Currently

Happy October!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

I can't believe September is here-Happy New School Year!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

I can't believe it's August-only 3 weeks left until school starts!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Happy July! It's my favorite month (mostly because my birthday is at the end! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Happy June!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Happy May!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Happy April!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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Happy November!

This month, I reached buying over 800 Kindle books (in less than 4 years!!)(currently 814 with many more preorders to come in the coming weeks-I've had new books delivered every week since the beginning of September to the beginning of December!)-and they are all romance! I'm a huge romance fan-it's all I read other than kids books and professional books! :)

I need some advice! I'm working on my seasonal tree series, and I need some opinions of which set to go with.

Set One-

or Set Two-?

I *think* I have a preference, but would like some double-checking! Thank you!

Enjoy 'falling' back!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Happy October!

Clock Partners

So I'm thinking of getting a tablet-but I need some help! What do I choose?

Galaxy or Ipad? (or something else?)

Regular size or Mini?

How many GBs? (I'm thinking 32, if possible)

Suggestions, comments, and opinions, please!

Thanks!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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Happy November!

Yummy Pin:

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

300/Currently

Ack! Can you believe it? This is my 300th post!  It's certainly been a fun journey so far!

Notice anything different?

I did a little update for 'fall'!  I feel very fall-inspired now :)

Speaking of Fall, it's time for October's Currently!

Monday's Outfit:

Sweater/Top: Maurices
Pants: JCP
Shoes: Zappos









Tuesday's Outfit

Sweater: JCP

Shirt: Old Navy
Tank: Target
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Target


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Thursday Throwdown: Mini-Books / Currently

Happy August!

(Where is summer going by the way? The school year doesn't go by this quickly!)

I'm linking up with:

for her Throwdown Thursday.




I've used these mini-books many times this summer and almost blogged about them-before I saw Erin's reminder :)

The kids love these books, and they are really easy to make. I first saw them at a workshop 6 or 7 years ago as a (very) young teacher. I've also seen them recently floating around.

First, start with a piece of paper.

 Fold it in half.

Turn 90 degrees and fold in half again

Turn 90 degrees and fold in half again

(Basically, you're folding it into 8 pieces :)

Open paper up so it is only folded in half (back to step number 2-but now with fold lines!)

You are going to cut that vertical line down to the fold

Open paper up and fold it so the cut line is on top

Now, you're going to push the two sides together so the paper lies flat

Now you just have to fold the pages down into book form!

Success!

Now you can have your kids create anything! It's an 8 page book (including front and back covers). I've had kids create mini-animal encyclopedias, a 'list' of favorite books, summarizing a longer book, etc.

I've most recently used them to have kids pick their favorite animal pairs from a book we read and draw and write about them.

I had them draw a picture and write at least one fact about why or how the animals were friends.

They were seriously into it!  I've never seen them so quiet. :)


August Currently:

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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I'm moving myself to a new apartment about 20 minutes away this week-so posts will be sparse. Happy July!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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Happy June...I can't believe that the school year is almost over!

Have you entered?!!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Pardon the second post....but Currently's deserve two posts in a day! ;)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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Happy April Fool's Day!

  

Smiles and Sunshine,

Kaitlyn

Character Traits & Currently

Before we went on break (almost over... :( ), I did a really fun lesson with my kids on Character Traits. You may remember me talking about changing the way I run the Literacy Block for the week, and having a 'fun Friday' type thing, but focusing on skills I think they needed.

Well, thanks to a Snow Day, and a Professional Day, I finally got to do my Character Traits lesson I had planned.

O.M.G! They LOVED it!

I started off by asking them to give adjectives about me (if they were telling someone about me and only had one word, what would they say?)

Then I asked them to prove it. What makes you say that about Miss M? Give an example.

We talked about how people show/demonstrate their character traits/personality...while I made an anchor chart :)

 After that, (before we added the adjectives to the chart) I read Hooway for Wodney Wat. We talked about what kind of traits Wodney (Rodney) had, and how we could prove it.  (That's him on the chart...no judging please :)

Then we started adding the adjectives to the chart, and talking about what they mean.

I had gathered a variety of picture books, and found this fabulous freebie from Tessa at Tales from Outside the Classroom

Source: classroomfreebies.com via Emily on Pinterest

 I scattered the books all around the room (and told the kids that they needed to stay where I put them), and then set them free to fill out their sheets (after I modeled how to do it using Wodney Wat and SkippyJon Jones!). I told them that they could choose as many books as they wanted.

As I was walking around, I noticed that, with one or two exceptions...they got it! AND, they were super quiet. (They are normally quietish anyway-but this was dead silent!). They were so engaged, and those that were talked were talking about the lesson.

These are the books I chose (pulled from my Mentor Text Library (not accessible to kids), and Picture Book Library (accessible to kids), but you could chose whatever you wished. I picked books that I thought had strong characters, with easy to identify character traits and support.

Eggbert: The Slighly Cracked Egg; Ruby the CopyCat; Chrysanthemum

Swimmy; Sloppy Joe; Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

Weslandia; Diary of a Worm; The Greedy Python

Chester; Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink; Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type

Giggle, Giggle, Quack; Mother, You're the Best, But Sister, You're a Pest; Wemberly Worried

Substitute Creature

By having them use easy to read picture books, they could really focus on the skill, and not struggle as much with trying to figure out words/meaning. Soon they'll be able to do this on their level!

As we were standing in line for dismissal, the kids told me that they loved the lesson. I told them that we would be doing 'Fun Friday' every Friday and we would switch off on focusing on Reading and Writing. Next up, Poetry! (This brought some smiles!)

Next up: Currently! I can't believe it's March already! Only 4 months left of school.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn