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Showing posts with label Five for Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Five for Friday. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2014

Five for Friday- 1-31-14!!!

Wow my kiddos totally rocked today! Fridays are normally not very good days but it was the BEST day we had all week and definitely the BEST Friday we have had all year! I have one thing that gets all the credit for a fabulous day! By now you are probably wondering what that one thing may be. Well, let me tell you! It is Whole Brain Teaching! I am so glad I did all the research I did over Christmas break because it has completely transformed my students, my teaching, and myself! I'm a true believer!

This past week I decided to put the 13 Week Master Class on a pause due to a VERY rough start to the week (a couple of my kiddos had some rough days that through off everything for the week). I plan to start Week 3 this week so check back for my post on the focus of the week. It will be posted sometime this weekend. Plus, I have more WBT topics to talk about!

Today I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the weekly linky of Five for Friday:


Today we did a super cute craftivity to put up on our bulletin boards. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of it so I will just share the product with you and then I will post a pic later this week. We made Valentine's Day robots. It is a product from Aimee over at Primarily Speaking.

They are super cute and my kiddos had so much fun making them. We will be doing the writing prompt to go along with it next week!


I had a lovely stranger donate $25 to my Donor's Choose project yesterday and I was jumping for joy. We still have quite a bit to go before my project is fully funded, but we are one step closer. We are working on getting some stability balls, floor cushions, and floor pillows to use as options for my students to sit during independent and small group time. I am currently doing my research and looking in to possibly doing alternative seating next year. These items will help with that and will definitely help this years group of students. They do so much better when they can choose where to sit. If you would like to donate to my project it is found HERE!
I would really appreciate it!



Like I mentioned earlier I have some posts coming up on the WBT strategies I have recently used in my classroom. It is a part of my Whole Brain Teaching series of posts.
I hope you will check back to see what these fabulous strategies are doing for my students.
I am so excited for my evaluation in a couple of weeks now that I have these fabulous WBT strategies transforming my classroom. I can't wait to share with my administrator how amazing WBT is.
Sorry, in case you can't tell, I have majorly jumped on the WBT bandwagon!
Power to the Teacher!




For those of you who don't know, I am also a Jr. High Track coach and our season starts in one month! I cannot wait! I am already preparing for our season. Last year, we started having a fabulous fundraiser that is not very common. Actually I don't know of any place that does it around us. We have a track meet that is open for the public to participate in. It is a fun filled day and raises quite a bit of money. We have started preparations for this years event.
The best part is I coach with my hubby and my dad! That means that tonight, the hubby and I are going on a date because we have some shopping to do...lol. We are going out to eat and then going shopping for paper for our flyers so we can start getting them printed. 
If you live in my area and are interested in participating in our event HERE is the Facebook page with all of the details.



I have saved this last one to brag on one of my kiddos. He was one of the ones I was talking about earlier having a rough start to his week. He is autistic and ADHD. They have recently determined that they also think he may be ODD. Anyways he has often has issues and Monday and Tuesday were really bad days for him. Things settled down Wednesday and Thursday, but they were not perfect by any means. Today this little guy came in and was absolutely FABULOUS. He really struggles with not talking out, but today, oh man today, he raised his hand ALL day long when he wanted to talk. It was so fabulous, I just couldn't keep it to myself! I have been bragging to everyone about his day! He paid attention all day, participated, and was so well behaved! I am just so stinking proud of him.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Five for Friday- 1/17/14

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the weekly linky party Five for Friday.



First up, I am loving having another computer in my room. I have recently started using Spelling City to have my students take their weekly spelling tests. That definitely called for needing more devices in my room. My hubby had a computer sitting around the house that he no longer uses so it got moved to my room. Last year my dad was getting rid of an old computer so I also have that one. My room originally had the two laptops in it. I now have two laptops, two desktops, and two iPads. This means I have six devices when the wireless internet is working. When it is not I have the two desktops with a direct connection and then there is my teacher desktop that I will let them use during those times.



I have seen such a major change this week in my abilities to teach using the Whole Brain Teaching method. I will be posting my weekly post one day this weekend letting you know how this week's challenge went. I will also be sharing with you about the Genius Ladder and SuperSpeed Grammar. These two programs made a huge impact in my classroom this week! I can't wait to see how much more of an impact it can make!
Be sure to stop back by if you are interested in learning more about WBT!


