:)

Hi Bloggy Buds!

After the week I had (I kind of crashed and burned on Friday), I took the weekend and did absolutely nothing except watch TV, read and sleep.

I went into work feeling much better, and more than ready to tackle what I finally left on my desk on Friday (turns out, it wasn't as much as I thought).

Then, I got my evaluation.








People, I ROCKED it!! :D It was all proficient (with some pluses!) and distinguished, which was way beyond what I thought I would get.

All I have to do is my reflection (which will be done after I stop playing stalking researching teaching) ;), and set up a post observation conference.

I was feeling so good, that I decided to go shopping and see if I couldn't pick up a few cute things (our staff party is on Friday, and I want to look 'festive' (stylish and festive :) I got some cute things, but I spent a little more than I had wanted to spend, but I think that I got some things that will last me a while and be versatile. (I forgot to take pictures, but I'll show you soon.)

Friday's Outfit

Sweater: JCPenny
Tank: Old Navy
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory

We did a walking field trip to decorate our local Historical Society's tree, so I wanted something comfortable and nice (plus, I was super tired and dealing with allergies, so I needed something no fuss :)




Today's Outfit:

Sweater, Shirt: JCPenny
Tank: Target
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Endless/Amazon



Have a great Tuesday! (Only 9 days till break!)


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Chickens

Have you ever felt like you were running around like a chicken with its head cut out? Or you hit the ground running, and there simply hasn't been enough time to catch up? Well, guess how my week has been since I got back.

I walked into my room Wednesday morning, and an astonishing site met my eyes. Furniture was moved around, my desk area (and some of my kids desks) were not cleaned up, and there was NO FEEDBACK!

Needless, to say, about 5 minutes after I got into my room, I happened to run into my princpal. He told me that he had some concerns about my sub, and without me even really knowing what went on ('cause hello, no feedback!), I agreed (just based on the state of my room.).

Come to find out, it was worst than I thought. Even more fun, the sub came to the school to give me feedback on my class (which in my opinion, was a little inappropriate, and after the sub was done, also unprofessional), and then questioned some of my teaching practices and student learning ability.

Needless to say, this sub (hopefully, my principal says the sub won't be) will not be back in the building. I'm actually glad to have a principal back my up on this, because when I've told other principals I've been uncomfortable with a sub, nothing has really happened.

I was a tad upset that my plans were not followed (especially since I had a formal observation today...more on that in a little bit!), since they were extremely detailed (10 pages!), and according to my principal, some of the best sub plans that he has seen!! :) (Something good had to come out of this right!).

So I spent yesterday reteaching some things, and organizing, but I still don't feel that I had gotten enough done (we had a staff meeting which took up a lot of time, and I needed to leave by 4:30).

Today I had a PLC meeting first thing, my observation and then a Report Card Committee meeting right after school.

So my plans are nowhere near done for next week, grading is piling up again, and I'll be spending some time after school tomorrow fixing that. TGIF!

Now, after my rant expression of feelings, onto my observation! (Thank you to all that had me in your thoughts!)

I think it went well. He watched my do whole group literacy, and then the start of a Guided Reading group. I was expecting him there for 45 minutes to an hour, but he only stayed for about 30. I'm taking it as a good sign! The kids were well-behaved (they usually are! :), and most of them were right on point. Hopefully the feedback will be as good as I want it. :)

Yesterday's Outfit

Sweater, Top & Pants: JCPenny
Tank: Target
Shoes: Endless/Amazon

The sweater came off within 5 minutes of being at school...my room is hot! Although it went back on during recess duty, and on the way home :)


Today's Outfit

Sweater: Kohls
Tank: Old Navy
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: DSW

Now, I've worn these shoes lots of times, but for some reason, everyone noticed them today and complimented me on them. Go figure!

I still feel like a chicken, but the weekend will be here soon, so hopefully I can recalibrate so I don't feel like I'm running with no end in sight. Happy (almost) Friday!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Trio

Friends,

The conference I went to was AWESOME! (well, except for one session that was almost exactly like another workshop I'd already gone to and I was expecting something a little different.) I've come away with lots of cool ideas, book recommendations, tips and tricks to try.

Seriously, if you have the opportunity to see Annemarie Johnson or Lee Anne Coester in a workshop/conference, do it! They are both wonderful presenters who gave lots of practical tips and tricks to use in the classroom.

Trio of Outfits

Shirt: Old Navy
Tank & Shoes: Target
Jeans: JCPenny

This was Sunday's outfit on my way to my parents (they lived 20 minutes away from the conference site, as opposed to the close to 2 hours I live).

Shirt: Old Navy
Tank: Target
Jeans: JCPenny
Shoes: Endless

This was Monday's outfit...the first day of the conference.

