Better Late Than Never, Right?

After changing my blog design earlier today, I am motivated to get back into blogging!  Summer's approaching and I'll have more time to share more about the huge challenge my new job has been - in both bad and {mostly} good ways!

But for today I'll join in with a new linky party I've found: Super Six Sundays, hosted by bewitched bookworms.  And even though it's Saturday, and they'll be starting a new linky tomorrow, I loved the topic they chose for this week and can't help but join in the fun!

This week's prompt:  List Six Books You Couldn't Stop Thinking About.


Zoo by James Patterson

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of James Patterson, and usually when I finish one of his books, I can't remember it for more than a couple of hours.  That's what makes Zoo so different!  I read it months ago and I keep talking about it to anyone who happens to bring up books, reading, animals, or almost anything else!

Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb

This is one of the best books I have ever read.  I recommend it to everyone who asks, but I have never known another reader who has read it!

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I spent all of last summer looking for a new great book that could measure up to the previous summer's offerings - to no avail.  Read my review for Ivan here.

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

The same summer that gave me Ivan also introduced me to Doug Swieteck.  I have still not recovered from my angst for Doug.  Read my original review here.





 

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Historical fiction at its best. Meticulously researched and brilliantly executed, I felt like I was in the midst of the French Revolution, and Marie's struggle to survive!







The Book Whisperer & Reading in the Wild by Donnalyn Miller

The best professional books ever!  Each one confirmed for me what I already knew and justified my teaching style to anyone who doubted me!






Click each title to see the book on Barnes and Noble.

Top 6 Linky

For the past two weeks, I've done nothing but obsess about my new room.  I cannot wait to get in there later this week and make it my own.

So in the spirit of wishful thinking, I'm linking up with Courtney @Swimming Into Second for her weekly top ten.  But I can only think of 6 things to put on my list!  And three of them I already have!  Yep - I'm pretty blessed!

The first thing I want in my dream classroom is an iPad for every child.  I started using the iPads at my old school only towards the end of the year, but I wish I had done more.  The possibilities are endless and kids love them!

BTW, my favorite app for the classroom is Socrative.  Students can enter answers to the questions, and I get an email that I can print out and use for assessment.  Love that!

 Next, I would love to have these stools.  Do you know about these yet?  They are so cool; they wobble just enough.  Kids who can't sit still get to move - while they're sitting! 

Third up would have to be lovely window coverings! The windows in my new room are old and ugly and the shades are not much better. Not to mention, one of them is missing (??). I am not a seamstress, nor do I plan to become one, so I'm not sure how to make this happen yet. But when I was classroom shopping the other day, I contemplated shower curtain panels. Not plastic ones, but pretty fabric ones! They are larger than window panels and come in great patterns that might be fun for a large classroom. Has anyone tried this? Do you have other great ideas for covering my ugly windows?

The last three things I need in my dream classroom, I already have!!! I cannot imagine living without them, though so I'm including both of them in my dream classroom layout!

Some sort of interactive white board.  I don't care if it's Promethean or SMART but I need a board that I can teach from.  I absolutely cannot go back to chalk!!  :)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Classroom Friendly Supplies Pencil Sharpener!  This thing is the best!  I got my to review last summer, and my kids used it all year long!  It is the best evah!

And finally - carpet!  If you have it, you know what I mean.  If you don't have carpet, you probably are like, what's the big deal?  Well, let me tell you.
1) It's quiet.  There is no chair noise or stomping feet noise.

2) It's comfortable.  Kids can sit on the floor and I don't have to have to have carpet squares or an extra rug (which, when I had, I always tripped over the edges, or somebody would pick at the edges and ruin the binding).

3)  And it's homey.  I love the idea of making our classrooms more homey and comfortable.  Carpet goes a long way to creating that atmosphere!



There you have it!  My list.  Go link up; I can't wait to find out what other things I should be coveting for my room!

a Linky & a Freebie!

Today I'm linking up with Flying into First Grade to Get Acquainted!  This week we are sharing advice for new teachers.  I did one of these types of posts last summer, too, but this one seems different this year.  Probably because, while I'm not a new teacher, I am going to a new building with new people.  I feel a lot of the same anxieties I felt back when i was a new teacher!

So here's my advice:

Buy:  Blue sticky tack is the best!  I use it on everything, and I have found that the white and yellow sticky tack doesn't work at all. 

Always: This one probably seems like common sense, but every year, I watch a few people limp out of the building at the end of the day.  Not.Worth.It.

Never:  Little kids have little ears.  But those ears hear EVERYTHING!  Or worse, they'll hear part of something and add in their own little details.  Or worse yet, they'll take something they heard completely out of context and repeat it - probably to their parent!  I try really hard not to talk about anything around kids; it's not always easy, though!

Find: I think it's important to find one or two people in the building that you can go to and vent, whine, or worry who you know you can absolutely trust not to say anything.  Follow up: Until you find that person - only vent to the dog!  (This is the one thing I'm most anxious about.  I don't make friends easily, and I'm nervous about fitting in at my new school!  And I don't have a dog.)

Make:  If no one has told you this before - and if you only follow one bit of advice - this is it.  The secretary knows everybody and everything that goes on... she is a great ally!  The custodian and/or cleaning people are vital to getting your room cleaned when someone pukes in your room or if you need something heavy moved!  You want to stay on their good side - trust me!

Be:  Selfish:

• Take time for yourself.  
• Say no sometimes.  You do not have to join every committee, or help with every afterschool activity, or help decorate the gym for every music program or dance.  
• Read for pleasure: a well rounded teacher has interests outside of education.  
• Get a massage once in a while, take a yoga class, watch a little lot of Bravo, just veg out sometimes.  
• Schedule how much time you will work on school stuff on the weekends and stick with it!

