Thankful for this Break!

I love a weekend (or a week) when teachers get a chance to unwind and recharge their batteries for the next three weeks before the holidays.  Not that I needed "recharging"...more like time.  ;)

Time for this...

Decor not finished but wall repainted...YES!
(Sign made by my friend, Lisa, from My Sweetest Inspirations.)

Again...decor not finished but two of the walls repainted.  Progress!

Time for this...

Stolen moments together

Time for this...

A smiley Thanksgiving Day!

Time for this...

Helping Daddy with the train

Story time with E  ;)

Focused and determined!

Time for this...

Our trip to see Santa included a much needed train ride.

Time for this...

Notice the little train (ornament) bringing up the caboose!
The work of a 2 year old

And time for this...

Herbert, our elf, came back and brought breakfast from the North Pole.
Elf-sized pancakes and letter!  Yum!

Plus, time to just think creatively and brainstorm some new ideas and activities I'll be doing these next few weeks!  Those are still in progress...and by "in progress" I mean, still completely just in my head.  ;)  Luckily, I still have a day and a half to create.  he he!!

So excited for time to plan and enjoy still being home a bit longer before the December insanity ensues.

Happy Saturday!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Hope your day was filled with family, friends, love, and fun.  

Parent Resources Here!

Woo hoo!  

After what felt like a super unproductive day, I did manage to get some great things checked off my list.

1.  Freshened up my look with a haircut...just in time for conferences.

(sorry.  no selfies.  this girl is not photogenic.)  ;)

2.  Found a fun pair of boots at DSW on clearance for...wait for it...$15!!!!!  

(Ok...this was NOT on my list to do, but who can resist $15 boots?!?!)

3.  Got a new printer since my old one decided it had taken enough of my abuse over the years and decided to just quit printing black about 2 weeks ago.  What?!!?  I know.  Befuddling.

2 weeks of pure stress.  Never realized how much I print at home.

Until I couldn't.

Now I just have to install it...hmm.

4.  And...happy to say...got this ready for my conferences Monday.

Decided to give it a little updating...especially for any of my sibling's parents that may have received it last year.  ;)

Three handouts all ready to copy and share with parents.  I have included tips, strategies, and activities for homework time, spelling, reading, and writing that parents can do at home to help support their child.  I also added on a plethora of ways to practice spelling words which could be used for spelling words, sight words, and letter recognition and identification.

Grab yours here.

As for me...now onto printer installation and student portfolios.  

What a wild and crazy Saturday night!  he, he

hello friday.

Has November flown by for anyone else?  I feel like I blinked sometime in September and two months have flashed by.  Phew!

Anyway, it's Friday.  The Friday before Thanksgiving Break and Parent Teacher Conferences.  So excited for both.  I love having a week off to enjoy some down time with my own kids (minus the dreaded flu that keeps rearing it's ugly head in my house!) and no "real" places to go.  Staying in jammies and comfy clothes, fire burning, and maybe even a family movie or two.  

Can you picture it now????  I can.  

Sweet!

But not until...

The craziness of prepping for conferences is past.  That break will be well earned I'm sure after this weekend.  I love the chance to sit and talk with each child's parents about where they are in the classroom academically, socially, functionally, and behaviorally.  Report cards never seem to do it all justice and let's be real...kids are very different at school than they are at home.

Okay.  Some of them are.  ;)

Either way, it's a great time to have those conversations.  

In order to elicit great feedback and good conversations from parents, I have found that I need two three things.

1.  Actual materials from their child (evidence, if you will...to support your thinking)

Must be organized, thorough, and clear.

2.  Support and resources.

Most parents are not trained educators and are not always sure how to get the best work from their child or where to find it or what's appropriate for their needs.  I like to have resources available to support them at home when working with their child/children.

and I almost forgot the third one...

3.  Great listening ears.

Even though my job is to support, educate, and share with parents...just like students, teachers, and every other person ever...they want to be heard.  If they have concerns or even if they want to take 2 minutes of your time to brag...I need to let them.  It's their 20 minutes (most likely) all year that they have to let you know where they are and how they feel about their child.  Good, bad, ugly, indifferent.  I need to listen.  I need to allow them that time.  I think that is difficult for some teachers as we think we need to be the only one talking with merely the final "Do you have any questions?" comment reserved for the last 30 seconds.  And for sure...I AM GUILTY OF THAT!!!!

But I do know that allowing parents the opportunity to share will open the lines of communication even further and more positively so I need to work that into my plan.

