Virginia is for Teachers Blog



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I've joined a collaborative blog just for Virginia educators! Since Virginia does not teach the Common Core Curriculum we were in desperate need of a place where we can find resources specifically written for our standards.

Hop on over to download a special freebie (seen below) and enter to win a $25 Walmart Gift Card.

http://virginiaisforteachers.blogspot.com/2015/08/virginia-is-for-readers.html

I'm sharing some School Themed Reading Notebook Templates. If you follow me you'd know that I created them for Christmas, Winter and Spring.

3rd Day of 3rd Grade

When I taught 2nd grade we always celebrated the 2nd Day of 2nd Grade. Well I transferred to a new school four years ago to teach 3rd grade and sort of forgot all about it. I've decided to bring the tradition back and have my students celebrate the 3rd Day of 3rd Grade... there will be decorations, party hats, activities and a small reception at the end of the day. Here are some snapshots of the various activities we'll be doing that day.

 

 

  If you're a 3rd Grade teacher and would like to celebrate as well you can download the 3rd Day of 3rd Grade Activity Packet.

Summer Projects Part 2

It's August and I report back to school in 22 days. Summer school is over and I've had my family vacation at Massanutten Resort. I'll spend the remainder of the month at home creating resources as I promised myself I wouldn't work in my classroom this summer.

 

For the last couple of years I've spent part of my summer working tirelessly in my classroom but not this summer. I intend to do it all during teacher work week, so between the meetings and professional development this teacher will find out if it really is possible to put an entire classroom together during work week, before Open House. Good news is I've done my first week planning and already made my copies, so the clerical work is done.

  Here's what I'm currently working on.

I'm making headings for my focus bulletin board, it has purple fabric with green chevron border so I think these will coordinate with it.

Remade my Whole Brain Teaching Rules, wanted something more simple and chic.

Remade the WBT Call Back Reponses as well.

Made these color posters for a K-Teacher friend of mine, she wanted to update the posters in her classroom. I used the Color Kids from Krista Wallden. You can download these at the Teaching Oasis.

I made a Welcome Bunting Banner for the hallway, I'm going to run them on brightly colored paper and tie them together with ribbon.

I also gave my library labels a makeover. Frames courtesy of Krista Wallden.

#VATeacherBloggersMeet

Last Friday a group of 30 fabulous Virginia teacher bloggers {including myself!} descended upon the Jefferson Lakeside Country Club for an afternoon of networking, laughs, food, drinks, and some incredible swag and prizes! It was an incredible time, and well worth all of the planning and logistics that went into it. I want to share some of the experience with you!

First of all, I have to tell you how absolutely AMAZING all of our sponsors were to work with. If you are making any back-to-school purchases this year, I really urge you to consider purchasing from these businesses and individuals -- they truly value teachers and aren't afraid to show it!

A HUGE thank you goes especially to Educents (one of THE best companies around!) for helping with the costs of the meetup and providing some FANTASTIC swag! Make sure you check out their new Educents Wallet feature to get all of those resources for your classroom at a steep discount! If you sign-up for a new teacher wallet account you'll receive $10 to spend on your classroom -- who couldn't use $10?!

We had over $4,000 in prizes thanks to these fantastic folks!

Check our our FANTASTIC sponsors:

[Educents] [GoNoodle] [ESGI] [Learning Resources] [Ellison] [A+ Images] [Science4Us] [SNAP! Learning] [VocabularySpellingCity] [SitSpots] [Classroom Friendly Supplies] [Kasefazem] [Really Good Stuff] [Planbook.com] [Teacher Created Resources] [Jessica Saunders, ThirtyOne]

And some AMAZING TpT sellers that contributed raffle prizes or digital swag:

[Teaching in the Tongass] [Janiel Wagstaff] [Kimberly Geswein] [Polka Dots & Pals] [Laugh, Eat, Learn Designs] [Whimsy Workshop] [Jewel's School Gems] [The Joy of Teaching] [The Teacher Studio] [KristyBear Designs] [Chalk & Apples] [Teaching in Progress] [There's No Place Like Second Grade]

1. The Fellowship- I enjoy networking and talking with other educators. I met so many new people, a couple of which live right here in Richmond. Looking forward to getting to know them better.

