Monday Made It

Another Monday flying by!

I made some very yummy baked ziti!

Single person/Couple size!

I've been working on updating some things for my classroom things year-and making things to improve!

One of things things I really want to focus on this year is being a better writing teacher. So in that case, I've been working on some things to help me do that!

I made a new writing clip chart!

I like the old one (part of the Ultimate Writing Resource I got from TPT) but I think my new one focuses in more on what the kids need.

Old One

Ta-da!

It's so pretty!

I have little mini clothespins with their numbers on it that they can clip to the sides.

Once I've cut it out, I'll back it with poster board and tape the edges with packing tape before I laminate-to help keep it sturdy!

 In the same vein of writing, I also made some Buddy/Peer Conference Task Cards!

This should help the kids focus as they are doing peer conferences-kind of like a checklist of what they need to look for!

They are not in the order I plan to organize them-I have some rearranging to do once I've cut them out! :)

I also plan on making Editing and Revising ones to go along with them-I'm excited to see how the new board will turn out!

And last, but certainly not least:

I finished the last two sections of the mini CC I can statements!

I started it over a year ago (during Science NECAP testing!), and I finally finished the Language and Speaking and Listening parts.

I think those standards may have turned out better than the previous ones-because I've been teaching it for a year and was able to decipher them better!

They'll look very cute with the others in the mini pocket charts on the focus wall!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Wild Libraries

Ready for some Wild Reading?

Brought to you by:
Some wild thoughts:

Currently, my library looks like this.

Except I have two wire shelves filled now! :)

 Most of my books have a sticker on them, which matches the sticker on the bin.

They are mostly sorted by genre, topic or author-NOT but lexile level, guided reading level or grade level equivalent.

To help me remember which stickers go with with genre, topic or author, I have all the stickers with their labels on a HUGE index card.

So far, this system works pretty well. It easily allows me to reclassify books as needed (like if one topic gets too big, and I can divide it into different subtopics-which I did with American History! I split it into American History and War History. And Nonfiction Animals! I split that into Animals and Ocean Animals.)

Inside some of the covers, I have the Guided Reading Level and Grade Level Equivalent. (We use Guided Reading Levels in our small groups)

I have been using Scholastic Book Wizard, but lately,  they've only had one or two books in their database out of a stack, (which I totally don't get, because I buy almost all my books from them. If they sell them, why aren't they in the database?)


I don't force my kids to read within a certain band-but they have the information if they want it!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Monday Made It

Linking up with Tara and Christy today!

              

 One of my very favorite treats-Things in the Oven (what I used to call them when I was little!)

It's very easy-you only need three ingredients!

Cinnamon Sugar (although I make my own), Pam and Crescent Rolls!

First thing you are going to do is to roll out the crescent rolls (separated), and spray them with Pam.

I like to roll them out on wax paper-because it can get a little messy!

After you sprayed them with Pam, pour the cinnamon sugar over top (more is better!). The Pam will make it stick to the crescent roll.

Next, roll up the crescent rolls (like you normally would is you where just making the rolls), and place them in a pan (I used a brownie pan-but a 8" circle pan works awesomely too-any pan would probably do!)

They can be touching-sometimes they turn out better that way!

Now, spray the top of the crescent tolls with Pam.

Then, sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top (more is better here too!).

Don't worry if it gets in the pan-they'll make cinnamon crunchies that are yummy too!

Now, you'll want to bake it at 375* for about 10-15 minutes. You'll know they are ready when the rolls have puffed up and the cinnamon sugar has melted on top (Plus, it smells really good!)

You have a yummy breakfast (when I usually eat them!), dessert, or general snack!

They also reheat really well-if you don't finish any, wrap them in aluminum foil (I usually group 2 or 3 together) and just reheat in the oven or toaster oven.

Delish!

My next Made It isn't as yummy. :)

I've been working on Curriculum Maps (ELA only!) for the year. Since this will be my 3rd year (wow!) at this school, I have a pretty good idea of the program, and how I want to organize things.

Of course, I can't make a boring curriculum map-what fun would that be?! (Please note that these are not done and I am still working on them-some of the months are very blank!)

I've also matched each month with it's counterpart in my planner!

 The border color and clipart are similar in both!

I've also been toying with having it either vertical

or horizontal

Which way would you prefer?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Back to School Goals

Jess at


is having her wonderful Back to School Goal Linky again, and since I reflected on mine and wiped the slate clean, I've been thinking on what I want to focus on this year!

Personal: I have a fairly decent home/work balance-but I spent a lot of time napping last year. I'd like to cut down on naps, and find a better way to balance that!

Organization: Data, data, data! Our principal is very focused on data (especially MAP data, and looking at if students made their growth targets), and I like to find a way to use that data to help me with teaching, as well as all the other data we have!

I'll also have THREE sets of math manipulatives (one that was already there, one from Go Math! and one from Math in Focus!) I need to find a way to organize them so my classroom is not overrun!

Plannng: I'll admit-I did a stinky job of teaching Writing last year. I'm hoping that by mapping out the year, and what they need to know, I'll get a better sense of where to go and when, and I'll be a better writing teacher!

Professional: I'd love to learn how to make my own SMARTBoard lessons-to better fit with what I teach (and hopefully, the SMARTBoard will be fixed...)!

I'd also love to get an IPad, and use it in the classroom. I hoping to get through a workshop (then I can get reimbursed-but the district will technically 'own' it), but we'll see!

Students: I want the students to start tracking some of their data! We did this last year with Spelling graphs, but I'd like to get a little more in depth and a little more aligned to CC.

I also want them to learn that sticking with something and keep trying to figure it out is sometimes better than just knowing the answer!

Motto: What can I say? Nonsense is good for everyone!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Did I Do It?

I've been spending some time exploring new blogs (to me!), and going back and reading their older posts (doesn't everyone do that?! :), when I saw Jess' Back to School linky from last year-which reminded me of my post!

I thought it would be fun for me to repost my goals, and see if I actually met them!

Here were my goals for last year:

Here's how I did!

Personal: I definitely succeeded with this one! I hardly ever brought any work home with me, and though I did some unit creating, it didn't consume my life nearly as my as it did last year!

Organizing: Well, my math centers were sorted into domain bins.

Here are the binders that hold the copies of the centers.

I didn't get them organized by individual strand (but hey! at least their organized by domain!).

I also didn't use them this year! With piloting and everything, it all fell by the wayside. So, they are as organized as I left them. Maybe half-succeeded on this one?!

Planning: Hmmmm. Well, I definitely did more with the CC than I did the year before....but I definitely wasn't always planned three days in advance!

My planbook usually looked like this! ELA was almost always planned for the week, Science or Social Studies nearly so, but Math was planned on a day to day basis, depending on how the lesson went!

 I usually had everything planned at least a day in advance-and almost always before the day started :) Although, I did get very lazy by the end of school-but you don't need to see that picture ;)

Professional: This did happen! My teamies and I went to Lucy Calkins together, and we also recently completed a 2-day workshop at our local historical society. I also went to a so-so Guided Math workshop on my own.

Piloting definitely happened, and we had lots of math meetings and discussions. We'll be working in our first year of our new program-Math in Focus, so we'll have more trainings on that as well.

Students: I hope they had fun and learned a lot- I can say that the ABSOLUTELY LOVED Mentor Sentences (thanks Jivey!), when I asked them what their favorite thing was 90% of them said that! (And they definitely think I should do it again next year!)

I had some interesting kiddos this year-but for all the trouble this kiddo gave me-he also came the farthest, and made such an impression on me (and I on him! He said I was his favorite teacher, and if anyone told me I wasn't a great teacher-I shouldn't listen to them :).

Motto: What can I say? I still think nonsense and fantasy are necessary things in everyday life! :D

So, all in all, I didn't do too shabbily! I think reflecting on this was one of my better ideas (pats self on back) :), because I can see where I need to make improvements, and I'm now gearing up for next year! I think it helped wipe the slate clean, and made me think of how I want to change and improve for next year!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Wild Selections

Ready for some Wild Reading?

Brought to you by:
Here's some wild selections!

I think I would like to try the 40 book challenge this year (put into that third section of their notebooks with the trackers and refection). I might guide their independent reading selections with some genre requirements, but it will definitely be to choose what you would like.

Has anyone else do the 40 book challenge with their class? How did go? Any suggestions?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

PS. I've just recently noticed some trouble with Yahoo! disappearing the blogger comments I get emailed to me.  If you've commented on my last few posts and I haven't replied (and you're not a no-reply blogger), I'm sorry! Yahoo! thinks I don't need to see your comments-which is unfortunate to them! I happen to think that all your comments are important. I've switched over to gmail, so hopefully this won't happen again!