Words of Encouragement

One of my friends/colleagues told me the other day while she was teaching a lesson on prefixes and suffixes using a video, one of my former students saw that the video was produced by a university in Ohio. He then proceeded to say "Hey, my third grade teacher is from Ohio. On second thought, my second grade teacher is from Ohio too." {<-- he was talking about me} Although this is but a mere representation of the impact I've had on my former and current students, that particular moment and conversation with her was extremely encouraging and needed.

To say that this school year has been stressful would be a vast understatement. I pride myself on remaining optimistic when faced with the most depressing of situations but this year is taking me for a roller coaster ride with no seat belt. I wish I could get into everything but being that this is a very public platform I can say that I am being challenged and tested. I am far from a complainer, in fact I quite detest complaining but sometimes you just have to vent.

For the first time in weeks I am starting to feel like my strong and confident teaching self. I am reinventing and thinking ahead, coming up with my master plan to take control of the chaos that is my teaching life right now. Stressing myself out won't help. Taking the test head on and demonstrating my purpose is what I intend to do. It's amazing how small words of encouragement can change your whole attitude and feeling about trials and tribulations you're going through. If any of you other teacher bloggers are facing similar hardships just know everyone is not called to teach, and if it your passion, you will do what is necessary to progress and impact students.

Fin. 

Formal Observation

Soooooo today was my formal observation. I'll admit I felt a certain type of way that mine was on a Monday andddd introducing a new topic so I couldn't do too many flips, tricks and awesome amazing things because I needed the students to get the "gist". Lol.

Here's how it went down....

I was observed during math instruction.....which is at the end of the day....and my sweet darlings always need lots of movement! Soooo we began with...


M&Ms. Ooooh aahhh! I prepared bags of M&Ms for each group with an amount that would equally divide among the groups. Have you guessed our skill? That's right Division! The groups worked together to decide how many each would get in order to share equally. We really emphasized that sharing equally!

Next I used a promethean flip chart for them to take notes on 3 division strategies.

Then we began math rotations. I loved the names of the math groups used by 3 Teacher Chicks as seen in this post. I have four groups (North, South, East, and West) with my on level groups being the largest. Students rotate between the teacher group, desk work, math centers, and Xtramath. During math centers my students worked on Halloween multiplication and division centers created by Ashleigh. They loved them!

All in all it went well. I did have 2 emotional breakdowns (typical) but handled it and kept it moving! Looking forward to feedback, but I got myself so worked up and nervous and after a more than eventful weekend I am beat. Happy Monday y'all!

Go Noodle!

Who doesn't love brain breaks? Research has shown that brain breaks allows students to get the "wiggles out" and also better focus on the next learning activity. One day while browsing Pinterest for more fun brain breaks, I found a video of Maximo that shows kids yoga using kid-friendly names for the poses. Maximo is a riot! My kids loved it! After I watched the video and showed it to my students I noticed a reference to a site called GoNoodle. Brain break jackpot! Not only is there more Maximo, but it's free and has other activities including Boogie Down, and Word Jam! We love it!

Please check it out and sign up for a free account.

Here's Maximo!

I'm back and Professional Development

Hello fellow teachers and bloggers after a very long hiatus I am BACK! I had to step away for a while because the past few months have just been beyond rough. In addition to the normal stresses of beginning a new school year, crazy changes and a thoroughly rambunctious group of third grade "darlings" {yeah, just a bit of sarcasm} have had me in the pits. Didn't have anything nice to say so I thought it best to retreat. I've decided that this year is a test of my ability to remain optimistic, strong and focused. I intend to do all three so without further ado onto the positive...

The past two days have been fall break for my students and professional development for me. My school is a Thinking Maps School. We use thinking maps at all grade levels and have implemented their use in our lesson plans in every subject. This is our second  year using Thinking maps and I really really like using them!

Using thinking maps reinforces higher order thinking skills, and helps students organize and share their thinking in meaningful ways. The professional development we had today and Friday takes Thinking maps to another level with a program called Thinking Maps: Write from the Beginning and Beyond.

 

I really enjoyed the training although in the back of my mind I kept thinking of things I could be doing in my classroom {don't we all think that?!!}. The focus of our sessions was how to incorporate thinking maps into our writing instruction with a routine geared towards each genre and type of writing. What I liked most about this training was the grade specific goals, the rubrics, and the routine for expository writing. I am so excited to begin this with my students because thinking maps have already greatly improved the quality of their writing.

Some highlights from the training:
-Specific criteria for expository writing including number of sentences or paragraphs required at each grade level
-the difference between analytic improvement rubrics vs. holistic rubrics
-the thinking map used should be driven by the purpose for writing {ex. writing to explain parts begins with a brace and then turns into a tree map}
-focused modeled writing should be done with students at least 3 days per week
-class proficiency reports not only inform areas of strength and need for improvement but also possible mini-lessons
-orally rehearsing in pairs provides opportunities to use their thinking map to get their piece flowing

My team has already begun discussing how we will implement this program in our writing. One aspect we all agreed upon was the necessity to integrate writing with the content areas. I will be back to share our implementation and also intend to do a full thinking maps post.

Until next time...

Five for Friday 8/23

Slowly but surely trying to get acclimated to the beginning of the school year and all the crazy stuff that has been going on. I'm kinda jeals of all the teacher bloggers that were able to really beautify their classroom spaces...for so many reasons in which I already discussed I still have some minor things to do but we are still in full swing! On to my Five for Friday link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

I promised a few classroom pictures. As I said due to various reasons I have to finish up some odds and ends. For the most part we are all set up and functioning. Here's a small glimpse.