(Hear that?  That laughter?  That's my friends who are reading this part - they are laughing hysterically!  I have never said no when asked to serve on a committee, have often stayed late to help out setting up for something, and have never had a massage in my life!  Maybe I'll learn to take my own advice (but probably not..))

And now for a freebie!  I recently took a class and as part of my project, I created this cute little math center using QR codes.   Students solve questions about Mean, Median, and Mode then check their answers using their iPads to scan the QR code.  I only included six word problems because a) these type of questions take longer to solve and they only get a short amount of time to work in centers in my classroom, and b) kids don't love these - again because they take too long; if they see too many, they shut down before they start!

  

Click the picture to go to my TpT store and download this freebie.  Please leave feedback if you love it!

 

Teaching Channel

I just came across this site and felt the need to share!  And in a shameless effort to attract new followers, I am linking this post to the weekly

Have you seen this??

Teaching Channel is a video showcase -- on the Internet and TV -- of innovative and effective teaching practices in America's schools.

Not my TV, though.  It airs on PBS, but the local PBS station doesn't carry it.  *Bummed*

However,
there are plenty of great resources on the internet channel.  "Videos, Common Core Resources and Lesson Plans" to be precise!  I am afraid to add up the hours that I have spent exploring this site!

I was looking for inspiration for a lesson I have to teach later this week during an interview, and I hit the JACKPOT when I came across this site.  I watched this video and was able to use her ideas as a springboard for my own Main Idea lesson plan.




Seriously - check out this amazing resource!

Christmas Break = Rejuvenation!

Well, it's Christmas break. I've had a great time off, and I'm still looking forward to another four days! (I totally just had to check to see what day it is; for some reason it feels like a Sunday!) I spent the entire first week of my break just relaxing - no school stuff, no surfing TpT or Pinterest, no creating new games and activities for school, nothing. It's been sooo nice! Please tell me I'm not alone in sometimes wishing I worked in a job where I could leave at the end of the day and not think about work until the next day... 

Anyway, now I'm back in school mode. I've had a ton of fun looking at all the great resources available for the new year and even Valentine's Day on Pinterest and TpT. (Note to self: Write a post about said resources after using them!) I've even had time to catch up a little on reading the posts by all of the amazing teacher bloggers I've been ignoring since school started. I am absolutely in awe that you all can do everything - teach, blog, raise a family, etc. Do you all sleep? One of the great blog posts I read and feel like I have somethng to add is from Courtney at Swimming Into Second. She is hosting a linky called and if there's one thing I love and can't resist, it's a LINKY!  So here goes:

My boys (and some of the girls!) love, love, love the I Survived... series.  The favorites of them so far this year are I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 and I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (no surprises there, I suppose.).  A few of them have read the one about 9/11, but it seems too soon to me.  I can't read it yet.  I wonder how long it will be before I can relive that day with some detachment?

 

What are your boys reading?  Your turn to link up!  Click the graphic above or here to join in the fun!

5 things...

Joy of Kindergarten is hosting this great linky, and I couldn't resist.  The kids come today for open house.  Then Monday and Tuesday, we have meetings and we start on Thursday!  While I am really looking forward to a new year, there are definitely perks of summer that I'm going to miss - a ton!

1. Staying up late.  I am a night owl at heart, and during the summer, I allow my late night-ness roam free!  This summer, I've spent my late nights reading, blogging, knitting, pinning even going for late night walks around the block!  This past week, I've tried to go to bed before 10 to prepare for a new year.  It hasn't been easy!

2. Afternoons on the front porch.  This is the first summer I have spent a lot of time on my front porch sipping tea and reading.  I love it!  I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood, and it's so peaceful out there; I'm going to miss my lazy afternoons.

Not my porch, but isn't it pretty?

3. Snacking throughout the day.  I have gotten so used to just grazing all day long.  I have been starving by the time I made it home this week as I was working on my room!  It's going to take some time to get used to eating on a schedule again!

4. Capris and sandals!  I guess it's time to wear 'real' clothes again... sigh.  Meanwhile, to that end I went to the store and bought two new dresses today!  One was only $11!!!

Not the exact dress I bought, but close!

5. Fresh brewed iced tea!  I have such a huge addiction to iced tea.  I always take a giant cup of tea to school, but once it's gone (usually before 10am!) I settle for instant. 

What a great linky!  Click to link up!  As for me, I plan to spend the next few days enjoying as much as I can....

Welcome to Room 102!

I'm ready for Open House tomorrow!  Can't wait.  There are some little things left to do, but my room looks great and no one else will know what's missing.

See the chair pockets?  When I went to Home Depot to buy them, I mentioned that they were for school, and Beekeeper Bill got permission from the higher-ups to donate them!  Although I am super grateful to Home Depot, I covered the logos with duct tape to match my theme colors!

Word Wall.  Don't call it an alphabet!  :)

My math board is a mix of CFC and Laura Candler's math stations.  Love how this turned out!

Bucket Fillers

My library area.  Love this, too!  Please ignore the chart paper laying in the middle of the floor!  I still need to drill holes in my new easel (thanks Dad!) to hang it from.

A little closer of the seating area.  The two square pillows I made from school t-shirts.

My books are sorted by genre.  I don't worry about levels; as long as they're reading!

Close up of my genre baskets.  The labels are courtesy of CFC!

The view from my desk.

My objective board.  Easy to update; dry erase.

I even changed out my toolbox to match my new theme.  Sorry for such a blurry picture. I swear it looked fine on the camera!

Locker Magnets.  Lockers are a HUGE deal to 5th graders because it's their first year to have lockers!

Close up of locker magnet.  I wrote the names on the magnets using dry erase marker, so I can use them year after year.

I'm linking up!  You should, too!  This is one of the best times of the year, and I love looking at everyone's spaces!