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!

New Years LInky

Happy New Year!  I'm linking up with Jen for a little Resolution Linky.

Personal Goal:
Apply to become a Kagan trainer.  I'm currently trained as a coach but I'd love to take it to the next level.  Wish me luck, the application is due in February and it's pretty intensive.

Blogging Goal:

Pretty simple...blog more :)

Currently January

Farley is up to her antics again and hosting a great linky ...
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Wow where has the year gone?

 I really can't wait to get back into the swing of things with my little rock stars.

I managed to get some work done over the break and spent oodles of time with the family!
Thanks to my mom, my brand new iPad will allow me to be 100 times more productive!

I chose Moxie as my OLW because I think we all could use more courage and determination...with synonyms: savvy and proficient what more can I say!

From my family to yours, have a wonderful New Year!

December Currently

Its that time, good ole Farely is up to her wonderful bloggy linkys again!

I am also needing to give a bloggy shout out and a big thanks to Gina over at Third Grade Tidbits.

 I used her Falling For Sentence Types right before Thanksgiving to give my little rock stars some extra practice with this concept.  It was so easy and I fun... I left it for my sub plans.  Look how it turned out!

I'm also loving my own little rock stars and their excitement for all things Christmas.

Wow an Award..or a Bloggy Chain Letter :)

Thank you to Meg from Fourth Grade Studio for nominating me for the Liebster Award!  The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and to help spread the word about new blogs.  I hope that sharing the news about some of these “newer” blogs helps them get more followers!.  I

The rules:

-You must post 5 random things about yourself.

-Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

-Create 5 questions for the people you nominate.

-Choose 5 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers)  and link them in your post.

-No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!)

5  Random Things about Me

11.  If I could live anywhere I would park my family and I in Lawrence KS, I can't help but love the community that has shaped my family :)...but I would bring the weather over from San Diego.

42.  A favorite (adult) book I have read in recent years is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

53.  Of course I loved watching Punky Brewster when I was a kid.

74.  I am a Mac kinda girl with all of my heart.

95.  Currently my guilty pleasure is watching Walking Dead.

5 Questions For My Nominees…

1.  If you have or if you could have iPads (or any tablet) in the classroom what are they used for?t m

2.  What's your comfort work food or drink..the thing you always have in the drawer or fridge to grab at a moments notice?

3.  What is your favorite quote?

4.  Dress code or no dress code?  Do you have professional guidelines for what to wear to work?

5.  Why do we write?e1

Blogs I'm Nominating
1.  In That Room Adventures in Second Grade
2. Flocking To Fifth
3.  iTeach
4.  Joy in the Journey
5.  We Teach Math