FLASH GIVEAWAY!

I recently revamped my Favorite Author Posters (which are my best-selling TpT product)! I have added 30 new authors to the pack in addition to the 27 authors that were in my original pack. I just completed the K-2 Favorite Author Posters and will be completing a 3-5 Favorite Author Poster Pack shortly! I added colorful backgrounds, borders and letters to make this pack even more colorful! Check it out in my TpT store tomorrow and be sure to enter my flash giveaway below! I will choose one winner tomorrow night (Thursday, March 21s) Enter by leaving a comment telling your favorite children's book author!

Five For Friday {on Saturday} & a FREEBIE!

I have read many Five for Friday link-ups, but have never joined in on my own. Here's to my first Five for Friday!

I may have had Starbucks one too many times this week.. In my defense, my husband is using our K-Cups way too fast and leaving me with no coffee at our house!

I am in the process of adding 30+ authors to my Favorite Author Posters Pack on TpT and due to multiple requests, I am creating a separate pack of favorite authors for the upper grades (3-5). Feel free to leave me a comment of any authors you'd like to see in these packs! I can't wait until they're finished and up in the store!

I am loving the crocheted clock that a sweet, sweet lady from my church made for my classroom! It is absolutely perfect in that it 1. matches my classroom scheme and theme and 2. it actually works! 

I spent Friday with Teaching Miss Lackey at a workshop on Increasing Student Engagement in the Classroom. We learned some new and familiar strategies for activating prior knowledge and summarizing, as well as some new cognitive strategies that keep students engaged in learned. Basically, it was a nice overview of how you can be proficient in some of the areas in our Teacher Evaluation System. 

On Monday I will be traveling solo to the North Carolina Reading Association State Conference. I couldn't be more excited to attend! All through college I wanted to go, but could never work it out. I can't wait to learn so many new things to bring back to my classroom!

Grab this cute little math game freebie I made to help my kiddos who need some motivation for learning their math facts! I made one to practice addition and subtraction and another for my high flyers to practice their newly learned multiplication facts!

{Click on the pictures below to grab the freebie!}

Common Core Organization

Seeing as I spent the first half of my first year teaching without any sort of filing system, I knew that come 2013.. it was time to get down to business. If you remember from my post about getting rid of my teacher desk, I accumulated quite the stack of master copies and extra copies and who knows what else. The filing cabinet that I started the year off with did not allow me to use hanging file folders. However, I <3 hanging file folders and think that it is impossible to use a filing cabinet without them! My first workday in January I went scavenging around the school for an unused filing cabinet. I managed to grab an almost brand new one in beautiful condition and since then, my organization has really stepped up it's game.

I decided to start by organizing all of my language arts files by creating file folders for each Common Core Standard. I realized I had accumulated quite a bit of resources that were aligned to specific standards. Sooooo.. I whipped out some labels and became 100x more organized overnight. One of my lovely volunteer peeled all of those labels and stuck them on the folders for me, which made my next task just that much easier.

I quickly realized that even though I know a lot of the standards from memory, I would want to have the exact, word for word standard on the file folder as well. Soooo, I went back to my little laptop and whipped out some more labels. This time I used some labels that I had leftover from open house. Wow! Now I am one happy camper because my files are become ultra-organized and there is a home for everything. No more rummaging through knee-high stacks of papers to find the one sheet I wanted to use for  working on adverbs -- it's in the L.2.1(e) folder!

You can grab both of the templates for these file folders below!

Inside each folder I have specific activities or sheets that I can use to practice or access students' understanding and use of a specific concept as aligned to the Common Core. 

Some of my favorite Language Arts Common Core aligned packs from Teachers Pay Teachers are:

Katie Conklin's 2nd Grade Pack

Jamie Rector's Common Core Standards Reading Graphic Organizers

Sunny Days' Common Core Assessment Pack

Amy Dunn's Common Core Half Page Response Sheets

Teaching and Tapas 2nd Grade Common Core Assessments

Kidsrcute Reading Comprehension Companion

The Planning Zone's Common Core Assessment Pack & Task Cards

Teaching Sisters' Second Grade Common Core ELA Language Assessment Pack

Educating to the Core's 2nd Grade Language Assessment Pack

Want to organize your drawers to fit the Common Core? Grab these freebies!

{Click the picture to grab the freebie}

Daily 5 Math & a FREEBIE!

After jumping head first into Daily 5 for my literacy time at the start of school, I decided I would take the plunge with math as well. Using Daily 5 for my reading and writing time has had it's kinks, but has been the very best thing I could have done to create a classroom culture grounded in literacy and reading.

