From Summer to Work

This was me on Tuesday:

This is what I was working on today:

We are officially back to work from summer. Today was our first day back to work. We had our welcome back district meeting this morning. It was a great, inspiring time! We had two fish mongers from Seattle's World Famous Pike's Place Fish Market come speak to us. I can't say enough good things about the speech. One quote from them I especially loved is "No day is a bad day, just tough moments within the day". This is inspiring to me because the each part of the day can be looked at as moments in the day. If our reading time does not go well, that does not mean that math won't go well. Each of us, me as the teacher and all the students, are there to make the decision to create the best environment for each other.

Can't wait to meet the kiddos next Tuesday night and the first (half) day next Wednesday!!

Back to School Sales, Already?!

I went to WalMart today and saw this:

What is this?! It isn't time for school to start again! What happened to summer?

Meet My Best Friend

I spent time with my BEST FRIEND today! You want to meet them? Here's a picture:

This is what I got done today, ready to be cut. I have fishie clock labels, fishie decorations, spelling words for the first three weeks of StoryTown, and fun ways for students to line-up.

I even got my husband to help ;)

Local Library Book Sale

Our county library system had a book sale. All the children's books were $0.50 (paperback) or $1.00 (hardback). I was SO EXCITED to be at the sale, I even got there ten minutes early so I could be one of the first in the room. I ended up spending just $38 and look at all I got!

MIA Blogger

Wow! It's been a while since I have written!! I took a couple weeks off to decompress after the school year ended.

Next school year, I am moving back into our actual school building and out of the modular unit that has been my home for the last two years. My class will be a fish/ocean theme and I am SO excited to get started decorating. I have some fishie fabric up on my classroom walls already, but need to liven it up a bit. I have pinned lots of ideas on Pinterest to liven up my fish/ocean theme. More on this later :)

On a personal note, during the first week of June, my husband and I went to California to visit my sister and her family. My niece was being baptized and we are the Godparents of Mila. I also surprised my darling husband with a day at Disneyland!

Pinteresting Summer

One of the perks of being a teacher is having summers off. I have been on Pinterest finding some things to try this summer. Here is what I'd like to do!

Writing: I want to have an organized writing center. I have some classroom journals for my students to write in for Daily 5-Work on Writing. I want to have many kinds of paper for them to write on and examples of types of writing they can do.

 

 Classroom Management
  
 Beginning of the School Year:
 

Up All Night, Then Woke Up to an AWESOME Email!

Good morning blogging world! I understand to most of you it is the afternoon, but I have just woken up! Last night and into this morning, I participated in our town's Relay For Life event. I am team captain of our school's Relay team. We do many events throughout the school year to raise money to fight cancer and find a cure. Some of the events we do are Penny Wars, Dress Up Days (for students), Dress Down Days (for staff), bake sales, and selling items at our school store. Our team raised about $2,000 this year! So I just woke up after walking all night (10+ miles!) and going to bed about 6:30am.

Once I did wake up and get my email checked, I became ELATED! Back in early June, I went to a workshop called Math, Money, & Make-Believe at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. At the workshop, we were given TONS of free resources and many websites to find resources for teaching elementary students about economics and the use of money. As the workshop was wrapped, the instructors told us that they are working to develop their website Classroom CLUEs which has many children's literature books with tie-ins to instruction. They were asking us to add teaching tips to books we have used in the classroom. Our incentive, of course it was an economics workshop, was that for each teacher tip we entered our name would be placed in a drawing for a FREE iPad! And guess what?! I won!! This is the fabulous email:

WOW!! I never win anything, so this is something HUGE to win! I can't wait to get some school apps on that baby and share it with my students!

Have a great Saturday!

Olympic Games Come Home

image from here

Here are some ideas for hosting your own Olympic games in your backyard:

HAMMER THROW
Need: Small paper bag, newspaper, string
Stuff a small paper bag with newspaper. Tie it off with a 12" long string. Hold the end of the string. Spin around 3 times. Let go. Watch how far the hammer travels. Record distances. The longest distance wins.

JAVELIN THROW
Need: soda straws, waste paper basket, tape
Tape 4 straws together end to end. Mark a starting line behind which all players must stand. Place a wastepaper basket 5 feet from the starting line. Throw straws into the wastebasket. Give each player 5 turns. The winner is the child who gets the straws into the basket the most times.

