How is it possible....

...that my desk can look like this after 4 hours of work?

What's in your Bag?

Quick. Run and find your work bag. Yeah, you know the one....

Dig into it and find the most bizarre thing you have in there. Grotesque earns extra points. Link up and share. Vote.

I found this.

it's a flattened fruit bar

Vote for your fave random bag-booty. The winner gets any one free item from my store. Voting closes January 20th. 

QR-a-Palooza

I went to a techie-professional-development thing a few weeks back. I always come out of these things all fired up with ideas. Does the professional development you get at your district ever make you feel that way?

The mini-session I sat in on was using QR codes. QR stands for Quick Response, and you've probably seen them on store windows or cereal boxes. The word I want to put emphasis on is QUICK. I found out just how quick these babies can get your kids from sitting on their duffs to researching.

First thing I needed was something that I wanted my students to link to. I had a video on the Nile that I wanted them to use as research for natural resources.

Next, I needed a code generator. There are a million of them out there, and all of them should be free. My favorite is QR stuff.  http://www.qrstuff.com/

I pasted the link in and downloaded the QR code. I printed it out and give it to each student with an iPad. The QR scanner was already loaded on the iPads, so they scanned the code and it immediately brought them to the video. Easy Peasy. 

The best part is that there is some magical draw to scanning codes for kids. The motivation is huge. 

I love techie things that actually make my job more fun!

20 Shades of Adorableness

Oh, how I love this little furry face. Is she not insanely adorable?

I'm crazy for this dog. 

Whackadoo. 

Her name is Kip. 

Kipperdoodles was laying next to me and suggested I throw a sale in honor of her adorableness. Her furryliciousness. Her Kippness. 

How could I not? 

So here you go,  Kip. A 20% sale, just because you're you. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Peacocks-And-Penguins

Learning Through Curiosity - Inquiry Units

Gary Paulsen is one of those go-to writers for reluctant readers. Have a kiddo who has a hard time connecting with books? Put Hatchet into his or her hands. Let Paulsen work his magic.

My group of highest skilled readers were in need of a challenge. I had purchased a 5-book set of several of Paulsen's books on dogsledding. They came in reading levels from S-W, so I knew I could have kids with different reading skills use them. I chose Dogsong for my high group.

It didn't seem enough to have them read the novel, though.I wanted something more for them, something that would ignite their passion for the book and make them feel like they were part of the story. Enter the Inquiry Unit. Give them a reason to become curious (the learning incendiary device), let them ask questions, then let those questions drive research into deeper understanding.

I found a cool Discovery Channel video clip on the controversial dual sides of dogsledding (let the flames take hold!). This is the hook that will snare the Fab Fours into wanting to dig deeper. Wonderings come next, followed by the filling of background knowledge through introductory exploration of the topic. After another set of questions are formed following the initial back-filling  of knowledge, a topic relating to dog sledding will be chosen by each student and researched. The post-research explosion of learning will happen as they create a presentation project of their learning.

Cool!

All this happens as they read the Gary Paulsen book. I don't get to just guide their reading, I get to guide their curiosity-driven learning! Whoo-hoo!

If you'd like a piece of the action, check out the unit tools I created special for this unit.

It wouldn't be much fun if I was doing this unit alone, so of course I want to share it with you! 5 lucky followers can win a free copy. You don't want to miss this one; it has teacher tools AND student tools.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One Little Word for 2014

I had a nice little blog post all typed up in my head when I came across this. Sometimes fewer words are better, so thank you to Sunny Days in Second Grade for making our lives simpler today.

I had a gut-twisting realization this fall. I guess I've always known it, tried to live it, but a facebook post made me rethink it. It went something like "Kids are learning by making mistakes". Of course. We all know that. But I was thinking about teaching while in the shower (the best thinking place besides driving alone) and all of a sudden I really understood what this meant - like in a Big Picture kind of way. 

My expectations are too high most of the time. Sure, I can let kids make mistakes with math and reading and spelling and all the other academic things. But when it comes to classroom manners, socialization skills and behavior expectations, I am way, way hard on the Fab Fours. 

So my word for 2014 is Patience (with a capital P). I am going to be patient with the blurts, the sidetalking, the farting, the hallway talking, the too-loud lunchroom shenanagins, the interruptions. I am going to guide my students, with scaffolding and love, on these important points of learning.

