Erin Condren Teacher Planner Unboxing!

So here's my take…

I was so excited to see this box on my door step yesterday!

I love how Erin Condren puts so much thought into all aspects of her products!!!

Here is my unboxing…sooooo exciting!

Now, I have ordered from Erin Condren before and each time 

my box and tissue have been different colors! 

Blue and Yellow are my school's colors!!! 

I also love that when you open the box she always 

gives you some free stickers and postcards!

Here is a group view of my order! I am super excited 

for the new personalized file folders!!!

Front Cover

Back Cover

Awww… here is the teacher planner (sigh) 

that I've been waiting for!!! 

I decided to go with the ready to ship cover 

because I really liked the quote! 

Plus, I wanted to take my time making a 

personalized cover! 

I love that her covers are interchangeable! 

Click My Pic for Erin Condren's Video
inside the Teacher Planner!

Some out there might think this planner is 

too expensive, but I did buy when Erin was offering 25% off! 

…But really, small things like a "pretty" planner 

truly make me smile at work…and that is priceless!

Happy Learning!!!

Classroom Moving & Planning!

So here's my take…

For the past two years, I took a position as a Learning Specialist to work with students that had Dyslexia, other Learning Difficulties, and also as a Math Enrichment teacher. 

I LOVE my new school 

I work at and for the chance I had to grow my teaching practice in this new role, 

but something was missing.

The position had its rewarding components, however through this experience I learned that my professional home where my passion for teaching comes alive is in a classroom!

I missed having a community of students who were "mine".

Therefore, my news I want to blog about has me on cloud 9!

Next year I will be heading back in the classroom!!!

 I will be teaching 4th grade…again!  

I am SUPER excited!!!

I spent the first week of summer just moving my stuff to my new room. 

Now comes the fun part…
Turing it into a learning environment that 

both the kids and I will be happy in!

View from my desk…I decided on the table group setting, but the rest is a blank canvas!

View from the door…I can't wait to start mapping out where anchor charts will go!

Need to contact facilities and get my maps back up! I teach Va. Studies!

I can't wait to post in August for my classroom reveal!

Once I found out I would be moving into a classroom position for the next year, 

I hit Pinterest! 

Click to see what I have found so far!!!

I was drawn to everything NEON! I already know that I will be going with this theme! 

Tune in next month when I reveal my new bright classroom!!!

Did I mention that I'm SUPER excited? :)

Happy Learning!!!

PS…Now you can start to follow me on Bloglovin!!!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The Book Whisperer and Me!

So here's my take...

Most teachers are familiar with Donalyn Miller as the "Book Whisperer" 

and probably devoured her book like a piece of chocolate cake.

Well, I was one of those teachers who after reading the book

 was ready to implement everything Donalyn was prescribing! 

So, can you imagine my reaction when I found out that 

Donalyn was presenting a seminar in my area this month!!! 

She just came out with a new addicting book called, Reading in the Wild.

I immediately ordered the book and read the whole thing in time for her seminar.

Her new book is a complement to the Book Whisperer and much more. She gives you five habits of life long readers with ideas and suggestions on how to cultivate these habits. 

The book will leave you eager to inspire all your students to become wild readers! 

I know it did for me!

Donalyn's presentation that I attended went beyond my expectations. She is humble, humorous, and above all a REAL person who loves reading!

What I enjoyed the most out of her seminar and her new book 

were the numerous statistics she would quote to support wild reading habits. 

Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen (2013) assert, "...We reduce the effectiveness of reading interventions when we don't provide our lowest-performing students reading time and encouragement. Developing readers need more reading, not less."

Quoting research helps me to feel confident that 

my philosophy and instructional practices are sound. That feeling is priceless!

My inner dork is beaming!

I highly suggest you put this book on your summer reading list...

or just binge one night on it because it is worth it! 

Donalyn also loves to share her work. She has a slideshare account where she puts her seminars, conferences, workshops, and book recommendations for everyone to see. 

Check them out!

Here is the link to the seminar I attended

I will leave you with my favorite quote from Donalyn's seminar:

Reading and writing floats on a sea of talk!

Happy Learning!!!

Universal Bump Board

So here's my take...

I, like many of you, have a healthy addiction to reading my fellow teacher blogs and consistently buying awesome stuff from Teachers pay Teachers! One item that I read about, pinned several times, and of course bought this year were Bump Boards.

This is an awesome Bump Board I bought and used from Teachers Pay Teachers!

Most of you I am sure have heard of the game and have seen some cute boards made out there. However, I didn't like having to buy and prep different boards all the time. So...I created my own version, one that could be used for any concept and at anytime of the year. May I introduce my Universal Bump Board!

