#BeTheSeason; The Golden Phrase; Proud Mom~My {3} Wows! on Wednesday!

 I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!  I guess my first Wow! should be that Wow, I missed two Wednesdays in a row!  I am back.  

My first real Wow! is the #BeTheSeason Hashtag that TpT put out there & my take on it...I thought about it a lot and I was thinking about all of the sights & sounds of the season & how children see it all, so I felt Be in Awe expressed all of that best; my second one is Be Aware...be aware of those around you who are struggling, grieving, or aching at this time of year, whether they are battling with health issues, financial issues, or the loss of a loved one or loved ones in the last year or two, this time can be a really difficult time so be aware, be sensitive,& reach out!...my third is straight forward...Love, we celebrate the greatest gift of love, the coming of Christ to earth, so we have the opportunity to show love, to BE love to the world around us...#BeTheSeason!

This is my 28th year teaching 3rd grade, and I wish I had started saying this YEARS ago for many reasons that I share after you read this phrase...I say this multiple times a day {really!}...my students frequently finish it for me! 

.First, it keeps me constantly reminded of why I am doing what I am doing... second, it is pretty difficult for a child {or parent} to get upset with you...
'You're picking on me'{my child}...no, I am saying what I am saying {about focusing or distracting, or being off task} BECAUSE you matter & so does your education...third, I hope and pray it gets ingrained into my students' heads...that when they are 12, 15, 18, 25, & beyond...it will echo in the back of their heads & it will encourage them! 

I am so very proud of my kids...both of them have solos in our youth choir Christmas program...part of this Wow! is~Wow! they didn't get that musical talent from their mom!  I wish I could sing like they can!

I am off to bed, hope to be back next Wednesday!

Sketchnotes; a Gift From Scholastic; Conferences & Student Goals with a Smile!

My 1st Wow! is about Sketchnotes; more specifically Sylvia Duckworth's Sketchnotes...if you don't follow her on Twitter, I would highly recommend following her!...maybe I should have called this one a WOW! because that is how I feel when I look at her collection of sketch notes!...here are just a FEW of her amazing sketchnotes:

 ~notice this collage does not have my usual TABT logo on it because all I did was put 6 of HER sketchnotes together...if you click on the image above it will take you to her Flickr photo stream...she has so many great ones that make me think, inspire me, and connect with me in a different way than other media...maybe one day I will try to sketchnote as well!...I liked what she had so much that I downloaded around 60 of them!!...I plan to use them to help me to think differently & to inspire my fellow staff members!

 I received a book order this week and I was so excited about the gift they included for me in the order!!!  I love the color, the quotes, & the finger & thumb tips that work on my gadgets!!  So nice to get a little something unexpected, thank you Scholastic!

Yesterday ALL day we had parent conferences & we had a short day today with conferences after the students left...I am pretty wiped out, they went well, but are quite draining...part of our conference is to include going over a parent/teacher/student compact...it has preprinted expectations in each column, and spots for goals for the student...in class we had brainstormed about different goals they could choose; turning in their homework, mastering the multiplication facts, take more AR quizzes, improve on test scores, etc...they were welcome to come up with one of their own if they chose to...then at the conference the parent chooses a goal & I choose a goal for the child to work on.  I was very proud of how self reflective my students were...they chose very appropriate goals for their current challenges...as I was going through them yesterday and saw the one below my mind was trying to figure out what the child could have possibly meant by 'white heater'...I was at a loss...this morning I looked at it, I guess I had my 'teacher glasses' on because I suddenly saw 'write neater'!!! Very appropriate goal!! 

Now, 1/2 day tomorrow, then school Friday, & after school I will be taking off with a few other teachers from my school for an EdTech Summit on GAFE {Google Apps For Education}...I am SUPER excited & I am sure I will be blogging about it! 

Shaved Frozen Yogurt, Super Improver Stars, & Binder Clip LOVE! :D

One of my favorite treats of the last year & a half has been getting frozen yogurt.  We have a locally owned place, EzFreeze just around the block from school {dangerous...they all know me in there!}...they opened a second location in the same small mall for shaved ice...this is pretty common to find, but Joe, the owner, decided to combine these two treats & created SHAVED YOGURT!  We all enjoyed it, the picture shows my daughter's strawberry shaved yogurt.

