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?

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. 

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.



Year One Bloggiversary

Happy One Year Anniversary...

to Michelle at The 3AM Teacher!  I used one of her borders in an item I have on TPT, and it is my best selling item (actually I've only sold a few, but technically it's still my best selling item - I don't have that many in my store!).  I think she is so talented, and generous with her creations.  Please check her out.

As part of the linky party in honor of her bloggiversary she has asked fellow bloggers to share highlights of their first year in the blogging world.  I am still in the midst of my first year, but I've already had some happy dance moments!

1. Winning a splitter for my iPad from at Keri at Teach~Play~Smile!  I have entered many contests and was picked to win this little doo-dad that is used daily in my classroom.  Thanks Keri!

2. Joining up with Amanda at The Teaching Thief for Fiction Friday.  Every Friday during the summer I jumped on her site to get book suggestions to use with my third graders.  Check her out - she's awesome!

3.  Discovering on my stats page that people have found me through Pinterest, and through someone else's blog. What an honor to be recognized in this way!  I am still gaining followers, and it always puts a smile on my face to see someone new on my little list.

4.  I have been teaching a LONG time, but continue to learn from my teacher buds in the blogging world.  :)

I've Been Booed!

 

This is a fabulous, fun linky hosted by Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips (you must pay her a visit and sign up as a follower if you haven't already). So here goes...

Maybe you've seen or heard of this fun "game" in neighbourhoods or even at your school... but let's try a blog version! Here is how it works:

If you've been booed, copy and paste the above pic and these "rules" into your post.

1. Give a shout out to the blogger who booed you and link back to their site!

2. Share 3-5 October activities, books, products (yours or someone else),

or freebie(s) that you love!

3. Share the Boo love with 5 bloggers- make sure you check this link to make sure you don't boo someone again:

http://toristeachertips.blogspot.com/2012/10/ive-been-booed-fun-october-linky.html

And don't forget to tell them that they have been BOOED!

4. Link up here so that others can find you and read about your October ideas! And while you are there... check out the other great blogs!

 

So - here is a fun activity that I used in my class last week:

I had a Halloween Readers and Listeners station.  The listeners wore animal ears while the readers (who also wanted to wear the ears, and this was allowed because they were listeners, too) read a story.  I have all different kinds of animal ears (cat, panda, bear, bunny, giraffe, etc.) which I found a couple of years ago at a Halloween store. You can find an October Book Log my students used for recording books they read at my TPT store here.

 

Also - a great activity I used last year can be found at Sunny Days in Second Grade.  Denise has tons of great ideas, and I love looking at the pictures of her school's storybook pumpkins.  She's got some creative people at her school!



Check out the blog of my wonderful Boo Buddy - Sue at SOS - Supply!

Currently - October

It's October - one of my favorite months of the year!  While walking my dog today the leaves were fluttering softly to the ground - it was a beautiful late day walk.  You can join Farley and friends with your version of "Currently" here.

I love the book Arthur's Halloween from Marc Brown.  It has a good message for children about seniors that might live in their neighborhoods.  We do character studies at this time of the year and the Arthur books are great to use because the students are so familiar with Arthur, D.W., Buster, Binky, and the rest of the gang.

Fall Blog Hop - Firefly Wondering Project

Happy Sunday and Second Day of Fall,

TeachingMy3 is hosting a seasonal blog hop, and I'm wondering if my firefly project is appropriate?  Hope so!  I'll be back later in the week with some other Autumn related activities going on in my classroom. 



I had a week filled with meetings (like you, I'm sure) and spent some after-hours doing planning but it seemed to be worth it. 

We are just about finished with our launch lessons for Readers Workshop, and one of the last lessons in this module was to set expectations for book discussions.  I had made speech bubbles to go with my Packer player heads.  These are posted so students can refer to them as they develop book discussions.  Someone at my school commented that these are especially great for autistic students to refer to.

 

Here is a close up of the poster I made with a blank Vista Print board I had.  I guess we're not supposed to call them Literature Circles any more - too old school or something. 



 We also discussed questioning and wondering while reading, and I read this book about Fireflies as a mentor text.

Then, as one of their small group stations during our RTI time. which we call WIN (what I need), the third graders did this firefly project.

This project was adapted from one I saw in a Mailbox craft book.

I supplied a 2 X 7 inch piece of green for the body, 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inch pieces of yellow for the wings, and the same size of wax paper for the top layer of wings.  The students rounded the corners, and used a marker to separate the head, thorax, and abdomen.  I supplied sequins (from JoAnn Fabrics for 99 cents a bag) for the "lights" on the abddomen.  Then the students had to write wondering questions about fireflies.  Non-fiction firefly books were also placed at the station.
 

These students had studied insects in second grade so the body parts would not have been new to them.

I have a fun insect unit on sale at my TPT store here.

Tell Me Something Good Linky

Isn't there a kind of old bluesy song that starts out - "Tell me something good" - followed by a guitar rift?  Anyway - it's always time for good news, so I'm joining Rowdy in First Grade for just that.

My school district has overwhelmed us with a literal flood of new initiatives, and everyone is pretty stressed, but we've also worked to help each other out.  We have to benchmark every student twice, so for me that means doing 54 benchmarks since I have 27 third graders.  Luckily the music teacher, gym teacher, literacy coach, and G/T teacher have come in to do an extra lesson in my room so I could work on benchmarks while they are teaching. Do you have to do benchmarks, and if  so, how many, and how do you get them done while teaching everyday?

We were also asked to post about something good that's happening at home.  Hmmm....we have a book club coming up on Thursday night that is at a friend's house.  It's a fun group so I'm looking forward to kicking back, having a drink, and chatting and laughing with my girls.

Also, I wanted to share the family letter I send home about our book exchange so you might try one in your classroom, too.  You can find it here on Scribd.

