SoCal Meet-Up, Valentine Banquet, The Power of Yet, Dioramas, & Kahoot

A VERY late 5 for Frunday for me.  It has been a busy weekend.

Yesterday it was such a pleasure to meet up with 32 other lovely ladies who blog & TpT!  I LOVED Katie's home...just look at her color coordinated bookshelf!, but more than loving her beautiful home, I LOVED Katie~her gracious, beautiful, welcoming spirit...the whole afternoon was filled with wonderful conversations & yummy food! I am so blessed to have been a part of this day!

I headed straight from Katie's house to our church's Valentine Banquet...it is a big deal for me, not just because our youth put on a delicious meal, wonderful entertainment, including songs by our youth ensemble, a hilarious version of the Newlywed Game {staring our 4 pastors & their wives}, and yummy desserts...no, this Valentine Banquet was the 15th anniversary of my first date with my husband & 14 years ago he proposed AT the Valentine Banquet in a skit...my daugher{in the kissing booth picture with me} wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Valentine Banquet!  It made for a terrific day!!

 I use Class Dojo in my room and I am LOVING their new series of videos!!!  This week's video was the Power of "Yet"...the sign on the right is a poster I had made in March 2012...we talk all the time about them only saying 'Can't' if they say 'I can't YET' & there it was in the video...such a great reinforcement of what I have been telling them all year!

I wanted to share some of my student's dioramas...I was very proud of the effort most students put into their projects! Go Class!

If your students use devices in class, I HIGHLY recommend using Kahoot! My students LOVE it!!!! I love that they get the immediate feedback on whether they got a question right or wrong.

Okay, off to bed...I will place some of these pictures on Instagram in the morning!  Have a blessed week!

Wows! On Wednesday~$370 Classroom Goodies for $25! & 2 More Wows!

It has been waaaaaay too long since I have blogged! I decided to share 3 'Wows!' & figured I will make it a linky in future, a bit of a mid~week energy boost...I am trying to keep focusing on the positives & here are 3 of my 'Wow's'~

I have been around the internet connecting with {okay, some stalking too} other teachers for YEARS, and it was only last month that I learned about NAEIR.org...since it was new to me, I am guessing a lot of other teachers have never heard of it before as well.  They are a BBB Accredited Charity.  Teachers can sign up to receive FREE, yes FREE, items for their classroom with FREE shipping...there are handling fees such as $1 for 2-6 rolls of washi tape {yep, had to create a new Pinterest Board for that!}...the most expensive handling fee for the items you see above was $7 for 6 sets of 6 highlighters...the clear address labels were valued at $118 for the 2 boxes!!! You must have a total of $25 for placing an order...their inventory is constantly changing, so you never know what you might find {confession...I have a few more orders processing}  GO RIGHT NOW & SIGN UP {CLICK HERE} IF YOU ARE A TEACHER ADDICTED TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES!! {Then, please come back & read the rest of my post!} {oh, & that was a Pinterest inspired holder for SOME of the washi tape, made from a foil container}

Parent Communication Improved!

~Using Class Dojo, New Interactive Whiteboard, & Google Drive

I have been using Class Dojo DAILY {throughout the day} this school year...I have even stopped using my clip chart, adding custom behaviors to fit my classroom & my school...I have had individual communication through the messages with 12 {out of 26 students}...the parents seem comfortable communicating with me & I don't have to worry about giving out my phone number.  If we need to talk, we can message first to be sure the timing will work for both of us...

Around a month ago Class Dojo added a new feature, Class Story, through it you can share class pictures & messages...through this I was able to send a link to parents for a Google Drive  folder...it is a great way to save pictures of our morning work that we go over daily on the new interactive white board {the students do the work in pencil first thing, then we go over it and they use pen to mark what is correct or make the corrections} & I use the snipping tool, grab a picture, & stick it in that folder  {so I don't blow up the parents' notifications} This way the parents are able to see work we are doing in class & talk with their children about it.

Good night all!

Five for Frunday {It's Spring; Twitter; GoNoodle Plus; Mentor Sentences; Library Redo}

In the past I had used Twitter to follow some celebrities {most of whom I have unfollowed now} & I rarely if ever 'tweeted'...since going to the Google Conference I am looking at Twitter differently & seeing all kinds of links & resources...Do you use Twitter?...Do you just follow or do you tweet?...Who do you follow?...Here are some that I am following...