As I put together all my resources this weekend I will share some of the goodies I give to parents and how I outline my conferences.  Yes, I realize it may be too late or down to the wire for some, but nevertheless, great to add to the files for next year.  

In the meantime, enjoy your Friday!

Cue the Music

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again...I L.O.V.E. and need and have to have music in my classroom!  Not that I'm a music buff by any means but it has certainly grown throughout the years.

That being said I could go on for hours...but sadly, this girl is exhausted.  So for tonight I'm simply going to post this playlist and call it a night.  

Since everything in my classroom has a purpose, I can assure you all of these songs do as well.  Gladly, I will share the purposes of each playlist soon and how I use these songs in my class.  Below is the playlist I shared with my colleagues so it is in a different format than I would normally post on the blog.

But for now...

here you go.

I will share a prettier, more user-friendly list soon. ;)

...sweet dreams.

Honoring Veteran's Day

Tomorrow is officially Veteran's Day...a day to honor, celebrate, and remember all those brave heros who protect our freedoms and our country.  

It's also the day I gave myself as a goal to share another product.  This fall has been not friendly to my creative side.  Boo!!!  When given any down time (and by down time, you clearly know that I mean in the shower, driving in the car, or while cleaning up the kitchen) I have been trying to think of a way to share this day with my kiddos.  

And I'm happy to say that the creative juices started flowing finally just a couple hours ago.   Here it is!

On sale now in my TPT store.  

Here's how I'll be using it.  

I like to start by asking kiddos their schema about words such as honor, soldier, veteran.  This always gives me great insight as to what students know and how to guide my lesson from there.  It's especially important if there are students in my class with family members who are away and serving.  

Then I will take the time to read some of my faves...

...having great discussions as I go.

After I will have my students follow up with my asking and answering flip book.  Given 4 vocab words and our conversations, see if students can create some insightful questions about the words.  Then we will look to see if we can answer those questions...which they will add to their flip books.

In partners, I will have students complete my Soldiers Can/Have/Are.  I think it's a great way for students to take their thinking one step further.  We have done these with firefighters and a couple other  ideas so far this year.  I like to see how many and WHAT ideas students come up with.  We will take the time to share our ideas with other partnerships as well.

Independently, I will have students do the Thank You writing.  This will be a handy tool to assess whether or not students understand what our veteran's do/have done for us and what that means.  

For example, if a student were to write

"Thank you for wearing camouflage.  It's my favorite.".....clearly not the message or thought I was hoping to instill.  We may need to go back and do a little reteaching if needed.

As a fun way to wrap up the morning, my students will create their own red poppy with either paint or red tissue paper.  (I'm actually still deciding what I will do....)

I think these activities hung with the red poppies on display will drive our THANK YOU, VETERANS point home.

So...even though it's technically already Veteran's Day and you probably have your day planned, feel free to check out my new product.  Save in your files for perhaps next year.  ;)

Thank you to the men and women serving, who have served, 

and who we remember and honor on this special day!

TGIF!

Hello, Friday!

My, how you've been missed!

Anyhoo...I heart double heart Fridays!

And not just for the pure fact that it's the end of the week (although that is a major plus) but because it is the best day to get caught up on weekly activities at school AND have some fun with it.  

My kiddos know that I refer to Fridays as "Funday."  ;)

This is the day they really get to show off what they have learned all week but usually in game form  or a more unstructured style.  What a great way to keep kids motivated and learning!!

I also love Fridays (this Friday in particular) because I know I get the weekend to recharge my batteries, get back to creating again now that the October craziness is behind me, and spend some time with my own kiddos snug in our warm house rather than chasing.  Ahhh....love!

So...happy funday, everyone!

Here's to a great day and a productive and rejuvenating weekend!  

Quotes to sum it all up...

October came and went and here it is November.  So many things to do, finish, start, create.....

So little, little time.  

I'm feeling the pain of this little ol' neglected blog in the midst of a crazy fall.  And while I'm quickly trying to get ready for the day this early morning and couldn't help but share a few quotes to sum up a little of what I'm feeling lately.

Happy Hump Day!

Not sure if I think I actually CAN or that I'm just plain CRAZY enough to continue to attempt trying.

Verdict is still out on that one....

Yep, Mom...I know.  Payback.

Who says you can't continue to add more when your plate is already full???  'Tis the season of overindulging, right?!?

HA!  Kidding.  But in all seriousness...I need to remember this...daily!

Most importantly, I need to remember this...daily.  

So thankful for all the blessings in my life.  

Including this poor, sad neglected...but loved...blog.  

Someday I'll get back to you.

Someday...