Five for Friday- January 8

My favorite link up of the week with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

Back at it in 2016!

January Bulletin Board

Snow Globe Writing

We read Snow Globe Family by Jane O'Connor and then make a graphic organizer using Popplet to brainstorm ideas about why we would or would not like to live in snow globe. They then used google drive to type their writing on either our computers, chromebooks or iPads. They have learned to change their own font and they laugh as they find the ones they like the most. I used clear plastic plates that I found at Target, glitter, and cotton balls to make it look like they were in snow globes for the bulletin board. I also put a rubric on each piece of writing in the hallway with teacher feedback. This rubric and many others are in my Writer's Workshop Pack

New Computer Chairs from DonorsChoose and of course they are purple!

My students look very studious as they sit in these at the computer. 

New Year New Goals

I spoke before about taking care of myself better. At my school, we are starting the Amazing Race for getting healthy and fit. It was optional, but we are put on teams and "active" minutes and exercise time adds up to get your team to different checkpoints. So, I have to start using the elliptical that has lots of dust at my house. ha!

I also bought two year long devotionals that I plan to use this year. So far, I have really enjoyed both of them.

New Resources for the New Year

As I looked over my reading centers our first day back this week, I realized that I needed to revamp a few things. 

Opinion Writing- The sheets I was using for centers only had one line for students to write on. So, I made some new opinion sheets where students Pick One of two choices and then there are lines to write the topic sentence, 3 reasons for support and a closing sentence.  This sheet is perfect for my students at this point during our opinion writing unit. 

I created this sheet as a listening center response sheet. Students can illustrate and write about what happened in the story. 

My students keep 3 books that are on their reading level in their desk to read if they finish a task early. I created this sheet for students to draw a picture of the book and write about their favorite part of the story.

Read Read Read

I just finished book 4 in the Glass of Throne series and I've really liked the series so far. 

Anyone read any good books lately?

Thanks for listening to my randomness for the week!

Currently January 2016

Listening- Music: Adele, Ellie Goulding and Sara Bareilles 

Audible- I love audible. I have a monthly subscription. The best is finding books that the author narrates. My favorites so far were Mindy Kaling's books. They were absolutely hilarious and she narrates. I am now listening to Rainn Wilson's book, The Bassoon King. It is much more serious compared to hers, but still very interesting. 

Loving- My new Tieks. I have become obsessed with Tieks. They are very pricey, but once you take the plunge and try them out, you will become absolutely obsessed and need a pair at every holiday or basically just make excuses for why you need to order more. I recently added Sand Snake to my collection. I now have 4 pair: black, camel, leopard print, and sand snake. I went with neutral options that I could wear with almost anything. 

Thinking-2016 Goals, this is always hard for me to focus and come up with realistic goals for the new year, but I understand it is valuable to reflect on the past year and set goals for the future. 

Overall, I need to take better care of myself. I need to drink more water and exercise. I am even considering waking up 20 min. earlier than usual each morning and getting on the elliptical before going to work. Hopefully, this will work. I just know that I need to do more to take care of myself.

I always look forward to setting a GOODREADS goal each year. I enjoy reading books and then keeping up with what I have read and plan to read using goodreads. If you are a reader, I definitely suggest you make a goodreads account. It is so much fun to see what your friends and family are reading. As well as see recommendations based on the books you have enjoyed. 

Last year my goal was to read 35 books and I actually read 41. In the past I read about 25 books a year. so for the upcoming 2016 I am setting my goal at 36. 

Check out GOODREADS HERE. 

TPT- I don't have a specific goal for TPT at the moment, other than to continue to create products that I use in my own classroom and that my students successfully enjoy to use. My most recent product that I created is a 20 page set of reading practice sheets that students can use QR Codes to check their answers after completing the sheet. They can be used for morning work, homework, or during reading centers. I already know that I want to create more products that incorporate technology in my classroom. 

See more about this product HERE

Wanting- A new curler set and to actually take time to do something fun with my hair. I constantly straighten my hair flat and walk out the door. I'd like to take time to learn to use some ideas from thesmallthingsblog

I love all her hair and makeup tutorials. If you do not follow her, then you're welcome, you will love her whole blog. Don't look unless you have plenty of time to waste, because once you start looking, you can't stop.

Here is a set of curlers I want to complete some looks she shares about.

It's only $40 on amazon instead of $100 at the moment. I have the same brand hair dryer and I love it.

Needing- To learn more about illustrator and clip art. I have a few clip art items in my TPT store, but I really want to devote more time to learning about illustrator and how to make clip art. I was doing really well for awhile and then my computer crashed with lots of the clip art I created on it and that's why some of my sets of color only and do not include the black and white options. Here are some of the alphabet sets I have in my store and there is a super cheap BUNDLE with all my alphabet clip art, but like I said, it does not include black and white images. 

