Teacher Apprecation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4th-May 8th and I have some wonderful giveaways going on. Each day I'll spotlight a different appreciation idea you could give to the teachers in your life, a new printable and a chance to win a prize. Stay tuned and spread the word!  

The Sunday Scoop

 

 

This may prove to be a very lazy Sunday for me. My must do list isn't complicated and only one of those things actually requires me to do school work. I got home late last night and woke up early so I may be taking a nap later.  Teacher Appreciation week is in two weeks and I have everything planned out for my bestest teacher homies. I work with some amazing women and I love celebrating them each chance I get. I can't tell you all that I have planned because there's always the slight possibility they may read my blog so I'll be posting more during the actual week. I will tell you that I've ordered the all famous ACOOKIEJAR cookies. My friends love them, well my friends who are not gluten free and vegan love them!

Crayon Cookies from ACOOKIEJAR

Speaking of Sunday... in exactly one week I'll be 33 years old! I've been doing some birthday shopping for myself. I was able to get a pedicure last week and buy a new maxi skirt from Target but I got some other cool things as well...

Flair Pens

Got these babies from Sam's Club. I think I spent about $14 for them. It was love at first sight!

 

Erin Condren Deluxe Notebook

I used the Erin Condren Teacher Planner this year (by the way, they are 25% off right now if you want one, code TEACHER25) but going forward I intend to do my lesson plans on the computer. That's where the Deluxe Notebook comes in. I bought the 8 1/2 by 11in notebook and added a yearly calendar. I'm going to use it to store dates for the school year and keep notes throughout the year. I also cut out the two sheet protectors from my teacher planner and popped them in my calendar and I'll use that to keep my long range plans and school calendar.

Creative Paper Box

I love Krista Wallden's clip art and use it almost exclusively on my documents. Once she launched her paper collection I knew I had to have taste! I got it in the mail yesterday and I am in love. 2 large notepads, 3 small notepads, 30 postcards... well really you could use them as notecards too, 20 notecards with envelopes.

 

So as you can see... if I don't receive another birthday gift, all is well. I've pretty much purchased everything I wanted... all except the Honey Baked Ham. I told all my friends and family I wanted a Honey Baked Ham for my birthday and they thought I was joking... I was so serious!

Teapot and the Dragon

Teapot and the Dragon by Nick Jordan

I had an opportunity to read Teapot and the Dragon by Nick Jordan this week. It all the elements that a fairy tale should have a [bored] princess, princes who want to marry her and a fire breathing dragon!   Right away the writing trait "voice" popped into my mind. Jennifer Jacobson, the author of No More I'm Done, gives teachers specific voice strategies to teach students. They are: 1-using interjections 2-fabulous word choice 3-drawing out sentences 4-using dashes.   I found these examples from the book... 1- Whack! Boofoom! Kaablumphh! 2- cheerfully, boomed, massive, swish, swash 3- Kerplonk! Whoosh...kerplonk!; Bonk! Whoosh...kerplonk! 4- flick-flack    You could use this story to compare how Princess Rosehip felt at the beginning of the book to how she felt at the end of the book. Of course there's always the story [fairy tale] elements to identify, sequencing and summarizing skills you can review as well.

Daily Schedule

Better late than never... linking up with Shenanigans in 2nd and Lucky Little Learners this month. They'll be hosting Linky Parties on the 2nd of each month. This month focuses on schedules and resources.  

 

9:00-9:30 Students arrive and unpack, stuff folders, sharpen pencils, work on unfinished work or read quietly. After the 9:20 announcements we have Morning Meeting. During morning meeting we discuss our Life Skill of the Month and our Habit of the Week.

 

Life Skill Posters from the Resourceful Room

Habit Posters from The Teaching Oasis

9:30-10:30 With only 7 short weeks to state testing SOL Review is in full swing. Two of my favorite resources are from Thunks Reviews and Math Madness.



Thunks Review Sheet

Math Madness Sheet

 10:30-11:15 My school uses Words their Way for word study and 6 Traits for Writing. No More I'm Done by Jennifer Jacobson is an AMAZING resource. It gives you picture books as anchor texts and the lessons you need to teach the traits. I also use The Mailbox's Prompt, Plan, Write Resource for prompts and graphic organizers for writing.  

   11:20-12:35 Students have resource everyday. I use that time to plan, individually or with my grade level. Along with the normal art, music and physical education...students at our school take Mandarin Chinese starting in Kindergarten. After resources students eat lunch in the cafeteria. I use this time to eat and run copies since that's one of the main times the machine is free.    12:35-1:15 We complete our passage of the week from Thunks Reviews and then I teach other fiction and nonfiction lessons that correlate with our state standards.  

Thunks Reviews Reading Passages

1:15-2:15 This time is used for guided reading groups. On Fridays I use it to check my students fluency.  

Check out my blog post on Fluency Fridays

2:15-2:45 Recess   2:45-3:50 I alternate units between Science and Social Studies. I make my own notebook templates. They can be found on The Teaching Oasis under their subjects.

 

   

3:50-4:10 Our parent pick up leave at 3:50pm and most days my students dance to Go Noodle for the remainder of the day. Do you know about it? If you don't check it out, it has tons of brain breaks and some can be used as indoor recess. They also have a section on deep breathing and yoga, my students who have difficulties with anxiety benefit greatly from those exercises.

 

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