What's your word of 2014? Link up with Sunny Days and share. 

edit:
Aha! I found the link! This was my inspiration.
http://katrinaannewillis.com/2013/08/11/expected-grace/

Thankful Thursday Gratitude Party

It's time to say thanks to a blogger who inspired me this week. Matt over at Digital: Divide and Conquer has been teaching me some pretty cool tricks the last couple of weeks. I love that there are teachers out there are passionate about using technology in the classroom and are willing to share their experiences through blogging. 

One of my new favorite teaching tools, thanks to Matt, is a visual organizer for bookmarks called Symbaloo. Symbaloo is providing my students with a single page filled with all the links they may need as resources for an inquiry unit. I don't have to worry about my Fab Fours coming with something unsavory while searching, or using valuable time sifting for relevant links. 

Thank you, Matt!! Check out Matt's post on Symbaloo here. 

Which blogger are you thankful for this week? Link up and share!

Here are the guidelines:

1) copy and paste the link to the post that inspired you into your Thankful post

2) send your thank-ee a little note so that they can bask in your gratitude. We all love a little love, don't we?

3) use the button and link back to the Thankful Thursday Grateful Party post of the week

4) link up!

This first Grateful Party will start this Thursday. I can't wait to see who you are thankful for!

Five for Friday, Freebie Friday and Fabulous Feedback Friday!

If we were bowling this post would be a turkey!

First, Fabulous Feedback Friday. I've been watching to see if Christina Bainbridge does another one, but I haven't seen her post one in a couple of weeks. I am carrying on, because I love this concept so.

This week's Fabulous Feedback goes to Christine Currie on her feedback for Transition Words - Intermediate Writing Lessons. She says:

This is great! I have been looking for a way to introduce transition words and phrases. This packet will provide exactly what I need to get started. Thanks!

It is really satisfying to hear that something I created for my own teaching is helping another teacher as well. You can grab your own unit at my TPT store!

#1 I am SO tired!!! Getting back into the swing of things is exhausting. It's a self-imposed misery, I know. Too much fun during the summer makes for a grumpy teacher in late August. 

#2 Peacock nail polish!! I don't think this one even needs an explanation. 

#3 Gross things we find when we set up our room for a new year. Two decomposed jelly beans stuck to a staple.

#4 Naughty Dog covered with teeny burrs.

#5 New editing center for writing. I love this. LOVE. this. My writers can move down the line and do each step of editing. All the resources they need are right here. 

It's the mad rush now to get ready for the start of the year. I know you ALL are feeling it. 

Check out this sweet little Freebie to help you out!

CAFE poster set for the Cutie Owls classroom design!

Thankful Thursday Gratitude Party

This week I am thankful for Christina Bainbridge at Bunting, Books and Bainbridge. 

http://bainbridgeclass.blogspot.com/2013/08/death-of-class-pet.html

She lost her class pet this week. Her post reminded me that our little furry (or scaly) friends in our rooms are beloved by our students, and losing a class pet is like losing a member of the class. Thanks, Christina, for sharing your loss and starting a great discussion about kids and and the lost of a furry friend. 

Who are you thankful for this week?

Win, Loss and Cost Linky

I'm linking up with Matt from Digital: Divide and Conquer for Win, Loss and Cost. By the way, if you've never checked Matt out, I gotta tell you he's got some flaming hot ideas.

I also will tell you before starting that I hate blogger on iPad. I can never get pictures to upload and it makes me cranky.  Like, moth-stuck-in-a-lampshade crazy.

WIN
I created several new products this week for back-to-school. A WIN because it means I 'm actually  working on stuff.  AWIN is also my garden, which is bursting with fresh produce. Last WIN is the littlest Sparkle's success with learning her locker combo and the biggest Sparkle's extreme sense of humor this week. Za-Zing!

Loss
Sleep. Because I have to begin functioning like a normal person. The alarm remains set for 7 so that I do not go into night-owl shock on Sept. 3.


COST
All new fabric for my bulletin boards. Tired of black. I have decided that orange is the new black.

Go ahead and head on over to link yourself up!

Give that Girl a Can of Spray Paint...

...and she can change the world. 

or at least one ugly tree. 

"Hello? 1995? I have your tree here."

My team member was throwing this baby out. I couldn't let it go. I've always wanted a tree in my classroom. But you know me. I just can't leave anything alone. 

I can't show you yet, though. It needs to be festooned with various sized white twinkle lights and installed in my reading corner first. But I'll give you a sneak peak.

Is that paint to die for, or what? After the spraying we were sitting at the kitchen table with the evening sunlight streaming in. The littlest Sparkle asked if I was a vampire because apparently I was looking like Edward Cullen. 