Click Here for a Copy!

Click Here for a Copy!


I must say it came in handy this past Spring when I used it for test prep, station work, partner time, etc. 

Now my caveat to other bump boards out there is that mine relies on a 20 sided die. If you are a teacher like me who loves to own your own math manipulatives, well then you probably have some lying around.

Lastly, I have to tell you all about a great 

new product that I found out about this year! 

It is a sturdy pocket folder with a clear envelope attached by Avery. I use it to store and organize my materials for station work. 

I love that it can hold manipulatives and that it easily stores inside a legal size file drawer! They are awesome!

If you have any creative universal game boards you would like to share, 

I would love to hear about them!

Happy Learning!

Word Study, Organization, & Walmart!

So here's my take...

Don't you just love when you are shopping and something you didn't intend to buy jumps out at you? Your teacher brain says, "Score! I can totally use that in my classroom". Well, I was shopping at Walmart today and I scored two things to use in my classroom! 

My 1st find were these super cute flyswatters! I love how they say SPLAT! on them. 

I immediately thought about using them for Word Study. I decided I could use them to spice up a speed sort game. 

 I created this recording sheet for the game... I am aptly calling it Splat!

Click Here for a Copy!

Partners will spread out each others words. When the words are set up then students will race each other to see who can swat their words and record them first.  If any words are illegible or misspelled then 2 seconds will be taken off. The quickest time is the winner and is crowned Bug Buster!

My 2nd awesome find at Walmart...

I have seen the "grading bag" idea floating around Pinterest/Blogs for awhile but I hadn't found the right bag for me until today!!!

I also found the open portable 
file holders at Walmart. 

I bought two... the first is for papers that need grading and the second is for papers that need to be filed.

Now all I have to do is start grading those papers that are inside!

What a great shopping trip! If you have any flyswatter activities...
I would love if you would share below!

Happy Learning!

Comfy Classroom Library Organization!

So here's my take...

Can you find what is comfy but organized in my library?

Look closely at the bottom of the bookshelves. 

The cute zebra pattern is really standard sized pillow cases!!!

Click here to go to the Target website

I bought these 3 tiered bookshelves from Target when they went on sale for $16.99. I love how easy (no tools) they are to put together and how sturdy they are! 

They have just enough space at the bottom to fit standard sized pillows!

Brilliant!

Over the summer I saw this pin of how students used chairs as great reading nooks and thought, I have to do that! 

Unfortunately my pin does not go through to a blog or website so I don't have a particular person to thank and give credit to for this fantastic idea! 

If you happen to know, please let me know!

My class has loved the pillows and "chair nooks" this year! I am really proud of how well they share them...of course quietest students get first pick!

Students like to spread out all over the classroom to read and jot their thoughts!

I love using pillow cases instead of store bought pillows. 

They are easy to keep clean and so versatile. 

They easily can be brought home to wash and best of all...when I get tired of the zebra print (I don't foresee that happening anytime soon) I can easily find something else!!!

Well, as always, if you have a comfy library idea I do wish you would share! 

Happy Learning!

Before a Close Read...Use THIEVES!

So here's my take...

I have a great group of students this year. However, one of my challenges is that more than 75% of my classroom reads below grade level. Beginning this year I knew that I would need to incorporate more reading instruction in my content areas.

My research
turned 
up 2 great resources!

I am in Va and we don't follow the Common Core (yet!) but I have noticed that this standard (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.10) has caused confusion & concern for many of you. These two books explain and show you how to address this standard.

I highly recommend reading both these books! I especially found Sunday Cummins book, Close Reading of Informational Texts especially helpful in how to explicitly teach students to read complex informational texts.

In Ch. 5 of her book, Cummins takes you step by step through teaching students to strategically preview text prior to a close read. Using the mnemonic THIEVES helps students to activate their background knowledge and prepares
 them to make in-depth predictions.

Cummins recommends having groups work together to preview the text, which helps support readers at every level! I found that my students were more focused, confident, & ready to do a close read with the text because they had used THIEVES beforehand. 

Click Here for a Copy

Click Here for a Copy

THIEVES is a great way to set the purpose for reading!

While doing my research, I also came across an EXCELLENT video that modeled a close read. Not only did it model close reading but how to seamlessly incorporate & use Learning Targets (which I love too!). 

Enjoy!

Lastly, I started a Pin Board to collect resources & more ideas 

on Close Reading & Text Complexity. 

Click Here to Visit the Pin Board

If you happen to have ideas or resources on the subject, I would love to hear from you!

Happy Learning!