We added a new item to our indoor recess selection and the kiddos are absolutely loving it. My sister got me this as a Christmas present and it is perfect! It is called a Flash Pad. There are several different games that can be played on it. This is their new favorite thing to play on snowy days like we had this week.


As I talked about in an earlier post, I have ended my relationship with Dropbox and have started a new one with Copy. Boy am I ever glad I did that! I have loved having Copy and it is so easy to use. At this point I have a total of 40 GB of storage now! I am looking forward to organizing my files this weekend and moving over my clipart/backgrounds/frames/fonts to use in making products.

I am loving the Brag Tags that I have been working on. I am excited to post some more this weekend. Be sure to stop by for your chance to grab them while they are free! I will be posting them free for a limited time. Be sure to follow me so you don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity.



Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see the other Five for Fridays!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Five for Fraturday!

I didn't get this posted yesterday because I was busy with a snow day and awaiting the arrival of that new great niece I've been so excited about!

Here is my Five for Friday (or Saturday):

After this head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to check out the other posts!

Here is the precious little girl who made her arrival bright and early this morning! 4:41 am to be exact; weighing in at 8 lbs 15 oz and 22 inches long! I love her to death already! This great aunt is super proud of her and her mommy (daddy too!)


We enjoyed our three days of RACKing this week. My students have loved doing these great random acts. Every morning they come in asking what our next one is. I only have pictures of the first two (Thursday was a little crazy with the winter weather hitting us and causing us to go home early)
This is our line of acts

Day 1- Be super sneaky! Leave a kind note for a friend without them knowing it is from you!

Day 2- Make a Christmas card for a teacher you have had in the past!

Day 3- Write a thank you note to someone who has helped you!

Johnathon Jr. Acklebottom the 15th decided that he wasn't going to be on strike anymore. He has been super sneaky though in hopes that the students wouldn't know where he was spying from.
He spent all day here on top of the board without being found (until 5 minutes left until bus riders leave). The next day he hid in a hole in the ceiling and hid in the candy basket (I don't have pictures of this either because of the crazy day Thursday).

My students got their assignment Disguise a Snowman and are absolutely loving it! A few snowmen have already come back.
If you want to do it with your students head over to TeachersPayTeachers to get your copy from 

As I said earlier I enjoyed my first snow day on Friday and from the looks of it we may have another one Monday! We will see!

Friday, September 6, 2013

Five for Friday 9-6-13

Friday's Post:
5 for Friday
I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the 5 for Friday linky party.


#1:
The 100 Book Challenge
Last week I started the 100 Book Challenge with my students. I have been floored over the past week about all the progress they have made as readers. They are constantly begging me for time for them to read. I have one who has completed 50 books already.

#2:
Wayside School Books
Last year I started a tradition of starting the year off with the three Wayside School books as our read alouds. The students LOVE these books and always beg for more. I am all about things that get my kiddos excited about reading!

#3:
Daily 5
As I mentioned in an early post I have kicked off the beginning of my Daily 5 already, but will also be beginning my online training of Daily 5 this weekend. I am so excited to learn so much more and improve my Daily 5 skills.

#4:
Clutter Free Classroom Photo-a-Day Challenge
This challenge has been great. It has made me stop and think about these things that are happening all around us in the month of September. I know that at the end of the year I can look back at my documentation of this month and appreciate it. 
Yesterday's topic was paper and I did not get my picture posted, but I did take a picture of paper today. Here is what I posted for the Challenge:
I have a lot of papers to be grading this weekend!

#5:
Teach
I watched this amazing documentary on CBS tonight. I saw something about it on Facebook and quickly set my DVR to record it in case I didn't get to watch it on time. I started it half an hour late so I was grateful that I had DVRed it.
I wish everyone (not just teachers) would watch this and see some of the challenges we go through and what we do to overcome those challenges.


I am also linking up with Hoots N' Hollers for the Fabulous Finds Fridays Linky.
My fabulous find is the fact that Verizon gives a discount to teachers! My husband and I got a new cell phone plan last weekend through Verizon. Tuesday morning one of the teachers sent out a list of places that give teacher discounts and I notice Verizon on the list. I did some research and sure enough I was eligible. Our discount was applied to our bill today. So if you have Verizon and were not aware of this discount, get on it!