Sunday, November 25, 2012

Liebster Award

I am lucky to have been recognized by both Colleen at Fun and Fearless in First and Kathy at Third Grade Doodles for a Liebster Award.  This award is for those blogs that have under 100 followers, and I was first given this award in the summer, so I have been like the Little Engine That Could in picking up followers.  My goal is to get to 100 followers by January 1.

Anyway here are the answers to the questions that Kathy posed for me:

1. What is a recipe that you are famous for making.
  I make a great blueberry torte.  A big group of us meet for a weekend at a friend's cottage in the summer, and there is always a request for me to bring it.
2. Why did you start a blog?
To connect and share with other great teachers.
3. What is your favorite subject to teach?
Hard to choose, but currently it is science since I attended the Mickelson Academy this past summer.
4. What is a favorite website that you use with your students?
I use Edmodo often with my students, and they love it!
5. What is the hardest thing about teaching?
Meeting with students to help them individually with reading and writing (I have 28 students)!
6. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
I love San Diego - I would go there in a heartbeat.  It looks pretty good after a Wisconsin winter.
7. Describe in a sentence or two, your ideal classroom.
An ipad for every student, and the class size would be no larger than 20.
8. What is a favorite teaching theme or bulletin board idea that you've used?
I taught a science inquiry unit on Bubbles that the students raved about.
9. Who is your favorite music artist?
I love lots of kinds of music but I'd have to go with The Boss - Bruce Springsteen.
10. What is your morning poison? (i.e., coffee, tea, sugar, etc.).
I am a tree drinker, and just had some delicious decaf green tea with pomegranite.
11. If money were no object, what one thing would you buy for yourself? For your classroom?
I would buy season tickets for me and all my friends to the Packer games!  For my classroom, I would purchase more assistant time.  I only get para-pro 3 days a week for 20 minutes.

Today I made a sign to post in my classroom to help students remember the difference between a b and d.  I think there are others like this floating around Pinterest.  I tried to draw a b outline in Paint but the line was wiggly.  Can anyone help with how to draw a curve in Paint?


Monday, November 12, 2012

Teaching Tip Linky - Challenge Box

It seems the only way to get me motivated to post something is when I see a linky.  I am hooking up with Hadar, also known as Miss Kindergarten, for this linky on Teaching Tips.

I taught Gifted and Talented students for about 5 years, and made this box to add an extra option to challenge those students that needed it.  When I went back to the regular classroom I kept the box as a choice for those who finished their work.  I put challenge worksheets, as well as tangrams and puzzles, etc. in the box. 
As you can see, I currently have some math sheets in the box - at least those are the ones on top.  Sometimes the kids dig through the sheets to find one that appeals to them.  They have been told that they must be able to complete the sheet on their own (i.e. READ THE DIRECTIONS).
Here is the poster that I recently did that explains the choices to pick from if work is done.  The background poster is from an extra I had from VistaPrint.
Hope you are having a good week!  And thank you to our brave veterans! 

P. S. It snowed here today for the most of the day - yikes!  Luckily none of it stuck. 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Currently - November

Well I, for one, am glad it's November because our conferences are done and we've made it through a horrendous couple of months in my school district.  We've had what seems like a zillion curriculum changes and we're finally getting into the groove.  I may even be able to post more often on my blog (stay tuned).

Here's my version of the November Currently:
 

And....the Packers just scored! So we are on way to what I hope is another win.  Don't you just love Aaron Rodgers?  The announcers just said that his stats are "staggering"!

I loved sleeping in - need I say more about that extra hour? 

We start state testing this week so there will be little time for spelling/word work.  My plan is to review some of our third grade "No Excuse" words in the little time we have, and I am sending that list home to the parents.

Do you ever get that itch to move?  Well - it has hit me, and I did some dangerous realtor blog stalking yesterday.  Of course I found a house not too faraway that is probably way out of my teacher price range.  A girl can dream can't she?  Sigh...

I have a museum of computers in my clasroom.  I have a 1980s era Apple IIe, a 1990s era Mac, and two PCs from the 2000s.  Oh, and I now have an old laptop and an iPad.  Anyway, our IT department refuses to support any of the relics, so I took one of the PCs to a local computer dealer for some work this weekend.  It was fixed for a mere $20 - so we are back in business. I use these during my small group station time for the students to review skills, and the kids are motivated to use them all. 

The music my classes consistently love is a little diddy from the Dole 5-a-day website.  I actually got a cassette tape free from their site years ago and continue to use it.  The students hear about healthy foods to eat while they dance to the fun music.  You can hear the music by clicking on the link and then scrolling down to another link below the words to the song.
Dole 5-a-day Song (also known at the SuperKids Song)
 
You can join Farley in this month's Currently here.