I *heart* glitter. 

I got into my classroom today. If you follow me on facebook you'll know that the classroom fairies did not pay me a visit. Things were as desperate as they were three weeks ago. The littlest Sparkle and I worked for over an hour and made some  headway, so I'm feeling good about that. 

I'm also thinking hard about some of the tools I'll need this year. There are some areas of weakness I need to address. One area I've mentioned before is spelling. Our word work block is only 15 minutes, so whatever I do it has to be quick and efficient. I'm not willing to give in to kill-and-drill and long memorized spelling lists. It has to be exploratory and investigative in nature,the kids need to be learning the spelling patterns from the phonics and rules ends, both. 

I'm proud to roll out this little sweetie called L.I.P.S. (don't you love it already?)

Learn

Investigate

Practice

Spelling

This is a 5 day system that uses composition notebooks as the vehicle but L.I.P.S. is the real driver. It doesn't include any spelling lists or recommended spelling patterns (yet), because I wanted to keep it flexible. I'll be starting with long vowels the first week of school and work our way up from there. 

a set of explanation pages for each day helps you understand what your students will be doing

each day has a short activity that should take less than 15 minutes

This hot little number is ready for you at my TPT store. I can't wait to get it ready for my own class. 

The next thing I created was a writing project for the first day (or week) of school. It's called Time Capsule Writing Kit - A beginning of the year writing project, an end of the year reflecting tool. 

Students will write a letter to themselves which then gets stored in a time capsule until the end of the year. They'll open the capsule in the spring and reflect on how far they've come in 9 month's time. The kit comes with a pre-write, a draft letter and a final draft for both the beginning of the year and the end.

An explanation page will give you some suggestions on using the kit. It might be nice to tuck a "hopes and dreams" into each student's capsule, so a page is included for a parent, a teacher, or even the child themselves to write out. A portrait page will be a sweet keepsake for each student.

This baby is also at my TPT store. We'll be starting this on our first day of school.

Well, it's 11:52 and I had promised, promised, myself that I would go to bed at a decent hour because I have *dum dum dummmmmm* PD all day tomorrow. I'm going to be a sad, sorry mess come 7:00 am.

Don't forget to start thinking about who you are going to thank for Thankful Thursday's Gratitude Party!

Thankful Thursday

Last night my mom helped me cut out parts for 25 owls. We sat together and watched Breaking Bad with the Mr. (my mom had never watched it, and now she's hooked on season 4 episode 9).

It takes a village. It really does.

I got to thinking this morning about the blessings of support my teaching gets from the people around me. It includes my bloggy friends, too. I get so many great ideas and inspiration from the talented teachers who I read from every day.

I'm going to start a Gratitude Party. Every Thursday I'm going to say thanks to a blogger who has inspired me that week. Would you like to join me? The posts will look like this:

Today I am thankful for Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher. 

http://www.ateenytinyteacher.com/2013/08/back-to-school-is-no-joking-matter.html

This blog post made me laugh! More importantly, she reminded me that I am not alone in my stressed world of August. Thank you, Kristin!

That's it!

Here are the guidelines:

1) copy and paste the link to the post that inspired you into your Thankful post

2) send your thank-ee a little note so that they can bask in your gratitude. We all love a little love, don't we?

3) use the button and link back to the Thankful Thursday Grateful Party post of the week

4) link up!

This first Grateful Party will start this Thursday. I can't wait to see who you are thankful for!

Are you ready for the ride?

August is like a roller coaster.

June and July are a day at the park. Strolling, eating, laughing, recharging. July 31 hits and you decide it's time for one last hurrah the big coaster, the one that is thrilling and scary and almost too big to imagine conquering. It's a ceremonial ending, the climax that can only be handled after a whole lot of fun has gotten your batteries back where they belong, at full charge.

August 1st, you step in line. It's a long line, and each step is an inch closer to awareness that something big is coming. The Big Ride looming can't be ignored, the insistent tugging is pulling you.You know there is no bigger fun, but the worry seems like a big hurdle to get over.

August 19th, and you are sweating but jittering with excitement at what you know is coming. The familiar thrill is surfacing in your memory, and old friend that you have the best of times with. The next next train of cars is yours.

August 25th, you climb in. You wish you could run away from the overwhelming feelings, but you can't feel the thrill without them. You ratchet up, up, up. If you squeeze your eyes shut you'll miss the look on your friends faces as they ride with you. The faces show fear, wonder, excitement, impatience and a little dread. Then you're at the top, hanging motionless for a second or two.

