Sunday Scoop and Wonders Blogging Plan!

Even though we had an unexpected day off (crazy fog) Friday, I still can't manage to figure out where my weekend time goes.  Okay, I know where it goes...my kids!  Yesterday, between her cross country meet and soccer game, my daughter joined her friend on stage to sing a song at a festival.

Therefore, these quick blog posts are all I can seem to fit in right now.  However, as we are getting back into our reading series next week, I'm hoping to make week 3 a true test of the format we created.  My hope is to create a blog post for each day, outlining the format.  Here's a run down of what the general idea is:

Monday - Intros, intros, intros....  A lot going on this day!
Tuesday - Focus on reading: Using workshop story to help teach a RL or RI standard.
Wednesday - Focus on language
Thursday - Work with anthology story (already read for homework to save time) and writing focus.
Friday - "Flex" day: Guided reading and literacy centers.

Since my son will be away at camp, and my daughter only has one evening commitment (unbelievable), maybe I'll have time to create these posts!

For now, here's my Sunday Scoop!  Linking up with Teaching Trio again for this fun post.  Maybe this week I can do a little better with my "hope to do" items.

Have a great week everyone!  And thanks for stopping by:)

Sunday Scoop

I love reading others' quick posts on links like Currently and Sunday Scoop with Teaching Trio.  However, this is my first time linking up myself.  I'm posting from my grandma's house this morning.  I had a sleep-over with her last night.  We lost my grandpa last week, and I volunteered to stay with her last night.  My son stayed too, and we had a lot of fun.  Brought back memories from when I was young and spent the night here.  Only thing missing are the mini boxes of cereal that my cousins and I used to fight over in the morning:)

My husband regularly has Sunday dinner for the many "single" ladies in his life.  This includes my mom, my ex-stepmom, my mother-in-law, and my two older step-daughters when they can make it.  My dad is going to drive my grandma over tonight to join this group.  We are all looking forward to it!

I hope everyone has a productive Sunday (or relaxing Sunday if that's what you need) and a terrific week.

Five for Friday - Weekend Freebie

Trying to not let the back-to-school madness bring my blogging to a standstill.  I'm going to do a quick link up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday.

 

Even though I haven't had time to make or post any new items to my TpT store in the last few weeks, I've been gaining new followers and doing very well.  I had a goal of reaching 50 followers before school started.  I was just shy of that goal at the time, but have since made it, and am now at 61.  As a thanks, I'm putting one of my items for free for the weekend.  I created my grade-level spelling task cards mid-year last year, but this year I'm using them as a pre-assessment now, and then plan to do it again at the end of the year.  I've already done this, and am keeping the students' answers to give back to them with their answers at the end of the year.  This could easily be used with grades 3-5.

 

While we love our house and neighborhood, the many restrictions force us to keep our eyes open.  This summer we saw a couple of possibilities, and I reminded my husband that if the "perfect" house comes along, we have some unfinished projects here that should be wrapped up if we need to list.  So extending our back patio to go with the door off the dining room we put in years ago is a must.  Well, the patio still isn't done, but he did finish the fire pit that he wants to put on the corner.  Hard to see in the pic, but it's done above and beyond the typical fire pit.  My boys are enjoying the first fire together.

 

 

So, I've gotten through two "normal" weeks with our new series.  However, this past week we had to give CogAt tests, which ate up a chunk of instructional time.  And next week has several interruptions scheduled too...  So, we decided to not continue onto week 3 next week.  Instead, we are going to spend more time practicing the literature standard skills we've introduced so far.  We also are going to introduce the Flex schedule that will be our Friday routine, and give students an opportunity to practice working within this independent structure.  I'm thinking about getting a sign to hang on my door so that I can have a normal week in which I can focus on TEACHING!

