Assess Me (A Fun-and-Easy Get to Know You Link-Up)

Sweet Rachel at The Tattooed Teacher is hostessing a "Self Assessment Linky." It sounds scary, but it isn't (I promise!) I wish all assessments were this fun!

It's really easy to participate... Especially since the answers are yes or no... and you can can just check the box! (You don't even need to think about text evidence!) Here you go!

My answers are all easy to follow, but the last one is interesting (at least to me!). I was born in Minnesota, but we moved when I was two, and I have never been there since. I've visited a number of different states, but not Minnesota! Someday I will have to go and explore!

If you've ever read my blog, you know that my technological skills are in the negative range, and I was able to copy, download, babble and upload this in less than ten minutes. (And I know the graphic slops over the side a bit, but I am just singing that Frozen song...)

WooHoo! I'm counting this as a  blogging success!

Now that you see how easy this is, why don't you link up too? Show Rachel some love and add your button to the link up. :)

Hope you are enjoying this day!

22nd Day... Meet the Teacher at Teacher Week '13

I'm changing the pace today because I haven't been been able to get into school yet, and I think I have already photographed most of the items in my garage--and my living room! My car is packed with things to return to school and I am hoping to sneak in when the custodian arrives at 6:30am. My goal is to take a picture or two because I committed to blogging every day in August and I need more material! I have to be strategic as I will likely be the only car in a dimly lit parking lot. With my luck, I'll get arrested for loitering!

Apparently, the folks at BlogHoppin' have an annual tradition of an enormous week-long link-up! It's called "Teacher Week '13" and I think I'll be clicking and clicking to learn about all of the teacher bloggers who have linked up this year!

Today is actually the day to post pics about the classroom tour, but since I won't be able to do that (especially if school security nabs me!), I will, instead, join yesterday's linky, "Meet the Teacher."

Since this collaborative is new to me, I think I will be the 3000th teacher to join the party. I will set a goal to be in the 2000s next year. Okay, I am exaggerating (I do teach hyperbole, you know!). When I last looked there were over 400 teachers buttons all in a row!  If I hurry, I can be teacher #412!

Let's be honest. I am not a woman of mystery. I have been blogging for over two years and I have done a lot of these "reveals." There simply isn't much more to tell! Therefore, I will spare you the extended commentary--but by listing five facts instead of the required ten, I think I can still add my button to the compendium in good conscience before the collection reaches 500! (Okay, the word, "compendium" doesn't exactly fit there, but I really wanted to use that word today, and that is where it fits best!)

Here are the remaining five facts about me...

1. I am starting my 30th year of teaching. AT the same school. I have always taught at the same school. I even did part of my student teaching there! Before I taught "general ed," I taught kids with disabilities. I can sign a little, and I have such admiration for my friends who are fluent in sign language.

2. I once tried para-gliding... where you jump off a big hill/small cliff with a parachute harness. We practiced for several hours--after I wrote "R" and "L" on my hands because I kept getting confused about which cord to pull. On the pathway to the top of the hill, I fell face-first, and I had to go to the emergency room for stitches in my knee... before I ever had a chance to make my final jump!

click HERE for image source

3. I have met Barbara--and her family--from Corner on Character. I actually visited her in Texas IN REAL LIFE. She is even sweeter in person than she is on her blog. She is genuinely compassionate about what she does and the love for her family just radiates from her. (Sorry, Barbara, for cropping a picture without asking). At the Corner, Barbara talks about living life with JOY, but she actually makes an effort to live that way, and to savor the goodness in each day. She is my role model.

4. On my father's side, both of my grandparents were born in Poland. My mother's grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia. My cooking and speaking skills in either background are seriously limited! Well, I can say, "How are you?" "Give me a kiss" and "I love you" but that leads to a rather limited conversation...

Wonderful world map graphics from Z-p-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs at TpT HERE

5. I love (nonpoisonous) snakes and have held both an eight foot python and a four foot boa constrictor. I think snakes are fascinating! The snakes I "knew" were not green like the one pictured here because this fella lives in the rain forest and I live in the suburbs. I was going to add a picture of me holding the snake, but the snake did not have a photo release on file. Here's the best part about this fun fact: I am creeped out/bordering on terrified of worms. Eight foot snake. Two inch worm. I'll choose the snake every time.

Clip Art by Carrie Teaching in First at TpT HERE

Those may be the last five unknown facts that remain about me as a blogger. Otherwise, my life is an open book!