Click HERE to see the alphabet bundle. 

One little word: MOTIVATED- I'm feeling motivated and excited for 2016. So much to accomplish and so much to improve on in this coming year. 

Check out Oh Boy Fourth Grade for more Currently January's and to link up and share your own. 

Five for Friday- 12/11

My favorite link up of the week with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

It is obvious that students are aware it is December!!!!

Christmas Cheer!

We made elves and wrote a math riddle for the hallway bulletin board.

This is by far my favorite ornament we make every year. I buy the kits on Oriental Trading. I like how unique they all turn out. 

Awesome Apps for Publishing Writing!

We've started using Morfo, MakeaStory, Sock Puppets and Telestory Apps to publish and share writing. Students are LOVING IT!

We read What if you had Animal Hair? and students wrote an opinion piece about what kind of animal hair they would like and why. 

Below are some examples of our first attempts with the Morfo app. 

Scholastic Book Order

My students are reading so well that I needed to purchase a few more books at higher levels for our leveled book library. My students are always excited when our scholastic book order comes in. 

Google Docs!

I created a gmail account for my class and I use that for students to save their typed writing in the google docs folder that is labeled with their name. It is working great so far!

Exercise Balls as Seats!

We've added some alternative seating to our classroom and of course the students are absolutely enjoying it. We have 6 at the moment and we rotate them daily. 

Thanks for listening to my randomness for the week!

All I Want for Black Friday!

I am linking up with The Primary Pack to discuss what I would like for Black Friday this year, hopefully my husband and friends read my blog. :) Be sure to check back at the original link up to enter an absolutely HUGE giveaway.

1. Old Navy is having a wonderful sale online. I have this green shirt in black and like how long it is. I am going to order the green as well. This is what I always do, if I like the shirt I suddenly want ALL the colors.
2. Target- Kitchen Aid Mixer are marked down and you get an additional $20 Target gift card with the purchase. These sleep pants are also from target and I LOVE them. I am short so it helps that they gather at the ankles, most sleep pants drag the floor when I walk. I have these in purple and black already, so comfy! The scarf is also Target. I am a sucker for scarves!
3. Vera Bradley is having a sale, but of course the design I want is NOT on sale.
4. To my knowledge, Tieks is not having a Black Friday Sale, but maybe they will surprise me tomorrow. I have 3 pair and I'm already planning for the 4th pair being grey metallic pewter.
5. TOMS is having a sale of 10% off their sale items. I've had my eye on these booties for awhile.

1. I want this Christmas Around the World pack, because this will be my first year doing Christmas around the world. I've already volunteered to have plans for Germany. Our first graders will go to different classrooms to learn about different countries.
2. This math pack from Miss Giraffe is for Units 10-18. I've already purchased 1-9 and enjoy incorporating the activities into our daily BUILD stations.
3. Prince Padania is awesome! I just found his clip art this week and I love it! Check him out HERE.

This will be the perfect time to grab these items!

1. Rekenrek Task Cards BUNDLE is my best seller and most wish listed item. 

2. Two Way Sort- Growing BUNDLE- My first growing BUNDLE. I use this same task each week to review new phonics skills.

3. American Hero KWL Charts and Questions BUNDLE- aligned to 3rd grade Georgia standards. I recently added new clip art and fonts to this fun bundle.

4. I Can Speed Read BUNDLE- Great for phonics. Students roll dice and read the words listed for skills such as: sight words, cvc, word families, long vowels, blends. 

5. Sweet Sentences with Sight Words and QR Codes BUNDLE- Great way to incorporate technology into your reading centers! My students feel so important and independent when they use QR Codes.

Go back to the PRIMARY PACK LINKY and GIVEAWAY HERE

Five For Friday- 11/13

My favorite link up of the week with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

This week went by so fast!

What "KIND" of Turkey Are You?

For Kindness Week and Thanksgiving we decorated our bulletin board with turkeys made with coffee filters that were colored with markers and then sprayed with water. Students then use popplet to write different ways they could be kind or show kindness.

We have been learning about owls this week during our writing time. Students made a popplet to organize facts about owls and used that to then write an opening sentence, facts and a closing sentence. Students then published their writing using microsoft word. Students also watercolor painted an owl to go with it.

For phonics this week we worked on sorting ending sounds and patterns in words.

We had a wonderful Veteran's Day Assembly at our school this week.

I've said this many times, but DonorsChoose is pretty amazing! I had a chrombook fund this week that I will be able to add to my classroom. OshKosh B'Gosh funded my project. My students are going to be so excited!

Basically if you've not looked into donorschoose.org, you should!

Thanks for listening to my randomness for the week!