 

 

I'm proud of my daughter in her ability to begin her 8th grade year successfully!  I've always had to really check her grades and get on her for late/missing assignments, incomplete assignment book, failed test grades, etc...  Intrinsic motivation is not something either of my children yet have:(  So far this year she has been getting everything done (well, one missing assignment).  All her grades are A's and B's, and I haven't had to do anything!!!!  On top of this, she is juggling cross country and soccer.  Very happy and proud of her. 

Quote board finally done and hanging!  Jumping into the blogging world as a reader this summer had me crafting (which is not something I do).  I loved this idea from Tara at Monday Made It, and decided to give it a try.  There were many problems and redos, but I finally got it.  My advice for anyone looking to craft with chalkboard items, avoid the spraypaint!  The paint is expensive, but using a Michaels coupon makes it affordable.  I paired a quote or proverb with all of my Weekly ELA sheets, and included the quote and mini-bios as part of my TpT product, but also made these quote and bio posters available by themselves.  You can see the mini bio hanging under the quote board.  I only wish I could make my handwriting look neater..

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by:)

Remembering a Great Man

First of all, my last post was done when I was up north in Michigan with my grandparents at their 100+ year old trout fishing club.  My great-great grandfather was one of the original members.  I've always been close to my grandparents, and every year I feared that the trip would be my last.  I lost my grandfather Friday morning:(  If I do ever go back up, it will never be the same.  I'm grateful for the 40 years I had with him, and that my own children are old enough to have lasting memories of such an amazing man.

As a teenager, he was the one I went to when I couldn't talk to anyone else.  I'd call my grandma and tell her I was coming over, that's all I said, but she always knew.  She'd meet me at the door and say she had some "shopping" to do.  I was his first born granddaughter, and our bond was not a secret.

I've tried twice to post in the last few days, and this is my third attempt.  I don't know how to segue into school from this.  So I'll keep this post short, always remember that your loved ones and family come first.  If you were one of the few followers I had when I started blogging, you might remember me talking about my grandpa's 90th birthday party in July.  It was a big party and we hired a jazz band to perform.  Great memories that day that we are lucky to hold on to.

This is him throwing an impressive line this past summer.  I'll miss him, but I'm happy that he could fish right up to his end, he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  I love you grandpa, and will miss you TERRIBLY:(

Currently September

I added Oh' Boy 4th Grade to my blog feed when I first started blogging this summer, but this is my first time linking up with her monthly linky.

I can summarize most of the above items in one paragraph:

LISTENING, LOVING, THINKING, WANTING - My grandpa is a member at a trout fishing club that has been around for over 100 years.  My great-great grandpa was one of the original members.  I've been coming up here to spend time in the summer with my grandparents (who I'm very close to) for 25 years.  I'm so grateful that my own kids have been able to experience this too, but I'm feeling like it's coming to an end.  Every year I wonder if it will be my last, but the failing health of my grandpa is now obvious.  I'm driving them home today, and hopefully a doctor's appointment will just find that medicine needs to be tweaked.  Our Labor Day weekend drive north only had slightly bad traffic, and I'm hoping for the same going home.  My grandma will need to stop to use the restroom at least 4 times, so it's going to be a long trip!

NEEDING - Back-to-school colds for me are unavoidable.  Between the germs and the stress, I  get one every year.  I hate that I got it now though, because my grandparents are too fragile to be exposed, and there's nothing I can do.  Hopefully this one doesn't develop into a sinus infection like my last several have...

3 TRIPS - Machu Picchu is something my husband and I hope to do together someday.  It's a place we both have been intrigued by, even before we started dating.  Greece has always been on my list.  I've heard over and over how beautiful it is, and I love Greek food.  Mallorca just came to me for my third.  It's just a little too embarrassing to say why.

Happy Labor Day everyone, and I hope you all have a productive September!

Two for Tuesday

So, of course everyone knows that TpT is having a 1-day sale tomorrow (which everyone is likely participating in - including me).  But 50% is greater than 28%, so I'm joining up with Teaching Tribune's Two for Tuesday.