A little blurry but reading and writing bulletin boards

Goals and Book Boxes

Door with "you are loved" mantra

Library, CAFE, D5

Promethean, number line and world landmarks cursive alphabet

My whiteboard with WBT rules above

Magnet behavior chart on whiteboard, I can statements, Marzano rating scale, and word wall

My very rambunctious group is giving me a run for my money! Whoooo! I'm a little spoiled since many of last year's third graders looped up with me from second. It's funny....with a new group you forget that they are still 2nd graders and need a lil coaching to reach a functional level of independence. Work in progress :)

In science we have been working on the introductory unit on science inquiry. We did the very simple bubble experiment in our textbook in order to prepare the students to make observations and ask questions. When I tell you they were too excited....they just went nuts! They're observations were quite interesting too! Great day!

Our social studies introductory unit called for students to discuss conflict resolution and decision making. The students watched a youtube video of three girls that created a conflict rap. Then I allowed my students to create their own rap, skit, song or poem. When I tell y'all cute and hilarious....I mean it. I recorded them but unfortunately the audio is not so great. Great lesson though!

Read to self is going well! We reached 13 minutes today! At this rate I'll be getting ready for their celebration next week! Once they reach 20 minutes we are having a reading celebration in the classroom. I'm thinking big banner, cake, certificates, and bookmarks. Any other ideas?

We had our first activity day today as well! Activity day is a school wide program in which teachers sponsor a fun activity that students can choose such as painting, basketball, cooking, Wii, crafts and so many more! Students have to earn points in Class Dojo in order to be able to attend activity day on a bi-weekly basis. I sponsored painting and the kids has a great time! More on Activity day in a later post!

Evernote Love! <3 <3

I have been using Evernote for all kinds of documentation and I am innnn love! Combining Evernote with Skitch and  KustomNote has allowed me to eliminate so much paperwork. For example using KustomNote I was able to create a template for the San Diego Quick Word Assessment. So awesome! I'm hoping to move to a "mostly" paperless classroom. I have been using Evernote for tracking homework, anecdotals and soon reading and writing conferences so the possibilities are endless. I will definitely do a Evernote/Kustomnote post!

Happy Friday! Off to have some non-teaching related Friday night fun!

First Week and A Half of School Review

O.K.....so I promised to participate through teacher week and let's just say while I had the best of intentions last week was super hectic. Imagine all the normal stresses and nervous energy of the first few days of school compounded with mold in the building, no copier access, several teachers out, an influx of new students and more! Mannnnn...it's been rough but nonetheless I've made some progress with my thirdsters!

We are doing really well with Daily 5. Today the kids reached the half way mark at 10 minutes1 Woohoo! They are so excited about their reading stamina celebration once they reach 20 minutes. I still have to work out the exact details of the celebration. I do know I will have a cake. I'll probably give out certificates and book marks. Any other ideas?

With whole brain teaching they have mastered knowing and the rules and gestures. A few of my darlings are still working on following the rules :0 They are class-yes experts and hand-eyes experts. We are going to try teach-ok this week.

Our school uses Class Dojo school wide for behavior and it honestly works wonders. I have to do better at using that instead of addressing every situation. As soon as they hear that sound...they get back on task especially since I don't show their points all day. Students work to receive enough points to go to a school wide bi-weekly activity day. I will go more in depth on Friday since it's our first one!

I'll be back throughout the week to share some classroom pictures, and also more about class dojo and activity day! Have a great week!

Teacher Week '13 Meet the Teacher

I knowww I've been absent (first three days of school last week). I promise to give a little recap at the end of the week. Everything going on at the school has made for one tired teacher....I've been engaging in what I affectionately call "little nappies" every day after school. :)

Anywhooo....I am linking up with Blog Hoppin'  for.....



Yay! This of course is my first time linking up and I am so excited to learn more about some of my favorite and also new bloggers. So without further ado..




1.I am originally from a small town suburb of Cleveland, Ohio called Twinsburg. My little town actually hosts an annual Twinsday festival in early August that gathers twins from around the country.
2. I am a total insomniac. I get my best ideas at 2 a.m. when I am supposed to be fast asleep. All summer I stayed up into the wee hours of the night, and slept in in the mornings.
3. I arguably watch more T.V. than I should (trying to change that habit) so I am a reality TV junkie however I do have some staple shows that includes Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and The Walking Dead.
4. HUGE fan of Beyonce! I've shared this before but this is how much I love this lady! I was in the BeyHive before there was a BeyHive mmmk! I had the time of my life at the Mrs. Carter Show!

5. I used to say that I would NEVER NEVER NEVER be a teacher but if I would it would be early childhood or high school. Ha! Go figure!
6. I have no tattoos but I must make a decision if I want to get one by the time I'm 30.
7. I love keeping up with the newest technology. I am that person that scours Best Buy looking for the newest laptop, tablet, phone whatever fun techy stuff I can get my hands on! I feel a certain way that I haven't been able to get a new phone.....it's driving me nuts!
8. When I do get married...I want it to be small and intimate so that I can splurge on yummy food (not traditional wedding food), a gorg cake, and a rockin party!
9. I'm sort of a natural comedian. In my classroom....my students are constantly laughing at either my facial expressions or the funny, crazy things I say. I'm a total goof. See.....

10. Of all the characteristics of a Gemini I would have to say I am definitely the whole scatterbrained...all over the place thing! I am rarely ever focused on one thing. At any given time my internet browser has 17 tabs open, I'll start cleaning one area then move somewhere else and remember something I'm supposed to do, go back to my original task and so on. It's dizzying sometimes! Haha!

Well that's me! Teacher Week has commenced!