Our Selfie

2. The Goodies- Between the delicious lunch and dessert, prize exchange, Swag Bag, Digital Swag and the fact that I won a year long membership to Spelling City, I'd say I cleaned up! Thanks to our sponsors, no one left empty handed.

The Techie Teacher

3. The Giveaway- I was able to give away a personalized Zip Top Utility Tote and Julie from The Techie Teacher won. It should arrive on Tuesday, can't wait for her to see it!

You can see more fun meetup photos by looking at the hashtag #VATeacherBloggersMeet on Instagram, or by looking at the photo album!

Some of the fantastic Virginia teacher bloggers from the meetup are linking up with Sarah from There's No Place Like Second Grade to share their favorite moments and photo memories from the meetup, as well as share their swag and prizes! Be sure and check-out their posts!

WELCOME Basket

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting my new teammate. My principal asked me if I would mentor her and I'm super excited to mentor a brand new teacher. Two years ago I mentored a teacher who was new to the district but she was coming with 3 years of experience so that didn't involve much. I wanted to do something nice for her but I only had a 3 day turnaround so I had to think of something quick. Then I remembered a basket I put had put together before. This time I included...   Water Eos Lip Balm Lotion Cupcakes Orbit Gum Mr. Sketch Markers Envelope with a Target Gift Card    Last time I created this for a student teacher I was hosting.

I blogged about it here: http://jessicaywinston.blogspot.com/2014/01/student-teacher-welcome-basket.html    Our grade level changes every year, the year I came we had 3 new teachers to the grade level, the next year we had 1 new teacher to the grade level, the year after we had 2 new teachers to the grade level, last year we had 1 new teacher to the grade level and this year we have 1 new teacher to the grade level. Our team is a constant revolving door, but only two of my team members have left to go to other grade levels in the building, all the others have transferred out of the school. Maybe one year we'll actually have the same team from one year to the next... at this point I'm the veteran third grade teacher on the team and I've only been there four years!

Summer Projects

It doesn't even feel like I've been on vacation! Shortly after school got out our 4 year old niece and 2 year old nephew came to visit and stayed for 10 days. I don't know how you mom's do it, I was worn out. Between Paw Patrol, getting them to swim lessons, baths and bedtime stories I didn't know whether I was coming or going!   The day after they left I started teaching summer school. I choose a different school and grade level this summer, wanted a change of scenery. I had no idea that my summer school was a Leadership/7 Habits of Happy Kids School! I will be blogging about how they implement the program school wide, as of now I'm the only one at my current school who does it, so this has been a learning experience for me.   I've also been knee deep in creating resources!

I've decided that my student's take home folder will now be called their SMORE Folder! I'll place these inserts inside the Nicky Folders I order for them, this year I'm purchasing black folders.

I've decided that my students graded papers folder will now be called their VIP Folder.  I'll place these inserts inside the Nicky Folders I order for them, this year I'm purchasing silver folders 

My division/school is finally jumping on the I Can Statement bandwagon. I've decided to have my typed and ran on colored paper. I'll run math on pink paper, social studies blue paper, science on green paper and so on.

Math I Can Statements

Science I Can Statements

Social Studies I Can Statements

What have you been up to?

Day 5: Teacher Appreciation Week

Since it is the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week I gave my friends a gift that said "Don't be blue, know that you are appreciated for all you do!" I included all blue stuff much like the yellow stuff yesterday for the sunshine bags. 

Design Process Posters [Click Picture to Download]

Today's resource is a set of Children's Engineering and Design Process posters.   Today I'm giving away a $10 Target eGift Card. You have until midnight to enter the Rafflecopter below. a Rafflecopter giveaway