Gravity pulls you inevitably down and you scream in delight. Sustained joy on everyone's face. You live all summer for this; it's what you were made to do.

Enjoy the ride, friends.

**************************************************

Have you entered to win this fabulous Build-an-Owl Kit yet? You don't even have to do anything to enter! It's easy peasy. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you get nervy when Open House or Meet the Teacher rolls around, a Survival Kit can help ease your freak out. It now comes in TWO designs!! Everything is editable so you can customize it for your class!

Today is the LAST DAY of the TPT Back to School Sale. Don't miss out on 28% off off your favorite sellers! Everything in my store is on sale, so this is the time to stock up!!

Open House Freak Out

Don't even try to tell me you haven't been there.

I freak out every year. Every. Single. Year.

Open House night.

It's a mix of being so excited to meet my newest students and their parents and this fear that it's also a first impression of my skills as a teacher. Kind of a big pressure. Mix in the chaos, craziness and overall panic of all the PD, classroom cleaning and organization and uncorrected summer sleep schedule and you've got manic city.

This year I decided that I was not going to have the freak out. I was going to plan and work and organize and these three things would be my saving grace.

Well, and this...... The Open House and Meet the Teacher Event Survival Kit.

It has absolutely everything I need to pull this event off with a smile and minimal deodorant. 

It has invitations to make my new Fab Fours and their parents feel welcome and wanted. I want to meet them all, I really really do! It's important that they know that. 

The Survival Kit has a welcome poster, step-by-step task cards to control the flow of the evening and labels for everything my new friends are bringing with them or filling out. It also has a display poster that explains how my donation center works, with cards that list a few items on our wishlist.

I always forget about asking about volunteers, so I made sure that there is an explanation poster for that as well as a sign up form. I like parents to shed a little light on their learners, so I included a short questionaire. My favorite thing, though, is the contact half-sheet that lets my parents tell me when the best time to contact them is, what phone number they prefer to be reached at, and a preferred email. These are all the little details that send me digging into the emergency forms.

Lastly, it had to be easy for me to use. I included a table of contents and section covers to help me navigate and quickly find what I need. 

The best part is everything is customizable so that I can make it seamlessly flow into my classroom design. It's important to me that I be able to add text and edit files for my own information, and this Kit delivers. It comes with a print-only .pdf that can be customized with hand-written specifics, and also with a Word .doc with editable text boxes. 

Did you notice that it coordinates with the Dots and Chevron Classroom Design Kit? I love that. 

I'm already feeling a bit calmer towards open house night. 

You can grab your Survival Kit for 28% off today and tomorrow. Don't miss out on the big Back to School TPT sale!! Use the promo code BTS13 to score big on deals!

The Best TPT Sale of the Year & "The Best and Most"

Are you so excited for the TPT sale that starts tonight at midnight? I am!! I can't wait to fill up my cart with all the things I've been looking at to start up the year.

I am participating, so head on over to my TPT store to get 28% off of everything! You can load up your cart tonight and check out at midnight if you want!

Christine Bainbridge did some reflecting on her favorite products and came up with this great linky called "The Best and Most." It's like the yearbook spread where kids get voted to be the "best dressed" or the "most likely to succeed." I'd love  to say that I won a category or two myself, but they didn't vote on "biggest wallflower" or "geekiest dork". And you know what? I'm A-ok with not making the yearbook spread *wink*.

My "Teacher's Pet" is Transition Words and Phrases in Intermediate Writing. When I moved into fourth grade I so didn't know how to teach writing. It's very, very different from first grade writing. I wrote this unit for my own teaching, and it was key to helping me understand teaching writing better. It locks into the CCSS for transitional words and phrases.

Target grades: 3-6

Teacher's Pet

"Most Likely to Help Your Students Succeed" is Math Fact Fluency Flip and Slide Card Kits. Fact memorization doesn't come easy for all people. Some kids need a tactile way to explore math facts. This kit lets kid get their fingers busy as they discover addends and sums. There's a set for multiplication, too!

Target Grades: 1-4

Most Likely to Help Your Students Succeed

"Best Couple" doubles as "Cutest Couple." Owl Theme Letterhead, Labels and Clipart is a perfect date night with Design an Owl Classroom Craft Kit. Pull your hallway decor into your classroom and coordinate it all with these adorable sets. This is what I am using in my classroom this year!

Target grades: K-6

Cutest Couple

A big thanks to Christina for hosting! If you'd like to get in on the linky, just follow the links to her blog. 

Happy shopping!