A Little Off Topic...

In a few short weeks I will be embarking on a journey to help end Breast Cancer.  For the second time, I will be walking 60 miles over the course of 3 days to raise awareness.  Too many of us have friends and family that have fought this horrible disease and I don't want anyone else to have to fight that fight!

I am asking for your help.  I need to raise $2300 in just under 30 days.  I have no doubt that I will raise that and beyond, but I'm dedicating my blog to the cause today in hopes that someone out there in the blogosphere will be able to help.

Please, if you can help by donating (a few small donations goes a long way!) I would very much appreciate it.  If you can help by sending others to this post, I would appreciate that too!  Below is the direct link to my page to donate, or simply click on the link to the right of this post!

Thank you, from the bottom of my "soles" :)

Click here to Donate today! 

When I Grow Up

My class just wrapped up a unit on Community and Community Helpers.  We started off by talking about what a community is and what you find in a community.  Once they had a hang of that, we talked about all the people that help a community run smoothly.  They worked in groups to come up with a community helpers for each letter of the alphabet, then we worked as a whole class to come up with one helper for each letter.  Once that list of compiled, each kid drew a community helper out of the bowl to make a page for our "Community Helpers A to Z" book.  It came out super cute!  I will try to post the page that we used later (it's at school and I'm at home on Fall Break).  


Next, we invited parents to come in to share about their jobs.  We had 6 parents between 2 classes; police officer, fire fighter, interior designer, graphic designer, lawyer and insurance agent.  The kids rotated through the 6 jobs and completed a bubble map at each station.  The kids had a blast learning about their jobs!


Finally, to wrap up the unit, each student did a "When I Grow Up" project.  The had to write a "report", complete a project and dress up.  Then we had a Celebration of Learning for everyone to share!  I was totally impressed with the quality of work that all my kids did as well as how much they learned.  


I have included the report page and the project guidelines.  Feel free to use, but please leave a comment below in return.


When I Grow Up

Three Weeks Down

So here I am, three weeks into school and things are finally falling into place.  Pre/Post state testing is complete, intervention groups are in place, the schedule is finally starting to make sense and the kids are settled into the groove that is school. 

I have a student teacher which is SO GREAT!  Just having another set of eyes, ears and hands is so helpful and I had such an amazing student teaching experience that I love being able to "pay it forward." 

Now that we have settled in, I'm hoping to have more time to blog...I have missed so much that to try and catch up would be ridiculous. 

I hope you all had a great start to school and if you haven't started yet, I hope it all goes smoothly!

Back to the Grind

This week was spent putting finishing touches on my room, meeting with my GLEAM (Grade Level tEAM) and meeting parents and students. As my head dances with ideas I can't help but be excited for the new school year to start. With starting Daily 5, having a student teacher and being in a new classroom it just seems so new. I'm going to back off the blogging world this weekend to spend time with my husband and baby girl before the craziness of the school year settles in.

To all the teachers starting back on Monday, have a great first day! I can't wait to hear all about it.

Happy New Year!

Snack Time Linky Party

Christina Bainbridge is hosting a Snack Time linky party.



Last year we had snack right after specials.  The kids would get hand sanitizer as they were coming in the classroom and then get their snack that was set up on the back table.  We would then have about 10 minutes to eat snack.  I just allow them to socialize, but they have to stay at their seats and use inside voices, just like at a restaurant.  We spent lots of time in the beginning of the year talking about expectations during snack time. 

I send home a snack calendar on the last Friday of every month so that they have time to prepare if they have snack on Monday.  I assign the dates in ABC order.  It works out to about 1 time a month. 

If someone forgets snack, we use leftovers or extras that the parents have sent in.

Our schedule is different this year, so I don't know how our snack time will flow this year, but I'll come back and post when we get started to let you all know!