Until I starting using the Daily 5 structure for my math time about two weeks, my math block went a little like this...I would teach a WHOLE GROUP LESSON or activity for about 20-25 minutes. Then students would all complete the same worksheet or activity at the same time and when they were finished they would go to either me or my assistant and have their work checked. If they needed to correct any, they would go do so. If they got them all correct, they would go do an early finisher activity that was not necessarily related to the concept being practiced at the moment. If you're not cringing yet, let me give you a visual. I would sit at my horseshoe table and have 17 kids lined up, wrapped around, leaning on my table, chatting with the person in line behind them while I tried to work with the one kid who needs my undivided attention so they can just understand how to do a math problem. Got it? Okay, now you see why my math time HAD TO CHANGE.

I had previously heard a little about Daily 5 Math from reading on the Sisters' Daily Cafe website, as well as on a few blogs here and there. However, just like getting rid of my desk, when I set my mind to something.. I am going to do it right then and there's no stopping me. There was no time for stamina building, no time for training to play games... we just had to get down to business. After all, my kids deserve a solid math block where they are receiving the most engaging and relevant instruction that I can provide. Don't all kids? So what do I do, but jump in head first to Daily 5 Math.. and I'm not looking back.

There is no book about Daily 5 math (yet -- but I hope there will be one soon) and there is not much out there resource-wise for how this looks. However, it is easy to convert your math time into this structure with a little bit of planning and organization. So here's a little about what this looks like in my classroom. To read about another way to set up your math block for Daily 5 Math, check out my teaching bestie's blog, Teaching Miss Lackey. She is a 3rd grade teacher who just recently starting using Daily 5 Math. We took the plunge together and even though some of our ideas are the same, we have adapted it to our own classrooms to create what works for our sweet kiddos! 

I use the schedule above most days, unless I am introducing a brand new unit. In that case, I would take one day to teach a whole class lesson and have everyone practice independently. I like to make sure students have a basic understanding of the concept before turning them loose to practice it. 

For the rotations, students are engaged in math activities very similar to the Daily 5 Reading in language..The variety of math activities has kept my students engaged and excited about math time and it has kept me sane.. it's a win/win situation!

I made a Smartboard file because we already use a pocket chart for Daily 5 Literacy (and quite honestly, wall space is just hard to come by in my room these days). I allow my students to make their own choices for literacy rotations, but for math I decided to start out making their choices for them! With only two rotations and flexible math groups I needed to have a little more "teacher control" over what my kiddos were doing during the rest of our math time. So each morning (or during my planning time), I quickly put in their rotations for the day. Within the week, each student will complete math by myself every day and math technology, writing about math and math with someone once. Here's a snapshot of the Smartboard that I put up each day during math. 

Materials are organized each week for easy student access..

*I forgot to get my Math with Someone (partner math) in the picture.. However, these activities have found a home in the 3rd drawer in the clear plastic drawer set. I keep them in gallon Ziploc bags and kids just grab 'em and go!

Daily 5 Math Rotations in action...

Math by Myself is not pictured.. However, this is the time I use for all students to practice the same skill. If you use a textbook or math program, this is the time you would insert your worksheet for students to get some written practice in!

Math Technology can be on the computer or the Ipads. Students play math games that practice the skill we are working on. I have games linked to my classroom webpage for students to access. Technology Rocks has the BEST resources for math games!

My students love Math with Someone, of course. I generally have them play a game to practice the concept we are learning.. something hands on that doesn't require them to record any information!

This is my weakest area as I need to come up with more math journaling prompts that require my students to give me answers of substance.. not one word. Working on this... any and all TpT product suggestions are appreciated! I'm thinking Common Core with this one...

Math groups are my favorite part of Daily 5 Math. My assistant and I get to work with students in small groups that meet their individual needs. My math groups change from day to day/ After checking their daily work and homework, I place them in small groups.. I generally have one or two groups of students who need help with specific things, as well as a one group of students that are getting enrichment on the whole class concept being taught.Because I have flexible, fluid groups that change almost daily, students are able to receive instruction that is targeted exactly toward their area of need. I do have an "enrichment" math group that I changes with each new math unit to challenge my high flyers.

Grab the FREEBIE below to help you plan and organize Daily 5 Math in your classroom! I use it as a quick sketch of what my week looks like for math time! It helps keep me on track and is a good overview of all the activities students will complete within the week. Click on the pictures below to download the freebies!

Any other Daily 5 Math teachers out there? I would love to hear about what it looks like in your classroom!

Carson Dellosa Goodies & Winners!