September 11 Book and Video Suggestion

Hi All-

Will you be remembering the events of September 11, 2001, in your class tomorrow or this week? We always watch the Reading Rainbow video called "The Tin Forest".  It is available through Safari - we have Safari on our school district's home page.  Safari is an online warehouse for videos.  Anyway, "The Tin Forest" episode is a very touching story of students whose school was affected by the tragic events on September 11.  The students had to attend a different school for months, and after returning to their own school they create a music video to thank those in their neighborhood who helped in the aftermath.  Keep the kleenexes handy - this video gets to me everytime.

Also, when I visited the 9/11 Memorial this summer in NYC I saw a great book in the gift shop.  It is called The Little Chapel That Stood.  I did not purchase it and am now wishing I would have.  This book tells the story of the chapel across the street from the towers that remains standing after the collapse of the buildings.  The chapel became a resting spot for all of the volunteers.  They were renovating it when I was in NYC but I had been inside it before.  It is a wonderful, emotional place to visit.  After doing a search I found there are very few books available because of a variety of factors.  I found one at Barnes & Noble online and it was over $100!   But never fear, I found a copy of the book online, and you can access it here. 

There is also a teacher's guide that goes with this book that can found here.

TBA Freebie Friday - Book Exchange and Response Journal Labels

I'm a day late but still wanted to hook up with TBA for Freebie Friday!  In my back to school letter to my students I asked them to bring in up to 3 books for a class book exchange.  I have done this in the past at the beginning of the school year, and it's always been a success.  A new twist to the book exchange this year was that I asked my third graders to put together a short commercial about one of the books they were donating.  The book commercial direction sheet can was based on suggestions from Beth Newingham on book commercials.

The students started bringing in their books on Open House night over a week ago, and we started school this past Tuesday.  In prepping for the book commercials I explained the process, and also showed a clip from the end of a Reading Rainbow episode where the kids recommend books.  The book commercials were shared on Friday.

These are the books we had received by Thursday afternoon. I also added some "well-used" books from the classroom.

I could tell the third graders were nervous as they shared the book commercials, but they really did an awesome job.  While they were sharing I listed the books on my Interwrite Board, and the students wrote down the name of their favorites on a page in their Reading Response Journals entitled "Books I Want to Read".  Afterwards they got to pick 2 books from the activity to add to their book boxes.  I did have 2 people who were not prepared (even after talking about it all week), and someone who was upset that they didn't get the book they really wanted, but overall it was a very positive reading activity. 

You can find my Reading Response Journal labels here for free, too!

Math Bulletin Board - TBA Open House Week

While blog stalking this evening I came across the Open House Week linky that is being hosted at TBA.  Today's topic is bulletin boards, and I thought it was the perfect time to share some photos from my third grade classroom.

We just started school last Tuesday, and I was detailing my boards until the day before, so just wasn't ready to show anything til now.  I really like the way my math board/area turned out.

Last school year I saw a suggestion for using flash cards as border for the math wall.  We're starting with multiplication by 5s so those were the cards I used.  I did put them in an order, and the students noticed right away. I ran out of 5s so added some by 2s for the bottom area.  I plan to change the flash cards as we study other count bys.

 

So far I've added the coin amounts in decimals to the board, and a clock to review time.  We are also writing a number in standard form, expanded form, word form, Roman Numerals, and less than and greater than amounts.  That is the chart under the clock and the orange sentences about multiplying. 

 

To the right of my math board is my poetry area.  I change the poems every week, and on Fridays we add a paper copy to our poem notebooks.  Here is another view:



Currently - September

Whoa - is it really September?  Yes - it is (sigh), but it does mean it's time for another edition of Farley's Currently.

My favorite things are very current ones!  On Friday I got an e-mail message from a parent of a student I had 3 years ago.  We ran into each other at a restaurant last week.  Anyway, he said how nice it was to see us, and thanked me for being a teacher, and said that I had made a difference in his daughter's life.  Awww...loved that.

I got my new Erin Condren planner in the mail on Friday - yay!  I immediately used the pens that came with it to fill in my plans, etc.  I feel so organized.

I had such an awesome summer - lots of great adventures.  I really need to make a photo book or something so I can relive all the fun.  Here is one picture from the trip to NYC.


My niece and I at Live with Kelly.

New Blog Design

Greetings!

You may have noticed that I have a new look for my blog!  I am so happy to have found Honey Bunch Blog Designs!

My goal was to have a new professionally-made design before school started, and the girls at Honey Bunch were awesome to work with.  I selected one of their pre-made designs, but it is a one-of-a-kind.  Erika was so patient and helpful, responding promptly to any questions and requests that I had.  I would highly recommend working with Erika and team if you are looking for a blog design.

Check out their site here.  Thanks to Erika and everyone at Honey Bunch for their help!

Therapeutic Thursday - Teacher Week

Ahhhh.......after a long hot, day in the classroom, we often need a pick-me-up!  That's the theme for today's edition of Teacher Week over at Blog Hoppin'.

The first thing I do upon returning home everyday is take my little lovebug, my dog Berkeley, for a walk. I live in a neighborhood that has lots of trees, so walking him and watching how much he enjoys the sights (and smells) of the neighborhood lightens up my mood.

One of the must-dos on my back to school list is to get a pedicure!  It's fun to wear all the cute summer clothes I have collected at sales throughout the summer, and it won't be long before every foot in Wisconsin is covered in a big, heavy boot, so I savor the last few weeks of sandal-wearing.

 

And another thing I might do to relax is to sit on my patio in my backyard and read the newspaper.  I just love summer and fall, and I have big trees and flowers in the backyard that bring on peace of mind. Ahh......

What do you recommend for Therapeutic Thursday?