GYMNASTICS or FREE STYLE DANCE
Let kids pick out their favorite music and choreograph a dance off the top of their head. Pick winners by who has the most coordination, best music, and most enthusiastic attitude. Hold up posters from 1 to 10 to show their scores.
SHOT PUT FOR DISTANCE
Make a ball out of aluminum foil. Hold the ball in the palm of one hand. Instruct children to place that hand next to their ear and then push the shot into the air extending their arms. They can not move their feet. Record distances; the longest distance wins.

DISCUS THROW
Use a Frisbee to play discus or tape two heavy foam plates together. Hold the "discus" like a flying disk. Throw away from the waist. Record distances. The longest distance wins

SOCCER
Set goals at least 15 feet apart. Goals can be as simple as a rope anchored in the ground. Play the best two out of three games.

ideas from:
http://www.kidactivities.net/?tag=/olympic+games
http://suite101.com/article/a-summer-olympics-for-kids-a26989

Here are some classroom resources:
http://www.elementarymatters.com/2012/07/olympics-are-coming.html
http://www.teachersfirst.com/spectopics/olympics.cfm
http://allfreeteacherresources.blogspot.com/2012/07/weekly-freebie-free-2012-olympics_05.html
http://mrsjacksonsclasswebsiteblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/olympics-resources.html

Happy Birthday to America!

Happy Fourth of July: Treats!

Here are some delicious treats while you are wishing America a Happy Birthday...


Patriotic Blueberry, Watermelon, & Feta Flag: This is a fresh, healthy treat to have on the Fourth. Kids & adults alike are going to love this snack. Find the full recipe at wenderly.com


Patriotic Toast: Toast your bread, smear with cream cheese. Create your red stripes with a strawberry jam background and banana white stripes. Finish off with blueberry stars corner. Find the recipe at tasteandtellblog.com


Patriotic Spritzer: A light, refreshing drink with real fruit! Find the recipe at apronstringsblog.com

Strawberry Blueberry Mini-Cheesecake Trifle: Perfect dessert treat on America's birthday! Find this recipe at glorioustreats.com

Fourth of July Crafts

Holidays Equal Craft Time!

Here are some fun crafts to liven up your Fourth of July decorations:

Sponge Flag: Cut up a sponge to create this patriotic piece of art. All you need is white paper, a small blue rectangle, red & white paint, scissors, and glue. Simple way to jazz up any home!


Cupcake Liner Fireworks: Make your own fireworks! Materials needed are black background paper, white cupcake liners, markers to decorate fireworks, and glitter glue.


Fourth of July Wreath: Quick, easy, and provides a knot-tying practice for kiddos! Simply cut out the middle of a paper plate, cut 8-inch strips of red, white, and blue felt, then tie the felt around the paper plate wreath.

American Flag Placemat: This one is my favorite! You will need a piece of paper towel, some red, white and blue paper, a star paper punch, scissors, glue and contact paper. Follow directions to create a placemat on a paper towel, then cover with contact paper to make it durable!

And finish the Fourth of July Craft Day with Star Pizzas! Recipe found at wilton.com

Encourage Summer Reading

Just because school is out doesn't mean reading stops!

Here are some ways to encourage your child to read over the summer:

1. Take advantage of longer daylight hours and read your child’s bedtime story outside.
2. Try some twists on your regular read-aloud program. Read only a portion of a story to your child. Stop before revealing the plot. Then have your child predict the outcome and read the remainder of the book.
3. Set aside part of each day as “drop everything and read” time. They'll be practicing their reading, and you’ll be able to have some quiet time. Or, even better, you model for them good (quiet) reading skills.
4. Plan a book swap party. Ask your child to invite four or five friends to your house. Admission: two used books that they enjoyed reading. Kids can swap their opinions about favorite books and then trade the books.
5. Play word games when you’re riding in the car. Who can think of a word that rhymes with beauty? How many other words can you think of that start with the same sound as banana?
6. Books Before Movies: Many popular children's books have become or are becoming movies. Before your child sees the movie, have them read the book version of the story. Then, discuss with them the similarities/differences and likes/dislikes.
7. Bring on the technology! If you have a Nook, Kindle, iPad, etc., allow your child to read books on it. They will love the novelty of reading a book with no pages!
8. Bring books to life! Have your child (with friends!) act out their favorite parts of a book they are reading. Go crazy with costumes and find an audience (friends, parents, siblings) to watch the drama unfold!
9. Find a reading nook. Ask your child to find one place in your home that will be their private reading space. They can go there and read in peace, not to be bothered by others.
10. Go to the local library! Most library branches have many fun activities centered on children's literature occurring over the summer.

Do you have any other tips to encourage children to read over the summer?

Follow this link to a suggested summer reading list!