby girl is having too much fun running around my Grandmas' yard. Now I've gotta get a place with a yard....I feel like I'm depriving her. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen this pic of her running around with joy!

On to Monday Made It! Being that I am not at home I couldn't get really crafty so I made a little freebie. It's one of my faaaavorite back to school activities. Squiggle line writing. The students take a squiggly line and turn it into any creative picture they can think of....animals, houses ANYTHING! Then they write a short story about their picture. It is a great way to assess their writing for the beginning of the year. Click on the picture to check it out! And link up with 4th Grade Frolics Enjoy and happy Monday!

 

Who else has just 17 days left of summer like I do? Ahhhhh!!!!!!

Tuning into Technology: Integrating Technology into Reading

I'm sooooo excited to be linking up with iTeach 1:1 and the Learning to the Core for the Tuning into Technology linky party! Technology is my thing!!! If I had to choose one area of teaching I get excited about and feel I possess a strength, it would definitely be technology. If you're a techie teacher or have a great tip to share link on up!

Today I will be discussing how I integrate technology into reading. Like many of the bloggers out there I also do Daily 5 with my students. My students and I use tons of websites and web 2.0 tools in order to facilitate a smooth Daily 5 block. The first website is the most important because it has multiple uses.

Symbaloo
Symbaloo is surely one of my top favorite tech finds. This websites eliminates the need to post every reading website I want my students to visit for listen to reading, read to self etc. What's so great about symbaloo is it is one large collection of websites for learning. I have links to reading websites such as storylineonline and wegivebooks, the visual thesaurus, word games, brain pop, and kid friendly search engines! My links are also color coded by subject (orange- literacy, green- science, blue-math, white-various sources). I also have some special links to our class website and kidblog. Basically this is one resource that links to many, many resources you can use for reading! Love, love, love Symbaloo! It's free and easy to customize for your students. Click on the picture to check out my symbaloo and some of the cool links I have available.

**Youngzine- you can access this great resource on my Symbaloo! It is a website that has articles with current events and even allows children to write articles and reviews! So cool!**

Voicethread
Voicethread is a super cool tool that students can add or upload pictures and narrate with their voice. There are so many different ways to use voicethread. I had my student turn her expository writing piece into a voicethread. We worked so hard on her voicethread that she won in our district's technology fair and competed at the state level. That was an amazing experience for both of us. Check out her voicethread below.


Google Forms
Another resource that has a multitude of uses! I have used Google forms for virtual reading assignments. Towards the end of the school year my district required that all students sign into their new email accounts. I began emailing students assignments and one assignment required students to read a Time for Kids article on their own, access the Google form via email and answer 10 questions. Coolest part......Google forms organizes the responses into a spreadsheet! Great way to track everyone's comprehension. I have heard of people using a website called Flubaroo with Google forms to grade the work. I haven't experimented yet...definitely on the back to school to do list. I've also seen the Google forms used for reading and writing conferences. Google forms is an overall excellent tool!

Google Form