A little over a week ago I attended a workbook focus session for Carson Dellosa Publishing Company at the local educational supply store in my city. In exchange for attending I got a few freebies! I am more than thrilled with my new goodies and can't wait to use them in my classroom!

During the focus session I picked up this fabulous workbook, which has been on my wishlist for a while! I love that it is aligned to the Common Core and has practice for all the standards at THREE, yes THREE levels! I bought the reading comprehension workbook by this same company a few months back and have really enjoyed using it because of the three different ability levels for each Common Core standard. The math book is an equally great resource.. I just finished using the Time practice pages with my second graders!

I had a box of freebies arrive from Carson Dellosa arrive at my doorstep today!! I was so excited to receive the goodies that I handpicked a week ago. I can't wait to use them in my classroom. I am most excited about the "Big Box of Word Chunks". I know they will come in handy with my lower reading group! Woohoo for Carson Dellosa!

 

Have you used any of these resources before?

 

Also, I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who entered my 300 Followers Giveaway. The winners were..

 

Pack #1 - Becky H.

 

Pack #2 - Doreen B.

 

Pack #3 - Jenna F.

 

Congratulations Ladies!!!

  



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300 Followers in February Giveaway!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! I reached my 300th follower this past Wednesday! This blog has been a great way for me to network and share ideas throughout my first year teaching. I have met so many wonderful teachers and look forward to continuing my journey in the teacher blog world! To celebrate the life of my little 'ol blog, I am having a 300 follower celebratory giveaway! Thanks to some of my favorite teacher blog friends, there are three awesome prize packs up for grabs..

Prize Pack #1

Prize Pack #2

Prize Pack #3

A big thanks to great blogger friends for helping me celebrate this little blogging mile marker! Be sure to check out their blogs and TpT stores and send some love their way!

The Resource Room Teacher

Mrs. Cranfill's Class 

Mrs. Kelly's Klass

Smiles from Second Grade

The Brown Bag Teacher

Teaching Miss Lackey

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I got rid of my teacher desk!

Last night I stayed up wayyyyy tooo late anticipating a potential delay in the morning due to icy weather. I was happy whenever I got the 6 am wake up call because I needed just a little more sleep from staying up way past my bedtime. I spent my night surfing through the blog world after Mr. P went to bed early. I am such a night owl!

While surfing, I resurfaced my wish to not have a desk in my classroom. When I got my teaching job, I never envisioned having a teacher desk. I do not spend time at my desk throughout the day and I rarely ever sit at it. When I do, it is usually to clean it off or get some sort of organization going on on my desk top. Basically, my desk is a catchall and storage unit. When I came across Smiling in Second Grade's blog post about getting rid of her teacher desk through the Hall Pass Linky, I was instantly in love. I knew that I wanted to eventually get rid of my desk and make it a more functional space for myself.

Well, today was the day. I went into school this morning on a 2-hour delay and arrived to a little bit of chicken life cycle tragedy (more on this later). My kids were absolutely off the rocker today due to 1) the delay 2) it's Friday and 3) our chicks went back to the 4-H. After school I knew I wanted to be productive and get some things done. The moment my kids left I tackled my dreaded desk area.

Now let me just start by saying that not only was my desk a catchall but so was the surrounding area. My junky desk drawers were accompanied by a 3-foot high stack of papers to be filed, bags upon bags of very important stuff and other random things that had a found a hiding spot in my little nook. I was absolutely over the mess. I do not function well in a mess so I knew something had to be done.

When I started off my school my year, I assumed I would just have a desk and be conventional. I made my cute little corner and was content.

Fast forward six months and you have a mess...

Okay so I was only kidding with the picture above...

I couldn't find a picture of my actual mess on top of my desk, but here's a sneak peak at the clutter surrounding it.. yIkEs!!!

Once I got it in my head that I was going to be desk-free, there was no stopping me. I did some brainstorming with one of my teaching besties, pushed and pulled and rearranged around my room and ta-da.. My vision was complete! Thank you Miss Lackey for all your help!

My goal was an area that didn't turn into a junk drop..

Although my shelves around a work in progress, they goal for today was just to rearrange and get situated. Now I have all of the forever hidden stuff that was in my desk drawers in containers on the wooden shelf.

I want my table area to be a functional space where I can work and plan before and after school and where I can  work with one or two students during the school day. I PLAN on keeping my table cleaned off so that I could be used to its full potential. Wish me luck!

I will not junk this up, I will not junk this up, I REFUSE to junk this up..

Just the site of my new nook makes me happy! I can't wait to try it out on Monday!

What do you think about teachers not have a conventional "teacher desk"? Have you made the big switch to table for your teacher area?