Now, go back up and click on the big graphic to take you to the BlogHoppin' link-up. Add yourself into the mix, so we can learn about you too! Don't feel like scrolling back up? Okay, just click HERE...

Show Us Those Piles... Linking Up to Share the Truth!

Today I am linking up with Christina Bainbridge for a linky party to confess the obvious: Teachers tend to create piles of belongings wherever they are!

I have to admit I'm a little starstruck. Christina was one of the first bloggers I ever followed (when she had bunting in her classroom, but not in her blog title!). Even though she teaches younger kids than I do, she has wonderful ideas for classroom organization and design and I always get great ideas when I visit her blog.

Everything Christina does is cute! Look at that button. So CUTE!

So here we go...

I have always been a... "collector" of all things school-related. I have hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of books and I cannot resist an office supply store. (I even visit them on vacation!) I always have ideas in my head for projects which seem to get started (and rarely finished) usually on my dining room table. I love creating and planning on my own time, at home, so let's just say I need to have a lot of things at home to get things done. How's that for an excuse?

This linky party invites us to show off the piles of "school stuff" that have accumulated during the summer. For me, this means that the piles have spread to other rooms!

Here is a pile ready to go to the garage. The blue box is full of things to shred, the pink box holds the leftover beads from a craft project, the spirals were a donation and the binding machine just looks dangerous! (But having one of my own means that I can finish a project at midnight in my PJs!)

There are always boxes of books at my house. Increasingly, these books have Common Core in the title... Currently these are in front of the door to the patio!

At the moment, there is a pile of items sitting next to the dining room table. I have to sort through the boxes of math manipulatives. It's amazing the things I find in there: erasers, old assignments, an occasional love note... It's always an adventure! I'm not sure what is in the other box... aside from the laminator and the stuffed pig (She's our mascot for a math game... and is currently in need of some sort of cleaning!)

Sometimes I try to "sneak" piles into corners. As if anyone sitting in (or near!) the rocking chair isn't going to see the pile of boxes from my literacy centers. These need to be readied for back-to-school. I'm just not mentally ready to tackle that challenge yet!

Doesn't everyone have nine plastic milk crates taking up half of the space in their guest room? These house the math tools and other center materials in my classroom. I'm going to try to sneak them into school tomorrow. (Sshhhh. Don't tell.)

An hour before this photo, they were found here...

Yep! That's the bathtub! My room has the playground on one side and a dirt field on the other side. Needless to say, everything needs to be dusted, vacuumed and or washed... often!

So that's how things look in my house. Halfway through summer I am always dying to take a few car loads to school just to free up some space. However, once I arrive in my classroom, I often find something else to bring back home!

So, what about you? Are things piling up in your house? Do you have a laminator, a binding machine or a paper cutter somewhere other than your classroom? Have you hit the back-to-school sales and started piling up plastic bags in a corner?

THAT'S OKAY! You are not alone! And no one is going to call the Hoarders Hotline or stage an intervention. (That's another great thing about the blogging community: We don't judge--We share!)

Come on! Join up! Click HERE or on that sweet button above and head over to Christina's blog. Then grab your phone or a camera and share some photos. You'll be in good company--and you might make a new friend while you're there.

Sending you wishes for happy sorting, creating and organizing...

Happy Fourth... Along with a Blog Hop to Follow...

I feel like I have been waiting forever to use this cute star paper! It's from Teacher Wife's "Pretty Papers" set (HERE on TpT). Isn't it festive?!

Even though it is summer vacation for me, I thought that today I should behave like it is a holiday... A grill-your-dinner, sit-in-the-sun, watch-a-movie "vacation" day. Even though all the other days are "vacation days," I still feel compelled to get things done. Today I am trying a little harder to relax...

I have been doing some professional reading during the past few weeks. I am almost finished with Productive Group Work by Frey, Fisher and Everlove. Reading this book has reinforced that I have a HUGE role in making cooperative group work successful. There are certain things I need to say and do to make the learning more efficient and I need to be strategic to be sure that everyone is making academic progress. Nothing about it sounded easy--but it all sounded true!

In my last post, I commented about following me on Bloglovin. I finally "borrowed" a button designed by sweet Melissa at Common Core and So Much More. I hope that you will click on the button at the top (right) of my blog to follow me with Bloglovin.