      Some of my favorite teachers/bloggers/TpTers:

            Kristin from Ladybug's Teacher Files

                 @LadybugBlogger

             Kelly Malloy from An Apple for the Teacher

                  @Kellys3ps

             Erin Klein from Kleinspiration

                  @KleinErin

            Blair Turner from One Lesson at a Time

                  @blairkturner

             Shannon from Technology. Rocks. Seriously

                   @sweetblessshan

             Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jumps Classroom

                   @MrsJumpsClass

             Rachel Lynette from Minds in Bloom

                    @RachelLynette

            Michelle from The 3 AM Teacher

                    @3AMTeacher

            Amanda Nickerson from One Extra Degree

                    @OneExtraDegree

             Jen Jones from Hello Literacy

                     @hellojenjones

              Richard Bryne from Free Tech 4                                      Teachers

                      @rmbryne  

  Other Ed groups/companies/entities

              Class Dojo {loving them!!!}

                      @classdojo

               GoNoodle 

                      @gonoodle

                Dave Burgess author of Teach Like a                                     Pirate

                      @burgessdave

                Teachers pay Teachers

                       @TpTdotcom

                 Edutopia

                        @edutopia

So...my name on twitter is @thankfulndw

Let me know what you think of Twitter...has it made you a better teacher?...opened doors?...inspired you?...I'd LOVE to hear what you think!!

{BTW  :-( Twitter is BLOCKED by our district}

                     

My trial to GoNoodle Plus was too short!!!  I LOVED it & so did my students!!!  They have spelling that you can type in your list & the kids spell the words with their bodies...vocabulary that is grade appropriate...but I think their favorite was Montana James & the Palace of Peril...the class is in two teams & you {teacher} decide the skills that will be in the questions...we had been working on adverbs & adjectives so we used those...it has the team that is 'up' swipe off snakes, or smack of beetles, or stomp on scorpions, with movements that the kids don't even see as exercise, just a game...well,  I can't afford the $99 yearly fee so I got permission from my principal to ask if parents would like to donate $1-$5 dollars so we can purchase it for the class...I will let you know how that goes!!!

 From the beginning of my teaching career I have been kind of the odd ball teacher in one way {okay, maybe more than one way ;-) but this is the one I am addressing here}...I have always marked what is correct/right on the students work with a C never marking what is incorrect/wrong {usually at the beginning it is in green too...symbol of growth}...so I was really drawn to Jessica's {from Ideas by Jivey} Mentor Sentences...it focuses on what is RIGHT about sentences, not correcting what is wrong...

I purchased her Mentor Sentences: First 10 Weeks 3-5  & the first sentence comes from First Day Jitters, which we read at the beginning of the year...I went over how we will work with the sentence she choose for the week...then...oops...the second story is Enemy Pie...I have a HUGE library {see #5} but I don't own this...neither did our school library...I wrote on the white board in the lounge...none of my fellow teachers own it!!!...I was at my wit's end when I found it on Storytime Online!!! It is read by Camryn Manheim...so tomorrow we will move forward with Mentor sentences!!!

I am in my 27th year teaching 3rd grade, and so happy to have this career!!  I LOVE children's literature & through the years I have purchased A LOT of books!!! Four years ago I did an Extreme Library Makeover~you can read/see more about it here ...this is what my library has looked like for the last several years...the books have been leveled using Book Wizard from Scholastic...

This year our school purchased AR {Accelerated Reader} & I started pulling books from my library & adding the AR level to the back...

This was across the room from my library & just not enough books...so...over 600 books have now been looked up, labeled, & organized!!!!{I still have a couple hundred more to go!}

I will be adding to my AR Management Product & changing it to be a Library labeling as well...it will include all levels of book tags & basket/bin labels...a quick shout out...the first time I did a library makeover I was thankful for Kristin of Ladybug's Teacher File...they were her alphabet labels I used...well she gets a great big 'Thank you!' once again...if it hadn't been for her tips to change pictures {the different apple colors for me} I would still be working on the labels for the next few weeks!!! 

Off to bed...testing begins tomorrow!!!