My students are loving the bellringers that we are doing on Tuesdays that are centered around the question stem, "Would you rather..." It truly shows that students are more engaged and excited when the curriculum is meaningful and fun. Our district recently adopted a new curriculum so we cannot change much of it. The prompts … Continue reading Self-Study: Update #2
Classroom
Professional History
I'm getting ready to conduct a self-study on my own teaching for a research paper. However, I thought it would be fitting to give a little background information before I begin. I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Not because I have teachers in the family, because … Continue reading Professional History
Now a Hoover Hawk!
Keeping in mind my goal of becoming a literacy coach within my school district, I have made a change in grades and schools for next year. Instead of teaching at the elementary level, I will now be moving up to middle school, teaching 6th grade language arts. I am sad to be leaving my Lowell … Continue reading Now a Hoover Hawk!
Things are coming together…
I'm feeling a little relieved since I just finished my last graduate class for the summer. It was definitely a major feat! Now that I have a three week break before my next graduate class starts I'm focusing on getting ready for the upcoming school year. I am excited to say that I almost have … Continue reading Things are coming together…
Bye-Bye, Long Hair!
So... Last year, I had a homework system that worked pretty well. Students read and wrote about the book, practiced their word sort, and worked on a few math facts. They did this every night Monday through Thursday each week. Each day the adults in my room would look over their work and give them … Continue reading Bye-Bye, Long Hair!
More Progress Monitoring
My last post discussed the way I monitor the third grade standards overall. In this post I wanted to share with you the progress monitoring tool that I use to track the learning of my students day by day. I have a sheet for each of the three major subjects that I teach (math, … Continue reading More Progress Monitoring
Monitoring the Standards
Like any teacher, I do a lot of progress monitoring. One of the things that I track is the standards that we complete in third grade. In order to do this efficiently, I created excel sheets with all of the third grade standards based on the Common Core and the Iowa Core. I have the … Continue reading Monitoring the Standards
Homework
Last year, I got the idea of what I want my students' homework to look like from my son's kindergarten teacher. I created a homework system for my students. Each student receives a reading bag (numbered so I can reuse year after year), a folder, composition notebook, and homework log. My students do their homework … Continue reading Homework
Crazy Teacher Lady Update
It's been way too long since I've last posted, but I'm going to blame it on being busy teaching and parenting. Between co-teaching third grade, coaching Jr. Lego League, being a team leader, a mom, a wife, and expecting- life has not been dull. To top it off, I have put in my graduate application … Continue reading Crazy Teacher Lady Update
New Year, New and Improved Teacher… I hope!
As I have been prepping the room for the new school year I have been reflecting quite a bit on the last school year. My list of improvements is quite long (I will attach it to the bottom of this post). As a first year teacher I think I did the best that I could, … Continue reading New Year, New and Improved Teacher… I hope!
Before Tour of the Classroom
This is what my classroom started out looking like at the beginning of the year. I really like this set up, but I'm in the process of adjusting the room to better meet the needs of my students. Being a teacher requires a lot of flexibility. I feel like I'm constantly tweaking things, but it's … Continue reading Before Tour of the Classroom
Reading Workshop
As the year continues along I'm feeling more comfortable in my teaching. I feel like I'm getting a handle on all of the subjects, but I think reading workshop time could use a little work. I am struggling to find activities during workshop time that are meaningful and engaging for my … Continue reading Reading Workshop
Wow! I have no life…
Okay, so it's been awhile since I've blogged. I've been thinking about my teaching blog a lot. The problem is just finding the time. I'm really struggling with balancing out my teacher life and my home life. I feel like my teacher life often wins. Most days I am at school by 7 and there … Continue reading Wow! I have no life…
It’s coming together!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Although I am not finished, I feel like the end is in sight when it comes to setting up my classroom. I will admit that I was a bit overwhelmed at first. When I first saw my room I had hardly anything. Although, some of my colleagues were kind enough … Continue reading It’s coming together!
Classroom Website
Okay, so I've been working on my classroom website for about two weeks now and I think I'm finally ready to show what I have so far. It's not finished, but I feel like I'm getting there. Right now I have it set as private so I can post pictures of my students for families … Continue reading Classroom Website
A Fun Teacher’s Chair
While looking on Pinterest I came across many fun chairs for teachers. Some were in the form of stools while others were rocking chairs, but all of them looked fun. I decided I would make my own and my grandparents were kind enough to give me a stool that they had purchased at a garage … Continue reading A Fun Teacher’s Chair
Decorate Plain Clipboards
So, I like to be frugal when decorating. I am planning my classroom for this upcoming year and decided I want to decorate my classroom in black and red. I bought plain, cheap clipboards from the dollar tree and picked up duct tape from Wal-Mart. It took about 5-10 minutes to tape the entire thing … Continue reading Decorate Plain Clipboards
Literature Circles
One thing I found that my sixth graders enjoyed were literature circles. I saw many different literature circle jobs online so I decided to create my own based on the jobs that I saw and liked. I stapled the jobs in file folders because it's cheap. Since each group had their own set they could … Continue reading Literature Circles
The Very Beginning
I graduated in December of 2012 with a BA in Elementary Education with a Literacy minor and reading endorsement. I started the first week in 2013 nervous. I would have to start off as a substitute and I was not finding any available jobs. I had a long term job lined up in March for … Continue reading The Very Beginning
Passionately Curious about Literacy Education 