Here is some awesomeness for you: Melissa is willing to share the button with you too--she even has a tutorial on how to install it... right HERE!

And if you'd like to link up with some other bloggers on Bloglovin, Sidney at Teaching is Gift is having a Back to School Blog Hop and she is giving away some adorable posters with a chalkboard theme. She's hosting the hop along with A Teacher Without a Class who is holding a giveaway for a laminator that looks mighty wonderful! Enter through rafflecopter on her site--What a great back-to-school present to yourself!


So click on the graphic above to read more about the Blog Hop. You can even have the link up on your site if you choose! And when you get there, click on the bloggy-buttons at the bottom of the post to find some new connections. Isn't summer the BEST time to make new friends?

If you are not following my blog, I hope you will add me to your list. And if you are, thank you so much for sticking with me through the changes from Google Reader to Bloglovin--or whatever other "reader" you choose. I am honored to be a part of the Blogging Community and truly value the fact that people stop by my blog to visit and/or comment! (I still get teary-eyed when new comments pop up. Truly!)

So, Happy Fourth, Happy Thursday, Happy Summer. Wherever you are today, I hope that you are enJOYing what you are doing...

Five for Friday: Getting Close to the End...

YIKES! I'm not sure how two weeks have flown by so quickly! Every minute seems jam-packed and, yet, it seems like so little is getting done! As usual, my Five for Friday is being posted on a Sunday, but at least it's being shared (Last week's post came and went without ever getting out of the camera!)

ELEVEN days left of school!

 

I have checked in the last set of homework and classwork for the year! We still have plenty of "work" left to do (including two benchmarks!), but report cards are due this week and I now have LOTS of data to review. I have been drowning in paperwork all year and finishing this task is so liberating!

 

Family Life Education is DONE for another year. I'm not sure who is more thankful: the students or me! Aside from the "typical" lessons on parts, ailments, and responsibilities, our district has recently included a lesson on cyber-safety. The videos are haunting reminders of the dangers of "making friends" on the Internet. This lesson really impacted the students... and it made me even more conscious of how easily our students can become victims just by sharing their name...

Last week I was away at a training for a day. And I was away from school one day this week. And I will be at a Common Core training for two days next week! I feel like I am writing sub plans in my dreams.

If you haven't tried out any of the items at 4mulaFun (TpT) you are missing out. That's one of her triangle activities in the picture above. This blogger/creator has lots of interesting activities, wonderful units and terrific lessons for math notebooks. Check out her store HERE and her blog HERE.

And, if you haven't ever read The Cay--or, better yet, read this book with students, just do it. (Please forgive me, Nike!)

 

Speaking of Common Core, this is the book we are reading for our writing project. And our trainer is the author, Larry Ainsworth. I am learning a lot about curriculum design... specifically how hard it is to do!

 

Ever see something in a store and simply KNOW you have to purchase it? Yep, that's how I felt when I saw these storage boxes. Math centers? Art materials? Guided reading sets? I don't know what I will be using them for, but just looking at them makes me happy!

In other news: I am trying out my first LINKY PARTY! 

As I have been reflecting on the last ten months of school, I have made a mental list of things I am definitely going to do DIFFERENTLY next year. In fact, although this year is not yet finished, I am already planning next year's lessons, classroom management strategies, activities, and decor! Are you doing that too? If yes, this Linky is for you!

And this one has a twist!

The Linky Party will be up for a week starting tomorrow. Then, next Sunday evening, I will use the random number generator to choose one of the people who has linked up and joined the party. That person will win a $25 gift certificate from TpT. What a great way to start gathering those resources for the year to come!

I am so thankful that tomorrow is a holiday. Just sitting in one place is a delight! I hope that you have the day off tomorrow too--and that you will come back to join my Linky Party.

Until then, if you are still in school, I am wishing you at least a few moments of rest or relaxation. And if you are already out, enjoy the bliss!

PS Those little doughnuts/cookies are from Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs. The numbers are already on them, so making math materials with them is a snap! You can get them HERE!

Enjoying Spring Break and Playing the Noun Game

One thing I know for sure...

All of these sweet springtime elements are from Scrappin Doodles

I do love Spring Break. Not because I am going anywhere or doing anything "big"--but precisely because I am not going anywhere or doing anything big.

I'm just reveling in the fact that the hands on the clock can go all the way around and no bells will ring and no whistles will blow. Pure bliss!