Shirt, Tank & Shoes: Target
Jeans: JCPenny

Ignore the darker spots...it was raining when I unloaded the car!
And I promise that this shirt is darker (think royal blue) than the shirt above (more of a teal/blue-green color), they just didn't photograph well. :)

In other news, I finished my formal observation lesson plans, emailed them to my mentor and got her okay. I'll turn them in first thing when I go in tomorrow (this was a complete surprise, he came to me Friday afternoon and said we needed to talk (and then I was like "Uh-oh. What did I do" (Well, not really, it was stronger language than that :), but he just wanted to set up a Formal for this week)

I have a lot packed into them, and I'm hoping it goes well. I'll let you know :) (We use Danielson's model for evaluation, and I'm hoping to get more Proficients than Basics (say a 70/30 split)).

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Monday Made It

Hi Peeps!

It's hard to believe that it is already December and time for another Monday Made It.

I got my craft on last month, in preparation for the holiday season.

I made this for my window...it has been all over Pinterest. I took a tension rod, some pretty holographic ribbon and some leftover ornaments from the next project. I tied the ribbon to the ornaments and then glue gunned it onto the rod. It looks so pretty and festive!

 These are on either side of my TV. They are simple vases ($3 at Target), filled with a mixture of ornaments. I also put some glass rocks in the bottom.


The next one was more of a 'put together' and decorated...my Christmas tree!

It small and cute, (and prelit!) so I tried to keep the ornaments small and cute as well.

I made these for our staff luncheon on Conference Day (you can find links to the recipes here), as well as Thanksgiving dessert.

Now onto some school stuff!

I finally finished all my common core I can statements. You can pick up the Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language ones here.  (Math is here, and Reading is here).

I also made a Math Rotation board for my kiddos.

One of the recommendations from my principal (during an informal observation) was to use my SMART Board more wisely (I used to have the rotations on the SMART Board...which meant I couldn't use it to teach). I've used this for about a week...and I'm loving it! 

It's a lot easier know to demonstrate those pesky math skills, like partial products, and multiplying by bigger numbers ;) and I can have the kids come up and do work on it as well.  The kids like the rotation board as well, because then if they finish early, they know where to go!  Plus, the screen never goes blue because the computer went into sleep mode :).

I'm at the New England 3rd- 5th Grade Teachers Conference today and tomorrow, so I'll make sure to update you with what I'm learning!

What is your Monday Made It?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Head over to Farley's blog to join in!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

My Cyber Haul

I'm linking up with

for her


I scored some good deals, and spent less than $50 (my budget)...My finds:

 So I picked up things for Science, Math and Literacy.  And all of it has been printed out (except for the SMART Board files...those I downloaded onto my school computer :), and is sitting in a nice neat pile waiting for me to put it in my binders.

Today's Outfit:

Sweater: Target
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: DSW

I know I wore this sweater last week, but no one at work saw it and it was cold today! The teacher who works next to me told me to call her the next time I wore because she had the exact one and we could be twins :)

In other news, I almost froze during recess duty today. On Monday and Tuesday, it should be nice and warmer...but of course, those are the days that I'm not there! :)

is having a giveaway for the quietest pencil sharpener ever!



Have a great weekend!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Outfits, Ooblecks, Out & Organizers

 Hi Bloggy Buds!

How do you like that title for alliteration!

Today's Outfit

Tank, Shirt & Shoes: Target
Pants: Kohls

I'm dressed a little more casually today because we did an Oobleck lab in Science. Needless to say, the floor of my room was white, as well as me having white handprints on my pants (from when I was mixing, and I forgot didn't realize that my hand was covered and leaned on my pants...)

They had a lot of fun though, and hopefully have a better idea of solids and liquids!

Tomorrow we are doing a lab on buoyancy, and I hope that they listen better than they did today...they lost some recess time because they couldn't be quiet and listen to my directions.

I'm going to be out Monday and Tuesday of next week, so I've been spending most of the week prepping for those two days (my sub plans are already 7 pages and they're not done yet!). I'm going to the New England Conference for 3rd-5th Grade Teachers, and I'm looking forward to it! I have a pretty even mix of Math and Reading/Writing workshops that I picked, and I'll hopefully pick up some really good ideas. I also feel lucky that my principal is letting me take two days off (and that the district will reimburse me!).

Yesterday's Outfit

Sweater: Kohls
Tank: Target
Pants: Gap Outlet
Boots: Endless/Amazon

We are working on Personal Narratives in writing, and I told the students to pick an experience that they had in their lives. So far, they are coming out really well, and some of them are really funny! :) We've been using graphic organizers that I've created to brainstorm/plan, and then to plan out the paragraph and how we want our sentences to look.

One of my friends told me today that he found writing it so much easier (he's already finished his first draft and self-editing!). He told me he really liked having the organizers to help plan out your thinking! Guess what I'll bee doing every time we start a new writing project?


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn