A Day In The Life...

Jessica over at Second Grade Nest is hosting A Day in the Life linky party

Bright and early!  Got up at 6 am and had my coffee in my favorite new ceramic 

travel mug from Lily Pulitzer

Bummed around the house and played on my iPad

Yes its after 10 am and I'm still in my pj's...a very rare occurrence for me.

Spent most of the early afternoon blog stalking!

 Yes, I did do something productive and washed some dishes and clothes. :)

Then I took another break to watch Identity Theif!  So funny.

I also packed for our trip to the Omaha Zoo.  My brother in law works at the zoo and we are going to get to go behind the scenes!  When you have kids you have to bring plenty of road trip food!

 About 2:30 my day took an interesting twist..My daughter decided she should go on her first date.  I helped her pack a picnic and off she went.

Then I wrapped up the day with a date of my own..with my wonderful husband

That's a day in the life of a teacher on summer break!

*Amanda

Five For Friday Linky Part

Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her last Linky until August :(

New shoes always make you feel spiffy

Labeling all my computer cables before the custodial staff takes EVERYTHING out of my classroom.  It saves so much time when I have to put everything back together before school starts.  

Wow, the Beautiful Mess App has changed my life!  So much fun and the pictures look 10 time better!

AAAHH decisions about color combos and what position I will be holding next year.  I have taught 4th grade for the last 2 years but I recently submitted an application to be a Literacy Coach...I guess its wait and see time :(  I'm such a planner I hate the unknown.

 

During the summer I take time to clean up all my files and review fabulous activities that the kids loved during the year.

The Pile It On activity by Farley was a HUGE hit when my little rock stars needed practice with multiplication.  Let me tell you as cute as this activity it is RIGEROUS. Head on over and check it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Amanda

A Drool Worthy Planner

Like most of you I'm OCD about my teacher planner.  As summer wraps up I spend hours scouring the stores and internet for the perfect one.  Seriously who watches you tube videos about planners, I DO!
Eventually after much research I make a purchase and then halfway through the year chuck it for a new system:(  

However last year was different.  I purchased a greenroom planner from Target.

It was so fabulous I used it the ENTIRE year!

 It includes monthly and weekly planning pages and yet its not very bulky!

Behind every tabbed set of monthly pages is a section for notes!

There is enough room on the weekly pages for me to map out my entire day :)

Added bonus its made with 60-70% recycled material!

Head on over to Covered In Glitter and Glue and link up some of your favorite things.

*Amanda

Bloglovin' Blog Hop

Tori from Tori's Teacher Tips is hosting a linky for everyone to find and follow blogs using Bloglovin'! 

With Google Reader shutting down on July 1st, I had to find another method of stalking :)  

If you would like to stalk me you can click the little button to the right :) 

 Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips also has an easy to follow tutorial on how to add a Bloglovin button to your blog and how to follow all of your favorite blogs.  If you don't already have an account sign-up is super simple.

Be sure to hop on over to Tori's to find some new amazing blogs to stalk! Don't forget to link up your Bloglovin' account as well.

*Amanda

Currently March

Round up the Leprechauns...March has now officially arrived!

 Farley is hosting her Currently linky

It's sad but I DVR the bachelor...I never get to see it Monday nights..so I catch up on the weekends.

My other guilty pleasure has become Downton Abbey...I just started watching it and I am hooked!

As for school this week I have proffesional development which requires a half day sub on wen afternoon and then again on thu morning....NUTS

And I'm still not sure when the rock stars and I can return to our classroom.  I went in this weekend and the leaks were worse! :(

My summer is starting to fill up fast.  I have a week of work scheduled for a district language arts curriculum and assesment team.

Then the next week is booked designing ActivInspire flipcharts to supplement our language arts curriculum.  Super excited to flex my creative muscles, constructing products that will be used district wide.

Now I just need to iron out whether or not a trip to Florida is on the books. I accomplished one of my New Year's goals by applying to become a Kagan school trainer!  The training happens in July but I won't find out if I've been accepted until April.

Lately I have been turning You Tube to invigorate my students.  

Here are a few I have used lately.

Thanks for dropping by!

Question About Best Practice....and a Leaky Classroom

First the fluffy stuff. I walked in at 6:30 this morning to find 4 ceiling tiles dripping onto the desks and carpet. We've had about 10 inches of snow in the last week and apparently there is some roof damage above my room. My kiddos and I will be spending the next few days hanging out in the art room until the 2 inches of ice melts and the roofers can make the needed repairs. Until then I hope nothing caves in. :( I've been told a few years ago there was a waterfall in this very room!

On to the important stuff.
In my district we do formative reading assessments each quarter using Scantron Achievement Series....anybody else use it?

We analyze the data and track student progress, display grade level results in common areas...the usual for most of us teachers these days.

I have students record their results, we conference about their strengths and set specific goals based on skills they were weak in. Scantron series provides easy to read, detailed results for each kiddo!

My question comes about in whether or not to form small groups based on which learning targets they missed to correct their misconceptions.

Do I spend valuable guided reading time reviewing the test or move on and base my mini lessons on key areas of need?

What have you guys found to be best practice?

Thanks
*Amanda *

Back with a Bang

Well folks thanks for enduring my venture endeavor of posting from my iPad. I just finished using Pic Collage to show off an activity my little rockstars just finished. In reading our theme is space. Our curriculum includes inquiry based research projects and for this one kiddos made lap books. They came up with their own research questions and off we went. These rock stars are natural born presenters, so we invited a kindergarten class in for a buddy read of our lap books. It was a hit!