So, I am going to spend part of my afternoon joining in on the next installment of Latoya Reed's Linky at Flying into First Grade (because the link will expire soon and I will be the last one linking up... again. At this point I am thinking I should change my bloggy button into the shape of a caboose!)

This past week, the task was called "The Noun Game," and it gave you the opportunity to name your favorite person, place, thing and animal!

1. Favorite Person: This is the hubs. He fills in the spaces in my life in so many ways. He is a volunteer tutor for the younger kids at our school twice a week, so he is forever "picking up something that we need" or "stopping by Starbucks" or "bringing something by" that I forgot. He wears a coat and tie to tutoring so that the little kids will know that learning to read is an important and serious business. Adorable! And then he spends time on his cell phone or looking through books trying to find a picture of a puffer fish or a trilobite or Gettysburg so that he can help bring the stories to life. On top of that, he is constantly setting something up, taking it down or building it or cooking it for an event at school. He listens to all of my stories and complaints and frustrations, and then knows just when to say, "Well, that's good"--even when it is the tiniest bit of improvement or a barely perceptible success. He's great guy. Best part: We've known each other almost 40 years...

Circa 1976

2. Favorite Place: I'd love to say some place exotic, but I like... my house. And I like... my classroom. I'm comfortable in both paces. And, of course, I like Starbucks, but that is a bit more transitory. I can stay in/on my bed and read or plan or work on the computer for HOURS. I'm a big fan of cozy. Give me some coffee (in a JOY cup) and I'm good to go. No fancy clothes required. Delight!

3. Favorite Thing: There are oodles of school-related things that I love. I love my Promethean board and my document camera. I love my laptop and all of my books and Sharpies and colorful clips. I love my decades-old paper cutter and my almost-brand new laminator. However, none of those things would be useful to me without my coffee. And not just any coffee. I love Starbucks--all kinds and temperatures and flavors  (except the green one. I haven't learned to like the green frapuccino yet.). I like Starbucks at home and Starbucks at/from Starbucks.

Here is my coffee cup wrapped up in a coffee cozy from Missy Squirrels. She's one of my favorite bloggy friends on the PLANET. You can visit her HERE. And you can check out her Etsy shop by clicking on the picture of the cup cozy! Missy Squirrels always makes me laugh! But you know what else? Missy Squirrels is also serious and warm-hearted and caring and compassionate (all at once). Oh, and she has a purse shaped like a chicken. With a name. Betty. But this paragraph was supposed to be about my love of coffee not (just) about my appreciation of Betty... Thankfully, Missy Squirrels likes coffee too. I'm not sure about Betty, though.

AND I like purple. Purple makes me happy! I have a lot of purple clothes. And ,many, MANY things in my classroom are purple. But, oddly, almost nothing in my house (decor-wise) is purple. I never gave that much thought until this minute. This minute, however, I AM wearing a purple sweatshirt and purple socks!

4. Favorite Animal: I am not much of a pet person. I did have a cat once... long. long ago. His name was Alex P. Kitten after Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (The one with Michael J, Fox, right?). Eventually it was determined that Alex was a cat with some unique needs. If he were in my classroom, we would have to decide on a calm down area. And he would need some extra opportunities to practice being nice to our friends. Once, Alex (the cat) swallowed a piece of scotch tape. I was so traumatized, I almost had to ask the vet for some calm down medicine of my own! Alex flew to Colorado to live with some friends (of mine) and spent his days chasing ducks. And dogs. I no longer want to own a pet, but if I could pick an animal that I could just like from a distance, it would be a sloth or a manatee. Both are slow-moving, kind of chubby and not much concerned about being fashionable--just comfortable. I find those traits admirable and reassuring. This is definitely the kind of creature I could grow to love... from a distance, of course.

This sloth is from Scrappin Doodles. Click HERE to see him there!

Well, that's it for the nouns in my life. I have to scurry over and link up before LaToya closes the linky. I'm sure I'll be the last link again. Just call me the caboose.

Frame (above) and caboose are from Ashley Hughes HERE on  TpT

Don't forget to link up to LaToya's party too--or maybe you should aim for the next one. (Unless you can whip something up in the next hour or two). LaToya's got a plan for both of us, though. The new linky is already posted!

Check it out here:

Tomorrow is Easter. If you celebrate this holiday, have a wonderfully blessed and tradition-filled day. And whether or not you celebrate Easter itself, I hope that you will be able to enjoy a restful sunny Sunday with people that you love!