My second Wow is Wow I finally moved forward with my Super Improver Stars!  For the last few years I have tried to use this strategy from Whole Brain Teaching, but I was never successful with moving forward...I would just get too busy with other things, as well as not having great strategies for tracking & monitoring the students' stars.  I know that some students have earned even more super improver stars that I haven't awarded for growth on the Accelerated Reader STAR test which they took when school began & just retook. As the students move up, the backing color for their names will change.

Wow, do I love Binder Clips!  I use them all the time!  I love that I can store them on a ring & have them at my fingertips any time I need; they can be dressed up with washi/decorative tape; place hooks behind my desk & hang important papers, forms, & book orders & not loose them in a pile on my desk; they can be used to hold papers that need to be returned to students & hung on a hook attached to the cubbies, large clips were the ones I used to label those cubbies when stickers just wouldn't stick!

Be back next Wednesday!

Wows! on Wednesday~Proud Mom; More Goodies for the Class; & Dictionaries!

I think one 'Wow' could have been me blogging 3 weeks in a row!  I LOVE Doodle Bugs' Five for Friday, but Friday I am usually wiped out or busy with working in the snack bar at the football games, going to the movies, or just relaxing with my family & then the weekends just seem to fly by so I am not very consistent with posting.  I came up with this "{3} Wows! on Wednesday" for me...to focus on the positives and have just a few things to share...if I have even one comment expressing any interest {or hear on Social Media} I will make it a Linky next Wednesday, if not, it will just keep me going! :D

My first Wow! is a Mom Wow...last night my son was recognized at our district board meeting for having a perfect score last spring on his California High School Exit Exam...today my daughter received 2 grade level awards, one for Band & the other for Humanities, as well as awards for scoring Advanced in Math & At Standard in Language Arts...I am so proud of both of them and the choices they are making!

Yes, I have received more goodies from NAEIR, if you haven't checked them out click on the picture below to check out their site.  I wasn't sure what the upper left hand items were~I thought they were textured paper, but they are work making textures with clay...teacher twist~great for crayon rubbings!! There are 20 sheets of the Angry Bird stickers & Hello Kitty stickers, 40 smelly erasers, & 80 pink erasers...oh, this site is addicting!

My last Wow! is one that I am very grateful for...for over 9 years Rotary Club has given every third grader in our district a dictionary of his or her own!  This year they also gave all of the fifth graders a Thesaurus!  Thank you Rotary!!

Now, a bonus...today was our Costume parade...

 I could resist adding this picture of my grandson from Sunday...he has my heart!

 Thanks! Have a great rest of your week!

3 Wows!~$433 of School Goodies for $26, A Google Form for TpT Purchases, & 4 Kinds of Sentences Game

Wow! 2 Wednesday's in a row blogging! :) Right now that puts me in a super WOW mood!  If I can get consistent at this maybe I will start it up as a linky!

If you haven't seen my last post, just hit the 'older posts' button & look at my previous post about Naeir.org.  It shows my first box from them, this is my second...can you see it's value?...$433...& I paid $26!!!  You can sign up for a free account as a teacher, but beware...if you love school/office supplies & you love an amazing deal, you might just be in trouble...it is quite addicting to check out what is available each day {their inventory is constantly changing}

My second Wow is how many item I have from TpT; 142 Paid Purchases & 482 Free Downloads {since they started tracking it}...I am loving Google Forms & I created one to organize all of my items...after you input your information Google create a Sheet which you can organize & sort by field...that way I can look by the creators of the products eg. Blair Turner, Graphics from the Pond, etc. or by Title or use {I call them Classroom & TABT {The Apple Basket Teacher}  I don't have all of my purchases in yet {LOTS to go on my free downloads}...I may even tweak my Form & add in subject or holiday when applicable...we will see...hopefully if you click on this image it will take you to a copy of my form that you can modify for your needs! 

I just finished getting this 'store ready' & in my store...it is a game for practicing the 4 Kinds of Sentences~Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, & Exclamatory...I print my games on 5 different colors of paper for my 5 table groups...it makes life MUCH easier if a piece is later found on the floor!...also I love the small manilla envelopes which I laminate & use velcro to keep closed.  Click on the image above to find it in my store!

Good night all!

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!