 

Both my items are perfect for Back-to-School topics.  The first is my sentences, fragments, run-ons product.  It has task cards, worksheets, and a couple of center sheets that can be put into erasable sleeves.  This is normally $3.00.

 

My second product half off are my capitalization task cards.  Normally $2.50.  I had bought task cards last year for grades 3-5, but found that they went quite a bit farther than my fourth graders needed. These are not easy, but just right for 4th graders to be successful in demonstrating understanding.

I'm off to my district's Professional Development Day, and then our Open House later tonight.  Then I'll be looking to see what everyone else has on sale!

 

Made It Monday - DIY planner for less than $5

Well, today is my first official day back!  Students start on Thursday this week.  Getting up early wasn't too bad.  My husband always delivers my coffee before he heads out, making it much easier!  I'm thinking it won't be so easy for my two kids on Thursday.

I'm super excited about my new planner and gradebook spirals.  I've always designed my own lesson plan pages, and have used a binder in the past.  The binder is bulky however, and with laptop and papers, takes up valuable real estate in my school bag.  Plus, this year I'm only teaching ELA.  Last year I made an assessment page for each student, which is nice, but that's 66 pages that also will need to go home often.  I got the idea about making these items spiral bound from a blog post, and found out that Office Max does it for $4.29.  Plus, teachers get an additional 25% off (this week anyways).  The cost includes a clear cover and vinyl back.  The downside is that they are for up to 40 pages.  My planner was a bit more, but they didn't check.  I think the 40 page limit is slightly flexible.

 

Besides only paying $13.78 for ALL these, I got to make them exactly how I like them.

In my planner are 38 lesson plan pages.  I only need one page a week since I'm only teaching ELA.  Plus, I skipped all the specials schedules, lunch, recess, etc.  There's no need.  We all know this stuff, and it's just a space waster, my pages are for plans only!  All that other minutia is just for sub plans.  So this is my template this year:

 

Other stuff I included were calendar pages.  I found great free pages from Marshall in the Middle. There are 4 separate downloads for the whole year, but free and cute??  Whatever.  I also have our school calendar, my one page CCSS cheat sheet, printouts of student addresses and phone numbers, and some pages I made for notes and important information.

For my gradebook pages, I have a page for each student that tracks the CCSS through our Wonders series.  See my store for a free document I put together to plan out how I cover this, and for the assessment pages.  I also have some traditional checklist pages, and a few pages that I have student boxes to enter observational information during guided reading, or for speaking and listening notes.  The only thing I don't have here is a place to track writing progress.  This will need to be done separately.  Still looking for a great way to do this!

I am super excited to use these this year, and even more excited to use my new pens.  I think the blogging world is full of great secrets, and I'm glad to be learning them.  My friend Kate knew about these, but I just found them, so thought I'd pass on the info to anyone else.  FriXion pens are perfect for those that hate pencils, but are always changing their minds.  They are erasable, and a big improvement on the old erasable pen technology!  Skeptical, I only bought a 3-pack.  They work, but are a bit pricey.  I did a little research on these pens last night.  The technology is based on heat, which is why the ink disappears with friction when you rub it (hence the name).  Super high heat alone (hot car in summer) can make it disappear, and super cold (freezer) can bring it back!  I tried it last night and it worked.  Super cool...

 

I certainly hope that I will find time to keep up with blogging once school is in full swing.  I started this summer, and have learned so much!  I now have 25 followers, and my TpT store has gone from 14 to 45 followers.  Since I make my products for myself and students first, I stand by them as being my best quality.  Kudos to those who are conquering multiple grades to make more of a business out of this, but my stuff is specially designed for 4th grade, and it's nice to know that others find my stuff valuable.  My goal was to have 50 followers before the end of summer.  Not sure if that's tomorrow, or Thursday when the students come, or by the "official" date on the calendar, but I'm happy with how close I came.

One last thing, my daughter has also benefited from my blogging and crafting, and has enjoyed making stuff too.  Her latest was for a close friend who is moving away.  I think it's pretty cool and want to share.